Epistolary literature

Nineteenth-century prima donnas were continually on the move, and making a living as a famous diva meant travelling as far and as wide as possible under conditions that were not always terribly pleasant. Pauline Viardot’s life was no exception to this rule. Her journeys have been amply documented by her biographers with the intriguing exception of one of the most important trips she took in the later years of her operatic career: during the months straddling 1857 and 1858, Viardot visited Warsaw and various cities in Germany, where she appeared in opera productions as well as in public and private concerts. While she was away, she wrote to her husband Louis every day -- long, chatty letters that often filled numerous pages. Throughout each of these communications she wove detailed descriptions about the music she sang, the people she encountered, and the money she earned. These letters, in other words, provide a clear and nearly unprecedented picture of the life of a nineteenth-century virtuosa on the road. In this article, the focus is on the letters that she wrote to Louis over the course of this tour. As John Rosselli has demonstrated in the person of the nineteenth-century impresario, the complexities of life on the road were manifold, generating a heightened level of uncertainty and anxiety that seeped into every interaction with other artists traversing the same rocky terrain. The letters Viardot wrote during her trip to Warsaw and Germany provide a vivid and unusually detailed picture of these vagaries from a diva’s perspective.

1 Einleitung 3 2 Epistolares Erzählen im Wandel der Zeit 4 2.1 Der empfindsame Briefroman 4 2.2 Der zeitgenössische E-Mail-Roman 7 2.3 Der E-Mail-Roman als Briefroman des 21. Jahrhunderts? 9 1 Einleitung Obwohl der Begriff der Medialisierung des Erzählens in der Literaturwissenschaft verhältnismäßig jung ist, lässt sich das Einbinden verschiedener Medien in den Erzähltext des Romans und der damit eng verbundene Aspekt der Genreentstehung auf eine lange Tradition zurückführen. Und so wie Genres kulturell und zeitlich bedingte Konventionsformen darstellen, sind Medialisierungsprozesse, auch im Kontext der Gattungsentwicklung, als "Ausdruck kultureller Veränderungen" 1 zu betrachten und stehen im Dialog mit sozialen und kulturellen Kontexten ihrer Entstehung. Dabei lassen sich auch anhand der verwandten Gattungen Brief-und E-Mail-Roman nicht nur Veränderungen in verschiedenen Kategorien der narrativen Struktur sondern ebenso ein Wandel in einge-und verarbeiteten Denkstrukturen der jeweiligen Zeit, in der das spezifische Werk verfasst worden ist, feststellen. Eine Gegenüberstellung jeweils eines typischen Vertreters beider Genres im Deutschunterricht ist deshalb so interessant, da sich also hier literaturwissenschaftliche Betrachtungsweisen neben sprach-auch mit medien-und kulturwissenschaftlichen Fragestellungen verknüpfen lassen und so im Sinne eines verzahnenden Unterrichtkonzeptes Verbindungen zwischen vermeintlich getrennten Kompetenzbereichen und wiederum Anbindungen an die Lebenswelt der Schüler herstellen werden können. 2 So soll im Rahmen dieser Arbeit, nachdem ein kurzer Abriss über die Entwicklung vom Briefroman des 18. Jahrhunderts bis hin zum zeitgenössischen E-Mail-Roman und eine Vorstellung zweier Bestseller des jeweiligen Genres, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers von Johann Wolfgang Goethe sowie Gut gegen Nordwind von Daniel Glattauer, dargeboten worden ist, das Potential einer kontrastiven oder ergänzenden Behandlung eben dieser Werke im Deutschunterricht aufgezeigt werden. Zuerst wird die thematische Aktualität des Werthers für heutige jugendliche Leser bewiesen, aber auch die Verankerung der Darstellungsform in einem vergangenen Jahrhundert, was zur Frage einer angemessenen zeitgenössischen Form und schließlich zum Roman Gut gegen Nordwind führt. Ein unterrichtsmethodisch handlungsorientierter Ansatz beschäftigt sich dann mit der Nähe beider Ro-1 Kusche, Sabrina: Der E-Mail-Roman. Zur Medialisierung des Erzählens in der zeitgenössischen deutschund englischsprachigen Literatur. Stockholm 2012. S. 30. Vgl. dazu in Bezug auf die Entstehung neuer Genres Nünning, Ansgar/Rupp, Jan: Hybridisierung und Medialisierung als Katalysatoren der Gattungsentwicklung: Theoretischer Bezugsrahmen, Analysekategorien und Funktionshypothesen zur Medialisierung des Erzählens im zeitgenössischen Roman. In: Dies. (Hrsg.): Medialisierung im englischsprachigen Roman der Gegenwart. Theoretischer Bezugrahmen, Genres und Modellinterpretationen. Trier 2011. S. 3-43. 2 Vgl. Abraham, Ulf et al.: Praxis des Deutschunterrichts. Arbeitsfelder, Tätigkeiten, Methoden. Donauwörth 6 2009. S. 81. 5 man ist" 8 . Der anfangs sittsam-natürliche (literarische) Brief mündet später bei den Stürmern und Drängern in kraftgenialischem, regellosen "Sichauslassen der Gefühle" 9 . Seine höchste Steigerung des ihm eigenen Ausdrucksvermögens und gleichzeitig auch einen vorläufigen Endpunkt 10 erfährt der Briefroman letztlich im 1774 erschienen Jugendroman Johann Wolfgang Goethes Die Leiden des jungen Werthers. Briefromane sind Romane, "die eine Geschichte in einer und als Folge von Briefen präsentieren" 11 und somit ein schriftliches Äquivalent mündlichen kommunikativen Erzählens bilden. Ein bezeichnendes Charakteristikum des Briefromans -ob ‚einseitig-monologisch", ‚zweiseitig-dialogisch" oder ‚mehrseitig-polylogisch"ist also in jedem Fall eine prinzipiell dialogische, nähesprachliche 12 Tiefenstruktur, 13 die nicht zuletzt aus der Brieftheorie des 18. Jahrhunderts resultiert. So übernahmen namhafte Briefsteller wie Christian Fürchtegott Gellert einen antiken Topos der Briefkultur 14 , der die Korrespondenz an die "Stelle eine Gespräches" 15 setzen will, und fokussierten gleichfalls die Nähesprachlichkeit von Briefliteratur. Man solle sich der "Sprache des Herzens" 16 , der "freiwilligen Folge seiner 8 Honnefelder, Gottfried: Der Brief im Roman. Untersuchungen zur erzähltechnischen Verwendung des Briefes im deutschen Roman (Bonner Arbeiten zur deutschen Literatur 28). Bonn 1975. S. 106. 9 Müller, Wolfgang G.: Der Brief. In: Klaus Weissenberger (Hrsg.): Prosakunst ohne Erzählen. Die Gattungen der nicht-fiktionalen Kunstprosa. Tübingen 1985. S. 86. 10 Engel postuliert, dass alles, "was dem ‚Werther" in diesem Jahrhundert noch folgte" sei "literarisch von minderer Qualität" gewesen. Vgl. Engel, Ingrid: Werther und die Wertheriaden. Ein Beitrag zur Wirkungsgeschichte (Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Literaturwissenschaft 13). St. Ingbert 1986. S. 43. Sicher lässt sich jedoch festhalten, dass keine innovativen Neuerungen oder extremere Auswüchse des Briefromans folgten. 11 Stiening, Gideon/Vellusig, Robert: Poetik des Briefromans. Wissens-und mediengeschichtliche Perspektiven. In: Dies. (Hrsg.): Poetik des Briefromas. Wissens-und mediengeschichtliche Studien (Frühe Neuzeit.

Hikâyeye göre, Sarı Selim olarak da bilinen Sultan II. Selim henüz hayatta iken, Saruhan sancağında vazifeli oğlu Şehzade Murad, tuhaf bir rüya gördü. Şehzade'nin rüyası, tabir edilmek üzere derhal civardaki sâlih ve âlim zatlara gönderildi, lakin hepsi de tabirde acze düştüler. Nihayetinde, Şüca Dede ismiyle şehirde nam salmış fakir bir derviş, rüyayı Manisa'da iskan etmekte olan şehzadenin pek yakında tahta çıkacağı şeklinde tabir etti. Kısa süre içinde tabir gerçekleşip de, babası Sultan Selim'in vefatıyla tahta çıkmak üzere payitahta çağrılınca, hakiki bir Hak dostu olduğuna kanaat getirdiği Şüca Dede'ye intisab eden Şehzade Murad o günden sonra mektuplar halinde rüyalarını şeyhine göndermeye başladı. 1 Aslında, Sultan Murad ne bir rüya ile bir şeyhe intisab eden ilk mürit idi, ne de şeyhine düzenli olarak mektuplar gönderen tek mürit. Tasavvuf geleneği içinde şeyhler ve müritler arasında mektuplaşma halihazırda oldukça yaygındı. Lakin mutasavvıflar arasındaki bu yaygın mektuplaşma geleneğine rağmen, bu konu henüz bütün yönleriyle çalışılmış değildir. 2 Fakat, şu âna kadar yayımlanan mektup metinleri, bu mektupların alıcılarına bağlı olarak farklı işlevleri olduğunu gösteriyor. 3 Mutasavvıflar arasında deveran eden mektupları, mürşitler tarafın-

En 1880, après avoir renoncé à la poésie et exercé divers emplois sur des chantiers, principalement à Chypre, Arthur Rimbaud gagne l'Arabie puis l'antique Abyssinie. Là, durant plus de dix ans, il va se livrer au négoce de tout ce qui peut s'acheter et se vendre (café, draps, armes...) De son établissement à Aden à ses ultimes instants à l'hôpital de la Conception à Marseille, ce sont ses singulières pérégrinations dans la corne de l'Afrique, nourries de rêves, d'espoirs mais aussi et surtout de désillusions et d'échecs que ce choix de lettres retrace.

Un conjunt de cartes inèdites adreçades a Guillem Viladot per destacades personalitats de la literatura catalana del seu temps des­mitifiquen la idea del poeta agra­muntí com un creador isolat i incomunicat, i mostren abas­tament els seus contactes amb escriptors, crítics literaris i editors de la talla de Joaquim Carbó, Joan Perucho, Joan Sales, Antoni Tàpies, Joan Teixidor o Joan Triadú. La correspondència amb aquests personatges evi­dencia una una voluntat clara i ferma de con­nectar amb l´escena literària barcelonina.
Al mateix temps, l’epistolari posa de manifest la petita xarxa de complicitats que Viladot teixeix amb escriptors de Ponent: la cordial relació amb Jaume Agelet i Garriga, al vol­tant de la ja clàssica antologia Lleida, vuit poetes del 1968, l´estreta amistat amb Ma­nuel de Pedrolo, amb qui comparteix inquie­tuds creatives, i també amb Josep Vallverdú, amb qui participa del compromís i de l’esforç generacional per promoure la literatura en català a la Lleida de postguerra.
En aquesta Jornada, diversos especialistes en aquests autors ana­litzen el contingut i l´abast d´aquest Epistolari Viladot: les seves inter­ven­cions esdevindran una contribució imprescindible per a entendre la dimensió creativa i més íntima de l´autor.

Il saggio intende dimostrare che, subito dopo la pubblicazione, da parte di Alberico Gentili, dei De iuris interpretibus Dialogi sex (1582) e delle Lectiones et Epistolae (1583-1584) i rapporti fra Jean Hotman e il giurista di San Ginesio divennero molto difficili e burrascosi. Lo dimostrano alcune epistole scritte da Hotman ad autorevoli giuristi (ad es. Bodin), e ad alcuni umanisti (Bergmann, Payne, Cuffe, Th. Savile) contenenti critiche molto dure e severe ai Dialogi gentiliani. Malgrado ciò, e malgrado le opposizioni dei puritani, Gentili riuscirà ad ottenere la cattedra di Civil Law a Oxford.Il saggio contiene anche notizie circa il tentativo compiuto, dal Gentili, di ottenere un insegnamento a Tubinga nel 1580.

Дитрих Бонхёффер (1906–1945) – известный немецкий теолог, участник движения немецкого Сопротивления, погибший в нацистском концлагере. В его теологических письмах, адресованных другу и пастору Эберхарду Бетге, зарождается богословская концепция «безрелигиозного христианства». Сформулированная лишь эскизно в личных дружеских письмах, концепция стала весомым вкладом в развитие западного богословия XX века. В статье раскрывается значение исследуемой концепции как призыва, обращенного к церкви и имеющего в своей основе служение христианской церкви в современном мире, ставшем безрелигиозным. Содержание концепции раскрывается в ряде тезисов, сформулированных в теологических письмах: во-первых, религиозность определяется как индивидуальное и метафизическое понимание христианской жизни; во-вторых, утверждается, что верующие познают трансцендентность Бога через общение с ближними; в-третьих, по мнению Бонхёффера, современный мир стал зрелым (совершеннолетним) и научился отвечать на самые сложные вопросы, не прибегая к Богу. Поэтому церковь должна научиться жить в безрелигиозном мире по образу общины служащей. Для этого необходимо возрождение катехизации, т. е. последовательное вхождение новых членов в таинственное и догматическое учение Церкви, с одной стороны, и внешняя открытость христианской общины для свидетельства о Христе – с другой.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) is a famous German theologian, member of German Resistance movement, who died in a Nazi concentration camp. In his theological letters to his friend and pastor Eberhard Bethge emerges his theological concept of “non-religious Christianity”. Formulated only in sketches in personal letters to his best friend, the concept became a significant contribution to the development of Western theology of the 20th century. The article reveals the significance of the researched concept as an appeal to the church based on the ministry of the Christian Church in the modern world, which has become nonreligious. The content of the concept is revealed in a number of theses formulated in the theological letters. Firstly, religiousness is defined as an individual and metaphysical understanding of Christian life. Secondly it is claimed that believers
recognize the transcendence of God through fellowship. Thirdly, according to Bonhoeffer, the modern world has become mature (adult) and has learned to answer the most complex questions without resorting to God. Therefore, the church must learn to live in a non-religious world in the image of a serving community. This requires a revival of catechesis, that is, the consistent entry of new members into the mysterious and dogmatic teachings of the Church, on the one hand, and the external openness of the Christian community to the testimony
of Christ, on the other.

A partir de los textos de las epístolas denominadas zurzūriyyāt, en este artículo se pretende profundizar en las dos caras del personaje en torno al cual se articulan estas originales y singulares composiciones, exclusivas de la literatura andalusí. El retrato literario que de él transmiten tiene mucho que decir sobre la figura histórica de un hombre apodado al-Zurayzīr, que en estas creaciones literarias oscila entre el símbolo y la realidad y que recuerda mucho al héroe de las maqāmāt.

Based on the epistles called zurzūriyyāt, in this article we try to study in depth the two sides of the character around which these original and unique literary pieces —exclusive of Andalusian literature— revolve. The literary portrait that these texts convey about the mentioned character has much to say about the historical figure of a man nicknamed al-Zurayzīr, who fluctuates between symbol and reality in these literary creations and who is very reminiscent of the hero of the maqāmāt.

In Lettre d’été (Paris, Albin Michel, 2000), Pascale Roze addresses Leo Tolstoy in the manner of a “true secret,” thereby allowing her to “write about that experience” (of having had a brush with death) that otherwise would have remained secret, hidden, unexplained.Furthermore, haunted by questions about death that her correspondent is unable to answer, Roze examines both his image and the philosophy that the great writer was able to develop through the course of his published writings and private papers. On the one hand, this attempt at questioning leads her to establish certain “correspondences” or affinities between them, and, on the other hand, makes it possible for the difference of attitude to life and death to be felt, a difference that her great admiration for the Russian novelist might have caused her to suppress/overlook. As stated in our hypothesis, writing to Tolstoy,  asking him her most intimate questions would be for the author of Lettre d’été, in relation to her correspondent, to incarnate the similar and the different all at once.

Dans Lettre d’été (Paris, Albin Michel, 2000), Pascale Roze s’adresse à Léon Tolstoï sur le ton d’une « vraie confidence », ce qui lui permet « d’écrire cette expérience-là » (avoir frôlé la mort) qui, sans l’écriture, serait restée secrète, cachée, inexpliquée. Par ailleurs, hantée par des questions sur la mort auxquels son destinataire ne peut répondre, l’auteure tente d’interroger à la fois l’image de lui-même et la philosophie que le grand écrivain a pu élaborer au fil de ses écrits publiés et papiers privés. Cette tentative d’interrogation l’amènera, d’une part, à établir entre eux certaines « correspondances » ou affinités et, d’autre part, à rendre sensible une différence importante d’attitude devant la vie et la mort, différence que sa très grande admiration pour le romancier russe aurait pu censurer. Selon notre hypothèse, pour l’auteure de Lettre d’été, s’adresser à Tolstoï, lui poser ses questions les plus intimes, reviendrait à incarner, par rapport à son destinataire, le semblable et le différent à la fois.

RESUMEN En el presente trabajo se aborda la teoría del género epistolar en sus rasgos fundamentales, atendiendo a las características más destacadas que presenta a par-tir del siglo XYIII, momento en que nace la epísola privada en sentido moderno. Tal indagación teórica va acompañada del estudio de las cartas de García Lorca, las cuales constituyen un ejemplo magnífico de esta manifestación literaria, con to-da la problemática crítica y teórico literaria que ello conlleva.

As a mostly straightforward mystery/ghost story, The Supernatural Enhancements qualifies as genre fiction yet opens itself up to uninitiated readers. In fact, expectations will probably only interrupt the gratification readers are likely to get if they go along for the ride. Edgar Cantero’s novel isn’t the brain-twisting puzzle of a book that I imagined it to be. Reading it, I found myself less an amateur sleuth and more a kid sitting at the campfire, waiting to be encouraged to sneak into the woods alone at night.

Настоящият текст е част от по-голямо изследване на непубликувани до този момент и системно оповестявани епистолари в сп. „Септември“ в периода след Априлското размразяване. Тъй като те участват в реабилитацията на писатели – в една или друга степен - идеологически санкционирани заради „буржоазно“ минало, индивидуализъм, идеализъм, символизъм, заради споделяне на модерни тенденции отвъд „лявата“ и „пролетарската“ литературна линия. Докладът конкретно се спира на манипулативните практики и техните механизми в конструирането на социалистическата рецепция на д-р Кръстев, Петко Тодоров и Пенчо Славейков чрез публикувани писма от Ив.Вазов, Ив. Франко и Ст. Михайловски.

Sin dall'antichità il reato di falso, che si configurasse quale falsa testimonianza o mediante il confezionamento e l'utilizzo di monete o documenti contraffatti, fu punito assai severamente dalla legge. In epoca romana in molti casi era prevista la pena di morte, e questa durezza venne trasmessa al Medioevo attraverso le raccolte legislative romano-barbariche, le quali prescrivevano pene corporali molto severe. A queste si affiancò dal XII secolo la legislazione canonica, che fu sempre più mite e convertì la rigidezza della lex romana in pene spirituali., per poi passare al pieno Duecento, quando sull'onda della riscoperta del diritto romano venne reintrodotta la pena capitale per i falsari. Le ragioni di una tale severità si spiegano se si guarda alla legislazione canonica, il cui fondamento a riguardo del reato di falso era principalmente l'insegnamento di S. Agostino: il crimine si configurava solamente qualora fosse coinvolta appieno la volontà del reo, tanto che il celebre giurista Alberico da Rosciate scrisse che falsum non committitur sine dolo. Ma, proprio sul tema dell'intenzione, si apre una zona grigia nella quale la legislazione non poteva intervenire: si tratta dei documenti fittizi, veri e propri rompicapo per gli studiosi del medioevo. Essi non configurano il reato di falso ma nemmeno sono facilmente riconducibili entro una categoria propria: attraverso alcuni esempi si mostrerà come, dopo esserci liberati delle classificazioni moderne di "vero" e "falso", si possa riuscire a comprendere meglio la tematica della letteratura fittizia nel Medioevo e a metterla in relazione con le falsificazioni che costellano quest'epoca.

Kuulsusrikkal 17. sajandil tõusevad absoluutse monarhia, moralistide, tuntud näitekirjanike kõrval esile olulised aadlisoost naised, kes koondavad enda kirjanduslikes salongides nii intellektuaale kui galantseid aristokraate. Ajal, mil vaimu mitmekülgne kultiveerimine areneb meeste ja naiste ühisolengutel ja läbi viimistletud  korrespondentsi, tõuseb  esile vaimukas ja tähelepanelik Madame de Sévigné, kelle säilinud kirjavahetus tütrega on kui omapärane kroonika sajandi kommetest. Markiisi spontaanselt ja põnevalt kirjutatud kirjad toovad lugeja ette nii oma aja olulisemad vaimuelu määravad mõtted ja ideed (loetakse Augustinust, Montaigne´i, Descartes´i), aga ka praktilised igapäevaelu episoodid, ning kõige selle foonil aristokraatide omavaheline mõõduvõtmine kuningakoja poolehoiu eest; ning seda ajal, mil naine kui kvaliteetautor on tabu all.

In this paper we point out that certain structural-typological and thematic motific traits of the work show that Turkish Letters bears the dominant attributes of the Enlightenment Epoch. Starting from the very genre – letters, which was popular in the period of universal anti-dogmatism and relativism, when learned dialogue, conversation – both spoken and written, talk and correspondence, exchange of opinions, all the way to the thematic-motific layer that covers the most significant themes of the Epoch – philosophic and critical opinions of religion, social problems, education and upbringing in accordance with age, philosophy of history, problems of cognition, ethics, deism and rationalism. We also point out to the influence of Voltaire and Rousseau and show how and why popular oriental themes fitted into enlightenment critical discourse, supporting anti-dogmatism and relativism. Though the incoherence of the work is obvious, just as it is noticeable that the letters are not quite soundly mutually connected (neither are they connected by the reciprocity of usual correspondence), reading them carefully we notice that almost each of them establishes a dialogue of its kind dealing with general themes or ideas of enlightenment, refracting them through a critical or parodic-humorous author’s viewer.

Di Bartolomeo Sacchi (1421-1481), detto il Platina, sono tramandati un epistolario dal carcere, segnalato da Augusto Campana, e numerose lettere extravaganti, che l’umanista non si preoccupò di raccogliere in epistolario. Con il presente lavoro si intende fornire l’edizione critica sia dell’epistolario dal carcere sia delle lettere estravaganti. Queste ultime, che indubbiamente racchiudono elementi importanti per la ricostruzione della vita del Platina, sono state oggetto di segnalazioni e citazioni sparse già a partire dalla seconda metà del Settecento, senza che si sia proceduto ad un sistematico ordinamento.

I primi studi relativi alle lettere platiniane risalgono infatti al domenicano cremonese Tommaso Agostino Vairani (1726-1798), che nella sua opera più importante, i Cremonensium monumenta, pubblicò alcuni scritti inediti di Platina, suo conterraneo. L’interesse di Vairani era rivolto all’epistolario scritto in carcere, mentre furono ignorate le lettere sciolte. L’attenzione degli studiosi verso l’epistolario platiniano è stato soltanto marginale e funzionale all’interpretazione del rapporto fra umanesimo e potere come dimostrano le ricerche di Willelmo Braghirolli, Alessandro Luzio, Rodolfo Renier ed Emilio Motta, che si sono cimentati nell’indagine pionieristica dei rapporti di Platina con i Gonzaga di Mantova e col potere sforzesco. I testi pubblicati da questi studiosi hanno talvolta proposto lezioni congetturali erronee e spesso hanno fornito segnature errate. Le pubblicazioni successive, risalenti al primo ventennio del Novecento, ovvero il saggio critico su Pomponio Leto elaborato da Vladimiro Zabughin e l’edizione del Liber de Vita Christi ac omnium pontificum di Platina curata da Giacinto Gaida, hanno ripreso i contributi precedenti perpetuandone le inesattezze; chi, interessandosi marginalmente alle epistole platiniane in tempi recenti, ha fatto affidamento alle pubblicazioni sette-ottocentesche sena aver direttamente verificato le fonti, ne ha riprodotto irrimediabilmente gli errori.

This article discusses American author Carson McCullers' 1942 short story titled 'Correspondence', in order to consider how the unique form of the epistolary short story amplifies themes of alienation and absence. Drawing upon contemporary affect theory as well as a close reading of the story, I consider how the letters in the text can be understood as what Sara Ahmed describes as 'happy objects', as well as how the process of letter writing becomes exemplary of Lauren Berlant's theorization of cruel optimism. Based on her own disappointment with letters and letter writing, McCullers' short text problematizes the act of writing letters and demonstrates the complexities of epistolary short fiction.

Je t'avoue que je suis si las de tourner dans un cercle vicieux en politique, si ennuyé d'accuser la minorité qui gouverne, pour être forcé tout aussitôt de reconnaître que cette minorité est l'élue de la majorité, que je voudrais oublier tout cela, ne fût-ce que pendant une soirée, pour écouter ce paysan qui chantait tout à l'heure, ou toi-même, si tu voulais me dire un de ces contes que le chanvreur de ton village t'apprend durant les veillées d'automne 1 .

In Querido Diego, Poniatowska’s difficult identification as a Mexican shaped her portrayal of the love of a quasi-historical character, Quiela, for Mexican painter Diego Rivera. Rivera provided Quiela with iconic access to “feeling Mexican,” and Poniatowska revealed her own desire to feel Mexican by speaking through the letters that she imagines Quiela might have written to Rivera. This analysis is grounded within the context of teaching Querido Diego in Jamaica, where knowledge of Mexican culture is minimal. So this essay functions as a meditation on the challenges of intercultural translation. Intercultural identification is seen as transfigurative for participants.

Die einzelnen Beiträge verbindet das Bestreben der internationalen Brieforscher_innen, die Ästhetik des weiblichen Briefes aus drei Jahrhunderten einer kulturhistorischen Bilanz zu unterziehen, den Einfluss von gesellschaftlichen und kulturellen Faktoren auf die Entfaltung der weiblichen Briefkultur zu untersuchen sowie die Aufgaben der heutigen Briefedition und den Umgang mit Nachlässen zu erwägen. Diesen Zielen entsprechend werden keine abgeschlossenen Studien präsentiert, sondern eher pionierartige, die den Weg zu weiteren, notwendigen Forschungen eröffnen wollen.

Sophie von La Roche's novel, which now takes pride of place in the canon of eighteenth-century German literature, was published one year before Von der Physiognomik (1772), the essay in which Johann Caspar Lavater laid the groundwork for his best-selling Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe. 1 Even though it predates Lavater's four-volume treatise, Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim draws extensively on the widespread interest in reading, visuality, and the human body that propelled the Swiss pastor to fame during the 18 th century. As the present chapter will elucidate, an analysis of physiognomic and pathognomic details from this novel reveals a writer committed to making a difference in the debate surrounding human physicality, but also in the legitimation of the novel and of female authorship. I will argue that La Roche's use of physiognomy and pathognomy is intimately connected with the specific brand of multi-perspectival narration that she developed, thereby showcasing a level of literary craftsmanship that women were deemed incapable of at that time. More specifically, La Roche adopted the epistolary novel form with its connotations of femininity, naturalness, and authenticity, and she put her own spin on it by developing a polylogic narration through the voices of multiple letter-writing characters who report from different perspectives on one and the same incident. 2

This essay approaches the question “What is a letter?” as a subquestion of two more general questions, “What is a genre?”, and “What is a category?” I offer a broad-ranging sketch of how how major findings in research on concepts and categories can help answer these questions; how research on letters might in turn illuminate the study of categories; and how this intellectual cross-fertilization may illuminate epistolary texts, structures, cultures and histories.

This book explores the life and work of the celebrated eighteenth-century English naturalist, explorer, artist and author Mark Catesby (1683-1749). During Catesby’s lifetime, science was poised to shift from a world of amateur virtuosi to one of professional experts. Working against a backdrop of global travel that incorporated collecting and direct observation of nature, Catesby spent two prolonged periods in the New World – in Virginia (1712-19) and South Carolina and the Bahamas (1722-26). In his majestic two-volume The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (1731-43), esteemed by his contemporary John Bartram as ‘an ornament for the finest library in the world’, he reflected the excitement, drama and beauty of the natural world. Interweaving elements of art history, history of science, natural history illustration, painting materials, book history, paper studies, garden history, and colonial history, this volume brings together a wealth of unpublished images as well as newly discovered letters by Catesby, which with their first-hand accounts of his collecting and encounters in the wild bring the story of this extraordinary pioneer naturalist vividly to life.
The volume was published by the Paul Mellon Centre/Yale, London, on 22 June 2021. It won the 2022 Award of Excellence in Biography from the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries; the Historians of British Art award for a single-author book with a subject between 1600 and 1800 (2022); and the Society for the History of Natural History, John Thackray Medal (2023).

"Las cartas de Cicerón se pueden entender como extractos de un diario de su vida y por extensión como un retrato de su época. Y es que hay momentos de su vida en que es posible seguir día a día no solo sus acciones, sino hasta sus lecturas y el curso de sus pensamientos y preocupaciones… Cualquier lector, pues, podrá decir de Cicerón lo que su hermano Quinto: «te he visto por entero en tu carta» (te totum in litteris vidi). Porque, en un diálogo directo con sus interlocutores, el autor se despoja por momentos de la máscara del personaje para mostrar todas las contradicciones —grandezas y miserias— del ser humano: sensible y vanidoso, obsesionado con su imagen pública y el apoyo de los poderosos, cálido o distante para con los suyos, a veces consecuente, dubitativo siempre.
Este ha sido el punto de partida del libro que el lector tiene en sus manos: trazar un recorrido por la vida y la época de Cicerón a partir de una selección de sus cartas más representativas, en su original latino y en la traducción y notas de José Miguel Baños."

Shashi Tharoor's Riot is a very unconventional novel. The notion that in a culturally, and religiously diverse country like India truth can never be singular, is very much visible in the course of this narrative. In the rendition of the story, many uncomfortable histories of postcolonial India is represented with distinctive style keeping in mind their relative importance to the novel. This postmodern text touches many sensitive themes while dealing with the many lives of its characters. One such theme is Truth, thus the paper tries to analyze the narrative structure of the novel so as to unravel the multiplicity of ‗truths' in its ambit.

Travail d'analyse du film "Méditerranée" de Jean-Daniel Pollet visionné en classe. Mai 2017.
Ce devoir prend la forme d'une lettre adressée à ma meilleure amie dans laquelle je discute des aspects du film qui m'ont marquée, en essayant de prendre un recul critique.

El artículo busca resaltar la voz del exiliado sobre sus experiencias de exilio. Para ello se tomaron cartas de un grupo de chilenos que estuvieron exiliados en Mendoza (Argentina) y luego en países centrales para comparar sus percepciones sobre las dos condiciones de exilio y sobre sus compañeros exiliados. Las cartas y la documentación de los refugiados políticos chilenos en Mendoza pertenecen al archivo del Comité Ecuménico de Acción Social (CEAS). Este comité asistió a 6.899 exiliados chilenos agrupados en 2.539 legajos entre 1973 y 1989.

Il saggio è dedicato al pensiero e all'opera di alcune donne impegnatesi nell'educazione, istruzione ed emancipazione femminile tra Ottocento e Novecento, e di colei che tra loro  costruì una rete ideale: Alice Hallgarten Franchetti (1874-1911). Oltre a queste donne -  Malwida von Meysenbug (1816-1903);  Felicitas Buchner (1856 - 1944) e Mary Douglas Hamilton (1885-1977 - vi compare una cara amica di Alice, americana come lei e come lei dedicatasi all'emancipazione femminile attraverso il lavoro e l'istruzione: Romeyne Robert Ranieri di Sorbello (1877-1951). Tutte loro hanno vissuto e praticato alcuni fondamentali aspetti della figura dell’istitutrice nella sua funzione di insegnante e maestra, e realizzato molteplici iniziative a favore delle donne nell'ottica del "femminismo pratico", pur nella diversità della provenienza (Stati Uniti, Germania, Gran Bretagna), della formazione culturale, della condizione di status, sociale ed economica.

he retrieval of voices that have long fallen silent is one of the primary plea sures of the historian's craft; understanding how those voices have been medi ated, one of its greatest challenges. To what extent are the texts we read, ana lyze, and deconstruct, unique and authentic expressions of an individual sen sibility? How much of the language is formulaic, driven by convention, deriv ative? Can any written medium allow us unimpeded access into a realm from Haim Beinart, "Iggeron Ivri mi-Sefarad min ha-me'ah ha-15," Pirqei Sefarad 1 (1998): 63-111. These medieval Spanish letters of recommendation, "Iggerot raijmanut," testify to the character of the bearers for a variety of charitable causes. Unlike most contemporary collections, the copyist arranged this one idiosyncratically (e.g., according to the first name of recipients) and did not omit the identifying details. Impoverished by the cessation of donations to the Ashkenazic community after the 1648/ 49 depredations in Poland, the women commissioned an emissary who printed the letter in Frankfurt and distributed it to raise funds. Avraham Yaari, "Shnei kuntresim me-Eretz Yisrael,"

Guglielmo Alberti – a Piedmontese antifascist intellectual of European importance, a friend among
others of Gobetti, Gide, Curtius, Debenedetti, Pavese, Berenson, Cecchi, a literary critic and translator
– and Gianfranco Contini met in Friburgo (Switzerland) in the Autumn 1943. Alberti had got in
Friburgo, where Contini was a Professor of Romance philology, as a refugee after the Nazi invasion
of Northern Italy. Their friendship is testified by an exchange of letters lasting from 1944 to 1959 and
counting 75 items. The article examines the first year of this correspondence, from April 3, 1944 to
April 25, 1945, documenting their shared anxieties about the civil war in Italy, their common work on
Italian literature and their active engagement in antitotalitarian politics. The two main common efforts
carried out by Alberti and Contini were the publication of an issue (edited by Contini in 1944) of
the periodical « Lettres » dedicated to Italian literature, and (from February to June 1945) of « Cultura
e Azione », a weekly literary supplement to the daily « Il Dovere », printed in Bellinzona. The fateful
day of 25 April 1945 will bring both the Liberation of Italy from Nazi-fascism and the announcement
of Alberti’s wedding, at which Contini will act as best man.

In the summer of 1716, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu undertook a long journey across Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean to accompany her husband to Constantinople. Here, the Whig politician Edward had been appointed ambassador extraordinary of George I to Sultan Ahmet III and representative of the Levant Company to the Sublime Porte. Living for almost two years in the Ottoman Empire offered the English gentlewoman the possibility not only to appreciate the customs and mores of the local people, but also to realize how false and groundless were many of the ideas she had heard about the Turks. For this reason, in the well-known "Embassy Letters" she posted to relatives and friends during her Turkish sojourn, she discredited the authors of those travel accounts, who failed to tell the truth but conveyed what was partial and erroneous, and continually emphasised the authenticity of her experience. In this essay, through representative extracts of her epistolary narrative, I will try to show how Lady Montagu systematically debunked the stereotyped image of the Orient that her male predecessors had instrumentally propagated in early modern England.

Rassegna critica delle reazioni alla pubblicazione del "Viaggio a Parigi e Londra" di Pietro e Alessandro Verri (1980). Attraverso alcune analisi offerte dalla rassegna, determinazioni circa la tipologia della corrispondenza epistolare, in prospettiva europea.

Mary Wollestonecraft was a leftist English philosopher and writer best known for her essay on women's rights entitled The Vindication of the Rights of Women. After a series of personal and financial events around the year 1795, Wollstonecraft decided to embark on business negotiations across Europe. It was on this trip she endeavored to write her travel account Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark in 1796. These journals are not just the personal and intimate accounts of her adventures with her young child and nursemaid, but also an attempt to support herself and her daughter financially. Due to the intimate and personal narrative style of the letters, which she herself notes in its first few pages, Wollstonecraft's personal beliefs are ubiquitous among her letters here. The intimacy of these letters also serves to enhance her leftist statements and beliefs, presenting lived experience as an authoritative rhetorical tool.

It is easy to feel small, powerless, and unable to spark any sort of change. Being only one person among billions can seem overwhelming indeed. So much is completely beyond our control. There are only a limited set of decisions that people are able to make in life, generally speaking. Given the circumstances, however, there are even fewer decisions that folks will be able to make from here. Of the choices that remain, one involves whether or not we choose to engage in a shared and collaborative practice—of whether or not we are committed to the people in our lives, to the people on this planet, and to the other forms of life on Earth. As such, this is a book about survival in the face of mass extinctions, including those of the academic type. This is a book about ethical research practices, about simple truths, about the commitments we initially made to this work, and about how we might better support each other along the way. Most importantly, this is a book about finding and making our own communities. Communities do not belong to any one person or small group of people. Rather, communities—genuine, real, and vibrant communities—belong to us all. This is a book about how.