Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons^™

A New Nature Is Coming. We Will Be Repossessed, And The Spectres Of The Post-Natural Will Take The World. Predictions Of A New Symbiotic Earth In "Fafner" (2018) By Daniel Perez Navarro, Miguel Angel Albújar-Escuredo

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

This paper engages in the debates about decentralizing the role of men in the world we live in. Byproducts of this new mindset are concepts such as the “Posthuman” (Braidotti 2012); the status of “Holobiont” (Haraway 2016), and the experiencing of a new “Coexistence” with the non-human (Morton 2018). I suggest the novel Fafner (2018) as a perfect sample of this intellectual debate from an artistic and fictional view. Using concepts from diverse fields of thinking and applying them to literary analysis, this paper will review the in-depth transformation of nature portrayed by Fafner’s narration. Additionally, it will accomplish …

Learning Chinese Vocabulary: Understanding Students' Perspectives, Austin Gasiecki, Zuotang Zhang

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This study used a survey to investigate self-study and university-enrolled Chinese learners’ habits in studying Chinese vocabulary in order to determine what study methods influence a.) learners’ confidence in learning Chinese vocabulary and b.) what aspects of Chinese vocabulary they consider easy or difficult. We were particularly interested in seeing what the data had to say about students’ attitudes towards characters and the written language, given that the field of Chinese language pedagogy is known for a stronger focus on the written language as opposed to the spoken language. We found that aspects of Chinese vocabulary associated with the spoken …

Between Pain And Glory: Memory Disputes Of The Brazilian Dictatorship In Retrato Calado And O Que É Isso, Companheiro?, Angela R. Mooney

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This article analyzes Luiz Roberto Salinas Fortes’ Retrato calado (Silent Portrait) published in 1988, considering the theoretical discussions on testimonio's epistemology—addressing the challenge of narrating trauma and the risk of stylization. It compares Fortes' memoir with Fernando Gabeira's O que é isso, companheiro? (What's This, Comrade?) from 1979, examining diverse approaches to capturing historical trauma through literature and its impact on collective memory about Brazilian Dictatorship (1964-1985).

Decolonizing French: Afrophonics In Ken Bugul’S Aller Et Retour (2013), Hapsatou Wane

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This article explores the innovative language strategies employed by Senegalese writer Ken Bugul in her novel Aller et retour to construct a dynamic and interconnected linguistic landscape that challenges fixed language boundaries. Ken Bugul's "langue fabriquée" combines elements of French, Wolof, and English, reflecting a transglocal dimension that embodies the essence of afrophonics—a poetics of resistance that empowers local cultures in a globalized context. Through a detailed analysis of Ken Bugul's linguistic choices, including the use of quotation marks, footnotes, and arbitrary transcription, the study reveals how she creates a language that defies categorization and decolonizes French without resorting to …

Goats Die, Butterflies Fly: Portrayals Of Dominican Dictator Rafael Trujillo (1891–1961) In Historical Fiction And Non-Fiction, Jocelyn R. Brown

Ramifications

The dictator novel has become a staple of Latin American literature in the 20th century. As the intersection of art, culture, and politics, these novels are interested in painting intimate pictures of their dictator to examine the psychology of power and the lure of authoritarianism. This project focuses on analyzing the the rise and fall of Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina (1891–1961) through literary lenses. This project compares the ways in which Trujillo and his regime (El Trujillato) are portrayed in both non-fiction and historical fiction. Trujillo was an excellent storyteller, known for his cult of personality …

“Foreign Soundingness” And Code-Switching Instead Of Translation: An Examination Of A Marketing Strategy In Contemporary Latino/A Music., Nerisha De Nil Padilla Cruz

Living in Languages

The focus of this investigation is to analyze the concept of “foreign soundingness” used by David Bellos in his essay “Fictions of the Foreign the Paradox of “Foreign-Soundingness” in the Latino/a music context. Specifically, it is interesting to see how code-switching between English and Spanish in certain songs can be used to connect with the US Latino/a community, but also be a “foreign soundingness” for the audience outside of the mainland. Additionally, I argue that due to the increase in the bilingual populace around the world, it is not necessary for contemporary artists to translate their music to a specific …

La Radical Imperfección Del Mundo: El Crimen Perfecto De Jean Baudrillard Y El Crimen Ferpecto De Alex De La Iglesia, Maria A. Gomez

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

Le parfait crime (1995) by Jean Baudrillard and Crimen ferpecto (2004) by the Basque director Alex de la Iglesia are two works that not only have in common almost identical titles. They both reflect on how in consumer societies, an imperfect real world is substituted for an illusory hyperreality in which the distinction between subject and object has disappeared. While Baudrillard explains how the denial of a transcendent reality in contemporary society is “a perfect crime” that destroys the real, Alex de la Iglesia uses black humor and a mix of genres (mainly grotesque comedy and thriller) to show the …

De Médée À La Sorcière : Reconstruction D’Un Mythe Par Michelet, Caroline Strobbe

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

In La Sorcière, Jules Michelet uses the strength and the myth of the Medea character, which had already fascinated Corneille. In the second part of his work, Michelet creates nominative witches after authentic texts. In the first part, he creates an allegoric witch on the Medea model: the Woman, a victim of arbitrariness, injustice and repression, rises up against her oppressors, figuring the march of Humanity towards Enlightenment and Liberty. The analogies between the Witch and Medea are therefore numerous and necessary, since they help to render the defense of the oppressed against the oppressor. Would the somber Medea, …

Communicating With The Past Via Javier Cercas’ Las Leyes De La Frontera, Bobby D. Nixon

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

Cercas’ protagonist, Gafitas, narrates his memories of being a member of "el Zarco's" youth gang in the barrio chino of Girona during the summer of 1978, from the vantage point of the early 2000s. The novel is simultaneously viewed through the intertextual lens of José Antonio de la Loma’s cycle of quinqui films based on the life of the famous Catalan delinquent, El Vaquilla, Juan José Moreno Cuenca. There is renewed interest in these films from the Transition period of the late 1970s and early 1980s, with the success of this novel and director Daniel Monzón's film based on Cercas’ …

Decolonizing The Metropole: The Born-Translated Works Of Najat El Hachmi And Agnès Agboton As Literary Activism, Anna C. Tybinko

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

This article compares Agnès Agboton’s memoirs Más allá del mar de arena: Una mujer africana en España (‘Beyond the Sea of Sand: An African Woman in Spain,’ 2005) to Najat El Hachmi’s novel, La filla estrangera (‘The Foreign Daughter,’ 2015) to illustrate how these seemingly dissimilar works serve to make space for their author’s first languages in peninsular letters. Applying Rebecca Walkowitz’s conception of born-translated literature to the case of these Spanish and Catalan texts, it argues that the migratory tales of these two women writers constitute a contribution to the Global Hispanaphone. This rubric is typically conceived of as …

Pensar El Límite: El Símbolo Indígena En Los Proyectos Políticos Cubanos De Principios Del Siglo Xix, Jorge L. Camacho

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This article investigates the way in which Cuban literature reflected on indigenous people during the early half of the nineteenth century and uses the symbol of the Amerindians to demonstrate a moral disjuncture between them and the colonizer. In this article, I call attention to the way Cuban independentists and Spanish nationalists used this figure to support their views and thus created a split in the Cuban creole imagination. I start by pointing out that these appropriations started at the end of the 18th century when historian José Martín Félix de Arrate, and poets such as Miguel González and Manuel …

La “Border Culture” Del Personaje Mexicoamericano En El Sureste De Estados Unidos En Los Cuentos De Lorraine López Y Mijito Doesn’T Live Here Anymore De Jaime Martínez, Jaime Chavez

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

This paper explores the concepts of "Border Culture" and "Borderlands" by Gloria Anzaldúa in Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories, Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories, by Lorraine López and the novel Mijito Doesn’t Live Here Anymore by Jaime Martínez. The paper argues that the Mexican American character in the southeast of the United States lives in the "Borderlands" and practices a "Border Culture" because they don't follow the traditional stereotypical role of the Mexican American character within the literary canon of both the dominant culture and Chicana/o literature.

Deconstructing Feminine And Feminist Fantastic Through The Study Of Living Dolls, Raquel Velázquez

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her "Deconstructing Feminine and Feminine Fantastic through the Study of Living Dolls," Raquel Velázquez analyzes the treatment of one idiosyncratic image within the fantastic genre, and one that also has a special impact on the configuration of the feminine: the doll. On the one hand, she examines the evolution of this fantastic motif in order to determine whether it involves a transformation of how the feminine fantastic is represented. On the other hand, she establishes some correlations between the image of the fantastic doll, and the development of processes such as the dollification of women or the humanization of …

Carlos Riobó. Caught Between The Lines: Captives, Frontiers, And National Identity In Argentine Literature And Art. U Of Nebraska P, 2019., Manuela Borzone

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Carlos Riobó. Caught between the Lines: Captives, Frontiers, and National Identity in Argentine Literature and Art. U of Nebraska P, 2019. xii +180 pp.

Using A Smart Phone To Learn Spanish: Does It Work And Will Students Use It?, Andrew J. Demil, Alysha Assaf, Ryan Cragun

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

Over time, mobile devices have penetrated the classroom, requiring new and beneficial ways to implement classroom instruction. Research suggests that Short Message Service (SMS) based instruction is an effective tool for acquiring second language (L2) vocabulary and idiom knowledge (Hayati, Jalilifar, & Mashhadi; Lu,). Additionally, studies have found that students believe that mobile learning (m-learning) is beneficial to acquiring a second language (Cavus & Ibrahim; Hayati, Jalilifar, & Mashhadi; Lu, 2008). This study examined whether m-learning can lead to Spanish vocabulary familiarity and if sentence comprehension outperforms reading definitions. Participants were 29 native English speakers studying Spanish as a second …

Un Acercamiento Al Fantástico Femenino Hispanoamericano, Campo Ricardo Burgos López

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

El texto es una reseña de la obra Fantastic Short Stories by Women Authors from Spain and Latin America (2019), una antología crítica de cuentos fantásticos escritos por mujeres de España y Latinoamérica editada por Patricia García y Teresa López-Pellisa.

A Story To Tell… How To Integrate The Three Modes Of Communication Through A Story Time Program In French, Frederique Grim

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

Bilingual story time programs found in local community libraries not only benefit children, they can also serve a need for L2 college students: the development of their communicative skills in an authentic environment. In addition to linguistic benefits, experiential learning has proven to prepare students for real-world skills, such as networking, mock professional experience and a sense of community engagement. This paper recounts how a world language story time program supports L2 learners’ three modes of communication, as articulated by ACTFL, and necessary for language development. Based on students’ perceptions, this study highlights their increase in motivation and confidence in …

Regina Galasso & Evelyn Scaramella, Eds. Avenues Of Translation: The City In Iberian And Latin American Writing. Bucknell Up, 2019., Enric Mallorqui-Ruscalleda

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Regina Galasso & Evelyn Scaramella, eds. Avenues of Translation: The City in Iberian and Latin American Writing. Bucknell UP, 2019.

Claudia Jacobi. Proust Dixit ? Réceptions De La Recherche Dans L’Autofiction De Serge Doubrovsky, Carmen Martín Gaite Et Walter Siti. Bonn Up, 2016., Viviana Pezzullo

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Claudia Jacobi. Proust dixit ? Réceptions de La Recherche dans l’autofiction de Serge Doubrovsky, Carmen Martín Gaite et Walter Siti. Bonn UP, 2016. 299 pp.

El Jardí Dels Set Crepuscles, La Intelectualización De La Ficción Especulativa En La Literatura Catalana De Los Años Ochenta, Miguel A. Albújar Escuredo

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

En este ensayo se explica cómo Miquel de Palol, con la publicación del Jardí dels set crepuscles (1989), culmina la evolución de la novelística popular catalana de la década de los setenta y ochenta. La novela a partir de elementos narratológicos y simbólicos queda intelectualizada al situar el escenario en un ambiente de ficción especulativa pos apocalíptico. Finalmente, se ofrece una interpretación novedosa bajo la figura de un narrador “loco” que justifica ese carácter intelectualizante del Jardí.

Abstract: This essay illustrates how Miquel de Palol, with the publication of the Jardí dels set crepuscles (1989), culminates the evolution of the …

Dale Knickerbocker, Editor. Lingua Cosmica: Science Fiction From Around The World. U Of Illinois P, 2018., Jeremy Glazier

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Dale Knickerbocker, editor. Lingua Cosmica: Science Fiction From Around the World. U of Illinois P, 2018.

Jewish Mysticism From Borges To Cirlot: A Transatlantic Approach To The Possibility Of A Non-Subject Subjectivity, Erika Martínez

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article “Jewish Mysticism from Borges to Cirlot,” Erika Martínez discusses the form in which some Latin American and Spanish poets of the twentieth century have experimented, in a disruptive way, with the subjective possibilities of stillness and of time capable of overflowing. Foucault defended, in his last lectures, the construction of a new governmentality of self and of others. Among the many possible technologies to achieve it would be that of the writing of a poetry without words, knowing the insurrectional potentiality of silence. This provides us with a possible starting point for reading the post-secular revision of …

La Ciencia Recreativa, "Confidencias De Una Mariposa" (1873) De José Joaquín Arriaga, Miguel A. Fernández Delgado Mafd

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

En este capítulo de La Ciencia Recreativa, su autor explica el mundo de los lepidópteros para el público general, e inventa una historia, inspirada por el poema "The Raven" de Edgar Allan Poe, en el que una mariposa cuenta su vida a una persona, para que le perdone la vida.

Reframing Jewish Forms Of Speaking To God: The Use Of Apostrophe In David Rosenmann-Taub’S Cortejo Y Epinicio, Raelene C. Wyse

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

In his first published collection of poetry, Cortejo y epinicio (‘Cortege and Epinicion,’ 1949), Chilean author David Rosenmann-Taub (1927) depicts speakers experiencing crises of faith. They question what God is and what it means to believe, as they seek out pagan, earthly, Christian, and Jewish forms of relating to the divine. My analysis foregrounds the distinct presence of Jewishness in Cortejo y epinicio to analyze how Rosenmann-Taub represents cross-cultural spaces, heterogeneity, and heterodoxy as part of Chilean poetry and culture. One of the central means in which Rosenmann-Taub explores Jewish forms of relating to God is through the use of …

Voiceless Victims In Sin Tetas No Hay Paraíso, Henry James Morello

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Voiceless Victims in Sin tetas no hay paraíso" Henry James Morello discusses Gustavo Bolívar's Sin tetas no hay paraiso. The novel is, in Bolívar's words, his way of bringing attention to the problem of young women in Colombia using prostitution in order to pay for plastic surgery a very specific problem facing the youth of Colombia. However, at what price is the success of the novel? Or, rather, who is compromised as a result of this cultural phenomenon? The author may have intended to write a novel that called attention to the problems facing Colombian …

El Arte De "Lágrimas En La Lluvia", Todd K. Mack

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

Uno de los elementos destacados de Lágrimas en la lluvia, la excelente novela de ciencia ficción de la madrileña Rosa Montero, es la genial inclusión de obras de arte con fines simbólicos dentro de la obra. Entre estas obras de arte se incluye el famoso cuadro de Johannes Vermeer, Una señora escribiendo una carta con su criada. En este artículo, el dr. Todd Mack muestra cómo este cuadro presagia el principal dilema de la protagonista de la novela. Bruna Husky es una replicante, y por eso sabe exactamente cuánto tiempo vivirá. El conocimiento de su inescapable fin hace …

Nuestras Patologías De La Realidad Virtual, Jorge Armando Romo

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

Is a review of Patologías de la realidad virtual. Cibercultura y ciencia ficción, Teresa López-Pellisa. Madrid: FCE, 2015, 279 páginas. ISBN: 978-84-375-0731-6

Políticas De Lo Estético En La Ilustración De Ciencia Ficción. El Caso De “Think Blue, Count Two” De Cordwainer Smith, Silvia Gabriela Kurlat Ares

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

Desde el período del Dadá se han ido borrando los límites entre las formas artísticas y sus soportes, entre las estéticas de uso y las estéticas formales, entre los espacios altos y bajos de producción cultural, y también, entre la percepción de centros y periferias que parecen haberse astillado y reproducido a la interioridad de espacios hasta hacer de la hegemonía misma, al decir the Beasley Murray, un concepto no sólo inestable sino casi inexistente. En el caso de la ciencia ficción, esa porosidad hace a la constitución misma de una estética que opera desde la factura del naturalismo pero …

China And The Politics Of Cross–Cultural Representation In Interwar European Fiction, Carles Prado-Fonts

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "China and the Politics of Cross–Cultural Representation in Interwar European Fiction" Carles Prado-Fonts analyzes Joan Crespi's La ciutat de la por (The City of Fear, 1930) to illustrate the varied representations of China in interwar Europe. In the 1920s and 1930s, a plurality of views on China and the Chinese people became widespread across different parts of Europe, mainly shaped by English, French, and German representations. Contradictory images of China coexisted in literature, thought, and popular culture. Crespi's work exemplifies these contradictions: China appears as both an attainable reality and an unreachable fantasy, two tropes that prevailed …

The Sin Of Pride In Dressing Bodies In Spanish And Anglo-American Ballads, Ana Belén Martínez García

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "The Sin of Pride in Dressing Bodies in Spanish and Anglo-American Ballads" Ana Belén Martínez García argues that trying to decipher the reasons for characters to dress in a certain way may help discover the underlying sociocultural mechanisms that prevail. The author aims to reveal the gender divide associated to clothing through a comparative approach towards popular literature in Spanish and English. She uses Judith Butler's theory of performative acts in order to conduct the text analysis. Clothes-related acts feature prominently in the case of popular balladry. Spanish "romances" and Anglo-American ballads are poems that were and …