Bely＇s Petersburg continues the mythological themes in a series of St. Petersburg stories. In this novel, Bely does not simply adopt Gogol＇s rhetorical techniques, but takes it as the base of symbolism, conforms to ...Bely＇s Petersburg continues the mythological themes in a series of St. Petersburg stories. In this novel, Bely does not simply adopt Gogol＇s rhetorical techniques, but takes it as the base of symbolism, conforms to symbolism, and eventually makes symbolism a theory of world outlook.展开更多
The colonist culture of the imperialism nourished Jim＇s heroic dreams in which the protagonist sees himself as an apotheosis of morality and heroic deeds, but it also isolated him from the reality of the world. As a ...The colonist culture of the imperialism nourished Jim＇s heroic dreams in which the protagonist sees himself as an apotheosis of morality and heroic deeds, but it also isolated him from the reality of the world. As a result, he often finds himself caught in moral dilemmas and ends up making tragic choices. His tragedy indicated that the alluring and illusive myth of the imperialism was bound to fall apart.展开更多
Using Sabina J. Mtiller＇s theory of myth, this paper will analyze the deconstruction and revision of myths in The Green Helmet. Irish mythology, as described by M^iller, has in its inheritance a myth of Ireland being...Using Sabina J. Mtiller＇s theory of myth, this paper will analyze the deconstruction and revision of myths in The Green Helmet. Irish mythology, as described by M^iller, has in its inheritance a myth of Ireland being personified in an image of a woman, a goddess of the land. This Ireland-as-woman image, as well as Irish heroism and their fighting spirit will be investigated in Yeats＇ drama to show its simplification and to mock its nature. The analysis will also give an insight into the diversified and complex image of the Irish nation.展开更多
Living and creating in the tumultuous decades from the 1960s through 1980s, Thomas Pynchon unfalteringly chooses the countercultural and civil rights movements in the United States of that age as the permanent topic o...Living and creating in the tumultuous decades from the 1960s through 1980s, Thomas Pynchon unfalteringly chooses the countercultural and civil rights movements in the United States of that age as the permanent topic of his fiction. It can be seen from Pynchon＇s dramatic, sometimes fantastic narratives about these movements that the failure of the countercultural movements lies in their illusive nature in contrast with the hypocrisy and disproportionate power of the government to destruct these movements, and that the presence of American racial problems results to a great degree from the sloth prevailing over various institutions in American society when dealing with racial inequality and from American white racists＇ desire to eliminate an imagined threat in the face of the minorities. This paper tries to provide a different understanding that Pynchon＇s writing of the marginalized or surrealistic issues in these countercultural and civil rights movements is his strategy to expose the falsehood of American myth of democracy.展开更多
Given that preaching is the primary mode of public theological discourse for most Christian ministers, an intellectual virtue of verbal restraint is required when practicing public theology and it is wise to address t...Given that preaching is the primary mode of public theological discourse for most Christian ministers, an intellectual virtue of verbal restraint is required when practicing public theology and it is wise to address the ways that homilies can shepherd public discourse practices. A theology of rhetoric includes the homilist＇s moral purpose. Homilies either enhance public discourse or pervert it. This essay sketches a pattern of sermon movement that respects the logic operative in public theology, given the social context of America. Homilies can help cultivate the pastoral care of public rhetoric by modeling discourse that nurtures the politics of accountability. While many call for a public ethos where divergent moral voices engage each other in highly contested arenas, a precondition to practicing effective public theology requires that one exercises discourse in a way that respects the social limits on the free exercise of religion. It is important that a public theology of rhetoric clarifies the original social agreement for acceptable religious discourse in the public arena. Homiletics, as a dimension of practical theology, can teach preachers methods of pastoral care for public discourse. The social agreement in liberal democracies to contain the combative nature of religious discourse assumes a logic that is circumscribed by commitments to （1） religious pluralism, （2） theological agnosticism, and （3） epistemological pragmatism. Here we propose that a sermon＇s form, which implicitly touches upon these commitments, can tap into the basic modes of persuasion in secular liberal societies. This respects the moral purposes previously agreed upon and expected of partisans during highly contestable times. This calls for incarnational humility on the part of the Christian public theologian and it guides her/his practice.展开更多
Ancient Greece having survived uninterruptedly through centuries, consists an incontestably cultural capital of overriding importance for the global community and especially for Greece itself. Mythical elements usuall...Ancient Greece having survived uninterruptedly through centuries, consists an incontestably cultural capital of overriding importance for the global community and especially for Greece itself. Mythical elements usually become frameworks or structures, in which Greek literary tradition encodes Greek national virtues and promotes nationalistic goals. On the other hand, myth＇s adaptations to different chrono-topes generate diversified cultural reception, adjusted to the era and the audience＇s expectations. The mythical figures are constantly invested in different conceptual schemata, which correspond to the altered way of thinking. Myth is also usually embedded in or underlies fantasy genre, which becomes a vehicle for utterances on women＇s rights. In this paper, we are going to examine closely three ＂fantasy＂ novels for children with mythical intertextual elements： The Fortunate lsles （1989）, Torch （1987）, and Sirena （1998）, whose plot takes place in Greece and we will try to explore： （1） how is Greekness being perceived and presented; and （2） how is female identity being introjected or depicted, in order to find out if the subversive potential of the fantasy genre reworks and rationalizes femininity and Greekness, which have for so long been exploited by the patriarchal or nationalistic status quo.展开更多
Barrington Moore＇s ＂No bourgeoisie, no democracy＂ made democracy a monopoly of the bourgeoisie. Today, this has evolved into Huntington＇s thesis that the middle class has brought with it democracy. Proceeding from...Barrington Moore＇s ＂No bourgeoisie, no democracy＂ made democracy a monopoly of the bourgeoisie. Today, this has evolved into Huntington＇s thesis that the middle class has brought with it democracy. Proceeding from the relationship between the history of the socialist movement and comparative institutional change, we find that democracy has experienced a process of development involving the combination of positive and negative, from its original purpose of realizing majority rule in which everyone is equal to a tool for protecting the property rights of the minority, viz. the bourgeoisie, and thence to a tool for the mass of the people to realize equal rights today. In the course of its development, the main contribution of the bourgeoisie has been constitution-building and elite democracy, while the advent of mass democracy should be attributed to the workers＇ movement with the lower classes as its main force and to the struggles of other non-bourgeois strata. To gain a renewed awareness of the socialist attribute of democracy on the basis of an examination of the historical course of democracy helps us question the universality of a social science shaped by particular experiences.展开更多
文摘Bely＇s Petersburg continues the mythological themes in a series of St. Petersburg stories. In this novel, Bely does not simply adopt Gogol＇s rhetorical techniques, but takes it as the base of symbolism, conforms to symbolism, and eventually makes symbolism a theory of world outlook.
文摘The colonist culture of the imperialism nourished Jim＇s heroic dreams in which the protagonist sees himself as an apotheosis of morality and heroic deeds, but it also isolated him from the reality of the world. As a result, he often finds himself caught in moral dilemmas and ends up making tragic choices. His tragedy indicated that the alluring and illusive myth of the imperialism was bound to fall apart.
文摘Using Sabina J. Mtiller＇s theory of myth, this paper will analyze the deconstruction and revision of myths in The Green Helmet. Irish mythology, as described by M^iller, has in its inheritance a myth of Ireland being personified in an image of a woman, a goddess of the land. This Ireland-as-woman image, as well as Irish heroism and their fighting spirit will be investigated in Yeats＇ drama to show its simplification and to mock its nature. The analysis will also give an insight into the diversified and complex image of the Irish nation.
文摘Living and creating in the tumultuous decades from the 1960s through 1980s, Thomas Pynchon unfalteringly chooses the countercultural and civil rights movements in the United States of that age as the permanent topic of his fiction. It can be seen from Pynchon＇s dramatic, sometimes fantastic narratives about these movements that the failure of the countercultural movements lies in their illusive nature in contrast with the hypocrisy and disproportionate power of the government to destruct these movements, and that the presence of American racial problems results to a great degree from the sloth prevailing over various institutions in American society when dealing with racial inequality and from American white racists＇ desire to eliminate an imagined threat in the face of the minorities. This paper tries to provide a different understanding that Pynchon＇s writing of the marginalized or surrealistic issues in these countercultural and civil rights movements is his strategy to expose the falsehood of American myth of democracy.
文摘Given that preaching is the primary mode of public theological discourse for most Christian ministers, an intellectual virtue of verbal restraint is required when practicing public theology and it is wise to address the ways that homilies can shepherd public discourse practices. A theology of rhetoric includes the homilist＇s moral purpose. Homilies either enhance public discourse or pervert it. This essay sketches a pattern of sermon movement that respects the logic operative in public theology, given the social context of America. Homilies can help cultivate the pastoral care of public rhetoric by modeling discourse that nurtures the politics of accountability. While many call for a public ethos where divergent moral voices engage each other in highly contested arenas, a precondition to practicing effective public theology requires that one exercises discourse in a way that respects the social limits on the free exercise of religion. It is important that a public theology of rhetoric clarifies the original social agreement for acceptable religious discourse in the public arena. Homiletics, as a dimension of practical theology, can teach preachers methods of pastoral care for public discourse. The social agreement in liberal democracies to contain the combative nature of religious discourse assumes a logic that is circumscribed by commitments to （1） religious pluralism, （2） theological agnosticism, and （3） epistemological pragmatism. Here we propose that a sermon＇s form, which implicitly touches upon these commitments, can tap into the basic modes of persuasion in secular liberal societies. This respects the moral purposes previously agreed upon and expected of partisans during highly contestable times. This calls for incarnational humility on the part of the Christian public theologian and it guides her/his practice.
文摘Ancient Greece having survived uninterruptedly through centuries, consists an incontestably cultural capital of overriding importance for the global community and especially for Greece itself. Mythical elements usually become frameworks or structures, in which Greek literary tradition encodes Greek national virtues and promotes nationalistic goals. On the other hand, myth＇s adaptations to different chrono-topes generate diversified cultural reception, adjusted to the era and the audience＇s expectations. The mythical figures are constantly invested in different conceptual schemata, which correspond to the altered way of thinking. Myth is also usually embedded in or underlies fantasy genre, which becomes a vehicle for utterances on women＇s rights. In this paper, we are going to examine closely three ＂fantasy＂ novels for children with mythical intertextual elements： The Fortunate lsles （1989）, Torch （1987）, and Sirena （1998）, whose plot takes place in Greece and we will try to explore： （1） how is Greekness being perceived and presented; and （2） how is female identity being introjected or depicted, in order to find out if the subversive potential of the fantasy genre reworks and rationalizes femininity and Greekness, which have for so long been exploited by the patriarchal or nationalistic status quo.
文摘Barrington Moore＇s ＂No bourgeoisie, no democracy＂ made democracy a monopoly of the bourgeoisie. Today, this has evolved into Huntington＇s thesis that the middle class has brought with it democracy. Proceeding from the relationship between the history of the socialist movement and comparative institutional change, we find that democracy has experienced a process of development involving the combination of positive and negative, from its original purpose of realizing majority rule in which everyone is equal to a tool for protecting the property rights of the minority, viz. the bourgeoisie, and thence to a tool for the mass of the people to realize equal rights today. In the course of its development, the main contribution of the bourgeoisie has been constitution-building and elite democracy, while the advent of mass democracy should be attributed to the workers＇ movement with the lower classes as its main force and to the struggles of other non-bourgeois strata. To gain a renewed awareness of the socialist attribute of democracy on the basis of an examination of the historical course of democracy helps us question the universality of a social science shaped by particular experiences.
