Ancient Egyptian Image-Writing: Between the Unspoken and Visual Poetics

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 137-160
Author(s):  
Hany Rashwan

This article highlights the significance of considering the visual mediums of the ancient Egyptian (henceforth AE) writing system, in reading and translating AE literary texts. Despite their importance for understanding the internal mechanism of AE literary expressions, modern scholarship has not assimilated these visual mediums into its exploration. A possible theoretical framework for AE morphology structure may identify two input systems,, one visual for visually presented materials that are more related to visual comprehension, and the other phonological for material presented using the auditory modality. The studied examples confirm that the AE writers had the opportunity to invite their receivers to take part in two experiential tasks (visual and phonological) to provoke two different behaviours, to get the right meaning intended by the resourceful writer. The article is divided into two parts. The first part is concerned with the role of innovative imagination in forming both the “eloquent content” and its inseparable “poetic vocal form,” with full consideration of the creative relationship between these two elements. The second part is related to the ancient and modern reader’s reception of such visual-verbal interactions. The article demonstrates the significance of looking into such visual aesthetics—which were mainly designed to stimulate the eyes of the indigenous readers—to shape any theory related to the literary nature of ancient Egyptian writing.

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 9-47
Author(s):  
Maria Neklyudova

In his Bibliotheca historica, Diodorus Siculus described a peculiar Egyptian custom of judging all the dead (including the pharaohs) before their burial. The Greek historian saw it as a guarantee of Egypt’s prosperity, since the fear of being deprived of the right to burial served as a moral imperative. This story of an Egyptian custom fascinated the early modern authors, from lawyers to novelists, who often retold it in their own manner. Their interpretations varied depending on the political context: from the traditional “lesson to sovereigns” to a reassessment of the role of the subject and the duties of the orator. This article traces several intellectual trajectories that show the use and misuse of this Egyptian custom from Montaigne to Bossuet and then to Rousseau—and finally its adaptation by Pushkin and Vyazemsky, who most likely became acquainted with it through the mediation of French literature. The article was written in the framework (and with the generous support) of the RANEPA (ШАГИ РАНХиГС) state assignment research program. KEYWORDS: 16th to 19th-Century European and Russian Literature, Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712—1778), Alexander Pushkin (1799—1837), Prince Pyotr Vyazemsky (1792—1878), Egyptian Сourt, Locus communis, Political Rhetoric, Literary Criticism, Pantheonization, History of Ideas.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Jorunn Gjerden

Asking whether silence necessarily equals oppression, and (giving) voice necessarily assures agency, Jorunn Svensen Gjerden’s paper examines voices and silences related to colonial power structures in three francophone literary texts belonging to different historical periods and geographies. In her seminal essay “Can the subaltern speak?”, Gayatri Spivak shows that the pitfalls of colonial and/or gendered epistemic violence are difficult to avoid when speaking on behalf of others. In a similar vein, Édouard Glissant paradoxically suggests that dilemmas of invisibilisation may best be resolved by way of other forms of silence, arguing that the right to psycho-cultural opacity ensures the integrity of individuals through the formation of non-assimilative relationships. Against this backdrop, Gjerden analyses La Vénus Hottentote, ou Haine aux Françaises, a Parisian vaudeville from 1814, which thematises the Khoisan woman Sara Baartman’s performances as the ‘Hottentot Venus’ in Paris the same year. The play constitutes an extreme case of colonial silencing and stereotypical othering that comes across as purely instrumental and therapeutic for its French audience at a moment of national humiliation and division. However, when read alongside J.M.G. Le Clézio’s Le Chercheur d’or (1985) and Kamel Daoud’s Meursault, contre-enquête (2014), two postcolonial novels that in different ways focus on the role of silence for allowing every voice to be heard in a globalised world, the silencing of the vaudeville lends itself to new interpretations. Arguing that the claimed silence of postcolonial theory and literature may thus offer insights into hidden subversive dynamics of silence in colonial literary texts such as the Hottentot Venus vaudeville, Gjerden calls attention to the play’s latent surprising modernity with regard to issues of identity and multiculturalism.


2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (4) ◽  
pp. 2758-2768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane M. Thiel ◽  
Gereon R. Fink

Alertness is a nonselective attention component that refers to a state of general readiness that improves stimulus processing and response initiation. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify neural correlates of visual and auditory alertness. A further aim was to investigate the modulatory effects of the cholinergic agonist nicotine. Nonsmoking participants were given either placebo or nicotine (NICORETTE gum, 2 mg) and performed a target-detection task with warned and unwarned trials in the visual and auditory modality. Our results provide evidence for modality-specific correlates of visual and auditory alertness in respective higher-level sensory cortices and in posterior parietal and frontal brain areas. The only region commonly involved in visual and auditory alertness was the right superior temporal gyrus. A connectivity analysis showed that this supramodal region exhibited modality-dependent coupling with respective higher sensory cortices. Nicotine was found to mainly decrease visual and auditory alertness-related activity in several brain regions, which was evident as a significant interaction of nicotine-induced decreases in BOLD signal in warned trials and increases in unwarned trials. The cholinergic drug also affected alerting-dependent activity in the supramodal right superior temporal gyrus; here the effect was the result of a significant increase of neural activity in unwarned trials. We conclude that the role of the right superior temporal gyrus is to induce an “alert” state in response to warning cues and thereby optimize stimulus processing and responding. We speculate that nicotine increases brain mechanisms of alertness specifically in conditions where no extrinsic warning is provided.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitrii Yurievich Manin

This work describes a large-scale empirical study that quantifies two aspects of lexical foregrounding in literary texts: the unpredictability (unexpectedness) and constrainedness (irreplaceability) of individual words in context. The data are generated by a Web-based literary game where players guess words in fragments of real texts. The results shed new light on the nature of the distinction between poetry and prose and on the role of formal constraints in poetry. In particular, traditional poetry tends to have higher constrainedness than prose and comparable unpredictability, while avant-garde poetry is characterized by higher unpredictability than prose and comparable constrainedness.


This book reviews the numerous developments in the theoretical framework of interpretation that have taken place over recent years. The application of more theoretically informed approaches to the ancient literary corpus, and a more detailed analysis of context, form, and reception, have fundamentally challenged the interpretative paradigms that formerly held sway. No consensus on interpretative stance has yet emerged, and in this volume many of the foremost researchers in the field examine the overall state of work on the subject. The chapters in the present volume are intended to contribute to this development of different approaches in their application to real Egyptian texts. No single overarching theoretical framework underlies these contributions; instead they represent a multiplicity of perspectives. The range of chapters includes textual criticism; literary criticism; the social role of literature; reception theory; and the treatment of newly discovered literary texts. All contributions centre on the problems and potentials of studying Egyptian literature in a theoretically informed manner. Although major difficulties remain in interpreting a literature preserved only fragmentarily, this volume demonstrates the ongoing vitality of current Egyptological approaches to this problem. This volume also incorporates a broader cross-cultural and comparative element, providing overviews of connections and discontinuities with biblical, Classical, and Mesopotamian literatures, in order to address the comparative contexts of Ancient Egyptian literature.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maisy Best ◽  
Tobias Stevens ◽  
Fraser Milton ◽  
Christopher D. Chambers ◽  
Ian P. McLaren ◽  
...  

EDIS ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
George Hochmuth ◽  
Laurie Trenholm ◽  
Don Rainey ◽  
Esen Momol ◽  
Claire Lewis ◽  
...  

Proper irrigation management is critical to conserve and protect water resources and to properly manage nutrients in the home landscape. How lawns and landscapes are irrigated directly impacts the natural environment, so landscape maintenance professionals and homeowners must adopt environmentally-friendly approaches to irrigation management. After selecting the right plant for the right place, water is the next critical factor to establish and maintain a healthy lawn and landscape. Fertilization is another important component of lawn and landscape maintenance, and irrigation must be applied correctly, especially following fertilization, to minimize potential nutrient losses. This publication supplements other UF/IFAS Extension publications that also include information on the role of soil and the root zone in irrigation management. This publication is designed to help UF/IFAS Extension county agents prepare materials to directly address nutrient losses from lawns and landscapes caused by inadequate irrigation management practices. This 6-page fact sheet was written by George Hochmuth, Laurie Trenholm, Don Rainey, Esen Momol, Claire Lewis, and Brian Niemann, and published by the UF Department of Soil and Water Science, October 2013. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ss586


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
M. A. Rodionov ◽  
I. V. Akimova

In the submitted study the problem of the formation of financial literacy of students at informatics lessons and relevant training of future informatics teachers is considered. Financial literacy is understood as a set of basic knowledge in the field of finance, banking, insurance, as well as budgeting for personal finances that allow a person to choose the right financial product or service, soberly assess and take risks that may arise during the use of these products, correctly accumulate savings and identify doubtful (fraudulent) investment schemes. The authors conclude that successful development of meaningful lines of the course of financial literacy requires integration of a few school subjects, such as mathematics, history, informatics, social science and literature. The role of modern informatics teacher in the formation of financial literacy of students is great. Therefore, in the training of a future informatics teacher, it should be paid the attention to issues related to the study of elements of financial literacy in informatics lessons. In order to solve the problem, the authors propose to use the special course “Basics of work in 1С:Enterprise”, which is implemented at Penza State University. The article contains a program of the course and the methodological recommendations for its implementation.


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