This article seeks to better understand the complexities of Indian educated middle-class women during the Partition period through three Partition novels: Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day (1980), Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines (1988) and Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters (1998). Despite extensive research on women in Partition, there is little focus on the group of educated middle-class women. In mainstream historical and political discourse, these women have consistently been constructed within the official discourse dominated by males. They are either “Mother India,” or the “new woman” to meet the requirements of India’s changing political atmosphere. However, by delving into the particular historical context and personal experience of the educated middle-class women in tree novels, the article argues that they continuously subvert the essentialized identities imposed upon them by different versions of official discourse. As the embodiment of Shakti, they are distinct from the archetypes of “Mother India” and the “new woman.” Instead, they create their ideal family spaces based on their personal cognition, and transcend the homogeneous gender discourse, which reflects the fluid and complex nature of female identity.

This paper offers a comparative reading of two plays, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1949) and Ins Choi's Kim's Convenience (2001). Albert Schultz, the artistic director of Soulpepper, which staged Kim's Convenience, mentioned that the play was reminiscent of the two representative family plays, Death of a Salesman and Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1959). Choi's play is set in a Korean-Canadian immigrant family, and although the play was published more than half a century after Miller's play, these two share many similarities. Both plays explore family conflicts, particularly between parents and children. In each dramatic narrative, one of the two siblings experiences a serious disagreement with their father, which significantly impacts the dissolution or reconciliation of the family. Despite the time gap between the two plays, the mothers in both plays maintain traditional female roles as mediators. The similarities go beyond the domestic dynamics. Both plays simultaneously illustrate the wider social challenges that these families face, directly or indirectly. The patriarchs struggle to survive in an evolving capitalist society. These challenges transcend personal circumstances to contemporary economic, racial, and social issues from different perspectives. While there have been many studies of Death of a Salesman, it has been rare to conduct an in-depth comparative analysis between Miller's play and Kim's Convenience. The study draws connections between these plays and examines their messages for contemporary society.

Abstract: The Bildungsroman Until I Find You by contemporary American writer John Irving unfolds with Jack Burns’ tumultuous journey to uncover the mystery of his father’s prolonged absence. Set against the backdrop of a turbulent society, the narrative depicts the struggles and explorations of an individual in search of the answer to “Who am I?” Jack's twisted family relationships plunge him into a state of self-loss from a young age, and his quest for his father becomes his proactive response to the emotional and identity crises he faces. This journey aids him in rediscovering his true self and reflects Irving's profound contemplation on the relationship between the “self” and “others”— the discovery of the father ("you") is essential to Jack's self-discovery ("I") . The “you” in the novel’s title refers not only to the father Jack has long been looking for but also to the true self he has been pursuing. Through an analysis of Jack’s growth process, it becomes evident that the restoration of one’s true self is not achieved by erasing painful memories but rather by confronting and embracing all experiences, thereby shaping a complete, rich, and authentic self.

Han Kang's novel The Vegetarian explores the ethical dilemmas faced by individuals under the weight of violence, family oppression, and societal norms through the portrayal of two sisters—In-hye, the resilient and burdened older sister, and Yeong-hye, the younger sister who rejects meat and fantasizes about becoming a tree. This paper, drawing upon Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of the Other, investigates how Yeong-hye and In-hye make radically different ethical responses when confronted with the call of the "Face of the Other." Yeong-hye, disturbed by a face in her dream, rejects eating meat and attempts to sever her ties with the violent world by adopting a "vegetarian" lifestyle and aspiring to "become a tree." This plantification is her response to the suppressed call of the "Face," seeking self-transcendence. In contrast, In-hye passively bears the responsibility of "being for the Other." Trapped in infinite responsibility, she becomes, in Levinas’s terms, a victim of the idea that "responsibility precedes freedom." The imagery of "the white bird-mother with two hands" and the black kite flying toward the storm clouds reflects In-hye’s exhaustion and despair as a mother and sister. By reflecting on the symbolic significance of "the bird" and "the tree," this paper further explores the ethical rupture and inner conflict experienced by the two sisters. The imagery of the bird and the tree symbolizes the ethical dilemmas faced by the sisters: In-hye dissolves herself in "being for the Other," while Yeong-hye decays in her plantification. The Face of the Other calls for responsibility, yet its infinite nature leads to the collapse of the subject. The paper examines the irreconcilable tensions and tragic conflicts inherent in ethical responsibility, and, through Levinas's ethical perspective, explores how human beings respond to the suffering of the Other, analyzing the unresolved tension between family, violence, and the burden of responsibility.

This paper examines how F. Scott Fitzgerald adapted Charlie Chaplin’s innovative film techniques in his short story “Pat Hobby and Orson Welles” (1940), demonstrating the profound influence of early film technology on modernist literary practices. Through a close comparative analysis of Chaplin’s Pay Day (1922) and Fitzgerald’s text, this study reveals how film techniques were transformed into literary devices, particularly focusing on doubling and substitution techniques.

The research demonstrates that Fitzgerald deliberately referenced Chaplin’s work, specifically citing a streetcar scene from Pay Day within his story. This explicit connection provides a unique opportunity to examine how film technology offered new narrative possibilities for literature. The study analyzes how Chaplin’s film techniques—including the strategic use of props, choreographed movements, and character substitutions—were ingeniously translated into literary devices by Fitzgerald through carefully constructed parallel scenes, symbolic props, and character doublings.

By tracing how Fitzgerald adapted these film techniques into written form, this paper illuminates the complex intermedial relationship between early film technology and modernist literature. The analysis reveals that Fitzgerald not only borrowed surface-level plot devices but also developed sophisticated literary equivalents for film’s visual language.

This paper examines how Tian Han (China) and Mohan Rakesh (India) reimagined classical playwrights—Guan Hanqing and Kalidasa—to navigate the ideological minefields of 1950s cultural politics. Through textual analysis and historical research, the paper reveals three interlocking dimensions of intellectual negotiation: (1) the protagonists’ artistic struggles within the dramatic texts, representing the conflict between literature/artistic creation and politics; (2)the playwrights’ own dilemmas emerge through production histories, reflecting the existential crises of intellectuals in newly independent nation-states; and (3) the global contexts the writers grappled with, i.e. the ideological tensions between "freedom" and "peace"—key discursive battlegrounds in the US-USSR Cold War cultural rivalry—which profoundly shaped competing visions of literary autonomy and political commitment in their creative praxis. The paper concludes that these plays exemplify a “Southern metadrama” paradigm, which reconfigures classical heritage not as static tradition but as dynamic, contested terrain for postcolonial identity formation. This comparative framework challenges Eurocentric models of intertextuality and offers new methodologies for global South literary studies.

Decision to Leave by Park Chan-wook is a densely literary film, in the sense that it contains multiple layers of rich poetic language. For this Korean film to be accessible to English-speaking audiences, subtitles are essential. However, since the film’s subtitles prioritize the conveyance of meaning, a certain loss of the film’s poetic dimension is inevitable. Based on Walter Benjamin’s translation theory, this article analyses the language and images intertwined within the film by exploring literal translations of Korean into English. Specifically, ‘heart’, a key word that permeates the film, is divided into three modes – doubt, connection, and cut – which relate to three dimensions or states respectively – aerial, liquid, and solid – inextricably linked to the various senses of sight, hearing, smell and touch. Based on these, and after analysing the intermingling of boundaries within the film, its use of poetic language renders its content and images opaque, prompting the audience to actively read its images and languages.

“What, don’t you know that a Pole is ready both for dancing and for the rosary?” (pol. być do tańca i do różańca, said of someone who is both serious and easy-going, depending on the situation) asks one of Gombrowicz’s characters in his famous avant-garde novel exposing the Polish complexes, Trans-Atlantyk (1953). Until his death in 1969, the writer, known for his harsh assessment of the Polish nation, his inclination toward abstract humour and his creativity for neologisms, did not live to see his novels published in the Polish People’s Republic. Nonetheless, thanks to the efforts of Kultura Paryska ran by Jerzy Giedroyć, an émigré paper publishing censored Polish authors, Gombrowicz rose to fame in Western Europe, with his plays staged all over the French capital, accompanied by speculations about his nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

How did an author who based his literary enterprise on criticising Polish ‘martyrologic’ national spirit and mocking the pompous tradition of Polish Romanticism gain such widespread popularity among the French audience? Despite apparent untranslatability of Gombrowicz’s works, given the author’s play with the Polish language, as well as frequent references to Polish heritage and historical context, his most important novels and dramas have been translated into French, and some adapted as theatrical plays, effectively making him a European writer at a time when almost no writers from the ‘Other Europe’ had similar aspirations.

The paper examines Gombrowicz’s success in the Parisian theatre as a case study for debating postnational narration and the cultural mobility of nation-specific literature. It focuses particularly on the role of theatrical adaptations in enabling a global reading of an oeuvre deeply embedded in national heritage. Special attention is given to universalisation of national humour and the challenges of translating it and detaching it from its country of origin. The paper explores how theatrical directors navigate the risk of ‘flattening’ the complexity of nation-specific literature, ensuring that foreign audiences are encouraged to look beyond the play’s universal themes. Ultimately, it is argued that, despite globalisation’s efforts to make nation-specific literature more accessible worldwide, a postnational reading does not diminish meaning but rather multiplies its interpretations.

Today, AI transforms how we produce and engage with knowledge, marking the start of a new epistemological era. What will truth mean when algorithms will govern our understanding of the world? How will society evolve when humans will no longer be the central authority of knowledge production? As Katherine Hayes suggests in “How We Became Posthuman” (1999), this marks the end of the Cartesian cogito, of a vertical epistemic paradigm, centred on the individual as the primary source of knowledge. Yet, as observed by Rosi Braidotti “We should approach our historical contradictions not as some bothersome burden, but rather as the building blocks of a sustainable present and an affirmative and hopeful future, even if this approach requires some drastic changes to our familiar mind-sets and established values” (2019).

In response to Braidotti’s call, this paper argues that literary translation, rather than being rendered obsolete by machine intervention, serves as a fertile space for reimagining epistemology and constructing an “affirmative and hopeful future” in the age of AI.

Focusing on Anne Carson’s creative translation of Catullus’ Poem 101 in NOX (2010) and her metanarrative engagement with the notion of “untranslatability,” this paper examines how Carson challenges the hegemony of Logos in the movement between languages. By foregrounding the inherent instability of meaning and the limits of linguistic transfer, NOX catalyzes a shift toward a horizontal epistemological paradigm—one that embraces dialectical exchange and decentralization in knowledge production. This reconfiguration offers a critical framework for addressing the complexities of the posthuman era, underscoring the transformative potential of translation as a site of epistemic renewal.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries witnessed the popularization and transformation of the culture and literature of electricity in China. This chapter considers hypnosis in The Fantastic Story of Electricity as core to capturing how the technical knowledge of electricity and the literary imagination shaped each other to present the unpredictable culture of electricity in China. In this way, this chapter explores how a translated novel can settle down in the local Chinese context.

The translation and creative writing of The Fantastic Story of Electricity mirrors the epistemological background of electricity in late Qing China. The novel not only reveals that the dissemination and acceptance of electricity in China had to rely on the local cognitive framework, but also shows the complex situation where different knowledge competes and coexists in this process. At the same time, the literary narrative is not entirely passive; it is also constantly responding to, and even shaping, the knowledge system and cultural mechanism of electricity. Through analogies, The Fantastic Story of Electricity participates in the construction of a network of mediums around electricity and interprets it as a channel for affective expression, redemption, and fulfilment. This allows electricity to go beyond scientific and material phenomena and become an important medium for literary and ideological ideas. At the same time, the commentaries of novel also reveals its full self-awareness in taking up the role of ideological and philosophical expression.

In short, through translation, creation, and commentaries, The Fantastic Story of Electricity guides readers to think about how knowledge is disseminated and how it is intertwined with the cultural imagination, resulting in new understandings and interpretations of technology. In fact, then, this novel is not only a translation of a literary work, but also a presentation of the cultural history of electricity and the creative cultural responses that China has produced in this history.

The fluid relationship between natural philosophy and theology was deeply embedded within the knowledge systems of the late 16th and 17th centuries. The Moon, as a celestial body beyond earthly bounds, provided a fertile ground for literary explorations of rational thought during this period. As a pioneer of European science fiction, Godwin authored 《The Man in the Moone》, the first lunar travel narrative in the English literary tradition. Inspired by Godwin, Cyrano crafted 《Histoire comique des États et Empires de la Lune》, the first and perhaps most satirical lunar utopian novel in French literature. Building upon the knowledge framework inherited from the Renaissance, both authors engaged with emerging cosmological discussions to narrate ascension journeys that implicitly addressed theological purposes. Through the depiction of a morally idealized orderly society and a godless inversion of terrestrial norms, the two works chart distinct intellectual trajectories of 17th-century modernity: one rooted in an empiricist technological pathway, the other embracing a godless materialist relativism.

This proposal explores the relation between fiction and knowledge in the work of Brazilian poet João Cabral de Melo Neto. A forerunner of Brazilian post-modernism, Cabral voiced a "psychology of composition" - title of one of his books of verse, in dialogue with Poe - centered around reason and order, rather than inspiration and imagination.

For example, In Cabral's rather personal account of the myth of Amphyon, founder of Thebes - a theme he took from Paul Valéry's play -, the hero does not strike his lyre purposefully and watch as the stones move by magic. He instead travels the desert in search of silence and stillness, a landscape that matches his interior search for asceticism. Yet, by Chance, his lyre sounds and a city rises from the air. Within its walls, the hero laments his involuntary creation and longs for the lost purity of the desert. He then throws his instrument to the ocean in disappointment, closing the poem with a gesture that has been understood by many as a confession of the insufficiency of poetry as a mean of representing reality.

His next book, "The dog without feather", is the first of a series of long dramatic poems about the Capibaribe river and the peoples that live along its course, battling the arid conditions of Brazil's north-east and the social exploration that marks the region until today. The image of a "dog without feather" is explained to be that of an animal from which everything was taken, even what he does not have. In a second sense, "without feather" works as a negation of ornament and conspicuousness in the object represented - the Brazilian title brings "plumes" instead of "feather", which further conveys notions of lightness, rarity and beauty. The dog without feather is the dog "as it is", with no lyrical excesses that either cover it up or drift it away from truth.

This kind of historical dramatic poetry, at the same time sophisticated in its use of language but claiming for itself a documentary relation to social reality, found enormous success and cemented João Cabral as arguably the most important poet of his generation. Such success is an indication of how deeply rooted a notion of fiction as knowledge of the "otherness within" is in our cultural system.

What I'd like to bring to discussion is: at what cost can fiction be considered knowledge? What constraints - conceptual and actual - have been made to fiction in our literary tradition in order to make it work as an indispensable mean of knowledge of our social reality? Part of the answer, I believe, can be found in the trajectory of João Cabral de Melo Neto and in the development of his self-proclaimed rationalistic, "anti-lyrical" poetry. His disenfranchisement of lyrical poetry - and, in the same gesture, his attempt to rehabilitate it in a different conceptual basis - helps us understand the intricate relations between reason, referentiality and the elusive nature of human language, as well as our attempts to control it.

William Gibson is renowned for pioneering cyberpunk fiction. In his most famous novel, Neuromancer, he initiated the imagination of the virtualization of the physical world by projecting human consciousness into cyberspace, presenting a narrative of individual resistance against capitalist thought and logic in a visually dominant space. Although cyberpunk has become a key element and topic in science fiction, Gibson continues to explore new narrative potentials for the genre. In his 2014 novel The Peripheral, Gibson integrates elements of gaming and time travel, creating an intersection between two future timelines through cyberspace. The protagonist in the first timeline is unaware that quantum tunneling technology allows people from different timelines to communicate through consciousness. When she accesses another timeline via a computer screen, she mistakenly believes that the second timeline’s world is merely a game space. Upon realizing that it is, in fact, a distant future world, her consciousness is connected to a peripheral — a robotic avatar — by the people of that future timeline, enabling her to experience time travel and explore the future world in a quasi-physical form. In this novel, Gibson reconstructs cyberpunk narratives by shifting the focus from spatial narratives to cyber-time-space narratives. He presents this cyber-time-space in a game-like manner, which also reflects the virtualization of physical time and space through visually dominant technology. This reflects the phenomenon of the “perceptual machine” described by Joanna Zylinska. In her book The Perception Machine, Zylinska argues that such a machine is an assemblage composed of technological, corporeal, and social dimensions. Her choice of the term “perception” over “vision” highlights that perception is not derived from fixed, unchanging factors but rather from dynamic interrelations of various factors.The perceptual framework imagined in The Peripheral visualizes time and space, generating a new kind of perception machine. This perception machine integrates all sensory perceptions into a visually driven experience through the structure of a game.

The Grapes of Wrath is a masterpiece by John Steinbeck created during the Great Depression, with the westward journey of the Joad family as its main story, supplemented by interchapters that show the profound impact of the drought in Oklahoma on local farmers. This paper analyzes the narrative situations in this novel, especially the use of shifts in narrators and focalization. Steinbeck skillfully switches perspectives between close-ups of the individual experiences of the Joad family and a broader panorama of social tragedy, using zero focalization to narrate the specific stories of the Joad family, while in the interchapters, he employs a montage technique akin to film editing, seamlessly shifting between intradiegetic and extradiegetic narrators to change focalization, which breaks down two barriers: the intradiegetic narrator’s vision barrier and the extradiegetic narrator’s psychological distance barrier, thus providing a panoramic observation of the effects of the Great Depression. The narrative situation he constructs and “free direct speech” he adopts not only enhance the authenticity of the story but also allow readers to deeply experience different narrative perspectives and understand the real sufferings of a variety of representative characters. Steinbeck’s innovative narrative mode has left an indelible mark on American literature, showcasing the enduring spirit of human struggle in the face of hardship.

Languages and writing systems have evolved for various purposes globally. More than two hundred scripts have been used in human writing systems, each containing symbols that represent phonemes. For example, the English language has 44 phonemes represented by 26 letters in its alphabet. This research explores the impact of climate conditions on the number of symbols in global writing systems. The study classifies Earth's climate according to the Köppen Climate Classification, known for its comprehensive categorization of global climate zones. This paper aims to identify a significant correlation between climate conditions and script characteristics. For instance, writing systems in arid regions tend to contain fewer than 40 symbols, whereas those in tropical regions tend to have more than 40 symbols. In temperate climatic zones, writing systems with fewer and more than 40 symbols have evolved equally. This influence of local climate is not observed in scripts that originated after the eighteenth century. The industrial revolution and European colonization have distanced people worldwide from their natural surroundings and local historical cultures, both of which had evolved over millennia. This detachment has disrupted many of the subtle and profound connections that earlier human-nature relationships once maintained. This paper employs both qualitative and quantitative methods.

This study conducts a multidimensional comparative analysis of Plato’s Symposium and Zhuangzi’s Zhuangzi, focusing on their aesthetic philosophies and cultural implications. Through textual exegesis, historical contextualization, and theoretical frameworks rooted in Platonic idealism and Daoist naturalism, the research systematically examines three core questions: (1) Divergence and Convergence in Aesthetic Ideals: While Plato’s theory of eternal "Forms" prioritizes rational transcendence and hierarchical beauty, Zhuangzi’s "Dao" emphasizes intuitive harmony with nature and inner tranquility. Despite differing epistemologies, both philosophies converge on the pursuit of spiritual liberation through aesthetic contemplation. (2) Philosophical Influence on Artistic Expression: The dialogic structure of Symposium shaped classical Greek art’s emphasis on proportional harmony and rational ideals, as seen in sculpture and drama. Conversely, Zhuangzi’s parables and concepts like Xiaoyao You (Free Wandering) inspired Chinese literati arts—landscape painting, calligraphy, and poetry—to prioritize symbolic resonance and natural spontaneity. (3) Civilizational Mutual Learning in Practice: Applying the theory of cultural mutual learning, this study proposes pathways for integrating Western rational aesthetics with Eastern intuitive traditions, such as cross-cultural symposia, translational projects, and interdisciplinary dialogues. By identifying shared ethical aspirations (e.g., harmony and self-cultivation) while respecting cultural particularities, the findings advocate for a pluralistic global aesthetic discourse that bridges civilizational divides. This research not only enriches comparative literary studies but also offers actionable insights for fostering intercultural empathy and sustaining cultural diversity in a globalized world.

Abstract

W. B. Yeats’s and Sri Aurobindo’s visionary experiments transcended their creativity, inspired unquenchable mystic knowledge of spiritual world, with distinctive Celtic religious and personal consciousness that appeared immensely mystic consciousness. Yeats undoubtedly developed personal consciousness as indeterminate mythic consciousness. Yeats’s mythic muse is driven by primordial instincts, primitive aspirations for universal truths of myths that undoubtedly mythopoeia in modern mythology. Yeats mythic consciousness is characteristically transcended his self and soul on his own terms of the system. Yeats’s mythic muse is inspired from deep conscious, passionate, earthly, and surrealistic. Yeats’s creative consciousness appeared deeply apologetic and immense grief. Yeats has seen the world as disintegrating and crumbling, where he strived to rebuild world by his inner self and unity of being. Sri Aurobindo’s creative journey and yogic Sadhana are complimentary to spiritual thirst

and spiritual recurrent archetypes in Indian Vedic tradition. Sri Aurobindo raised the spiritual base for ascetic psyche and ascent and descent philosophy. Yeats’s search for unity of being in mythical poetry forms the world view while Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual paradigms behind Hindu myths provide wider canvas for mythic poetry. Yeats’s strenuous efforts appeared revival of racial imagination and conscience shaping. Yeats’s mythic and abstract consciousness can be situated on mythic truth, wisdom and wisdom of God. Yeats earnestly wished to embed the Homeric truth in Irish conscience. Sri Aurobindo’s mythical paradigms have semiotic and empirical significance and substance of archetypes. The spirit of the myth addresses the metaphorical and metaphysical significations. The mythical truth appeared spiritualized through glorious hue to the myths and legends. The spirit of the myth that addresses the human mind based on the similarity of the spirit empirically that conveys the mythic truth. The sage poet’s mythic truth defines the glorious national character of the visionary, religious and spiritual truth until linked with Divine. Yeats has scaled in his superhuman efforts throughout his life to create myths and mythopoeia from abstract to concrete. The spiritual illumination rendered archetypes yielded to him through methodological visions and yogic achievements. The visions and imageries revealed consciousness awakening as progress appeared concrete in yogic achievements and mental planes that undoubtedly provided him patterns for mystical poetry and visionary worlds. The overhead consciousness is manifested to lift the spirit to Truth Consciousness in the form of Savitri. The spiritual development is empirical, holistic and awakening of distant knowledge that is All-pervading. As a sage poet his poetic aesthetic deals with inspired Mantra poetry that bears the visionary planes and images that are charged with significance. His vision behind the awakening is unitary, esoteric, that recognizes the Divine webs and Divine consciousness in illuminating and transforming selves.

Key Words : Discursive and Harmonious myths and renaissance

This paper delves into the distinct yet interconnected themes of adventure and spirituality in travel narratives. It examines and explores how cultural, historical, and religious contexts influence the portrayal of travel experiences from the west and the east by examining Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard and Karna Shakya's Dolpo. The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the narrative styles, thematic elements, and cultural reflections in the west and the east. The methodology involves a qualitative analysis of the selected texts, focusing on recurring themes, narrative techniques, and cultural references. The study employs a comparative approach to draw meaningful conclusions about the similarities and differences between these two travel narratives. For this, I utilize Joseph Campbell's concept of the hero's journey to examine the protagonists' quests for self-discovery and transformation; Mircea Eliade's theory of the sacred and the profane to explore the spiritual dimensions of the journeys; and Edward Said's concept of Orientalism to analyze the portrayal and perception of Western and Eastern perspectives on travel and spirituality for the textual analysis and interpretation. Both narratives, however, share a common thread of self-discovery and personal growth through travel. This comparative analysis offers unique insights into their respective cultures and worldviews. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of how travel writing can serve as a bridge between different cultures, fostering greater appreciation and empathy among readers.

This study compares the themes of death and rebirth in Jibanananda Das’s Rupasi Bangla (1957) and Louise Glück’s The Wild Iris (1992), focusing on their use of nature as both a metaphor and medium for existential reflection. Das, deeply influenced by Bengali spiritual traditions, presents death as a peaceful return to the cosmic cycles of nature and rebirth as a continuation of cultural and collective identity. His portrayal of Bengal’s rural landscapes encapsulates a harmonious relationship between humanity and the eternal rhythms of nature. In contrast, Glück, drawing on Western existentialism, explores mortality and renewal through the transient cycles of a garden, emphasizing individual resilience and transformation.

While Das’s work reflects communal and cosmic perspectives rooted in Hindu-Buddhist philosophies, Glück’s poetry centers on personal introspection and the solitary confrontation with mortality. Despite their cultural and philosophical differences, both poets use nature to reveal universal truths about life’s cyclicality. This research highlights the shared human experience of death and renewal, demonstrating how literature transcends cultural boundaries to engage with existential themes of continuity, resilience, and hope.

This paper analyzes the adaptation of Samaresh Basu’s Uratiya into Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s film Uttara using Gérard Genette’s theory of hypertextuality. Uratiya’s symbolic narrative of jealousy and sexual tension is reimagined in Uttara with new subplots, characters, and sociopolitical themes, reflecting contemporary Indian realities. Through qualitative analysis, the study examines how Uttara preserves the essence of Uratiya while re-contextualizing it as a hypertext, addressing themes like religious violence and cultural hegemony. This research highlights hypertextuality’s role in transforming narratives to bridge past and present discourses, enriching their cultural and political relevance.

Close reading has evolved into a ubiquitous yet ambiguous method of literary study, and its emergence necessitates reevaluation. Rather than assuming close reading as a clearly defined entity, it is more pertinent to examine its current state as a phenomenon. One of the crucial reasons for the enduring presence of close reading is its applicability across all literary genres. The New Criticism focused on poetry during the primary developing period of close reading, but later, the novel became its main object of study. This transition in genres is closely linked to the development of media technology in the mid-20th century, accompanied by the rise of the modern novel and the formation of a selective canon. Starting with Percy Lubbock's The Craft of Fiction, there emerged an idea of accurately articulating the reading process, distancing itself from the entertainment-oriented approach to novel reading, and transforming reading from a passive state into one with a resistant aspect. The New Criticism coined a series of terms but did not turn close reading into rigid rules, maintaining its ambiguity. Close reading has consistently sought a balance between intuition and craft. The transformation in reading practices is part of the modernist turn against the populism of literary art, helping to establish the profession of literary critics in universities and enabling more readers to engage in textual interpretation, rather than limiting this authority solely to a select few.

This study delves into the universe of sijo, classical Korean chant poetry, through a formal and thematic analysis of the anthological work “Sijô: Poesiacanto Coreana Clássica”, the only sijo compendium translated into Brazilian Portuguese by Yun Jung In and Alberto Marsicano in 1994. The research explores the origin of sijo, its recurring themes and examines its musical aspect and graphic layout. Based on the compilation by Yun Jung Im and Alberto Marsicano, the work seeks to uncover the most important characteristics of this poetic genre, revealing its beauty and cultural richness. In this case, the translation of the work in question plays a crucial role as a tool of intertextuality. By introducing sijo to the Brazilian public, the translation opens doors to cultural dialogue and to the formation of cultural identities of chant poetry in Brazil. Therefore, this work also seeks to examine, through an intertextual-cultural analysis, how the translation of sijo can inspire new translators to venture into this poetic genre. The theoretical basis will be Kristeva (1974) on intertextuality and translation as an intertextual process; Bakhtin (2003) on translation as dialogue; Bassnett (2002) on the role of translation in fostering intercultural dialogue involving peripheral cultures; and Venuti (1998) on the formation of cultural identities. At the end of the research, we hope to be able to affirm that, by having access to concrete, high-quality examples, Brazilian translators can be inspired by the forms and techniques of sijo, expanding the range of poetic possibilities in our language and that the translation of sijo contributes to expanding knowledge about Korean culture, stimulating intercultural dialog and opening the way to new poetic creations.

Toward the end of her recently published Eloge de la traduction, protesting in typically rebellious mode against the inhumanity of the migrant camps in Calais, the distinguished French Hellenist, philologist, and theorist of the ‘untranslatable’, Barbara Cassin, reflects on the deeply apposite word ‘entre’ in French, split as it is between the prepositional Latin root inter-, -- thus pivotal to any thinking of difference and translation, or of any interval between two -- and as an imperative form of the verb entrer (to enter); in the context of migration and the refugee crisis, it becomes thus for her the most hospitable word on the border separating insider from outsider, while at the same time figuring translation at the heart of the deeply ambivalent nature of hospitality.

Somewhat surprisingly, readers of Tony Hillerman’s extraordinary Diné/Navajo crime novels have never paid attention to the fascinating role that translation, more often untranslatability, plays in many of them. This often comes at quite pivotal moments in the plot and is crucial to the process of interpreting and reading, both metaphorically and literally, as the two central characters and tribal policemen, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, set out to solve the most puzzling and seemingly impenetrable of crimes, in the time-honoured mode of detection as decryption.

As well as thrilling and compelling story-telling, I see Hillerman’s novels as culturally significant in their treatment of the complex question of communicability between contemporary Native American communities (principally Diné, Hopi and Zuni), and their richly diverse language, myths, spiritual beliefs and ceremonies (notably what can or cannot be spoken about), and the non-Native world that surrounds them. The novels also dramatize the forms of protest available to these communities in the context of the longer devastating history of American colonial oppression and cultural eradication. I will focus my own reading on two such ‘scenes of translation’, from Talking God (1989) and Coyote Waits (1990), arguing that alongside translation and untranslatability, the shape-shifting figure of anamorphosis is mobilised to powerful and telling narrative effect by Hillerman.

References

Barbara Cassin, Vocabulaire européen des philosophies : Dictionnaire des intraduisibles : Paris : Seuil/Le Robert, 2004. [English translation, Emily Apter et al eds, Dictionary of Untranslatables, Princeton University Press, 2014).

Barbara Cassin, Eloge de la traduction [In praise of Translation]. Paris : Fayard, 2016.

Tony HIllerman, Talking God. New York: Harper Collins, 1989.

Tony Hillerman, Coyote Waits. New York: Harper Collins, 1990.

The Book of Changes is the oldest and most profound classic in China. It is philosophical and literary, concise and implicit in language, and has three connotations of words, images and meanings. The hexagrams and lines are full of vivid interpretation images. Since the 17th century, the Book of Changes has been translated and introduced to Europe, and has been widely spread. According to the currently available references, Portuguese Jesuit Álvaro de Semedo was a pioneer in introducing the Book of Changes to the West. Although his understanding was not very deep, he laid the foundation for cultural exchange between China and the West. Subsequently, many missionaries, Sinologists, and scholars from the Portuguese-speaking world began to translate and study the Book of Changes, breaking through religious barriers and exerting a sustained and widespread influence in Portuguese-speaking regions. From the translation of the famous contemporary Portuguese sinologist Joaquim A. de Guerra, it can be seen that he is committed to cultural communication between China and Portugal, integrating the understanding and interpretation of the translated texts by Chinese and Western scholars, paying attention to the relationship between The Self and the Other, exploring the richness of culture, and making his cultural communication between China and Portugal have distinct cultural interpretation characteristics. Although there are still areas for debate regarding Joaquim Guerra’s translation methods and techniques, given his understanding of Chinese philosophical thought, his translated interpretations can help Portuguese readers understand the culture and wisdom of the Chinese nation, and also influence the creations of Portuguese linguists. Through the analysis of the novel Ovelhas Negras of Caio Fernando Abreu and the poetry collections O Sol, a Lua e a Via do Fio de Seda: Uma leitura do Yi Jing of Fernanda Dias, Para ter onde ir of Max Martins, and O Ex-estranho of Paulo Leminski, it can be seen that the symbolism and the dialectical unity of “yin” and “yang” in the Book of Changes have resonated emotionally with Portuguese-speaking writers. From creative conception to expression techniques, from content form to language style, all reflect the literary and artistic elements of the Book of Changes in the Portuguese-speaking world.

Comparing eastern and western literary works, we examine varied forms of technologies in relation to society and politics. Through the lens of Socrates’ and Heidegger’s concept of “techne” and Taoists’ “Jixin”, our group investigate technology’s potential for revolution and corruption. Encompassing works from Victorian Britain, Ireland, China, and Singapore, our four studies focus on the complicated interrogation of technologies in the literary narratives and cultural imagination. The panel starts with a study of The Invisible Man (1897) by H.G. Wells, a Victorian prototypical sci-fi. Drawing on the alienation critique by Karl Marx and Rahel Jaeggi, this interdisciplinary study of literature and philosophy explores the motif of alienation as a loss of command caused by capitalization on knowledge and power. This foreshadows a more unsettling moral dilemma in Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones (2016), where the posthumous protagonist-narrator recalls his family’s various reactions to the power oppression from politicians with different priorities. This study explores how postmodern and artistic narratives are employed as literary techniques to navigate through the moral dilemma by integrating technology with humanitarianism. Then the panel continues with the analysis of a contemporary Chinese novel, The Seventh Day (2013) by Yu Hua, which examines how misfortunes come into being in the lives of the characters, deeply entangled in the dialectic between technology and power. It argues that this novel warns against imprudent wielding of power with technology in modern society, a reminder of prudent choices in individuals. The panel concludes with The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia (2017-) by Ho Tzu Nyen. It explores how technology potentially expands aesthetic elements, employing virtual reality tech to immerse the audience in the experience of distorted history. By extending the technological canon as an artistic medium, he allows for imaginative explorations of a world free from the constraints of power dynamics. Comparing these narratives and works, we aim at uncovering how technology provides the source of power for individuals, how it enmeshes citizens in moral dilemmas of modern society, how it breeds misfortunes and manipulates the ruled once deployed by the ruling, how it embodies resistance against a society already governed by a system armed with technology. Considering the bold representation of the dialectic between technology and power in these literary and art works, we propose that literature, being “techne”/ “technique” per se, at once functions as a critical force, a resistance point, and a remedy to the technologies in the technologized society (polis). Therefore, our group read literature as an “alternative technology” and methodology (“art”/techne) that reflects the technological progression and resists moral “regression” within the framework of systematic power, governance, and socio-political-technical relations.

Contemporary African American science fiction writers have produced remarkable works that engage deeply with issues of race, identity, and the implications of technological progress. By examining these narratives, this paper explores how these authors envision utopian futures and how their work reflects both the promise and the dangers of technology, particularly in relation to race and social justice. Reading The Intuitionist, in which the elevator is the central image, from the perspective of criticism of technology, this paper finds that African American writer Colson Whitehead reveals the ills of modernity lurking behind technological development and also criticizes technology’s collusion with racism. Futher, as a way to deal with the maladies of modernity and racism, the novel imagines a better future brought about by African Americans’ voodoo technology of intuition. Despite of its inherent paradoxes, Whitehead’s construction of utopia demonstrates the contemporary inheritance of afrofuturism, which explores the intersection of African culture with technology. In this sense, Whitehead's The Intuitionist offers critical insights into the intersection of race, technology, and power, providing a distinctive contribution to the ongoing discourse on fiction of technology.

Popular environmental discourse often employs compelling metaphors such as "Spaceship Earth," which is one of the most influential. Since emerging as a key concept in the 1960s, this metaphor continues to shape perceptions of the planet. However, today's average meaning of the expression has evolved significantly from its initial conception. The phrase originated from various sources and gained popularity through mentions in the works of prominent intellectuals. Among them, R. Buckminster Fuller is credited with introducing the comparison of Earth to a spaceship. Fuller's interpretation was characterized by futuristic optimism, emphasizing harmonious global unity. Later, economists Barbara Ward and Kenneth E. Boulding adapted the metaphor, infusing it with a more urgent and critical tone in the context of economic challenges. Their reinterpretation reflected the contemporary enthusiasm toward the US-USSR Space Race and the global anxieties of the 1960s shaped by the Cold War.

Given this background, this paper explores the semantic shifts of "Spaceship Earth" through a rhetorical analysis of the writings of Fuller, Ward, and Boulding, situating their rhetorical strategies within the sociopolitical climate of the time. It seeks to uncover why the metaphor had to be redefined in this era and evaluates its subsequent influence on today’s environmental discourse and societal perspectives.

The Noise of Time "is a fictional writing based on the experiences of the famous Soviet musician Shostakovich, who served as the protagonist. It is referred to as a" fictional biographical novel "by critics. Author Julian Barnes is adept at handling the relationship between reality and fiction, using spatial narrative to write about what truly interests him deep down. The Noise of Time presents diverse spatial features in the narrative of the novel: a circular structure is used in the spatial generation of the text structure; Using the technique of juxtaposing places in the spatial construction of historical writing; Presenting an image of a 'brave coward' in the spatial shaping of character images. The novel uses spatial narrative to present the power status and oppression of people's living conditions in the former Soviet Union through profound reflection on history.

The "Condition of England Question," proposed by Romantic historian Thomas Carlyle, addresses the consequences and costs of the Industrial Revolution in Britain. The competition between the great powers of Britain and France, embodied by the Napoleonic Wars, catalyzed significant technological revolutions, such as innovations in naval artillery, military medicine, and industrial technology. However, the benefits of these technological advances and the emerging industrial civilization were not evenly distributed, and the condition of British workers and the lower classes became increasingly dire. Charles Dickens’ "Condition of England" novels focus on the issue of the New Poor Law and, through sharp satire, expose the inhumane conditions of workhouses and the suffering of impoverished children, gaining the attention of Queen Victoria.

Dickens also critiques the flaws of equity law, as explored in Bleak House, where he investigates the inefficiency and dysfunction of the judicial system. A Tale of Two Cities directly inherits Carlyle's spirit from The French Revolution, warning both the rulers and the people of Britain about the dangers of social collapse, as exemplified by the terror and upheaval during the French Revolution. Dickens’ works carry a profound critique of social institutions and the impact of technological revolution, urging a moral and ethical reevaluation of the relationship between technology, society, and politics, while resisting the moral regression of Victorian society.

Through his interactions with Lord John Russell, then Prime Minister, and Queen Victoria, Dickens made clear his advocacy for the interests of the lower classes, addressing these concerns to the British elite. His "Condition of England" novels, with their detailed social portrayal and critique of the generational consequences of technological revolution, offer valuable literary insights into the social structure and technological progress of the Victorian era. Dickens' reflections on the technological revolution in Victorian Britain contribute to an understanding of technological morality and ethics from a literary perspective and help trace the cyclical patterns of progress and decline in the history of ideas.

This is a holding request for a multi-person panel, the ICLA Theory Research Committee

"Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man" is an aesthetic treatise by Schiller, revised from his earlier "Correspondence" with the Duke of Augustenburg, in which the adoption of the epistolary style is particularly worthy of deep consideration. In both the "Correspondence" and the "Letters," Schiller elevates the epistolary form as the highest ideal of a "beautiful style," and through this form conveys a practical path that diverges from rationalist and systematic philosophical writing. Even so, compared to the "Correspondence," the use of the epistolary form in the "Letters" is somewhat weakened. The subtle revisions from the "Correspondence" to the "Letters" suggest differences in their intended audience and political intentions. For Schiller, form is not merely a vehicle and intermediary of expression but is also an intrinsic constitutive element of thought. The isomorphic relationship among beautiful style, complete humanity, and a free polity reveals the potential of stylistic form in shaping ideal humanity, ultimately pointing toward his practical approach to aesthetic education.

This study examines the often overlooked impact of Mao Tse-tung on Raymond Williams’ theoretical framework. Utilizing Raymond Williams’ seminal work, Marxism and Literature, in conjunction with Mao Tse-tung’s On Literature and Art, the study delves into their mutual influence on the function, definition, and implementation of committed writing. The analysis focuses on how Williams, drawing inspiration from Mao Zedong’s literary thought, scrutinized the intricate interplay between literature and society, as well as aesthetics and politics. Furthermore, the paper investigates how Williams incorporated Mao’s concept of “integration” into his construction of the path for writers committed to championing the cause of the working class and the underprivileged. Ultimately, the study probes into the myriad factors that influenced Williams’ reception and adaptation of Mao’s ideas, ranging from his familial background and the historical and political zeitgeist of his era to his persistent research interests.