Comparative Literature Commons^™

Khaled Hosseini’S A Thousand Splendid Suns As A Child-Rescue And Neo-Orientalist Narrative, Abdullah M. Al-Dagamseh, Olga Golubeva

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns as a Child-Rescue and Neo-Orientalist Narrative" Abdullah Mohammad Dagamseh and Olga Golubeva argue that the novel contrib­utes to hegemonic Eurocentric discourse by showing the superiority and benevolence of the West. In contrast to existing scholarly focus on Hosseini's portrayal of female characters, this article highlights how children of both sexes are represented. The authors' aim is to show how Hosseini's picture of children affected by war contributes to the neo-Orientalist and child-rescue discourses, jus­tifying the foreign involvement in Afghanistan's internal affairs. Moreover, Dagamseh and Golubeva argue that the use of universal …

The Postmodern Novel In Saudi Arabia And America, Mohammed Lafi Alshammari

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the early twenty-first century, Saudi Arabia is a global economic power that stands as an equal among the other members of the most powerful economic organizations, including as the Group of Twenty and The World Trade Organization. As a result of this economic status and of Saudi Arabia never having been colonized, recent Saudi novels (especially those published after 2001) can usefully be read postmodern, rather than as postcolonial—the usual paradigm in readings of contemporary Arab novels. To establish a reference point, a comparative approach that engages Saudi and American postmodern novels is applied in this dissertation through the …

Perspectives On Video Games As Art, Jeroen Bourgonjon, Geert Vandermeersche, Kris Rutten, Niels Quinten

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "Perspectives on Video Games as Art" Jeroen Bourgonjon, Geert Vndermeer­sche, Kris Rutten and Niels Quinten engage in discussing whether or not video games can be considered a form of art. Although this question has already been discussed elaborately, the debate is guided by many differ­ent and often conflicting positions. The aim of this article is to revisit this debate by mapping out a range of perspectives on video games as art. The authors explore the relation between games and differ­ent definitions and functions of art, different motives of artists, and the potential impact of the arts. The …

Black Australia ‘Writes Back’ To The Literary Traditions Of Empire, Danica Čerče

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

I In her article "Black Australia 'Writes Back' to the Literary Traditions of Empire" Danica Čerče discusses the verse of Australian Indigenous authors Romaine Moreton and Alf Taylor, notable for the overt objection to the institutional and historical processes. These have enabled and maintained the dominant position of those identified as white on the one hand, and the concomitant political, economic, and cultural subordination of Indigenous Australians on the other. Focused on strategies and poetic devices used by the two poets to engage non-Indigenous readers in the experience of their writing, the article examines how the rhetoric of their critique …

Riddarasögur: Changing Medieval Norway With French Romance Literature, Elizabeth Tuggle

Honors Theses

In the realm of Arthuriana, numerous versions exist of the adventures of King Arthur and his knights. The genre of the riddarasögur – “the sagas of knights” – contains Norwegian versions of these tales along with Norwegian versions of other French literature such as Marie de France’s lais and fabliaux. In the 13th century, King Hákon Hákonarson commissioned the translation of the French tales into Norwegian for the purpose of civilizing Norwegian society in general and the royal court in particular. Given the fair treatment of women and of love in the riddarasögur, King Hákon’s project to civilize his court …

Literary And Cinematic Representations Of Neoliberal Forms Of Contemporary Violence In Latin America With Special Interest In Mexico And Colombia, Ivan De Jesus Iglesias

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the last decades, with an increased rhythm and greater intensity, the so-called neoliberal violence has come to play a relevant role within the history of world societies. The Latin American institutional, political, social, and economic changes of the 1970’s and 1980’s, especially those produced under dictatorships, contributed to create the conditions for the implementation of the processes of economic liberalization and global market as part of the concept of institutional modernization and cultural globalization that gave rise to the neoliberal mentality. In this context, neoliberalism becomes hegemonic as a mode of discourse and is incorporated into the way individuals …

“2889” Vs. “2890”, Arthur B. Evans

Global Language Studies Faculty publications

Abstract

This article offers a detailed comparison of Michel Verne’s 1889 short story “In the Year 2889” and Jules Verne’s 1891 recycled version of the same story, now called « La Journée d’un journaliste américain en 2890 » [The Day of an American Journalist in 2890]. In my analysis, I have also pointed out some of the alterations Michel made to his father’s version when later editing it for inclusion in the posthumous 1910 edition of Verne’s Hier et demain [Yesterday and Tomorrow], now retitled « Au XXIXe siècle : La Journée d’un journaliste américain en 2889 » [In the …

5. Ode On A Grecian Urn”: A Dialogue Between Husserl’S Transcendental Subject And Heidegger’S ‘Being’., Maha M. Munib Abdelmotaleb

English Language and Literature

The aim of this article is to discuss Edmund Husserl’s transcendental subjectivity and Martin Heidegger’s Being through a literary work that could prove that the two philosophers are not direct opponents. Both transcendental subjectivity and Being are part of a larger project about phenomenology. The two philosophers’ key concepts about subjectivity, Being and the human experience are the theoretical framework for an analysis of John Keats’s “Ode On a Grecian Urn” in an attempt to integrate two seemingly opposing philosophies to prove that there is room for a dialogue between the two philosophies. The article is divided into two sections: …

Lucie Cousturier: The Female Voice And Travel Narratives In Colonial West Africa, Ashley Gushulak

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

In this thesis, I analyze Lucie Cousturier’s two major works, Des Inconnus chez eux (1920) and Mes Inconnus chez moi (1925) in which she navigates the discourses of imperialism, viewed as masculine, and of femininity. Through strategies of intimacy, Cousturier establishes her authority as a female travel writer. In her first work, Cousturier sets up an intimate relationship with the tirailleurs sénégalais by teaching them French and becoming a mother-figure to them. At the same time, Cousturier plays a role in France’s colonial agenda by teaching the soldiers French. In her second work, she establishes intimacy by adopting the local …

Transnational Abolitionist Rhetoric To End Modern Slavery, Laura Barrio-Vilar

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In his 1998 autobiography, Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American, Jean-Robert Cadet denounces the horrors of modern child slavery as he narrates his life journey. Emotionally, physically, and sexually abused under the restavek system, Cadet migrates with his “masters” to the United States, where he pursues a formal education, joins the army, and acquires a middle-class status.

Today, Cadet has his own organization, dedicated to ending child slavery in Haiti through education and advocacy. In this presentation, I analyze how Cadet adopts conventional genre characteristics of slave narratives and U.S. migration literature in order to enter the …

Front Matter, Comparative Civilizations Review

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

The Intrigue Of Paradigmatic Similarity: Leibniz And China, Yu Liu

Comparative Civilizations Review

The cosmology of China is indeed strikingly similar to the metaphysics of Leibniz, but precisely where the two resemble each other, the former is unmistakably different from Christianity. Scholars of Leibniz have so far generally taken it for granted that he was ideologically aligned with Christianity, but his paradigmatic similarity to China should alert us of a surprisingly different story. Leibniz was indisputably “the greatest of the seventeenth century sinophiles” and key Chinese cosmological ideas were introduced to Europe long before he formulated his worldview. Together, these two facts can help us decide whether he “owes to Chinese organic naturalism …

Narrativized Ethics And Hiroshima: Harry S. Truman, Homer, And Aeschylus, Michael Palencia-Roth

Comparative Civilizations Review

Discussions of the atomic bomb and Hiroshima have to be deeply troubling for anyone. The natural inclination is to turn one’s eyes away or to remain silent. Avoidance and silence, however, were not valid options immediately after the Second World War and are not valid options today. The decision – or decisions, for there were many – to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and later Nagasaki raises issues of profound importance for the human community. It compels us to ask who we are as individuals and as members of a society engaged in actions with such devastating consequences. We …

William Egginton, The Man Who Invented Fiction: How Cervantes Ushered In The Modern World. Bloomsbury, 2016., Ernest B. Hook

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Scott L. Montgomery And Daniel Chirot, The Shape Of The New: Four Big Ideas And How They Made The Modern World. Princeton University Press, 2015., Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

Daniel Chirot is the Herbert J. Ellison Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies in the University of Washington’s Henry Jackson School of International Studies. Chirot’s most recent book, co-authored with Scott Montgomery, is The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World (Princeton University Press, 2015.) Chirot’s other books have been about genocide, ethnic conflicts, tyranny, social change, and Eastern Europe.

48th Annual Conference Of The International Society For The Comparative Study Of Civilizations, Comparative Civilizations Review

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note: A Banner Year For Iscsc And The Comparative Civilizations Review, Peter Hecht

Comparative Civilizations Review

The past year has witnessed an enhanced level of dedication, by many volunteers, to the sustainability of our parent organization, the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilization, as well as to the continuing quality of the Comparative Civilizations Review. Costs are down, membership is up, our journal is more popular than it has been in years, the new website continues to amaze, and our 2017 conference was a success.

Civilizational Analysis, Political Discourse, And The Reception Of Western Modernity In Post-Soviet Russia, Yulia Prozorova

Comparative Civilizations Review

Official political discourse retains a special importance since the communicative practices of the political elites generate interpretations and meanings, which are able to become programmatic for the design and arrangement of the main societal domains. This paper considers civilizational analysis and associated multiple modernities theory as a promising framework for understanding of the post-Soviet Russians experience of modernity in Russia. It also provides a review of how contemporary Russian political discourse receives and interprets the Western modernity project.

The Challenge To Religious Tolerance: Fundamentalist Resistance To A Non-Muslim Leader In Indonesia, Hisanori Kato

Comparative Civilizations Review

It is important to question whether a long-standing tradition of religious tolerance in Indonesia has been overturned by the 2017 gubernatorial election. Equally important is that we explore the influence of religion in relation to the socio-political behavior of people. In the following parts of this paper, we attempt to find answers to these questions and to comprehend the meaning of this political event thoroughly.

Workplace Bullying Ii: A Civilizational Shortcoming Examined In A Comparative Content Analysis, Leah P. Hollis

Comparative Civilizations Review

According to Freud, civilization is meant to protect humans from the forces of nature, to protect human frailty; but then, paradoxically, it falls short of such protection by its lack of concomitant regulation (1991). In fact, civilized service to society, delivered via organizations, creates strife and anxiety. While civilization is a structure created to protect people from nature and to support a frail humanity, its rules and power structures yield aggression, spawning the need for people to control each other (Freud & Strachey, 1991).

Such control and the power structures that arise within organizations can be considered the root of …

Comments On “Civilizational Analysis And Paths Not Taken”, Johann P. Arnason

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

A Reply To Johann Arnason, Toby Huff

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Revolutions In History, Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

I saw the Iranian Revolution of 1979 up close and personally-- a revolution against a modernizing authoritarian king. I watched otherwise clever intellectuals deceive themselves that they would emerge the rulers of a democratic Iran, while the crafty theocrats waited in the wings to seize power. How could all these leftists be so naïve about how revolutions work? The trajectory of revolutions should be no mystery. Crane Brinton’s The Anatomy of Revolution” spelled it all out in 1952, and his observations have stood the test of time.

Buried On Three Continents In Three Civilizations: A Jewish Fate, Yishai Shuster

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Andrew Scull, Madness In Civilization: A Cultural History Of Insanity From The Bible To Freud From The Madhouse To Modern Medicine. Princeton University Press, 2015., Michael Palencia-Roth

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Comparative Civilizations Review Style Sheet, Comparative Civilizations Review

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

J. D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir Of A Family And Culture In Crisis. Harpercollins, 2016., Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

The growing gap in the traditional trajectory from poverty to middle class may have less to do with color than with culture. We can see during this present election process the anger and distress of poor white men, flocking to the rallies of candidate Donald Trump. These men, who were once doing well during the post-WWII era, when our country was a manufacturing giant, are now victims of a changing economy.

Johan Galtung, World Politics Of Peace And War. Hampton Press, 2015., Michael Andregg

Comparative Civilizations Review

This 2015 book published by Hampton Press, New York, NY, has 192 pages of text in 12 chapters, an appendix on trends and predictions, an index, 5 figures and 22 tables. Its author is Johan Galtung, an undoubted world leader in development of “peace studies,” an emerging field, which I have watched emerge. The book is based on a series of lectures he taught at Princeton and other universities from 1985-2000. He has reflected deeply on his geopolitical theory of peace and war since then of course, in many venues not least the Transcend, Global, on-line Peace University, which he …

Full Issue, Comparative Civilizations Review

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

End Matter, Comparative Civilizations Review

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.