Based on a recent peer-reviewed monograph titled Miedo y caos: Teoría y transformación de los géneros literarios (2024) [Fear and chaos: Theory and transformation of literary genres], this paper introduces a multidisciplinary theoretical framework for analyzing novelistic literary genres grounded in classical traditions and contemporary scientific models, particularly chaos theory and string theory. It mentions the rigidity of prior genre classifications, such as those by Todorov (1970) and structuralists, emphasizing the fluidity and evolution of genres across time and cultural contexts. The text advocates a broader inclusion of non-Western literary traditions.

The proposed "Universal chaotic model" leverages the concept of chaotic attractors to represent genres, treating them as dynamic systems rather than static categories. This model aligns genres with astrophysical and mathematical phenomena, likening their interactions to representations of galaxies and solar systems. It suggests that no genre disappears but instead transforms, evolving through cultural and temporal shifts.

The framework integrates classical philology, cultural anthropology, philosophy, and sociology, underscoring the centrality of chaotic attractors such as Fear as a defined structural literary element. The model aspires to offer a versatile and innovative tool for a global non-synchronic classification and understanding of literary genres.

Un nouvel outil numérique de visualisation est proposé pour l’analyse des textes littéraires dans une perspective comparative, à partir d’une approche novatrice. Il offre une lecture à distance particulière dans la mesure où il ne s’applique ni à une grande masse de données ni à un large corpus de textes à la fois, mais à un seul texte, dont il ne retient que la dimension visuelle, indépendamment de sa mise en page. Cette forme visuelle du texte est façonnée par les paragraphes et les chapitres, qui rythment le texte en fonction de leur longueur respective.

Un logiciel, Narra 2.0, a été développé afin de mesurer ces longueurs textuelles successives et générer un tableau de mesures, donc une suite numérique à partir de laquelle sont produites des données statistiques et, grâce à des algorithmes, des visualisations. Ces dernières montrent ainsi le rythme du texte en fonction de la longueur de ses paragraphes ou de ses chapitres, soit la fréquence des changements – et de locuteurs et de thèmes – dans le texte, une dynamique propre à l’écrit.

Cette méthodologie offre la possibilité de comparer les textes dans le temps (au fil des éditions), dans l’espace (de diverses régions géographiques) et pour un même auteur ou courant littéraire. Elle permet également d’appliquer la méthode éprouvée des atlas – stellaires du XIXe et XXe siècles –, aux recherches comparatives. À titre d’exemple, Un Atlas des spectres de textes littéraires, a confirmé l’existence d’une corrélation entre la longueur des paragraphes et le genre littéraire ou la période d’écriture.

At the turn of the 20th century, thousands of Central Europeans had left their “native realm” and travelled to South Africa – mostly, to escape oppression and discrimination imposed upon them by Central and Eastern European imperial and colonial powers. However, the move from one colonial context to another (i.e. South Africa) did not mean that the colonial ties and relationships that for centuries formed the basis of social, economic, political, and ethnic inequalities in the subjects’ Central European homelands either completely disappeared, or were replaced by a newly discovered sense of solidarity and kinship, or were replaced by new mechanisms of imperial politics (e.g. apartheid). On the contrary, it could be argued that the old forms of colonial entanglement and violence survived and continued to haunt the very subjects in their new environment. The aim of the present paper is thus to address the very transnationalism and longevity of one’s implication in the history of Central European violence, as well as various modes of oppression generated by colonial practices that originated in Central and Eastern Europe. Special attention will be paid to the works of two Central European migrant writers: Dan Jacobson (second-generation South African Jew) and Włodzimierz Ledóchowski (first-generation South African Pole) – especially to the way their writings reveal the on-going implication of (once)Central European / (now)South African subjects in Central European traumatic “bloodlands”, as well as the very migration of traumatic colonial history and memory from the European core to South Africa. Also, the paper will show how their works unearth a potential history of Central European violence (particularly, Polish anti-Semitism) in South African literature.

Facing the global ecological and environmental crisis, literature has made the most direct and critical response creatively. Looking at the literary histories of China and the United States, both William Faulkner and Jia Pingwa have been dedicated to writing about nature and humanistic ecology, exploring the social roots of ecological crises, and seeking solutions to ecological problems for over half a century. Their writings reflect the insights and reflections of the East and the West on ecological civilization, providing typical research texts for systematically studying ecological views in different cultures. Under the guidance of ecological criticism theories from both China and the West, this paper analyzes the characteristics of the two writers’ works in terms of ecological literature themes, ecological images, and ecological thoughts, outlining the similarities and differences in their ecological literary expressions. Furthermore, under the model of mutual interpretation of ecological thoughts between China and the West, and in the context of social history, it differentiates and interprets the “similarities within differences” and “differences within similarities” in their ecological writings, building a bridge for the exchange and communication of ecological thoughts between China and the West, and exploring new paths for mutual recognition and learning of ecological thoughts between the two cultures.