Comparative Literature Commons^™

Conjuring Creative Citizenship Beyond Rights, Elizabeth Swanson

Criticism

A Review of Writing and Righting: Literature in the Age of Human Rights by Lyndsey Stonebridge. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. 176. $25 hardcover.

Maturing Manga: An Analysis Of Adult Themes In Shōnen Manga, Audrey Leahy

Honors College Theses

Manga is a Japanese form of visual storytelling comparable to comic books and graphic novels that has seen a significant increase in popularity abroad in the twenty-first century. In Japan, manga is published in magazines intended for particular target audiences. The two most prominent of these are shōnen, manga for young men, and seinen, manga for adult men. This paper examines these demographics and explores the growing similarities between these two demographics. The research compares the adult content and themes of manga in both shōnen and seinen manga. The series Dorohedoro and Chainsaw Man were analyzed both quantitatively for amounts …

Botanical Empires: The Politics Of Plants In Theocritus' Idylls, Christian Rhoads

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

This project identifies a system of plant-based identity politics in Theocritus’ Idylls. In Chapter One, I trace a paradigm of unequal reciprocal interactions, “plant-hubris,” throughout the erotic relationships of the Idylls as one partner acts violently against another who “overwaters” them with affection. I argue that characters in the Idylls use plants to explain their own relationship dynamics. In the second chapter I examine Idyll 1 and identify social commentary on culturally specific poetic competition that relies on vegetal imagery. The competition between the goatherd and Thyrsis in Idyll 1 is informed by both the immediate vegetal …

Pedagogical Alliances Among Writing Instructors And Teaching Librarians Through A Writing Information Literacy Community Of Practice, Zoe Mcdonald, Deborah Minter

Department of English: Faculty Publications

In this praxis piece, a WPA and a writing instructor describe a writing information literacy community of practice among writing instructors and teaching librarians. Through paying attention to one resulting assignment, a full class annotated bibliography, the co-authors argue this professional development program extended collaborations among the writing program and the library to center contextual notions of authority and metacognition that connect to composition’s democratic political commitments.

On Civilizational Strategic Studies, Stephen T. Satkiewicz

Comparative Civilizations Review

Given the on-going crises around the world, especially the current war in Ukraine, it has become imperative to analyze the strategic interests of the major geopolitical players in the world. Samuel P. Huntington formulated his controversial “Clash of Civilizations” thesis almost thirty years ago, but this topic has received a resurgence of interest due to Christopher Coker’s research on “civilizational states.” Coker takes this concept a bit further by arguing that different geopolitical actors disagree on how the world should be ordered.

Now is perhaps the most opportune time to examine the relevance of civilizations as well as civilizational theory …

Constructing Selfhood Through Fantasy: Mirror Women And Dreamscape Conversations In Olga Grushin’S Forty Rooms, Grace Marie Alger

Theses and Dissertations

By its very nature, fantasy seeks to estrange its protagonist and readers from reality, leading to the exploration of topics that would generally be left isolated or unchallenged. Fantasy allows a character to step outside of reality in order to examine the conditions of their existence, to question their own position in society, and to reflect upon the ideologies that determine their social positioning. Analyzing Olga Grushin’s Forty Rooms (2016), this thesis examines the ways in which the female narrator turns to fantasy, more specifically, dreamed conversations and visions of multiplied selves, in an attempt to overcome the powerlessness of …

Violence, Rebellion, And Compromise In Chinese Campus Cinema ----- The Comparison Of Cry Me A Sad River And Better Days, Chunyu Liu

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the social critiques in Chinese campus films by viewing their development and cultural context. Social Criticism, a prominent trend in Chinese cinema, addresses a wide range of widely concerned social issues, including education, romance, marriage, politics, environmental concerns, psychological repressions, etc. It appears that a Chinese mainland woman filmmaker and a Hong Kong professional director echo each other on the same theme. They are inspired by similar genuine events and share many similarities in the way they orchestrate the relationships and backgrounds of the characters. However, the two films retain their different characteristics. This thesis will discuss …

Planting Rhizomes: Roots And Rhizomes In Maryse Condé’S Traversée De La Mangrove And Calixthe Beyala’S Le Petit Prince De Belleville, Rume Kpadamrophe

Theses and Dissertations

For centuries, migration has played a crucial role in the development of human civilization, with the transplantation of cultures from one region to another shaping identities worldwide. The African diaspora, beginning with the Atlantic Slave Trade, saw the forced transportation of around 12 million Africans across the ocean, resulting in the creation of creole identities in the Antilles. Literature has long reflected the experiences of migrants. In Maryse Condé's Traversée de la Mangrove and Calixthe Beyala's Le Petit Prince de Belleville, the complexity of Antillean and Afro-French identities is explored. This thesis delves into how Condé's work highlights the …

Lutter Contre L’Effacement Et Pour La Reconstitution De Traces : « Penser Entre Les Disciplines », Lara Mroué

Regards

Living outside Lebanon, Lebanese artists like Rabih Mroué and Lina Majdalanie have contributed in many ways to the evolution and reconstruction of the cultural and artistic scene in Lebanon, as well as to its history. They took part in the shaping of Civil War memory. This article will analyze the way in which these artists put on stage absence, disappearance, and the erasure of traces, while transforming contemporary artistic practice in Lebanon. Rethinking creation as a field of resistance and change, the artist on stage becomes, with Majdalanie and Mroué, an actor, a dancer, and a visual artist.

Résumé

Vivant …

Traduire Novarina En Arabe. Les Mots Sens Dessus Dessous, Georgine Ayoub

Regards

The theater text is always a text to come, according to Valère Novarina’s expression. Once written, it writes itself over and over again on stage. And translating it is always a delicate undertaking. This task becomes even more difficult when the theatrical text is one where the adventure of thought resides in the very act of passing through language – where “a speech from before the ability to speak” emerges, where words, “set in motion,” surprise with unpredictable, incisive meanings, thanks to a mysterious sonority or a tripping up of grammar.
This is the great difficulty in translating Novarina’s theatre …

عن تمويل فنون الأداء المستقلة في المنطقة العربية: في احتضان الجديد, Abdullah Al Kafri

Regards

Nous nous penchons dans cet article sur le sujet des modèles de production et des sources de financement des arts de la scène indépendants, afin d’analyser les questions qu’il génère. Nous examinons son rôle en tant qu’élément fondamental pour l’existence du champ des arts de la scène indépendants durant les deux dernières décennies. Nous tentons de cerner le financement des arts de la scène indépendants dans la région arabe, en nous focalisant sur l’étude des principaux acteurs qui ont joué un rôle clé dans la constitution et l’existence de ce champ, à savoir les organismes donateurs arabes qui ont émergé …

Coopérer Pour Exister : Les Collaborations Théâtrales Avec L’Europe Ou L’Impérative Stratégie Des Théâtres En Palestine, Astrid Chabrat-Kajdan

Regards

Since the Oslo Accords in 1993, theatrical collaborations between European and Palestinian artists have multiplied. They play a role in the development of theatres in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories. In this article, we examine their forms and manifestations. The collaborations range from workshops – which consist predominantly of technical classes – to co-creations involving partly European and partly Palestinian teams.
Through the analysis of European–Palestinian theatrical collaborations, this article questions to what extent different forms of collaboration contribute to the key challenges of professional Palestinian theatre: the sustainability of institutions in Palestine, the visibility of Palestinian artists, and the …

Introduction – Quel Avenir Pour Le Théâtre Dans Le Monde Arabe ? Pratiques, Formes Et Perspectives De La Pérennisation Du Courant Théâtral Dans Le Monde Arabe, Najla Nakhlé-Cerruti

Regards

Quel avenir pour le théâtre arabe ? En posant cette vaste question qui a guidé la réflexion collective présentée dans ce dossier thématique, nous avons souhaité interroger les effets de durabilité et les procédés qui participent à la pérennisation du mouvement théâtral dans le monde arabe. Dans ce contexte, les contraintes, nombreuses et de natures diverses, s’ajoutent à la dimension éphémère du genre théâtral. Il se construit en effet sur sa propre mise en péril puisqu’il n’existe que dans la fugacité du moment de la représentation, lorsque les comédiens sur scène et le public dans la salle sont réunis.

Molière Chez Les Hommes De Théâtre De La Nahda Et Tayeb Saddiki, Mahfoud Kecili

Regards

In this paper, we study the presence of Molière in the theatre of Mārūn al-Naqqāš and of Tayeb Saddiki. We show how al-Naqqāš appropriated Molière’s theatre to introduce a new literary genre in the Arab world: Western-style theatre. He employs the comedy and satire of Molière’s theatre as a tool for reflection. In his play al-Baẖīl, he deals with the theme of avarice and that of generational conflicts, which he exposes with a comic vein and satire. In doing so, he urges his fellow citizens to innovate in the arts, drawing from the classical adab and the glorious past …

Belonging On Stage: Theatre As A Practice Of Belonging For The Syrian Diaspora In Turkey, Asma Hedi Nairi

Regards

This article is a preliminary research focusing on the role of theatre as a belonging practice for the Syrian diaspora in Turkey. Based on a qualitative and narrative research methodology, the work analyzes the experience of the Theatre Scene group and their performance of the play Outside the Flock. Building on the belonging conceptual framework presented by Yuval-Davis (2006), the work offers an overview of how theatre served as both a space and a practice of belonging for the Syrian diaspora. It contributes to the growing scholarship on diasporic arts, highlighting the specificity of the Syrian theatrical experience.

Résumé …

Entretien Avec Roger Assaf. Théâtre Et Espace Public : Entre Immersion Et Divertissement, Roger Assaf, Marianne Noujaim

Regards

In this interview, Roger Assaf perceives the constraints of contemporary Lebanese and Arab theatre through the lens of his reflection on the relationship between History — with its dark periods and revolutions — and theatre’s history. Contingent on its historical context, theatre has always oscillated between entertainment and immersion. Assaf evokes his Al-ḥakawātī theatre experience as well as the earliest Arab theatre festivals, drawing a comparison between their sociopolitical dynamics and production modes, on the one hand, and those of contemporary Lebanese and Arab theatres, on the other. He believes that the memory of such theatrical experiences, albeit lacunary, stands …

La Mort Par Les Yeux, Omar Abi Azar

Regards

Omar Abi Azar témoigne de la naissance et du cheminement de la compagnie de théâtre Zoukak. Il met en relation le parcours de ses membres et de ses créations avec les crises et impasses historiques du Liban, d’une part, et avec les conditions de production imposées par les fonds européens et la réception des pièces en Occident, d’autre part.

Le Pire ?, Chrystèle Khodr

Regards

Chrystèle Khodr, actrice, autrice et metteuse en scène, témoigne de sa pratique du théâtre aujourd’hui au Liban, des moyens qu’elle met en place pour pérenniser son travail, et des effets de la production sur la forme et le fond de ses spectacles.

Faire D’Avignon « Une Sorte De Grenade, De Ville Dans Laquelle Toute La Méditerranée S’Est Synthétisée ». Retour Sur La Programmation Arabe Du Festival D’Avignon 2022, Pauline Donizeau

Regards

Arab artists had an important place in the 2022 edition of the Festival d’Avignon in France. This edition was the last one directed by Olivier Py, whose mandate was marked by the regular programming of artists from the Maghreb, the Middle East, and the Near East. This article analyzes the different performances directed by Arab artists on the stages of Avignon in 2022, with a particular focus on issues of representation (especially female figures on stage) and production.

Résumé

L’édition 2022 du Festival d’Avignon a donné une place importante aux artistes arabes. Cette édition fut la dernière dirigée par Olivier …

Repenser Le Théâtre D’Objets : Témoignages, Réflexions Et Retours D’Atelier Au Théâtre Tournesol De Beyrouth, Yassaman Khajehi

Regards

Les manifestations de 2019, dites la Révolution ou thawra, la pandémie liée au Covid, l’explosion du port de Beyrouth, la gravité de la crise économique, les élections législatives de mai 2022, les questions d’immigration et d’émigration trouvent leur place sur la scène contemporaine libanaise.
Cette présence très évidente de ces éléments confirme une fois encore la réciprocité entre théâtre et société : une synergie devenue de moins en moins perceptible sur la scène occidentale. La situation théâtrale et sociétale libanaise ouvre alors aux études théâtrales de nouvelles pistes de réflexion sur l’interaction entre politique, société et création scénique.
Cette …