Focusing on emigration discourse in Chinese contemporary literature, the present study proposes reflection on mechanisms that connect literary writing with what is usually perceived as extra... Show moreFocusing on emigration discourse in Chinese contemporary literature, the present study proposes reflection on mechanisms that connect literary writing with what is usually perceived as extra-textual reality, that is the sphere of individual and collective lived experience. Through the prism of the evolution of (our approach to) literary genres, with a special focus on the essay and related phenomena in both Chinese and Western literary traditions, I try to observe “paradigm slippages” in literature, i.e. moments when a certain way of understanding and describing literature and its interactions with “the world” proves insufficient, and a new way to do so emerges. Instead of adopting a literary-historical perspective marked by breakthroughs in collective consciousness, like those between the ancient, the modern, and the postmodern, I concentrate on shifts that run through single literary works and are more effectively captured in the language of natural sciences. I argue that at different levels and in different circumstances, texts may be understandable and describable within different physics of literature: from genre-based “Newtonian” physics, to universalizing “Einsteinian” physics whose conceptual structures are reflected in the essay, to “quantum” physics whose microdynamic I observe when scrutinizing processes of essayization. Show less
Naures Atto identifies in this historical anthropological analysis the present-day identity discourses among Assyrian/Syriac elites in the European diaspora. The most heated discussion during the... Show moreNaures Atto identifies in this historical anthropological analysis the present-day identity discourses among Assyrian/Syriac elites in the European diaspora. The most heated discussion during the last four decades among Assyrians/Syriacs has been what the __correct name__ of their people should be in Western languages. Hostages in the Homeland, Orphans in the Diaspora aims to develop a deeper understanding of this __name debate__. The emigration of Assyrians/Syriacs from the Middle East and their settlement in Western countries dislocated their former identity discourses, which have since then entered into a transformation process and have been subsequently re-defined in relation to the new context. In this context, the __name__ of their people has become the core element in their new identity discourses, displacing previous nodal points such as religion and language. The redefined identity discourses have also been explained as attempts to find a remedy for the Hostages__ and Orphans__ Dilemma experienced among Assyrians/Syriacs, an expression of their search and struggle for recognition and existence. Show less
