The Invention of Buddho-Taoism: Critical Historiography of a Western Neologism, 1940s–2010s

“Buddho-Taoism” is a neologism that appeared in Western academic writings during the late nineteen-forties, was put to various uses without ever being consensually defined, enjoyed a brief vogue around the turn of the twenty-first century, and began to fall from grace in recent years. Not only did this neologism implicitly create new epistemic repertoires derived from the names of two presumably known religions. Increasingly loaded with a heterogeneous subtext pertaining to Western-centred representations of the non-European Other, it has become a highly versatile speech unit. By contextualising the appearance of “Buddho-Taoism” and its attested variants in European-language writings and following their semantic evolution, this essay attempts to shed light on some of the problems raised by its retrospective implementation in contemporary Western discourse on China. It also illustrates the power of seduction of trendy terms that academics tend to overuse without careful consideration for their meaning, thereby adding unnecessary problems to the intrinsic difficulties of their primary materials.

¿Hacia el indio nuevo? De lo global a lo local y a la inversa en pueblos nahuas del norte de Puebla

La vida cotidiana en las comunidades indígenas ha sufrido muchos cambios desde los años cuarenta del siglo XX. El espacio, tal como los indígenas se lo apropian prácticamente, revela estos cambios. Se usa los conceptos de “mundo rural”, dominado por lo agropecuario, y de “lugares”, espacios con alta densidad de relaciones sociales. Se examina el caso de los nahuas del norte de Puebla (municipio de Huauchinango), señalando el ocaso del etos rural y la dominación ya instalada de valores urbanos. Se constata sin embargo, la permanencia de fuertes solidaridades familiares y el arraigo al pueblo. Pero en cambio se observa la pérdida de sentido del territorio del pueblo, tanto en su uso económico como en su apropiación simbólica y ritual. Casa, pueblo, comarca y “mundo exterior” son los espacios considerados para evaluar los cambios sufridos e imaginar un porvenir ya fuertemente amarrado a la modernidad.Abstract: Daily life in indigenous communities has suffered many changes since the nineteen forties. Space reveals these changes through the manner in which indigenous populations appropriate it. Concepts are employed such as “the rural world”, dominated by agricultural and livestock activity and “places”, spaces containing a high density of social relations. We examine the case of Nahuas in the north of Puebla (municipality of Huauchinango), pointing out a decline in rural ethos and the establishing of a domination of urban values. Nevertheless we verify the permanence of strong family solidarities and attachment to the village. On the other hand we observe the loss of a sense of territory, both in terms of economic use as in symbolic and ritual appropriation. House, village, region and “outside world” are the space taken into consideration to evaluate the changes suffered and to imagine a future firmly tied to modernity.Résumé : La vie quotidienne dans les communautés indigènes a subi de nombreux changements depuis les années quarante du XXe siècle. L’espace, tel que les Indiens se l’approprient dans la pratique, en porte la trace. On utilise les concepts de “milieu rural”, dominé par l’agriculture, et de “lieux”, espaces de haute densité de relations sociales. On examine le cas des Nahuas du nord de Puebla (municipe de Huauchinango), en signalant le déclin d’un etos rural et la domination déjà installée des valeurs urbaines. On constate cependant la permanence de fortes solidarités familiales et l’attachement au village. En revanche on observe la perte de sens du territoire, tant dans ses usages économiques que dans son appropriation symbolique et rituelle. L’habitat, le village, la contrée et le “monde extérieur” sont considérés pour évaluer les changements subis et imaginer un avenir déjà fortement amarré à la modernité.

Patrick Kavanagh and the Authentic ‘Dispensation’: Rereading the Role of Narrator in The Great Hunger

This essay posits a challenge to the continued reading of The Great Hunger (1942) as a realist depiction of the Irish small-farming class in the nineteen forties. The widespread critical acceptance of the poem as a socio-historical ‘documentary’ both relies upon and propagates an outmoded notion of authenticity based upon the implicit fallacy that Kavanagh's body of work designates a quintessence of Irishness in contradistinction to his Revivalist predecessors. In 1959 Kavanagh referred to this delusion as constituting his ‘dispensation’, for indeed it did provide a poetic niche for the young poet. Kavanagh's acknowledgement of this dispensation came with his rejection of all prescriptive literary symbols. While this iconoclasm is widely recognised in his later career, the relevance of The Great Hunger to this question continues to be overlooked. In fact, this poem contains his strongest dialectic upon the use of symbols – such as the peasant farmer – in designating an authentic national literature. The close reading of The Great Hunger offered here explores the poem's central deconstruction of ruralism and authenticity. The final ‘apocalypse of clay’ is the poem's collapse under the stress of its own deconstructed symbolism; the final scream sounds the death knell to Kavanagh's adherence to his authentic dispensation.

Figures of Infinity: Two Poems by Maurice Craig

Maurice James Craig (1919–2011) is widely known as an architectural historian and biographer: those encountering his writing today may not even be aware that he was a poet of repute during his twenties, one expected to become a major figure on the Irish poetry scene. His poetry and reviews appeared regularly in both British and Irish literary periodicals in the nineteen forties, yet he published just one full-length collection, Some Way for Reason, with Heinemann in London in 1948. In 2011 Liberties Press published a new selection of Craig's poetry; this included poems from the Heinemann volume together with work that had previously appeared in journals or anthologies only. Since that publication, other previously uncollected poems have come to light, two of which are printed here. These poems first appeared, along with work by John Hewitt and W.R. Rodgers among others, in a pamphlet printed in Belfast in 1942 – 15 Poems in Aid of the Russian Red Cross. In my introduction to these poems I examine this publication and its contributors, and situate Craig's poems in the context of the Second World War and of his developing themes of personal responsibility and cultural dissolution.

“De Belgique j’ai assez peu de nouvelles...” De correspondentie tussen Jan Brans en Pierre Daye, 1945-1950

Op het einde van de Tweede Wereldoorlog slaagt een aantal Belgische collaborateurs er in uit te wijken naar Spanje en Argentinië. In deze bijdrage bekijken we de correspondentie tussen Jan Brans, hoofdredacteur van het VNV-dagblad Volk en Staat, en Pierre Daye, voormalig Rex-senator en commissaris-generaal voor Lichamelijke Opvoeding en Sport. Beiden bevinden zich in Spanje op het ogenblik dat de geallieerde legers in de zomer van 1944 West-Europa bevrijden.De correspondentie van de twee collaborateurs, uit de tweede helft van de jaren veertig, behandelt verschillende onderwerpen. In de eerste plaats gaat het over de mogelijkheid om naar Argentinië over te steken. Daye arriveert in de lente van 1947 in Buenos Aires en ontpopt er zich tot go-between tussen de peronistische administratie en de kandidaat-immigranten, veelal voormalige nazi’s en collaborateurs. Brans blijft in Spanje en poogt er, zo goed en zo kwaad als mogelijk, een nieuw bestaan op te bouwen.Voorts wisselen beiden nieuwtjes en plannen uit die te maken hebben met de toestand in België. De repressie, het lot van hun voormalige medestanders en de koningskwestie nemen hier een belangrijke plaats in. Ook de algemene evolutie in de wereld komt ter sprake. Ze wijden beschouwingen aan de vrees voor het communisme, de opkomende Koude Oorlog en de vermeende zwakte van de Westerse geallieerden. Er wordt tevens nagedacht over een hergroepering van de uiterst-rechtse krachten, in en buiten Europa. De correspondentie toont aan waarmee de uitwijkelingen bezig zijn: de strijd om het dagelijks bestaan, het zoeken naar steun en informatie bij elkaar en het rechtvaardigen van hun verleden.________"De Belgique j'ai assez peu de nouvelles…". The correspondence between Jan Brans and Pierre Daye, 1945-1950At the end of the Second World War a number of Belgian collaborators managed to flee to Spain and Argentina. In this contribution we review the correspondence between Jan Brans, general editor of the VNV daily paper Volk en Staat (People and State) and Pierre Daye, former Rex-senator and permanent undersecretary for Physical Education and Sport. Both are located in Spain at the time of the liberation of Western Europe by the allied armies in the summer of 1944.The correspondence between the two collaborators, dating from the second half of the nineteen-forties, deals with various subjects. Firstly they discuss the possibility of crossing over to Argentina. Daye arrives in Buenos Aires in the spring of 1947and then turns into a go-between between the Peronist administration and the candidate immigrants, in particular former Nazis and collaborators. Brans remains in Spain and tries as best he can to construct a new existence.In addition they exchange news and plans relating to the situation in Belgium. The repression, the fate of their former associates and the Royal question play an important role in this exchange. They also discuss the general evolution of the world. They debate the fear for communism, the emerging Cold War and the alleged weakness of the Western allies. They also reflect about a possible regrouping of the extreme right forces both inside as well as outside Europe. The correspondence demonstrates the concerns of the refugees: the struggle for daily existence, the search for support and information from one another and the justification of their past.