To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your
hand
And Eternity in an hour
William Blake
(from Auguries of
Innocence
c.1800)
Internet: ferramenta d'investigació lite Gr.SG (28034) 2006-07
- 01
What's up? (03/07/07)
- 00
INDICE_Módulo Multi MEDIA básico Público (02/27/07)
- 00
noticias Weblogger (02/19/07)
01 What's up?
Instrucciones para el curso
Para leer correctamente esta información debéis ir a la siguiente
dirección:(cut & paste address)
http://aulavirtual.uv.es/dotlrn/classes/c062/28034/c07c062a28034gSG/wp-slim/display/19524927/
00 INDICE_Módulo Multi MEDIA básico Público * 00 Listado de textos a leer,
analizar y para opinar. * 01 Lévy, Pierre_Cyberspace and the Future of Memory *
02 Becker, Howard_Theory: The Necessary Evil * 03 Birkerts, Sven_The Gutenberg
Elegies * 04 Bolter, Jay David_Degrees of Freedom * 05 Cixous, Hélène_Three
Steps on the Ladder of Writing * 06 Landow, George P._HyperTextTheory * 07
Kendall, Robert_Writing for the New Millenium * 08 McGann, Jerome_Comp[u/e]ting
Editorial F[u/ea]tures * 09 Moulthrop, Stuart_Hypertext and the Laws of Media *
10 honoria in ciberspazio. De la teoría a la práctica. Estos son los textos que
propongo como background teórico para el presente curso. Lo qu hay que hacer
es: 1) leer los textos con atención y cierto interés. 2) escribir algún comentario,
análisis, opinión sobre cada uno de ellos 3) publicar eso en el Weblog de la
asignatura, donde mediante añadir comentario TODOS deben opinar y aportar su
punto de vista. 4) El orden de los artículos es irrelevante, empecemos por
aquellos que más os llaman la atención o que más difíciles os parecen, o por el
criterio que querais. El plazo es desde ya hasta finales de Abril
aproximadamente (no es un deadline) En una segunda fase intentaremos elaborar
una página web propia que contendrá nuestras aportaciones al weblog, por un
lado, y lo que más os interese incluir en una página web dedicada a comentar,
analizar, presentar lo que considereis interesante en vuestra navegación por
internet sobre Shakespeare en castellano y Cervantes en inglés. La temática debeis
elegirla vosotros. De tener problemas, dudas o necesitar aclaraciones ruego se
planteen al máximo posible mediante el weblog. Gracias a tod@s salut Dr. Forés
Contributed by Vicente
Fores Lopez
Acabo de
publicar la lista de los 10 textos que propongo se trabajen durante el presente
"curso de doctorado"
00 INDICE_Módulo Multi MEDIA básico Público
[ Print View ]
00 noticias Weblogger
El Weblogger Internet: ferramenta d'investigació lite
Gr.SG (28034) 2006-07
queda inaugurado el weblogger de la asignatura.
Espero que todos contribuyáis de forma muy activa a despejar dudas, preguntas,
y que aportéis muchas opiniones, análisis y recomendaciones para los demás
participantes del curso.
Gracias
Dr. Forés
00 INDICE_Módulo Multi
MEDIA básico Público
a Wimpy
Point Presentation owned by Vicente
Fores Lopez .
- 00
Listado de textos a leer, analizar y para opinar.
- 01
Lévy, Pierre_Cyberspace and the Future of Memory
- 02
Becker, Howard_Theory: The Necessary Evil
- 03
Birkerts, Sven_The Gutenberg Elegies
- 04
Bolter, Jay David_Degrees of Freedom
- 05
Cixous, Hélène_Three Steps on the Ladder of Writing
- 06
Landow, George P._HyperTextTheory
- 07
Kendall, Robert_Writing for the New Millenium
- 08
McGann, Jerome_Comp[u/e]ting Editorial F[u/ea]tures
- 09
Moulthrop, Stuart_Hypertext and the Laws of Media
- 10
honoria in ciberspazio. De la teoría a la práctica.
00 Listado de textos a
leer, analizar y para opinar.
|
Para ver el contexto
teórico y un listado mucho más exhaustivo y detallado id a: Los 10 textos
(autores) que propongo para el presente curso, sin embargo, son: 01 http://www.cibersociedad.net/public/k3_multimedia/levy.pdf
03
http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/birkerts_gutenberg.html 04
http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/bolter_freedom.html 05
http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/cixous_writing.html 06
http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/hopkins_hypertexttheory.html 07
http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/kendall_newmillennium.html 08
http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/mcgann_comp.html 09 http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/moulthrop_yousay.html
10
http://www.cyberopera.org/ El último es un
ejemplo de aplicación como regalo personal y para que veáis que no todo es
teoría cruda y dura. Su aplicación puede ser de lo más divertido y
enriquecedor que imaginar se pueda. Para mi ha sido la experiencia teórica y
personal de mayor valor que hasta ahora he tenido la suerte y privilegio de
vivir en mi actividad académica. ¡Que lo disfrutéis
tanto como yo! salut Dr. Forés |
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01 Lévy,
Pierre_Cyberspace and the Future of Memory
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Cyberspace and |
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http://www.cibersociedad.net/public/k3_multimedia/levy.pdf
No questions, thoughts, or comments to this comparison? •Sciences of nature
since the scientific revolution – Universal physical space – High tech
observation instruments – Formalized and consistent languages – High
computability – High testability – « Explicit » shareable, cumulative
knowledge => strong knowledge management • Current Sciences of culture – Fragmentation
among disciplines and paradigms. No integrated causal model of human
development. – Low tech observation instruments – Non-formalized languages or
different formalizations according to cultures, disciplines and paradigms –
Low computability – Low testability – « Tacit » knowledge (non- shareable,
non-cumulative) => weak knowledge management |
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02 Becker,
Howard_Theory: The Necessary Evil
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To come full circle,
the reasons and the people and the times for research are organizational
facts, not philosophical constructs. Epistemology and philosophy of science
are problems insofar as we cohabit with the people who make those topics
their business and are thus sensitive to their opinions, questions, and
complaints. Educational researchers, poised uneasily as they are between the
institutions of (mostly) public education, the scientific and scholarly
communities of the university world, and the people who give money in
Washington, who aren't sure which of those constituencies they ought to take
seriously, have the unenviable task of inventing a practice that will answer
to all of them more or less adequately. The difficulties are compounded by
the splintering of the academic component of the mix into a variety of
disputatious factions, which is mostly what I have been discussing. No amount
of careful reasoning or thoughtful analysis will make the difficulties go
away. They are grounded in different standards and demands based in different
worlds. In particular, as long as theory consists of a one-way communication
from specialists who live in the world of philosophical discourse, empirical
researchers will not be able to satisfy them. In my own view, we (the
empirical researchers, among whom I still count myself) should listen
carefully to those messages, see what we can use, and be polite about the
rest of it. After all, as Joe E. Brown remarked in the last scene of
"Some Like It Hot," when he discovered that the woman he wanted to
marry was a man after all, "Nobody's perfect!" |
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- http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/becker_necessaryevil.html
03 Birkerts, Sven_The
Gutenberg Elegies
The Gutenberg Elegies
The Fate of Reading
in an Electronic Age
Sven Birkerts
Faber
and Faber
BOSTON ï LONDON All rights reserved
under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions, including the
right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. First published in
1994 in the United States by Faber and Faber, Inc., 50 Cross Street,
Winchester, MA 01890. Copyright © 1994 by
Sven Birkerts part ii
The
Electronic
Millennium
(Selected
Fragments)
8 Into
the Electronic Millenium
9
Perseus Unbound
10
Close Listening
11
Hypertext: Of Mouse and Man
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- http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/birkerts_gutenberg.html
04 Bolter, Jay
David_Degrees of Freedom
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Degrees of Freedom by
Jay David Bolter jay.bolter@lcc.gatech.edu
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- http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/bolter_freedom.html
05 Cixous, Hélène_Three
Steps on the Ladder of Writing
The Wellek
Library Lectures for 1990
The
Critical Theory Institute Hélène Cixous
Three Steps on The
Ladder of Writing
Tuesday, April 24, 1990 "The Hour of the Worst" Wednesday, April 25, 1990 "The School of Dreams" Thursday, April 26, 1990 "The School of Roots"
Hélène Cixous |
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- http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/cixous_writing.html
06 Landow, George
P._HyperTextTheory
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Cover design by Glen Burris
In
January 1995 Johns Hopkins University Press published a companion (print)
volume to Hypertext -- Hyper/Text/Theory, which contains
substantial essays by ten authors on the relation of this technology to
individual theorists, including Michel de Certeau, Gerard Genette, Jurgen
Habermas, Donna J. Haraway, Ilya Prigogine, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and to
issues in theory, such as linearity, narrativity, and philosophical argument.
Here is the table of contents: Part I:
Introduction
What's a Critic to Do? Critical Theory in the
Age of Hypertext. George P. Landow Part II:
Nonlinearity
Nonlinearity and Literary Theory. Espen J. Aarseth Wittgenstein, Genette, and the Reader's
Narrative in Hypertext. Gunnar Liestol The Screener's Maps: Michel de Certeau's
"Wandersmänner" and Paul Auster's Hypertextual Detective. Mireille Rosello "How Do I Stop This Thing?"Closure and
Indeterminacy in Interactive Narratives. J. Yellowlees Douglas Conclusions. Terrence Harpold Part III: The
Politics of Hypertext
The Political Computer: Hypertext, Democracy,
and Habermas.Charles
Ess Physics and Hypertext: Liberation and Complicity
in Art and Pedagogy. Martin E. Rosenberg Rhizome and Resistance: Hypertext and the Dreams
of a New Culture.Stuart Moulthrop Part IV: The
New Writing
Socrates in the Labyrinth. David Kolb The Miranda Warnings: An Experiment in
Hyperrhetoric.
Gregory L. Ulmer To place an order
with the Johns Hopkins University Press |
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- http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/hopkins_hypertexttheory.html
07 Kendall,
Robert_Writing for the New Millenium
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Literature
has always been a remarkably adaptable art form. It's at home on the lips of
the storyteller or the actor. It happily dons the accoutrements of song. Even
the printed page may spawn extraverbal hybrids such as visual poetry,
calligraphy, and illustrated books. Now the range extends still further. The
computer--that remarkable melting pot of all communication--has become another
medium for expressing the incomparable beauty and power of the word. A growing
number of poets and fiction writers are using the personal computer to stretch
the boundaries of the written tradition. From the electronic pen come poems and
stories that couldn't be represented in print--work that can exist only on the
infinitely flexible "cyberpage" offered by the personal computer
monitor. The new electronic literature breaks the bonds of linearity and stasis
imposed by paper. In digital form, a story can draw readers into its world by
giving them a role in shaping it, letting them choose which narrative thread to
follow, which new situation or character to explore. Within a "page"
of poetry on screen, words or lines can change continually as the reader
watches, making the text resonate with shifting shades of meaning. Written work
can "improvise," altering its own content every time it's read. With
its power to mix text, graphics, sound, and video, the PC can extend the
ancient interdisciplinary traditions of writing. This emerging genre--often
called interactive literature, because the reader can interact with it--has
gained an inexorable momentum in the past few years. Such prominent writers as
William Dickey, Thomas M. Disch, and Robert Pinsky have tried their hand at
interactivity, and the medium has attracted many other talented practitioners
in this country and abroad, as well as a number of publishers devoted almost
exclusively to it. It has garnered favorable critical attention from such
conservative voices as The New York Times Book Review and The Washington Post
Book World and spawned an eloquent body of critical theory. Interactive
literature has found its way into the curricula of English and writing
departments at many colleges, including the New School for Social Research in
New York, where I teach interactive poetry and fiction. (See sidebar.)
08 McGann,
Jerome_Comp[u/e]ting Editorial F[u/ea]tures
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A
short time ago an essay of mine was rejected by the distinguished journal
Computers and the Humanities. I had been informally asked to submit something
by one of the journal's editors and I was pleased to be able to send a new
piece that was nearing completion. Don't
turn off your set. It's true that anecdotes, especially personal ones, often
make dismal invitations in the discourse of scholarship. But this one is, I
hope, peculiarly apt in the present instance -- that is to say, in the
context of this collection of original (in both senses of the word) essays
about "re-imagining textuality". The
problem with my essay arrived in two waves. When
I sent it for consideration I noted to the editors that it called for some
half dozen color reproductions "illustrating" the final section of
the paper. Would this present any difficulties? I asked. None at all, a
return letter assured me, though I would have to pay for the costs involved.
The charges came to several thousand dollars. Since
I couldn't afford that expense I made a double decision. First, I would
remove the last part of the essay and modify the earlier parts to accommodate
the change. The essay was organized in modular units in any case, so the
revision would not be too difficult to execute. But because that last section
contained material that was for me the most intellectually challenging in the
piece, I knew that I would have to find a way to "publish" it. That
move wasn't very difficult either. I would simply put up the whole of the
essay on my webpage, including links to the digital files of the color images
that couldn't be included in the print essay. (There is a benevolent irony
here. Those images were originally digital files created in Adobe Photoshop.
Had they been reproduced in Computers and the Humanities, the print texts
would have been, as Frank O'Hara might have said, "a step away from
them".) Several
months passed before the reader's report arrived with its second wave of
problems. It was an excellent report -- searching, intelligent, and even (always
a pleasing matter) full of favorable remarks. Making revisions in light of
the critique was going to improve the essay so I felt -- and still feel --
grateful to this reader, whoever s/he was. But
there was (is) for the reviewer a "major weakness" in the essay:
"its somewhat unclear structure". The point was elaborated in this
way: There is no initial overview,
and no final summary. . . . The thematic composition suffers from a lot of
back and forth, and it contains a combination of project report and
theoretical argument which makes the paper too long, confusing and hard to
follow. The statement of goals for the paper (or for the Rossetti Archive) is
clear enough, but it is not always clear that the material discussed is
relevant to these goals, and there is no clear evaluation of the results in
terms of the goals. I weighed these comments for some time before realizing
they couldn't be dealt with through any kind of "revision" process.
The reader's difficulties signalled a skew between an essay that was being
looked for, and an essay that had actually been written. More importantly,
this skew seemed to me an index of a wider division of thought about how to
address certain key conceptual issues that attend many current projects
involving "computers" and "humanities" scholarship. The
problem with printing the images represents an elementary version of this
larger question. |
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- http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/mcgann_comp.html
09 Moulthrop,
Stuart_Hypertext and the Laws of Media
You Say You Want a
Revolution? Hypertext and the Laws of Media
Stuart Moulthrop
©
1991
This reality implosion
brings serious ideological consequences, for some would say it invalidates
the informing "master narratives" of modernity, leaving us with a
proliferation of incompatible discourses and methods (Lyotard 26). Such
unchecked variation, it has been objected, deprives social critique of a
clear agenda (Eagleton 63). Hyperreality privileges no discourse as absolute
or definitive; critique becomes just another form of paralogy, a countermove
in the language game that is techno-social construction of reality. The game
is all- encompassing, and therein lies a problem. As Linda Hutcheon observes,
"the ideology of postmodernism is paradoxical, for it depends upon and
draws its power from that which it contests. It is not truly radical; nor is
it truly oppositional" (120). |
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- http://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/moulthrop_yousay.html
10 honoria in
ciberspazio. De la teoría a la práctica.
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A worldwide effort has
been underway for four years to make a cyberspace opera, not by one lone
person behind a single computer, but by you, and the person who came to this
page before you, and the person who will be here tomorrow..
honoria in
ciberspazio is
an opera in the making. We invited everyone who visited these pages to send
poetry about their Internet-facilitated relationships. This website is the
hub and repository of the project. honoria in
ciberspazio
is a romantic, collaborative opera. Over 60 contributors have sent their
poetry and arias to the libretto, the opera's script. Thus, the libretto is
written by net-citizens, people with intimate knowledge of the ways virtual
relationships form and deconstruct in cyberspace. The opera's characters sing
and type their words into the constant flow of Internet information. Their
fragmented net communication leads to misunderstandings, complex philosophical
positioning, confrontations, danger and love. Original music is being
composed by George Oldziey. The project is headed towards a full-scale
professional opera stage production. This opera artfully
expores insights into the complex ways in which online communication and
relationships are experienced by many of us. Since the days of the beginning
of the project, activity in the on-line social realm has been steadily
growing, making the subject of this work of art one of ever-present relevance
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© VFL at UVPress, València 2007
Cyberspace and the
Future of Memory
a Wimpy
Point Presentation owned by Vicente
Fores Lopez .
de esta wimpy © uvpress.uv.es © Dr. Forés
00 Presentación
http://www.cibersociedad.net/
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Cyberspace and Evolution of Cultural
Memory |
01 Digital Memory
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DIGITAL MEMORY |
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Human Language •
Syntax – Combinations of elements – Multi-leveled articulation • Semantic –
Potentially infinite # of distinct representations – Hierarchically organized
in sets and subsets • Pragmatic – Ability to tie and untie a potentatially
infinite # of human relationships, using syntax and semantic. • ==>
Reflexive consciousness • ==> Culture (human collective intelligence) |
02 Limits of the
Contemporary Web
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Limits of the
Contemporary Web |
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Virtual Memory Architecture
Computer Interconnection between transistors. Computer memory = bits
addresses. Operating systems. Applications software Augmentation of logical
and arithmetical processing. Internet Interconnection between computers.
Internet Protocol = information servers addresses. Routers. Personal
computing. Virtual communities. |
03 Why Semantic Numbers
?
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Why Semantic Numbers ?
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The Five Laws of
Computational Semantics 1. No patent: Semantic numbers are public domain. 2.
No exclusion: Semantic numbers address a virtually infinite variety of
concepts. 3. No ontological hierarchy : Semantic numbers provide a peer to
peer relation between concepts and ontologies. 4. No arbitrary authorithy:
The IEML dictionary is built and discussed publicly by a multidisciplinary
and multicultural community of ontology managers and metalaguage specialists.
5. No mystery: The IEML community develops a rational methodology to connect
semantic numbers to concepts in natural languages. |
04 Discursive Thought
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Scholastic: Vox |
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formal intelligence
Practical intelligence inemteloltiigoennacle Religion, ethics, law,
institutions, psychology relational thought pginohh, tiatilcrosts,,ophy,
Haitnegucdrhniuctnsuitnirlctgyua,, rlfie sh hgaoiirunncgeghe, Culture |
05 Computational
Semantics
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COMPUTATIONAL
SEMANTICS NUMBERS |
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NUMBERS Computers
Non-humans / Humans Structures Natures / Cultures Computability Notation
systems CONCEPTS Interpretants Communities Objects Ontologies Symbols
Cultures SEMANTIC NUMBERS Mathematics, computer science, engineering Natural
and social sciences, humanistic disciplines, ontologies management
Addressing, measurement and calculus of conceptual dynamics in cyberspace
Transmission and development of knowledge on concepts ecosystems
COMPUTATIONAL SEMANTICS |
06 SAA Hyperessay on
Electronic Shakespearean Criticism
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http://www.colby.edu/personal/l/leosborn/solutions.html
The
shift in the balance of power between writer and reader in the hypertext
essay demands several things which many literary critics are unaccustomed to
considering. First, the hypercritic must cultivate an awareness of technological
availability and utility and willingly ride the wave of an unending
learning curve. Since coping with technological glitches and learning new
software takes time and energy, the virtual scholar must balance the demands
of research and argument against the requirements of actually reproducing
those arguments on the Web. More disturbingly,
perhaps, we webbed critics must consider both the visual impact and
spatial dimensions of our published work as we write it.
Even with the helpful tool of an HTML editor, there are two layers to every
webpage in progress--what you see and what you write. And your readers' responses--and
willingness to follow from page to page--can depend as much on visual appeal
as on developing content. The different process
of writing, with its components of programming, spatial relationships and
artistic deign, yields a product which may defy easy evaluation. The
intellectual usefulness of a web essay depends on how well the form fits the
content; the evaluations
of the work may rely on a combination of utility and currency or on an
elaborate balance of hits and web citations. But the more important
question is what such a structure offers scholarship. Although web work may
sacrifice the comforting historical record of a career's progress, piled up
in a heap of offprints and books, it promises to offer an openendedness to ongoing
scholarship which should be as satisfying to the literary critic as it is
to the textual editors of Shakespeare. The problems may
be many, but the rewards are potentially great. The conclusions
we draw about this new form will likely depend on the examples we
encounter.
http://www.colby.edu/personal/l/leosborn/saa1.html
http://www.colby.edu/personal/l/leosborn/saalong.html
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© VFL at UVPress, València 2007
00 INDICE_Módulo Multi
MEDIA básico Público
a Wimpy
Point Presentation owned by Vicente
Fores Lopez .
<>Hola,
nos serviremos de este espacio para poder intercambiar opiniones, preguntas,
sugerencias, dudas, etc.
Así animaros a hacer frecuente uso de este espacio compartido y veamos hasta
dónde podemos llegar.
salut
vicente
02:01
PM, 19 Feb 2007 by Vicente Fores Lopez Permalink | Edit
| Draft
| Delete
presentación
First of all, I would like to
introduce myself because, although this is going to be an online course, I
still like to know my peer researchers. My name is Teresa and this year I will
finish with the MMModules, and my objective is to present my
"Trabajo de Investigación" and the "DEA" the following
academic year. I am pretty much interested in translation studies in general,
and in audiovisual translation in particular – be it dubbing, subtitling, or
subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing. I studied a master degree on
audiovisual translation last year, and nowadays I’m working as a freelance
translator for some companies. My aim is to include translation studies into my
PhD research. I’m also very much interested in gender issues and therefore my
research will probable tackle these two aspects. I would like to know the other
"doctorandos". I hope you all follow my initiative! Good luck to
everyone. Teresa Agost
by
Teresa Agost Porcar on 02/20/07 | Edit
| Delete
Introduction and comments
Hi. My name is Stan McDaniel, and
this will be my last year of academic classes also. I haven´t chosen a
"linea de investigación" just yet, but I´m working on it. This type
of course is new to me as I am used to breaking my neck trying to get to the
classes. I have read the presentation "Cyberspace and the Future of
Memory" and, although I am not a cyberspace geek by any means, I have
tried to understand it and I can offer a few comments (which are a bit
superficial, but I´ve tried). First of all, I am very pro internet and
cyberspace. I didn´t used to feel comfortable with it, but it has made my life
so easy and made everything so accessible that I have grown to depend on it
almost on a daily basis. It has also made my life at work much easier. I appreciate
that nothing is perfect and way out there in cyberspace there are loads of
flaws and imperfections, but can anyone tell me another more efficient way of
reaching so much knowledge in so little time? As I interpret from Prof. Lévy´s
presentation, cyberspace has opened up a whole new world of lack of privacy,
lack of ownership and, on the bright side, a wonderful world of an infinite
variety of concepts. I found the part about Virtual Memory Architecture to be
very interesting as well because, and even though I am not familiar with the
terminology used by Prof. Lévy, it shows in a very clear manner how all data is
linked together and how one piece of information leads to another, etc., etc.
As I said at the beginning of my comment, I am no expert in this field, and I
would like to hear more in-depth comments about it.
by
Stanley Mcdaniel Mann on 02/25/07 | Edit
| Delete
Comments
I've tried twice to put this
commentary in the weblogger, but after two attempts it seems no-one can see it
- or at least I can't. So, I decided to post the comments here, as Stan has
already done. To start with, I should say that my knowledge about computers and
the internet is that of a user level. I use it every songle day for work, since
it hs become an essential tool, but I am not an expert. That means that when I
first read the “article” I, honestly, did not understand a word. After several
times and searching for extra reading on the internet, I have realized what the
text is about. Undoubtedly, the expansion of the internet has helped and
facilitated the work of many people: researchers can now have more information
at hand, and also expand their own study or research; it allows communication
in real time among users; standard users have the widest information one could
ever imagine, information can be sent and received fastest then ever, etc.
However, it seems this useful tool can still be improved. As far as I have
understood, the IEML Semantic Numbers is still a project, but it will
facilitate even more the web search since it aims – among other things – to
link concepts – what he calls Noosphere – instead of identifying words.
However, I still have a question concerning how this “re-organization” of the
resources available on the web is going to be carried out. Can anyone shed any
light?
by
Teresa Agost Porcar on 02/26/07 | Edit
| Delete
Aclaración del profe
First of all, please let us know
who you all are as soon as possible. Second, before the wrong idea starts
growing, this course is an on-line course, but that does not mean I do not want
to meet with you. As soon as possible, I would like to have the chance to say
hello personally to everyone and all of you. Those who have already visited with
me in my office do not need to come back, unless they need anything from me
that I can not supply through e-mail, but all the others, please come and say
at least hello on Tuessday or Thursday from either 10:00 to 11:00 or from 13:00
to 15:00. My office is located on the sixth floor of Filología and the office
number is 074. Please send me an e-mail the day before, because I am in and out
of my office a lot, because we have too many meetings and too many burocratic
affairs to solve, so if you want to make sure to meet with me, just drop me a
line. see you soon salut Dr. Forés
by
Vicente Fores Lopez on 02/27/07 | Edit
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Carlos Garcia Serra
First, I'd like to tell you that
it's been quite a long time since this online course started. But I did not
have so much time left to look at these readings Fores gave us. My name's
Carlos Garcia, and I'm applying for a post of a TAship in the university of
Georgia for next semester. I'll be studying a MA degree, as well. So I was
quite busy doing some stuff for it. I'd like to do the Master's degree, and
thinking of doing my phd there. I'm now very interested in the linguistic side
every time I read something, and my improvement of the usage of the English
language. I'm working by Cambridge School as an English teacher. I'd really
like to know exactly what the interconnection between significations (IEML) is
working at the moment, and if there will be any improvements with this new
system of searching data. I'd also like to know to what extent we could keep
all our worldwide data on the Net, like when you want to sell or rent an
ancient book in a bookstore or library, trying to save all old information on a
virtual library. Do you think we'll have space enough to save data? It's also
very curious how the evolution of cultural memory has changed, when druids have
been doing by heart all their act rituals by oral transmission, and how
nowadays cyberspace, with virtual memory architecture: Noonshere, Web,
Internet, Computers. It's crucial in our lives to have a computer to work on
everyday because it has become an essential tool to what I'm doing, and
Internet is even more important for our communication to the world, and a
window of data which is important for our lives. Summing up, I'll be thinking
of your suggestions and reply you as soon as possible, but before I'd like you
to explain to me exactly what exactly this new system consists of, and why this
noosphere is going to improve our lives.
by
Carlos Garcia Serra on 04/09/07 | Edit
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Comment to Carlos García
Hi, You seem to be more computer
proficient than me, but your doubts are probably common to everyone. I can´t
help you out on your first question, but I can give you an overall comment to
your message. First of all, I can´t imagine old books and collector´s items
vanishing from personal collections, bookshops and libraries. What will
probably happen is that they will be worth a lot of money as the tendencies
will be going toward virtual memory and downloading everything from the
internet. Probably similar to what is happening to video films and DVD. As far
as memory is concerned, you´ve got me on that one. I´m sure some geek or
computer wizard will invent something to overcome this problem. What I don´t
foresee is a physical teacher being substituted by a screen because this would
trash all the motivation necessary in order to learn. Basically, I´m just
"going with the flow" because if not, I´ll get left behind... Stan
McDaniel
by
Stanley Mcdaniel Mann on 04/14/07 | Edit
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Summary and comment on THE
NECESSARY EVIL and THE GUTENBERG ELEGIES
The following are my comments and
opinions about the articles number 2 (“Theory: The Necessary Evil”) and number
3 (“The Gutenberg Elegies”). Since I already commented about the first article
at the beginning of the semster, “Cyberspace and the Future of Memory”, this
article is not included. Again, my limited knowledge of cyberspace and internet
will be noticeable in my comments, however, I have tried to at least understand
the texts and follow up with a short analysis-opinion. I found the text
“Theory: The Necessary Evil” to be interesting in that it presents the idea
that educators are finding that the way knowledge is being presented nowadays
is in a certain way “leaving them behind” and even perhaps proving that they
may not hold all the answers or maybe mistaken. Even their research is being
criticized for not being profound enough and maybe not producing what it should
be in the beginning. According to the text, spending a lot of time on questions
which do not hold an answer is a waste, and if the researcher knows what he is
doing does not lead to an answer, then this is the “evil” of theory. On the other
hand, it is understood and accepted that no research method is perfect and is
“good enough” for the community it was meant for. Any flaw the method has will
eventually be ignored by the people interested in its development and results.
The funny thing is that, in the early stages of a research, people do not
really care if the results are valid or not, but are mainly interested in the
results are valid or not, but are mainly interested in the fact that they have
something to read and talk about. Later on, however, people become a bit more
demanding and are interested in seeing that all the time invested was worth it
and there is a result. Many times, conclusions cannot be reached simply because
they do not fit in the context of a particular community or does not meet the
standards, making them totally impractical or even impossible. In the case of
educational research, there needs to be a justification. This can be very
difficult at times because it all depends on who is interested in the results,
and what their particular objectives are at any given moment. In my opinion,
this article shows how frustrating the whole research process can be and, many
times, the amount of time and energy invested lead to nowhere for many people.
From reading the article we can see that there are certain factors which
control how the research is carried out or even control the results. One of
these factors is how a particular person preceives the whole research process
and its results and another factor is purely economics: the more funding
received the better the research is. The second text to be commented on is “The
Gutenberg Elegies”. In the fragment, “Into the Electronic Millenium”, we are
given a peek into what reading will be like in the future. Screens replace pages,
books become obsolete, and printed material no longer makes any sense.
Electronic information moves along network, visual media, impression and image
are more impotant than logic and concept. One important development is the
commercially-sponsored education packages brought to the classroom by Whittle
Communications. The idea is that it exploits the usage of TV in order to make
it more attractive to younger students. Schools would receive free equipment
under the condition that they participate and air the shows (using students as
anchors who present a news-like program). Robert Zich, who is a projects expert
in the Library of Congress, sees favorably the hand-held electronic book and
even a miniature encyclopedia and is impressed by their portability. It is
obvious that the transition from the culture of the book to the culture of
electronic communication will alter in some way the language. Syntax, spelling,
everything changes as it becomes abbreviated and molded to fit the new age of
communication. Even the way we view our own selves is changing. For example,
our lives are becoming much more transparent and we are always “connected” to
something or someone. The next fragment, “Perseus Unbound”, deals with the
innovation of interactive video technologies. This will make libraries all but
disappear as students can consult any topic in color, three dimension, make
comments, get answers, etc. without even having to search through dusty
shelves. A potential danger of this magnificent invention: we will have to think
less as everything will be practically given to us. In the fragment, “Close
Listening”, we see where all we have to do is listen and receive information.
The last fragment, “Hypertext: Of Mouse and Man”, explains the meaning of the
term “hypertext”: it is a term which describes the writing done in the
nonlinerar or nonsequential space made possible by the computer. Hypertext
represents a type of technology which is divergent, interactive and plural, and
lets the reader unchain himself from the author. It is not clear whether or not
the hypertext is the response to peoples´ needs and desires or is simply the
end product of the evolution of technology. The use of word processing makes
writing and style practically uniform, unlike before where a person would
create an original work. Navigating around cyberspace can sometimes be
confusing, frustrating and even exhausting. As we navigate we see that the idea
of “text” loses its original certainty in that it is expressed in so many
different ways. If all these novelties overwhelm us, we have to accept the idea
that technology is still in its infant stage and will change even more in the
near future. In my opinion, these fragments of “The Gutenberg Elegies” are
meant to make us sit up and reflect on the revolution of the internet and
cyberspace and how it will afford a completely different notion of the media,
texts, expression and even how we learn and view knowledge.
by
Stanley Mcdaniel Mann on 04/14/07 | Edit
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Commentary of texts (II)
Here it is my commentary on the
texts, from 2 to 9. In his Theory: The Necessary Evil, I agree with Becker in
the necessity of getting along with the new technologies – although sometimes
development occurs so quickly that it seems we, common users, are always
running behind its back. All this development can be used as a tool so that
students see and understand the connection between their studies and the real
world. If in everyday life, computers are needed in the vast majority of jobs,
why not using them to teach school subjects? However, the teacher in charge
should consider beforehand how and why this usage will be done and what s/he
aims to achieve. Stated in that way, this porcess is a similar to the research
process. The researcher focuses on a topic and uses the tools considered
appropriate in order to achieve his/her objective or aim. However, the results
will be “relative” in the sense that they will never be objective. What can be
considered an objective result? Reality can be seen from different angles and,
even though, the research leads us to great conclusions, there will always be
parameters that have not been considered in that determined research. Birkets
in The Gutenberg Elegies foresees the disappearance of the libraries, as we
understood them nowadays. Libraries are at risk of disappearing as the place to
look for information and they will become museums where ancient books will be
observed. More and more information can be “downloaded” from the internet and
this, undoubtedly, facilitates the work of many researchers and specialists.
However, a few questions rise in my mind at this point. As far as Birkets
defends, reading from the screen is different from reading from the paper. He
refers mainly to the relationship that the reader establishes with the “text”.
Rather, I would say that the reader works differently since s/he is making use
of different sources (therefore, the reader will take notes differently, for
example). In any case, it is important to highlight the possibilities of
hypertexts, understood as an “interactive” reading in which the reader takes an
active role and decides which path to follow in his/her reading process. Bolter
in his Degrees of Freedom opposes the virtual to the hypertextual similar to the
opposition between visual and verbal. He defines the hypertext as a “text” that
is open to the readers, that is subject to revision and therefore a “text” with
multiple meanings and messages. This multiplicity characteristic of the
hypertext is contrasted with the linearity of the “traditional book”. In the
subsequent sections of his article, Bolter rises the well-known question: will
the hypertexts completely replace written books? In my opinion, technology and
hypertexts are useful in many senses, and facilitates the difficult task of
finding research articles, or resources in general. However, the book will keep
the magic of reading for pleasure, without the necessity of being in front of
the screen. You might feel I am old-fashioned, but I still feel that way.
Anyway, we don’t know what will happen in 10 or 20 years and how things will
develop, but I think that printed books will still be used, and people will
continue buying them. In his article, Kendall demonstrates the reality of
hypertexts. He does not theorize about the terminology or the concepts but
rather he puts real examples and explains his own experience with hypertexts.
It seems that he – as well as other authors – has been successful using this
new technique. His experience started by mixing his poetry with music and some
images and from that, it has developed into more complex hypertexts which
demand the reader a new attitude towards the piece of work. This technique is
becoming more and more common among writers and it will surely develop in ways
we had never thought before. In Comp(u/e)ting Editorial F(u/ea)tures, McGann
exposes by a personal experience the future of texts and printed publications.
In his own opinion, publishing on the web provides much more facilities than
printing – besides of cost reduction. He foresees the increasing of on-line
journals and the slow extinction of the printed publications. These ideas link
with Moulthrop’s argument. For him, the books are dead – in his own words – and
a new reality is taking their place. However, although he defends the
publication on the web for several reasons – less expensive, less
environmentally aggressive, more accessible... – he also seems a bit agnostic
about the future of this medium. He compares it with the beginning of other media
such as television and the radio; their actual state differs reasonably from
the beginning. Therefore, Moulthrop's concerns are related with the future of
the online publications, what will they be used for and how will they used for.
To sum up, I see now that there are much more possibilities on the World Wide
Web that I knew before. However, it seems that there is still a lot of work to
be done. Many resources can be found on the internet, however, not everything
is valuable and the reader/researcher should pay careful attention to the
source of the information. I don’t intend to diminish the importance of the
Internet as a research tool, which I consider very useful. But on the other
hand, I am myself quite reluctant to accept the “death” of the books as some
specialists defend.
by
Teresa Agost Porcar on 04/20/07 | Edit
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Texts 4-9
According to Bolter in “Degrees
of Freedom”, and I fully agree, the written text is becoming less and less
important, being substituted by TV and film, and to top everything off, now we
have the hypertext which makes it even more appetizing. It is much “easier” to
just sit back and let the information sink in, rather than hold a book and have
to read. We are starting to learn, reason and live in an imaginary world where
anything is possible and there are no limits. The term “virtual” is now part of
our everyday jargon. Virtual representation is the logical counterpart to
hypertextual representation. Computer graphics have become so perfected that
the viewer can now imagine himself inside the virtual reality he is observing
at a given moment. The old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, seems
to hold true to the new technology because even newspapers are turning into
picture books. I have personally noticed this by reading the online versions of
CNN and USA Today. All you have to do is to read the headlines, then gaze at
the photographs – no reading required, and you still become informed about what
is happening in the world today. In “Writing for the New Millenium”, Kendall
highlights that the computer has turned into an indispensible tool for the
writer who is becoming more and more proficient at taking full advantage of its
wide range of possibilities. As a consequence, electronic publishing is
flourishing. Even I have noticed that when attending a conference many
participants have their laptap open and ready to type away or consult the
internet on any doubt that may pop up during the session. Another thing is that
nowadays everything is “interactive”,even literature. You can jump from chapter
to chapter, episode to episode, depending on your needs and interests and you
can participate in the plot. This is a great improvement over the hypertext.
Just about every piece of literature you can imagine is now in electronic
format. I resisted at first, but I now realize that this new technology is
absolutely necessary for teaching and for motivating students to learn. We have
to keep up with the times in order to keep up with the students. In McGann´s
“Computing Editorial Features”, we see the problem faced by the author who was
not satisfying the needs of certain readers. In the case of McGann, the choice
to include or not full color images in the paper became a nightmare. Apparently,
not everyone is ready for the electronic text age, because McGann´s article was
not accepted for that reason: he wanted to upload it on the internet in order
to make the images available to everyone and not have to spend a small fortune
on including color pictures in the hard copy which was being revised. I can
understand the problem here: we cannot just assume that 100% of the world´s
population is ready for this electronic revolution. My own personal experience
is quite frustrating: I still can´t convince international students to fill out
the online version of the application form and send it to the university by
internet. They prefer to print it out, complete it in longhand and mail it to
me by regular post. And I´m talking young people, aged 19-22 years old who,
theoretically, should be electronic-literate by now. In other words, we have a
ways to go yet. In the article written by Stuart Moulthrop, “Hypertext and the
Laws of Media”, I detect a certain degree of pessimism in the future of
hypertext and the media. I can understand this because, as Moulthrop states in
his article, we should stop for a minute and listen to the people in the street
in order to see which direction we are headed. For example there clearly exist
cultural and educational gaps among the population, and maybe we aren´t ready
for or worse yet, don´t have the capability of coping with an “electronic
revolution” so soon. After having read these articles and spending some time
reflecting on their message, I think we need to find a balance between the
traditional text and the electronic one. In my opinion, too much is at play to
simply try to erase a system which has worked for centuries without considering
all the consequences.
by
Stanley Mcdaniel Mann on 04/22/07 | Edit
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Self Introduction
Hello, everyone! I feel a little
bit awkward introducing myself at this point of the course, but this is the
first time in my life I am participating in a Blog, and I have been playing
with Aula Virtual for a long long time until I finally managed (by accident) to
find the web address that would give me access to the Blog and therefore allow
me to participate in it by adding my commentaries. Well, after (unsuccessfully)
excused myself, let me introduce myself: My name is Jordi, and I have been
living in Japan ever since I graduated in 1999. I am now on my second year of
this PhD course, and hope to get all the modules done by the end of June, so
that I can start with the investigation project. I have not decided yet what
will be my "linea de investigacion", but I guess it will be something
dealing with the comparative studies between Japanese and English Language on
the grounds of modality. When I arrived to Japan I worked for 3 years as a
Coordinator for International Relationships in the international division of a
Japanese local authority. This was part of a world program organized by the
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs that aimed to promote the relations
between Japan and the rest of the world. Now I am working as a Spanish language
and literature teacher in a Japanese university near Osaka. And I guess this is
about it. I also hope that this course turns into a fruitful experience for
everyone, and that we can learn a lot from each other. I am a total amateur in
this field (as you might have already noticed) so I am sure I will learn a
great amount from all of you.
by
Jordi Tordera Juan on 04/27/07 | Edit
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On Pierre Levy's Article
For the last years we have been
making use of the internet to the extent that it has become such a natural and
a necessary tool for our daily lives that work and leisure time would be almost
unthinkable without owning a computer connected to the web at home or at work.
However, Lévy’s article on cyberspace and the future of memory makes us
reconsider the vast possibilities of this powerful tool. I think it is a very
sharp presentation that shows us with some real connections between both sides:
us, humans, and the machines. Especially it is interesting the way Lévy depicts
the cyberspace as the evolution of the cultural memory; how through the web we
can take advantage of its ubiquity and interconnection, how it allows users
from their homes to create a cultural network were thoughts and intelligence
can be shared crossing every barrier. In other words: it is a way to delete de
line between the active writer and the passive reader, where this last one, is
enabled to take a role and make the relationship go both ways and become interactive.
Machines, so far cannot think for themselves, and just follow the parameters
that have previously been programmed and designed by humans. A clear example
can be seen in the failure of the automatic translating devices, or the lack of
precision of the web search engines, which are having trouble in distinguishing
typed strings from real concepts. In addition to this, the IEML theory is very
interesting, as a proposal to make the most of the semantic possibilities, go
beyond linguistic limitations and build up a communication system. Again the
idea of connecting the terms of hardware, software and conceptware is very
worth mentioning, as well as the rational methodology to relate semantic
numbers to natural languages. However, these IEML and semantic numbers
projects, despite of how appealing they may look, still sound as a utopia to
me, and I think it will still take decades until it becomes a feasible
enterprise. Nevertheless, it is a good starting point for the construction of a
universal system of communication.
by
Jordi Tordera Juan on 04/27/07 | Edit
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On Howard S. Becker's Article
I was really thrilled by Becker’s
text, and it kept me reading until the end. However, in spite of the clearness
of the article and the fact that it was written in a very plain and direct
style, I had some difficulty in comprehending all the ideas, especially because
I was not fully acquainted with terms and disciplines such as epistemology,
quality and quantity research. After some quick research, I could sum some of
the terms up. Thus, epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge and
how it relates to similar notions such as truth, belief and justification. It
also deals with the questions of what knowledge is, how it is acquired and what
do people know. In other words, it is the study of the difference between
practical and theoretical reason. That is to say, becoming acquainted with the
differentiation between the idea of knowing how something works and the idea of
just knowing that something is or should be a certain way. The other important
definition is, the qualitative research, as the main method of approach in
social science, and therefore, the study of human behavior (it focuses at the
“why” and “how”). It will therefore, give importance to detail and context,
rather than gathering large random samples as the scientific or quantitative
research would do (it focuses at the “what”, “where” and “when”). Surprisingly,
these definitions could summarize quite well the whole article, since the
bottom line deals with the justification for the social studies as an answer to
the attacks from the other disciplines (scientific studies). While scientist,
among others, argue that social research does not have a stable basis, Becker
states that after all, we sooner or later have to rely on social conventions
and organizational facts (conform with a data or a evidence that is “good
enough” although not 100% accurate). Even scientists have to keep going on in
spite of knowing the data might not be completely correct, in the same way
social science has to work upon the convention that a result from a poll is
accurate and has no errors. The author is open-minded and honest, by admitting
the philosophy of social science also has its flaws, and that we need to listen
and learn from the critiques from the others. After all, reality is something
no one can fully define or grasp form an objective point of view, and that
everything can be questioned. Furthermore, since no reality is fully demonstrable,
there must be a certain point in which we need to agree on something and “what
we agree on becomes the fact”. Moreover, we have to investigate on the premise
that for any sort of research, a theory is necessary, even if we are talking
about the implicit theory of knowledge.
by
Jordi Tordera Juan on 04/27/07 | Edit
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On Sven Birkerts' Article
With only a few exceptions, we
could state that every change produces certain fears. Changes scare us because
they imply we will have to deal with something different from what we are used
to, and therefore, it means we will have to start a process of learning a new
system in order to still be competent. Society evolves, and the human being,
based on experience and research offers us new options that supposedly improve
the way we did things before, saving us time and effort; in other words, making
us more productive. Changes can, obviously, be for better or for worse. And
even the good ones have a negative counter effect. Take for instance the car:
it surely saves time as a transportation method if we compare it to the horse,
but it causes more ecological damage and it has a higher risk of accident.
Furthermore, if we look back in history, we can easily find inventions that
should never have been brought to light, like for instance, the nuclear
weapons; in spite of the fact that many people claim that the fear of the
devastating effect of these new weapons, might stop humanity from going into a
III World War. Having all these factors in mind Birkerts position and point of
view towards the switch from the printed text to the hypertext is
understandable. He looks at the imminent fading out of the book culture with
melancholy and he is afraid of the consequences of the coming new era, even
though, not only at the time of the writing of the article (1994) but even now
we still seem to be victims trapped in the middle of a “period of overlap”, and
therefore, we are not fully enabled to foresee the future of the next decades.
As the author of the text puts it, we are in a “proto-electronic” moment. While
the reading of a printed text is a linear action, and it is defined by Birkerts
as a private engagement, the text on the screen, it is not linear any more, or
at least the electronic order stops it from potentially being so. On the other
hand the screen text is interactive, and therefore, we should talk about a
public engagement. All in all, it is hard for us to decide which one is better,
and if the advantages of the hypertext outrun its disadvantages. Birkerts
states that the print medium exalts the word and brings permanence, against the
data on a computer or on the net. This is an arguable statement, since books
also deteriorate with time, and a properly saved computer data could last for
decades without suffering the unavoidable effects of erosion. However, it is
true that all these new CD-ROM Media sets with all this new ways to approach
Shakespeare, or other historical characters or facts, overflows the reader with
explanatory footnotes (links) and information, and makes more difficult the
direct encounter and experience with the raw text of, for instance, an Old
English play of sonnet. This could become an obstacle for the development of
thinking, the forging of new ideas and the way a reader struggles to understand
and build up new theories as the natural reaction or impulse that a difficult
to understand verse or line could cause on us. The other clear issue is the new
relationship that is being created between the person and the web. There is a
tendency to get hooked on the web, and although this can bee seen as a
development of the interactivity, and therefore, as a promotion of the output
of the ideas that otherwise might remain in our mind, it can also delude the private
self, and the capacity to be comfortable with ourselves. Quoting the author:
The expansion of electronic options is always at the cost of contractions in
the private sphere. We will soon be navigating with ease among cataracts of
organized pulsations, putting out and taking in signals. We will bring our
terminals, our modems, and menus further and further into our former privacies;
we will implicate ourselves by degrees in the unitary life, and there may come
a day when we no longer remember that there was any other life. We could say
that this argument collides against Lévy’s theory on the advantage of the
transition from natural language to semantic numbers as a positive shift. On
the other hand, Birkerts thoughts of research on natural science and science of
cultures complement Becker’s idea of the science of culture as an individual
act that needs a context, and needs understanding the opaque. Media substitutes
this opacity for transparency, but it actually just gives us an illusion of
understanding, that can be misunderstood with the illusion of access, and is at
the same time with the "anticontextual". This new media can also
atrophy our minds, and shorten our memory capacity, since the mastering of the
new technology will provide us with a know-how of how to access the information
but not helping us to retain it. And this could be bad if we think that
possessing information is the base of intelligence, because it allows us to
interrelate and link the new information with the one we already knew. The
final issue that remains unsolved is whether the change in relationship between
the skilled writer and the trained reader will be a positive thing or not. The
canonical “domination of the author” is dethroned when the relationship becomes
more interactive, and the reader can add thoughts to the original text. As
Birkerts states, we will not be reading anymore, but “texting” or
“word-piloting”. In conclusion, we could say that all the author ideas are well
reasoned and based, but we could argue that it all depends on the extent of
things, and on the level to which we bring things. There are types of text that
are meant to be read in an unidirectional way, like, for instance a famous
novel, and texts that are put on the web to provoke thought and discussions. It
will depend on what we are looking for and on what we have in front of us.
by
Jordi Tordera Juan on 04/27/07 | Edit
| Delete
On Jay David Bolter's Article
Bolter’s review on freedom
through the world of hypertext and virtual reality is really enriching since it
perfectly finds a balance between the modern modes of representation and the
most traditional conception of the self. As a starting point, the writer
presents the different ways of prose, and how it has switched from oral to
printed text, and finally how it has been affected with the introduction of
photography, films and computer graphics. The traditional definition of self
can enter into crisis when we think of the cyberspace culture, and the self
cannot be constructed as an authorial and autonomous voice any longer, becoming
instead a wondering eye, that shifts from one perspective to another. In
hypertext, the elements are not linear, and they only happen when the reader
wants them to happen. Therefore, we could state, that in opposition to the
traditional book, each reader will give the hypertext a new point of view,
depending on the path he/she follows through the maze of links. In other words,
the writer of the hypertext loses control on the reader in comparison to the
writer of the printed book, since he can organize the structure of links, but
he cannot decide how the reader will navigate through them. The other concern
is what would become of literature, in society, were visual is preferred over
linguistic representations. In the World Wide Web, we can still find lots of
text, in spite of the huge amount of graphics, pictures, sounds and colors. We
switch from one page to another with just one click, so each page has just a
few seconds to attract and make us feel to want to keep reading the page. In
other words, the first impression will be determined by the images as a
threshold to the text (hypertext). Although on a second level, the text will
still have its place. However, as Bolter emphasizes it, virtual reality, is an
attempt to recreate a new world, similar to the reality we live in, and
therefore, where we accept this graphic world as our reality. In this
definition, the text has almost no place, and it is almost inexistent. All we
might get, apart from images, are sounds, some voices, and maybe some words as
a definition to some of the icons on the screen, like the ones on walkman or
car. As the author will later conclude, this could be the real enemy to the
book, and not the hypertext, which is after all, another mode of
representation, a continuation of the prose or written text. In fact, there is
a common point between books and hypertext: the design of the typography as a
graphic symbol is not important, for the “typographer’s goal is to make the
typeface as transparent as possible. The reader is not supposed to notice the
shapes of the letters.” This is why it is still early to decide the fate of the
book, because, even though we might narrow the role of the book in the future
to the literature area (the scientific text might be more linked to
computerized technology), books will keep existing as long as they are easier
to read than the computer screen. The real problem is whether people will keep
wanting to read literature or not. The book calls up images on the reader’s
mind, and a whole world can be depicted and look as real as the real world (as
long as the writer’s’ narrative skills and the reader imagination allow it).
Nevertheless, it is difficult to beat the world that a movie or the virtual
reality provides us, where this world is already manufactured, and therefore
requires a smaller effort for the viewer’s mind. The opposition between virtual
reality and hypertext could be compared to the one between painting and poetry.
Or to put in other words: it is the difference between looking at an object
(book or painting) and looking through it, as it can easily happen with virtual
reality, where we are created an illusion, where the graphic environment is so
real that we do not feel we are looking at an object anymore in order to enjoy
a new reality. We do not need the word to capture the real world (ekphrasis),
since with the graphic image the reality is already offering us an alternative
word. Then, after accepting that the text is absent in virtual reality (virtual
silence), and that the viewer controls the point of view, since it is not
looking at the object through a painting but he/she finds him/herself in the
same visual space as the objects, Bolter makes an interesting approach at virtual
reality from the Cartesian point of view. One interpretation of Descartes’
thoughts would be that the only acceptable reality is our own mind and not what
our senses tell us. Therefore, experiencing the world as others do would be
unthinkable. But, on the other hand, forgetting about the body and see
ourselves as thinking agents, as Descartes would suggest, could be the first
step into the fusion with virtual reality or the cyberspace. Finally, as
another approach to the hypertext, we could think of it as a new definition of
the writer, who works in collaboration of the readers, and implies that the ego
is always in a process of definition. Going back to the virtual world, the
writer argues that there is a virtual knowing, and that the best way to know is
through empathy, that is, we learn by experiencing how does it feel to be like
someone or something. But to practice this empathy, we need to have free access
to as many points of view as possible, to have access to information. This also
raises a controversial issue, since there are also marginalized groups who lack
this freedom of access, who cannot enter into this community or network.
by
Jordi Tordera Juan on 04/27/07 | Edit
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On Robert Kendall's Article
After reading some of the
articles or hypertext, it was a pleasant surprise to discover Kendall’s text,
for it is by far the author with the most optimistic and positive view on the
topic. The main stream of argument for the other experts of the hypertext topic
was mainly focused on the confrontation between the printed book and the text
on the web, which are, almost all of them, expressing in one way or another,
his or her concern of the future of literature or the role of printed text.
When we read Kendall’s definition of the computer as “that remarkable melting
pot of all communications (…) another medium for expressing the incomparable
beauty and power of the word”, there is no doubt that he is not against the new
electronic device. Furthermore, he sees the “cyberpage” as a flexible form that
can offer possibilities that the paper cannot. His definition of the hypertext,
as a breaking of the linearity of text, and as a way for the author to give a
shaping role to the readers is still the same, but it adds the fact that the
reader cannot only alter the order throughout the various links but also affect
the contents. He even considers it a genre and calls it “interactive
literature” or “electronic literature”. Kendall talks about the possibilities
of publishing on disks or on the web, as a way to add more to the original
text, through music, images, videos, and even animation of the text. It can
become a sensual experience, and it can make genres like poetry more accessible
to the reader by making it more understandable, and dcloser to the human
sensorial world. Electronic literature should not be a threat to the books,
since it is aiming for a new type of public, and in fact, it could attract
people who were originally not attracted by poetry or literature in general. As
others writers on hypertext also pointed out, making use of the era we are now,
and thus making the use of the visual impact that images produce, a virtual
space can be produced, creating a bond between the reader and the text.
However, Kendall is realistic, and admits that the screen cannot offer the
feeling and comfort of the book page, and that it is still painful to face a
computer screen for hours. Technology will need to improve a lot to change this
reality. Nevertheless, what is clear is that the two types of electronic
literature (the hypertext and the electronic version of originally printed
works) can be considered as a flourishing new genre that is inexpensive,
reachable, and easy to be spread. A proof of this is that more and more authors
are interested in publishing directly on the web and experiencing with its now
possibilities. Furthermore, the publishers are also encouraging this movement.
An interesting point is the one in which, in a way with these electronic
devices, we are going back to oral poetry, where the storyteller could
improvise and change his repertory based on the audience reactions. This is
unthinkable for a printed anthology of poems, but for instance, the poetry on
the web, that can be read and listened at the same time, and that offers at the
same time a change to the reader to interact, play and create a path, gets very
close to the oral world previews to the printed literature. Finally, Kendall
claims that the hypertext author should always have a sense of responsibility
and make sure that his/her work does not lose its coherence, no matter what
path the reader should take. This is an interesting approach regarding the
possible loss of authorial claim that other writers on hypertext theorist were
mentioning. In conclusion, I really enjoyed the bright and positive approach of
this text, and the way it sheds new light to the future of the literature, and
gives a real shape to this new genre that will keep it alive within the future
of the technology were almost everything will be taking place: the cyberspace.
by
Jordi Tordera Juan on 04/27/07 | Edit
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On Jerome McGann's Article
I found McGann’s article
interesting because it was based on a personal experience, and he leads us through
the process of how to find a solution and how to decide which is our real goal.
This essay could also be seen as an interesting mixture of the eternal debate
between printed text and computerized data text, as well as a practical guide
of the techniques of how to organize the writing of an article or of a paper
based on the rejection of one of his essays from a magazine and an skilled
reader’s critique, respectively. The article starts with the dilemma of what to
do with the pictures that illustrate the paper. The printing of these images on
the paper based medium will cost a considerable amount of money, and since they
were initially created with the computer, they will lose quality on the printed
page. Moreover, the reader will not be able to appreciate the process so
clearly. The solution seems clear if we think or the article as a web
publication or electronic text: adding the images will not suppose any extra
cost, the quality will not suffer, and the graphic features that the computer
offers will help make the replaying and recreation of the process of the
experiment more understanding to the readers. However, this is connected with
another problem: the difficulty of indexing and the searching of image-based
data and alphanumeric-based data. The image-based data enriches considerably
the texts since it provides visual evidence, but it is much more difficult
(impossible) to search or to index than the alphanumeric data, or at least it
is with the present technology. Some claim that alphanumeric based editions are
the most significant future trend in electronic edition, but this assertion can
depend on what we mean by it. With today’s technology might be difficult, but a
research focused on finding new techniques that allow a proper managing of the
image-based data could be the first step. As McGann pointed it out, it is all a
matter of point of view, and not mistaking “the future we think we know” for
“the future we know we need”. Through experience and the mistakes we do when
researching we can realize what we really need and use this hints to redirect
our path of investigation. Realizing what we do not have and what we need is
the first step to the achievement of our final goal. On the other hand, there
is the issue of the readership. A paper based text, for instance a scientific
magazine, tends to have a reduced number of readers or a narrow span compared
to the web, but at the same time it targets and focuses on a more precise
network of specialized readers who will really be interested on the subject. An
article on the web can be missed much more easily. Furthermore, the creation of
the electronic form version of the printed magazines is a very slow process.
Nevertheless, we can advocate that the computerized text can offer a high
quality data, offering both the critical and the facsimile edition, which would
be impossible on the paper edition. Furthermore, if we think that the
humanities scholars are interested in non hierarchical models or forms, we will
have another reason to bet for the computerized versions. As a conclusion, I
think this is a very thought provoking essay, with a very interesting
philosophy: we might by “chance” or by mistake bump into a problem when
undertaking our research, which can be understood as a hint from fate to open our
eyes and see our real goal or the means to reach it. At the same time, it
objectively shows us the strong and weak points of the computerized version of
a text or article and its possibilities without discredit the printed world.
by
Jordi Tordera Juan on 04/27/07 | Edit
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On Stuart Moulthrop's Article
Moulthrop’s essay is more like a
treaty on political philosophy than an article on hypertext, so it offers a
very deep and innovative insight on the theme, using Nelson’s Xanadu as a
concrete example. The comparison with Coleridge’s original unreal world of
dreams is a very clever way to connect it at the same time with the literacy
world and the multi parallel world. This reminds us of the cyberspace as
conceived in the movies like “The Matrix”, which presents us a world that is a
simulation, a sort of virtual reality. But Moulthrop adds a sharp remark that
takes away any fantasy of revolution we might be incubating in our heads: if we
are part of a simulated world, then we are also simulated objects that lay at
the same level as we would lay in a real society, therefore any idea of radical
action is impossible, or at least as unthinkable as it would be in the world we
are living in. Furthermore, he goes beyond the hypertext, and introduces the
concept of hyperreality. At the same time, its definition as a “writing practice”
links the term with the original idea of hypertext, where the reader can also
be a potential writer, editor or even publisher. Again here, the reader is not
just presented as a navigator that creates a path through his/her link options
but he can also be a creator. In other words, Moulthrop is suggesting what
other authors have already mentioned in their works: that we can have the power
to destabilize the social hierarchies and “promote broader definitions of
authority”. Nevertheless, he goes again beyond that hypothetical idea, and asks
how will “such a reconstruction of order and authority take place”, and who or
how will redefine it. Xanadu is an attempt to reconfigure literature culture,
and to reconstruct text as a variable-access database. Xanadu will be a textual
universe, like an alternative reality, with its own “hypertextual Library of
Babel”. It will be like the paradise of the writer and reader, a place were
they can commerce ideas at almost the same level. This can also be seen as a sort
of utopia, that is described by Nelson as “populitism”, where the popular and
the elite will find themselves at the same ground level, without feeling the
verticality of the hierarchies; a sort of anarchy. Xanadu will also have
copyright and protection systems, so that the customer will need to pay to
enjoy the services. However, when we deal with intangible items such as the
ones found in the cyberspace, we have to be aware so some obvious problems,
such as the difficulty of defining what belongs to who, and the potential
perils of piracy and illegal access to break the system. On the second half of
the article, Moulthrop mentions the McLuhan’s four “Laws of Media” and applies
them to the hypertext, trying to define what does the hypertext enhance, what does
it displace, what obsolete item does it retrieve and what does it produce when
taken to its limit. It could be said that in a sort of paranoid way it enhances
the text, in a world where everything is connected. Nevertheless, Moulthrop
argues that hypertext is, after all not so different from the traditional idea
of literature, “a temporally extended network of relations which successive
generations or readers and writers perpetually make and unmake”. What is more,
the fact that we do not posses the physical book in our hands, against the idea
of many other experts on hypertext, makes us much more concern and conscious of
the authority and design. For instance, when we find a remarkable writing on
the net, or an incredible well designed web page, we wonder and want to know
who the person responsible was. Furthermore, the author of this essay makes us
aware that the interactivity of the hypertext is not unlimited, and that no
matter how many paths and options we might be offered through the various links
we will always be working with already-made texts, where while some options
will be available, others will not, because the author decided so. As for the
displacement that hypertext might cause, Moulthrop reminds us that the answer
is not the book because the book is already dead in the sense that it is not an
essential item in the commerce of ideas. Moreover, thinking in ecological
terms, the web texts are not paper consuming and therefore are not limited by
the availability of trees or other materials to produce more text material. The
point is, whether literature will become obsolete or not. We should remember
that other authors have claimed that, on the contrary, the web will be a
guarantee that literature will remain alive. Although, again, it will still depend
on what we consider as literature (many of the possibilities might end by just
being amateur literature). What might become obsolete, according to Moulthrop
is “post-literacy”, and that should be our main concern. As the third law
states, hypertext might be a way to retrieve literacy, and therefore, be its
future. But rather than speaking of retrieval, Moulthrop claims that we should
be talking about “recursion”, that is “self-reference with the possibility of
self-modification”, which is, after all, the original meaning and purpose of
hypertext, which at the same time contains the two domains of literacy:
literature (in its most strict meaning) and “writing space”. A secondary
literacy might be thinkable if we accept the idea that it might be born within
a system of chaos. This Neo-Chaos, however, as Moulthrop states it, can just
mean an absence of order, where “new arrangements spontaneously assemble
themselves”. Finally, taking hypertext to its limits, might as any other
concept, reverse its characteristics. In the case of hypertext, rather than a
reversal we should be thinking about a “recursion to a new cultural space”. The
fact that even in hypertext there is a “genuine, negotiated consensus”, and
that it is constructed by users for users, implies that Xanadu, will always be
controlled, at least, to a certain extent. Moreover, if we think that
technological development is managed by the companies (who will act as limit
stoppers) and that is does not happen in the cyberspace, the worries of where might
hypertext go if we take to its limit, should disappear.
by
Jordi Tordera Juan on 04/27/07 | Edit
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My comments/opinions for Jordi
and Teresa
I have a few comments to Jordi´s
impressions of the texts. The first one, on Pierre Lévy´s article, Jordi thinks
that it will probably take decades before the IEML and semantic numbers
probjects take shape and become commonplace. I don´t agree because cyberspace
technology moves so fast nowadays that before you know it, there is a new
application, a new discovery, a new everything. Instead of decades, I´d say a
few years at the most. I agree with Teresa´s comment that the death of the book
is not forthcoming. I don´t believe that because of electronic texts and
cyberspace that the printed version of books will die out, but, just like the
video tape cartridges, will become fewer and fewer and be replaced by a
different form. Just like Jordi summed up: “There are types of text that are
meant to be read in an unidirectional way, like, for instance a famous novel,
and texts that are put on the web to provoke thought and discussions. It will
depend on what we are looking for and on what we have in front of us.” On
Bolter´s article, Jordi says that we need to have free access to as much
information as possible in order to practice the empathy mentioned by the
author and that there are many groups which do not have this access. I fully
agree, but I also know that in time there will be fewer and fewer people who do
not have the possibility of accessing this information. I´m under the
impression that since the world is shrinking more and more every day,
technology and information spread like wildfire. I agree with what Jordi
concluded from McGann´s text, that we the computerized version of texts can
flourish while the printed version will also, but to a reduced number of
people. I even think that we will live to see the day when printed texts/books
will belong to an “elite” group of people and the computerized versions will be
very commonplace.
by
Stanley Mcdaniel Mann on 04/28/07 | Edit
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On Howard S. Becker's article
I really enjoyed reading this
article, and it seems obviously that we should start having a solid theory
before doing any practice. But the problem is to deal with sciences that are
not as accurate as the "pure" science, and require a process in which
we just think doing research because we're turning the topic into something
interesting to talk about. Therefore, as paraphrasing Latour and what Jordi
said, exactly on what we agree becomes the fact. But this reality we construct
in our field, it is transformed every time researchers stablish new dicta. In
other words, reality is more likely changeable and more flexible than other
studies. So, that's why, in the world of social science, there's a social
organization or a social convention which makes these studies improve, when
inhancing their own situation to try to solve the problems raised by other
disciplines. There are some epistemological worries about it though, we should
claim that there's evidence of a progressive practical and theoretical reason,
the qualitative research, and its own justification to prevent the attacks from
the scientific studies. Statistics will always have some flaws in order to
evaluate reality, but we need to take into account that social science will
never be a precise study. We must think of enhancing these technical flaws
based on hidden philosophical fallacies. Finally, although the empirical researchers
should listen carefully to those messages from other disciplines, not a large
amount of careful reasoning or thoughtful analysis will make the difficulties
go away, "Nobody's perfect!" afterall. Social sciences are
intrinsically imperfect.
by
Carlos Garcia Serra on 05/05/07 | Edit
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Our deadline is running out??
Hi everyone! I don´t know about
everyone else, but I´m getting a little hyper thinking about what has to be
done next. If I´m not mistaken, by the end of this month (!) we have to have
our webpage up and running. According to Dr. Forés, we should present any
doubts or problems here on the blog, so here I am. Does anyone know how to
start?? There are only two weeks left and I don´t know where to begin. There is
plenty of information about Shakespeare in Spanish and Cervantes in English,
but I need suggestions on how to structure it. Besides, I´ve never created a
webpage before. I look forward to hearing from someone.
by
Stanley Mcdaniel Mann on 05/13/07 | Edit
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Marta Gutierrez
Hello everyone! My name is Marta
and I have lived in London for over two years, working as a typist and a
proofreader for TES (Times Educational Supplement). This is my last year as well
as my last module before I go on with the "research work". In the
personal aspect, this is being the happiest time of my life, as I´m enjoying
motherhood since last November. Looking after Sivali is a hard job, since
dedicating all your time and attention to a little one seems never enough, but
it gives plenty of joy in exchange. To conclude, I want to wish good luck to
everyone this year and hope we all get the best results with regard to this
course. Nice to meet you all!
by
Marta Gutierrez Campos on 05/14/07 | Edit
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The Necessary Evil, by Howard
Becker
I have followed with interest
Becker´s text about the research process. In it, the writer defines the
qualitative research as the main method of approach in social science.
Qualitative research is not systematic in any impersonal way, accepts
individual judgement, takes account of historical, situated detail and context,
but research of this kind is faulted for not being able to produce
"scientific", objective, reliable knowledge that will support
prediction and control. Quantitative research, as oppossed to qualitative
research, tries to be systematic and impersonal, precise,
"scientific", but is also faulted for not including aspects of human
behaviour and social life. As a result, we could conclude that no research
method is good enough for all purposes and all people at all times.
by
Marta Gutierrez Campos on 05/14/07 | Edit
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The Gutenberg Elegies, by Sven
Birkerts
In the first fragment, "Into
the Electronic Millenium", we are presented a "proto-electronic"
world, where we are captive by the expansion of electronic options, such as
answering machines, banking by phone, shop via television, etc. The author
foresees a future in which, for example, reading books or newspapers in printed
pages will be replaced by reading on the screen of computers. As for education,
one important development to enhance learning is the commercially sponsored
education packages brought into the classroom by Whittle Communications. The
schools would be given a satellite dish and classroom video monitors in order
to air the show, which would resemble a network news program. This would
include a report on a UN Security Council meeting on terrorism, a U2 music
video tribute to Martin Luther King, a feature on the environment, a two-minute
commercial, etc. As Robert Calabrese says, "we have to remember that
children of today have grown up with the visual media". Educators will
find that this way of learning captures students enthusiasm. Going back to
reading, Robert Zich maintains that people will be able to get the information
they want directly off their terminals and defends the use of the hand-held
electronic book and a miniature encyclopedia. But Birkerts states three differences
between reading from a printed page from reading on a screen. First, there is a
tendency to simplify language. Second, our perception of history will
inevitable alter, and as all information is equally accessible, we may lose
this sense of chronology. And third, we increasingly accept to live within a
set of systems, to be always potentially on-line. This leads to us living a
less private life, a unitary life. The next fragment, "Perseus
Unbound", deals with how interactive video technologies are being used
more and more in all fields of study. To give an example, in the classics world
we have Perseus 1.0. This innovative teaching tool published on CD-Rom and
video disc offers a wide range of options, from being an interactive database,
the equivalent of 25 volumes of ancient Greek literature by ten authors, to
also including 6,000 images, and a short video with narration. The package is
affordable, too. Nevertheless, the author´s attitude towards the use of these
new technologies is quite skeptic. He thinks they represent an obstacle in the
development of thinking and shorten our memory capacity, as we´ll have to think
less and computers will give us all the information we need with the stroke of
a key. Books, therefore, will become obsolete, as they are not the axis of our
intellectual culture, and libraries will disappear. The last fragment,
"Hypertext: Of Mouse and Man", refers to the writing done in the
nonlinear or nonsequential space made possible by the computer. Its main
characteristics are that it provides multiple paths between text segments,
alternate routes. As Coover states, with a radically divergent technology,
interactive and polyvocal, it favours a plurality of discourses and frees the
reader from domination by the author, which was the point of writing and
reading. Hypertext reader and writer become co-writers. Reading becomes more
something like "texting" or "word-piloting".
by
Marta Gutierrez Campos on 05/14/07 | Edit
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Writing for the New Millenium, by
Robert Kendall
Kendall´s attitude towards the
use of computer in literature could not be more optimistic. He refers to it as
an emerging genre, calling it "interactive literature". A growing
number of writers and writing departments at many colleges, as well as
publishers, are among its followers. A "cyberpage", or a page in
digital form, can offer numerous possibilities to the readers that printed
pages cannot, letting them choose, for example, which narrative thread to
follow, which new situation or character to explore, in short, letting them to
alter the content of what is being read. Interactive literature results very
attractive since it not only contains text but also has the possibility to
include graphics, sound and video.
by
Marta Gutierrez Campos on 05/14/07 | Edit
| Delete
Computing Editorial Features, by
Jerome McGann
McGann´s text is based on a
personal experience. He wrote an essay meant to be published in the journal
Computer and the Humanities, but he noticed that illustrating the final section
of the paper would cost him a fortune, besides those images, originally digital
files created in Adobe Photoshop, would lack quality on the printed page. For
this reason, he decided to publish his work in electronic media on his webpage.
This process would result, in two words, simple and inexpensive. However, the
author points out, first, that the transition of scholarly journals from print
to electronic form is not happening so quickly and, second, materials put up on
the internet escape notice, engagement, citation. There is then the debate
about whether scholarly editions should be alphanumeric or image-based. There
is not one better than the other for the author and both have a "future
trend" but, in my opinion, image-based editions look far more attractive
since the visual media has a role which is to enrich and support the text in
order to make the subject more understanding and accessible to its readers.
by
Marta Gutierrez Campos on 05/14/07 | Edit
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About the final work
First of all, congratulations to
Marta for her motherhood! and welcome to the forum. Now, in response to Stan's
question: I think you have to chose a topic concerning Cervantes in English or
Shakespeare in Spanish and work on that. I'm going to tell my idea for my paper
and maybe you understand it better. I've chosen the film "Hamlet"
(one of the versions in VOS) and I am going to work on the subtitles in Spanish
(checking the language and contrasting with a written version in Spanish).
Besides, we have to include in the paper-webpage our research process, that
means, we have to include all the "strings or words" we have
"gloogled" (if I'm allowed to invent words) and explain what kind of
webpages appear and which ones are useful and which ones are NOT useful. I hope
this explanation help you all, if anyone can tell about "how to make the
web-page" part, that would be very helpful. thanks very much teresa.
by
Teresa Agost Porcar on 05/15/07 | Edit
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Related to Jay Bolter's Degrees
of Freedom
It's nowadays very remarkable
that images are more significant or powerful than texts, and we live in a world
where image is reaffirmed by texts. But image dominates the verbal text, what
W.J.T Michel has called the "imagetext". As we can observe this
phenomenon every single day on the radio, TV, newspapers, books, electronic
books, new mp4s, the Internet, DVDs, etc. While I was thinking of other modes
of representation in our society, a new thing arose. There's a new system
called the Spectator, which consists of a virtual eye controlled by satellite.
This system enables you to follow the America's Cup match races in Valencia on
the TV screen in the exact real position that vessels are located. In addition,
you can observe each movements' competitors, so it's also useful the images to
be analysed by every team to improve their flights, and the audience can have a
dimensional ideal of their movements from the point of view of an eyebird
observation. I'd like also to add that Google on the Net is scanning library
books for basically Harvard, NYPub,Michigan, or Standford, and there's a Google
academic site. There's a US Card Catalog where there's a search of finding
something you didn't expect. An electronic format enhances our way of
conceiving things, modes of representation such: short versions, alternative
languages, an abridged version, apendix (setting detail), sanitized (the puritan
edition), interaction(vote for the best plot, best ending, character changing
situations), or even our own way of interaction (the weblog on the Net).
Imagine that if you have a closed story (in a book) and you try to do an
additional electronic settings or situations. Well, that is possible now. There
are two ways of searching: in old libraries, or on the Internet. But there's a
significant drawback that this electronic library has got. When you're surfing
on the Net, you go directly to the place, and you cannot waste a minute, or
lose on the way to that search. It's like when you're going on a journey, and
you only see the road and farmvilles. But if you travel to it having more
places (like in old libraries), it's another different aspect and vision.It's
like a plane trip, you miss what's in the middle of it.
by
Carlos Garcia Serra on 05/15/07 | Edit
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Something about the final project
I'm likely to do this research
paper thinking first of the best-known example in our literature rhetoric
figure in Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy. It's an Aporia
"a pathless path", it denotes real or pretended doubt about an issue,
uncertainty as to how to proceed in a discourse. I'll try to find out evidence
of this kind of technique in Cervantes, as well. If this favourite device of
narrators to arouse curiosity in their audience or to emphasize the
extraordinary nature of the story they are telling, is combined with another
figure of rhetoric.If there are any stylistic simililarities between them, when
both of them deal with this exact aspect, or some other stylistic techniques
you can think of.
by
Carlos Garcia Serra on 05/15/07 | Edit
| Delete
Now it´s clear.
Your ideas (yours and Teresa´s)
sound very interesting for the project. I have a better understanding now of
what it is we are supposed to do. If I´m not mistaken, Dr. Forés is to give us
some guidelines on how to structure the website. Thanks for the info!
by
Stanley Mcdaniel Mann on 05/15/07 | Edit
| Delete
Final paper and webpage
Hola a tod@s, siento que se haya
producido una cierta ansiedad o angustia entre vosotros por no saber qué o cómo
hay que hacer el último paper. Temáticamente podeis decidir sobre qué quereis
trabajar de forma libre y personalmente (la extensión la que considereis
oportuna y necesaria). En un principio siempre propongo que se relacione con
Shakespeae en castellano o Cervantes en inglés por que son dos autores de quien
tenemos suficiente material disponible en internet para realizar un trabajo
interesante y de calidad. Las dos fases ahí consisten en por un lado averiguar
lo que existe sobre el tema elegido y por otro poder describir el propio
proceso de investigación, explicitando tanto el método como los criterios de
calidad aplicados para incorporar o descartar páginas que luego incluiremos en
nuestra página web. Estaba convencido que ya había dicho dónde podéis encontrar
la información pertienente para la parte técnica del proyecto que consiste en
publicar vuestra propia página web, por un lado tenéis mi página:
http://www.uv.es/~fores/P&R/p&r.html con los apartados: 6.- ¿Cómo puedo
activar mi página web? 7.- ¿Dónde está mi página web y cómo puedo acceder a ella?
8.- ¿Qué es el First Paper, dónde puedo encontrarlo y cómo se hace? 9.- ¿Cómo
puedo hacer mi página web? y que, sin embargo, hay que actualizar. Ahora es
muchísimo más sencillo todo el proceso, pero os resultará útil leer las
instrucciones, pues entendereis en qué consiste y cómo se hacía. Ahora lo único
que tenéis que hacer es conectar con vuestra cuenta de correo electrónico de la
uni: correo.uv.es introducir vuestro usuario y password y seleccionar:
Explorador de Ficheros. Si todo va bien os encontrareis ante un entorno
auto-comprensivo. Hay un documento por defecto llamado index.html que si es la
primera vez que entrais será el único documento publicado y que tendreis que
sustituir por el documento que llamo FirstPaper. Los documentos que genereis deben
tener formato "html" o si os gusta Bill Gates o trabajais con
Explorar "htm". Como siempre hay un montón de problemas de
compatibilidades entre los diferentes navegadores y programas de edición de
páginas web. Recomiendo dos sistemas: o trabajais con word y haceis
"guardar como" para traducir vuestros textos en formato .doc a
formato html o htm o usais cualquier editor de páginas web que puede ser más
costoso y un poco más complicado, dependiendo del software. Una vez generados
los documentos "web" (formato htm/l)sólo teneis que
"cargar" el documento mediante vuestro Explorador de Ficheros. Si
teneis cualquier problema, lo más sencillo será que vengais a verme pues
normalemente en 15 o 20 minutos aprendereis el procedimiento a seguir y luego
ya solo es cuestion de repetirlo una y otra vez. Tambien hay muchos websites
que explican de forma muy simplificada y con buenas ilustraciones cómo se hacen
y publican páginas web. Suerte y al toro vicente P.S. por cierto el verbo
"to google" ya lo encontraréis de forma oficial incluido como nuevo
verbo en, por ejemplo, Websters Dictionary of the English Language.
by
Vicente Fores Lopez on 05/17/07 | Edit
| Delete
Post Data
La fecha tope de realización del
trabajo es: 20.6.2006, pues quiero poder firmar las actas antes de irme a
EE.UU, aunque si no es posible buscaremos alguna alternativa.
by
Vicente Fores Lopez on 05/19/07 | Edit
| Delete
One last doubt
Thanks for the valuable info! I
don´t want to be a pest, but is there a suggested number of words/pages for the
paper? Thanks !
by
Stanley Mcdaniel Mann on 05/20/07 | Edit
| Delete
Pages and number of words
Never do I establish before-hand
how long a paper can or should be. Not more words than needed nor less pages
than necessary to make it into a well written paper. More than quantity we try
to look for quality, don't we? Feel free to decide what lenghth your paper
should be, vale? salut vicente
by
Vicente Fores Lopez on 05/20/07 | Edit
| Delete
Introduction, apologies and
excuses.
First of all, I would like to
apologize to every person on this course for joining you so late. I realize
that now my opinion will not be of much use, and thus, I will try to sum up the
opinions on every paper and add my own while I do that. I hope that in doing
so, I can contribute in some way. Now, let me explain that I just thought that
the course had not started (partly because of technical difficulties, but
partly my own fault) yet and it was not until recently that I met with Dr.
Forés and we had a talk regarding the situation. So after saying “mea culpa”, I
will introduce myself. My name is Nunila Martínez, I have previously met with some
of you (Carlos Garcia and Stanley Mcdaniel) in other courses. this is my first
year of courses, so I have not decided what my thesis / trabajo de
investigación will be about, although I do have some ideas that I am
considering (mostly related to literature and gender, but there is something
about education and multiculturality that I would like to add). I will try to
go though your posts and add mine as soon as possible, thank you for the
support. Nunila.
by
Nunila Martinez Hernandez on 05/28/07 | Edit
| Delete
On Prof. Lévy's Article
The general impression about the
internet has been, as Stanley Mcdaniel Mann pointed out how the internet is
spreading great amounts of information before us. And how this information is
linked together and thus, expanding. Closely related to this, Teresa Agost
added the idea of the Noosphere, the "sphere of human thought", an
idea that the ISML Semantic Numbers is trying to materialize through its
project. That is, the IEML Semantic Numbers project tries to like concepts
together (instead of mere words) to depict the Noosphere. Carlos Garcia then
pointed at the difficulty of physically storing that data. I guess that I could
take this question even further asking which data is stored. This links with
his idea of the evolution of cultural memory. I believe that this technological
"advantages" are indeed a tool for globalization and as a necessary
the resource for development, marginalize those without access to them.
Furthermore, I think that those cultures/countries more dominant on the
internet are imposing on the rest, so what we have is not a multicultural
internet, in the sense that it is a culture made up by pieces of every culture,
like patchwork, but rather we have the same dominant (white Anglo-Saxon and
male) values and the rest, although present, remain "dissident
voices". Stanley Mcdaniel also pointed to the necessity of the physical
teacher. I can not agree more with him, since I think that the physical teacher
can not be replaced, at least, not yet. I think that a teacher that can be
switched off by the student would never work. As for the books becoming
obsolete, have you seen the new www.osoft.com e-books? They look like the
typical PALM agenda/computer, but are designed to read downloaded books. It's
like you have just one physical book and the letters kept in another
(smaller=easier to store) format. This will probably take over the old books.
Can you imagine being able to look for a specific word or phrase in a book? Can
you imagine how much easier would that make our research?. Jordi Tordera Juan
pointed at another interesting point: the connections between human and
computers. Actually, the best software is concerned with that relation: it has to
be intuitive and facilitate communication among the human user and the
computer. So, shall we apply this idea with the former idea of books, we are
undoubtedly driven to think about a change in literature. Maybe (and only
maybe) we are to see a new change in literature, that literature in which a
person will not be the patient reader any more, but will be able to take action
in the reading. And here lots of possibilities arise: anything from take
decisions as a character -imagine escaping from a Stephen King novel?- to
adapting to the reader's personal preferences -so the hero's lover becomes
brunette or blonde, silly or intelligent, a man or a woman, depending on the
reader- or literary preferences -so descriptions are minimal or longer
depending on the kind of literature he/she likes best.
by
Nunila Martinez Hernandez on 06/17/07 | Edit
| Delete
The Necessary...
"Evil?"
n my opinion, this article deals
with the idea of effectiveness in research". That is, how qualitative
analyses have been criticised by other "pure scientists" from the
natural sciences. In their opinion, or better yet, in their understanding,
quite a lot of the research carried out in the humanities field, or in the
social sciences, has been fallacious (based on "fallacious philosophical
arguments") and fruitless. But the problem would be, as Stanley pointed
out, "how a particular person perceives the whole research process and its
results". That is, social sciences do not function as natural sciences
just for the very nature of them. As Teresa wrote "The researcher focuses
on a topic and uses the tools considered appropriate in order to achieve
his/her objective or aim. However, the results will be “relative” in the sense
that they will never be objective". Of course not, and that is the reason
why (or/and the result of) we often use qualitative analysis. As Teresa said,
reality can be seen from different angles and I believe that that is the beauty
and the Leit Motiv of social sciences. To study their objects from different
perspectives and show the connections and complexity (and indeed, relativity)
of our knowledge. For this reason, certain parameters will be excluded from our
research and someone could point at it and claim "this research method has
a flaw". For instance, imagine that we study "multiculturalism in
children's literature" we would need to study so many fields of knowledge
(biology, ethnology, conversational analysis, pragmatics, children literature,
globalization, exclusion, history, etc.) that obviously we could only present
one point of view (ours). But that doesn't mean that our study is fruitless, we
added a little piece of knowledge. The so-called problem lies, in my opinion,
the nature of subject of study. It is a easier to write a paper on "the
molecular oxygenation process in the mitochondria" and explain every
little process one by one leaving nothing out. We would have to describe the whole
world and the whole human nature in order to speak about communication in that
way. I do not think that is possible (and indeed, I do not think that is too
attractive either). So, quoting Carlos when he said that "Social sciences
are intrinsically imperfect" I would have said that social sciences are
intrinsically complex. So when we study something, we rather focus on one
aspect, taking "universal truths" for granted and assuming "what
we agree on as true". Just as we do in class when we are teaching, we aim
at an objective and, as Teresa wrote "use the tools considered appropriate
in order to achieve his/her objective or aim" which might not be the same
kind of objective that natural sciences are accustomed to. Summing up, as Marta
said "we could conclude that no research method is good enough for all
purposes and all people at all times".
by
Nunila Martinez Hernandez on 06/17/07 | Edit
| Delete
The Gutenberg Elegies
“The Gutenberg Elegies” These
series of texts deal with the possibilities of the internet on the future. It
seems that one of the most problematic issues has been whether to have all of
this information available at all times will cause that, as Stanley pointed for
us “we will have to think less as everything will be practically given to us.”
It is just my personal opinion, but I think it is really meaningful because now
we won't be able to measure knowledge as a quantitative cumulative knowledge,
it wouldn't make sense anymore. I think that the change is for good, since now
we will have to aim at different objectives, as Jordi said “this could be bad
if we think that possessing information is the base of intelligence, because it
allows us to interrelate and link the new information with the one we already
knew”. Somehow this change is very close to that change in the means that
Bologna praises: the important issue now is not to have stored data but to have
the tools needed to access it. In other words, the spark that links idea A to
idea B. It is not important to know when exactly took place the Irish Famine,
but to know how to critically obtain information about it. And obviously the
internet brings a new way of communication which will be unavoidably attached
to new means of education. Screens will be placed on classrooms (actually, some
English Schools already have them) and since we will be having a connection to
the Internet, it is quite likely that textbooks won't be sold as they are now,
but just a license either to the school or to the pupil, to access it. As Stanley
commented, this adds the gift of portability (I am one of many that suffer from
chronic pains in my back due to the textbooks I had to carry at school), since
one can have an e-book reader at school and another at home connected via
satellite to the software that has the “textbooks”. As for altering the
language, it probably will, but then again, what doesn't? It is not a problem
that it will happen, it is a need, for a language is alive and needs
developing. Going back to the disappearance of books, as we said before,
e-books offer some advantages, but so do CD's and some people still buy vinyls.
It is not the same to read a textbook where you might find a link useful in
order to know, let's say, who Noam Chomsky is, but that interactivity that Teresa
talked about might be quite bothering when one is only trying to read W.
Blake's poems. So, as long as we still but beautiful artistic editions of
Pinocchio or Peter Pan, I think books will remain among us. Jordi also pointed
out how the text becomes a public engagement. I find this quite disturbing,
although I do agree with him, I cannot avoid thinking that (as Teresa said):
“Society evolves, and the human being, based on experience: in other words,
making us more productive”. But what is productive? I think that society
evolves due to economic reasons, and that public engagement will be biased, so
we have to be very careful if we don't want coca-cola to start sponsoring (and
thus controlling) our educational system, and since I think that nowadays we are
witnessing a huge battle to gain control over the internet, I think that at the
end the internet will be (and already is) guided by the same principles than
the rest of our lives. One can say the the Internet is an open space the
belongs to all for us, and thus justify the publicity and polyphony of it, but
I think that is an illusion. Shouldn't water belong to all of us? Beaches? And
if water should belong to all of us, why not petrol?. Going back to the text,
Birkerts states three differences between reading from a printed page from
reading on a screen. So shall we go through them. First, there is a tendency to
simplify language. I think this is absolutely subjective. There is great
literature available on some blogs on the internet. Obviously, more “mundane”
pages are also available. Second, our perception of history will inevitable
alter, and as all information is equally accessible, we may lose this sense of
chronology. Well, that shouldn't be a problem, which perception of history is
right?. I would say that my grandmother and me have a very different perception
of history and time already. And third, we increasingly accept to live within a
set of systems, to be always potentially on-line. This leads to us living a
less private life, a unitary life. The internet does not oblige, it just offers
potentialities. I, for instance, have an agenda on line that is accessible to
my friends, but I can choose what can they see and what do I write. In short, I
think these elegies are possibilities “futurabilities” that might or might not
occur in a near future, but the author tends to be subjective and one doesn't
have to necessarily agree with his predictions or the underlying beliefs and
ideology.
by
Nunila Martinez Hernandez on 06/18/07 | Edit
| Delete
Degrees of Freedom
Bolter in his Degrees of Freedom
asks the same question about hypertexts replacing old books. I will not goover
this again, as I think I have already said everything, so I will just skip the
point. As for the relation between the image and the written text, I do agree
with Stanley when he states that “the written text is becoming less and less
important, being substituted by TV and film, and to top everything off, now we
have the hypertext which makes it even more appetizing. It is much “easier” to
just sit back and let the information sink in, rather than hold a book and have
to read”. But while this holds true for a great part of our daily lives, for
instance we can sit down, have dinner watching the news (instead of reading the
newspaper) and do it in an interactive way with those that surround us (making
comments on the TV programs). But while it might hold true that it is “easier”
that doesn't mean that it is “better”. For instance, it is “easier” (if easier
means “effortless”) to take a nap than to go running. Still people jog. And
that is valid for every person that does any sport, and reading is a lot like
that, you do it in spite of the effort because the pleasure is worth it. And
the same pleasure (that of READING in a wide sense) is not the same pleasure
than that of watching things happen. Reading and watching “The Lord of The
Rings” might both be very pleasurable experiences, but they are intrinsically
different. Nobody seems worried that listening to music takes children away
from books because music and reading belong to different spheres just like TV
and books do. Jordi asked whether people will keep wanting to read literature
or not, we have been reading and singing for a long time, there is not a single
known society that exists without its literature (oral or written) and music.
“The traditional definition of self can enter into crisis when we think of the
cyberspace culture, and the self cannot be constructed as an authorial and
autonomous voice any longer, becoming instead a wondering eye, that shifts from
one perspective to another”. I would rather say that the collective voices are
facing the personal voices. That is, collectivities are being heard, which
takes away some power from institutions or particular people. Is that
“endangering the self” or “empowering the self?”. It depends on where you are
at. I believe that it is indeed, a threat because everything everyone says can
be judged and contrasted. “One interpretation of Descartes’ thoughts would be
that the only acceptable reality is our own mind and not what our senses tell
us. Therefore, experiencing the world as others do would be unthinkable”. But,
the fact that we both are placed on the same (virtual) space doesn't mean that
we experience it the same, and that is Descartes' point exactly.
by
Nunila Martinez Hernandez on 06/19/07 | Edit
| Delete
On Kendall's article.
I really enjoyed Kendall's text.
Re-reading my posts I have noticed that it seems that I am very anti-internet,
and truth is, I am not. It's just that I believe that different media need
different ways of expressing oneself. Here, Kendall proposes a kind of
literature that is born and developed (born and raised) on the cyberspace, and
it works great. I think it maximizes the possibilities and exploits the
potentialities that the Noosphere offers. And I think it's absolutely great,
because what makes non-sense is having the Don Quixote trying to survive as a
hypertext, it might work, but it wasn't designed for that. Now, this literature
is designed for the cyberspace, and it is emerging (has emerged) as a new
genre, and every time a new genre arises that's something positive for the
whole community. As some of us have insinuated, it can attract more people
towards written literature and it can be useful in class. As for the
interactivity, I think it's the most important advantage this media is
offering, and the degree of success new genres related to the cyberspace will
be obtain might be directly proportional to its exploitation. But this is just
my opinion and I know it is just a guess and a quite daring one, maybe.
by
Nunila Martinez Hernandez on 06/20/07 | Edit
| Delete
On McGann's article.
I think a lot has been said about
the advantages of on-line publications, so I would like to add a few comments
of my own, that maybe another part of the article, not so visible, but still
important. I think this article is an example of what is happening at this proto-electronic
moment. Some people are being left behind that will have serious problems soon.
I personally know people on their twenties that barely know hoe to use a
computer, and they can still manage, but soon they won't be able to deal with
the world and will be marginalized. In the same sense, some cultures and
countries will be (are being) marginalized for the same reason. I think we
should keep an eye on this issue, I think it is very important for the future
development or the potential development of many countries that won't stand a
chance if they are left behind regarding this cyber-era. Software is extremely
important, I wonder why McGann doesn't mention that. Special software for
certain books (imagine you could only access Penguin books if you had installed
their program) or private companies coping the market (there is no need to
imagine, we all know Microsoft) and controlling what is visible and what is not
visible, what is doable and what isn't. Potentially being able to include
filters that will hide information or contents. Furthermore, to the majority of
people Photoshop is THE program to work with photographs, Windows THE operating
system, and Explorer THE Internet navigator. So, to go back to the article,
computerized versions should take this into account being accessible to every
navigator, otherwise they will be making a pact with the devil. I just did a
quick search for the FCC (http://www.fcc.gov/) and it came as no surprise that
they use Microsoft software and formats. For them a .pdf is an Adobe and a .doc
a Microsoft. Can you imagine that Microsoft adopted the FCC normative and
Microsoft Word would refuse to write – or read certain words?. Did you know
that Microsoft dictionaries do recognize Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini but
don't recognize Mahatma Gandhi or Karl Marx?
by
Nunila Martinez Hernandez on 06/20/07 | Edit
| Delete
Hello to everybody
I would like to introduce myself,
I am Maribel Molero Galdón. I live in Xàtiva, Valencia. During this course I
work as a teacher for Adult Education in Castelló de Rugat. Now, I am the
director of the school, and I will finish this month. This is my second year of
doctorate degree courses. I hope I will finish the MMModules this course to
continue my ongoing searching investigation. My work is about how to teach
English pronunciation to children through the use of English traditional tales
and rhymes. My first experience with Internet was as an Erasmus student
in England in 1998. But my knowledge about the subject is 'user level'. Sorry
for the delay. Greetings to Carlos, Rebeca and Vicent. Hello to everybody.
by
Maria Isabel Molero Galdon on 06/21/07 | Edit
| Delete
How to submit my webpage
Hello there! I hope you're all
doing well with your work. Now that I've completed mine, which I've called 'An
Exploration of the Influences of Don Miguel de Cervantes', I don't know how to
submit it so that everyone has access to it. I tried first by going to the
Listserv (mural.uv.es) but once there I got lost as I don't know which course I
have to click on in order to download my webpage. It does appear in my
Explorador de Ficheros. If there is anybody willing to guide me with this, I'd
really appreciate. Thanks. Marta Gutierrez
by
Marta Gutierrez Campos on 06/21/07 | Edit
| Delete
to Marta.
Hello, Marta. I think the easiest
way to do this is go straight to your mail at correo.uv.es, then click on
"cuentas de usuario" in order to make sure that you have the web
account activated. Then, just go back to your mail and in the "explorador
de ficheros" you will find a folder called "web". Whatever you
upload there will show as your webpage. I hope this helps.
by
Nunila Martinez Hernandez on 06/24/07 | Edit
| Delete
to Marta (part 2)
Hello Marta. You might already
know it, but just in case and as an additional remark to Nunila’s instructions,
I just wanted to remind you that as a general rule to making web pages, the
main page, that is the initial page in the link tree from where all the others
will start, should always be called “index.html”. If you want to design your
own main page, remember to first to delete the “index.html” that is already
within the “web” folder by default and substitute it with your own home made
“index.html” page./or simply rename the old and name yours “index.html” I hope
this remark was not too late. Good luck.
by
Jordi Tordera Juan on 06/26/07
On Moulthrop's article
For Moulthrop, the internet site
is the place where a new genre is arising. For him, on-line publications offer
many advantages, economical, ecological and those related to “other
possibilities” (i.e. the peculiarities of the hypertext). But he also questions
whether we are ready for it or not. Furthermore, he also doubts about the final
results of all of those possibilities, and reminds us of the beginnings of the
TV and the radio where a lot was expected, but looking back, it most
predictions didn't occur. Evidently, those inventions have changed our lives,
but not as much as we expected them to. In my opinion, Moulthrop is also making
us consider the many possibilities of the hyper-reality and how it can defy the
current status quo if we are careful and thoughtful on how we use it.
by Nunila Martinez Hernandez on
06/26/07
Weblog
http://aulavirtual.uv.es/dotlrn/classes/c062/28034/c07c062a28034gSG/lars-blogger/one-entry?entry%5fid=19362090
© VFL at UVPress, València 2007
FIRST PAPER
Subject : # 28034
Internet: herramienta de investigación literaria Grupo A
Using Films to Teach Shakespeare
by Teresa Agost Porcar
© Teresa Agost Porcar. 2007.
teapor@alumni.uv.es
Main
parts:
2. The importance of Subtitling
3. Analysis of the film: Hamlet, directed by
Kozintsev
1. Introduction
It is the aim of this study
to analyse the possibilities of using films based on Shakespeare’s work in
order to teach English literature, and more precisely Shakespeare’s work. This
paper will focus on students whose mother tongue is Spanish and are willing to
learn English literature as well as English as a second language.
A considerable amount of
Shakespeare’s work has been adapted for the cinema. Well-known tragedies such
as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, or King Lear can be found in
several cinematographic versions or have inspired other Hollywood millionaire
blockbusters (Shakespeare in Love, for instance). There can be found
over twenty-five films having “Hamlet” as the title; they might not be faithful
reproductions of Shakespeare’s tragedy, but somehow the title sets expectancy
at the potential viewers.
Many universities (Colorado
College, Denison University or Kenion College, just to mention some) are doing
research in how to teach Shakespeare through films, and putting it into
practice with actual courses. The attempt here presented is similar although
not as ambitious. Had it been chosen a version of Hamlet with an English
soundtrack the teaching process might have comprised two parts: on the one
hand, the learning of literature; and on the other, learning lexis and
pronunciation. This twofold objective might have been fulfilled by using the
subtitles in Spanish for beginner and intermediate students, or in English for
advanced students. Despite this interesting proposal, this paper will
concentrate on the acquisition of some notions of Shakespeare’s work through
the film version.
This study will take Kozintsev’s
version of Hamlet (1964) and it will focus on the relevance of the
Spanish subtitles, although it will also take into account the other issues
mentioned above. It is important to mention the fact that the film has not been
dubbed; therefore this version can only be found in Russian with Spanish
subtitles.
2. The importance of Subtitling
It
is important, first of all, to define what is understood by subtitling.
"Subtitling can be defined as the linguistic practice which consists of
offering – generally in the lower part of the screen – a written text that
tries to report the actors' dialogues, as well as those discursive elements
that conform the scenery or soundtrack."[1] (Jorge
Díaz-Cintas, Teoría y práctica de la subtitulación Inglés - Español,
2003: 32)
Subtitles
usually consist of a maximum of two lines of written text synchronised with the
actors' dialogues. Thus, they must reflect the actors’ conversations, although
sometimes not every nuisance can be conveyed in only two lines. In order to
express the whole meaning of the conversations, the translator needs – in some
occasions – to summarize the dialogues yet keeping all the nuances. This is a
difficult task that sometimes includes play on words or puns, which difficult
even more the translation process.
The
final product might be of interest for language learners – provided that
subtitles and soundtrack are in the same language – since students can acquire:
1)
A wide range of passive vocabulary, this is, the vocabulary which is understood
although it is hardly performed.
2)
Pronunciation and accent.
3)
Collocations, idioms, and idiomatic expressions.
4)
Understanding of pragmatic expressions such as sarcasm or irony.
All
these features might be learned with the aid of subtitles; using subtitles in
order to understand an audiovisual product. However, there is an innovative
project that also includes subtitles in order to help the learning process, yet
in a different way.
Despite
the difficulties that subtitling entails, some universities have developed a
project that includes creating subtitles as part of the process of language
learning. The project is called Learning via Subtitling (LeviS: http://levis.cti.gr/index.php?option=com_frontpage)
and the project team is formed by: Hellenic Open University (Greece), Research
Academic Computer Technology Institute (Greece), Universitat Autònoma de
Barcelona (Spain), Transilvania University of Brasov (Romania), University
of the Algarve (Portugal), Roehampton Unversity (United Kingdom), University
of Pécs (Hungary).
This
project is committed to use subtitling as an activity in order to learn foreign
languages. It is not a method per se, but rather it proposes several
activities that can be carried out to complement a given methodology. It
combines the audiovisual field, so attractive to the students, with the
handling of language in order to adequate the conversations into the two-line
sequences.
The present study focuses on the use of produced
subtitling for language learning and not on the creation of subtitles. However,
the latter is an interesting and innovative project that I would like to
experience with students at some point in the near future.
[1] My own translation
3. Analysis of the film: Hamlet, directed by Kozintsev
The
main reason that led me to use this film for this study was basically its
prestige and good consideration by the critics. I could have taken Laurence
Olivier’s version, which won four Oscar prizes, but Kozintsev’s film is said to
be the best adaptation of Hamlet. Therefore, as the aim of the paper is
to teach Shakespeare through film, I have concentrated on searching for a good
version of the tragedy and the languages used were put aside. It could be
surprising for some people to teach Shakespeare without the soundtrack being
English, but in this case the subtitles become even more important and
meaningful.
Kozintsev
version of Hamlet (1964) has been highly valued by the critics. It was
awarded with the Special Jury Price in Venice Film Festival (1964); and it has
been nominated for the BAFTA Awards in 1966, the Golden Globe in 1967, and the
Golden Lion in 1964.
The
film is divided into two parts, as if they were the two acts of a theatrical
representation. The visual image is treated with great mastery and the
characteristics of the location are set right from the beginning: the
importance of the sea, the consideration of Elsinor as a prison, the powerful
characters and their influence over the powerless. The music composed by
the Russian musician Shostakovich creates an atmosphere of mystery and secrecy
that contributes to the development of the plot.
This
film is also referred to as the Soviet Hamlet since the director aims to
highlight the possibilities of subverting power. Kozintsev compares Claudius’s
exertion of power to Stalin’s government of terror; and other characteristics
of Stalin’s government – corruption, the impossibility of individual thoughts –
are also present in the film. Kozintsev makes a great adaptation of
Shakespeare’s work and, at the same time, he tries to open his audience’s eyes
– Russian population – by reflecting their recent past.
One
aspect worth mentioning – although it does not affect the subtitles – is the
treatment of the monologues. The renowned soliloquies are presented as interior
monologues in the film and therefore the inner thoughts can be heard as a voice
over. This way of representation minimizes the dramatization but maximizes the
realism of the moment.
After
doing some research, I have realized that the translator and subtitler into
Spanish – Pablo Enrique López Rodríguez – has translated more than one film
based on Shakespeare’s texts. For example, he has also translated Kozintev’s
version of King Lear (http://www.dschjournal.com/reviews/dvd22op137.htm).
It would be interesting to compare both translations and check the faithfulness
to the original text; however, that wide purpose may entail another study,
completely different from the one here presented.
In
general, the language of the subtitles conveys the elegant language Shakespeare
used in his texts. Shakespeare’s dialogues were full of contradictions,
coordinated sentences and combinations of Latinisms and Anglo-Saxon terms. The
translator tries all along the play to recreate this characteristic of the
language. Therefore, reading the subtitles, the audience realizes it is not a
contemporary play. For instance, the Ghost reveals the King’s murder to Hamlet
as follows:
Sí, el más cruel de los asesinatos,
por más injustos y más aleves
que sean los homicidios.
Se esparció la voz de que estando
en mi jardín dormido,
me mordió una serpiente.
Todos los
daneses fueron groseramente
engañados
con esta fabulosa invención.
Pero debes
saber, mancebo generoso
que la
serpiente, que mató a tu padre,
hoy
ciñe su corona.
These
sequences correspond to the Ghost’ words. As it can be seen, the tone of the
speech is adequate for the moment and the words recreate the dramatic moment.
However, the distribution of the sentences within the subtitles could have been
done much clearer and without breaking units of meaning, in order to facilitate
the flow of reading.
Despite
the appropriate tone of the language, there are some aspects I would like to
argue against, related to the translation:
1) Translation of
proper names.
2) Translation of the
popular monologue “To be or nor to be”.
3) Translation of
specific expressions or sayings.
In
the whole film there seems to be a tendency to translate the proper names. From
the beginning – in the initial credits – it is easily noticed that the author
of the tragedy is presented as Guillermo Shakespeare instead of William
Shakespeare. Everybody will probably identify that Guillermo means William, it
does not pose a problem. However, it can raise some doubts to young learners
since the name of the writers can rarely be seen translated – Miguel Cervantes
is not Michael Cervantes, nor Karl Marx is Carlos nor Charles Marx.
Therefore,
the problem does not lie in a bad translation but rather, I would say, in a
confusing or inappropriate translation. The term used in Spanish is the
equivalent, yet the translation is unnecessary since it does not reveal any
hidden information.
The
same line of argument might be used to comment on the translation of the
characters’ names. In the film, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are presented as
Ricardo and Guillermo respectively. From my point of view, this translation
implies an excessive localization, which can hardly be seen in any other
translation of Shakespeare’s work in texts translated in the Contemporary Era.
The names of the rest of the characters have been kept similar to the original,
despite some recognizable variations, which are carried out in nearly all the
translations. It is true, though, that these two names – Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern – present more difficulties for the Spanish audience in order to
read them, since the way the word is written does not seem to match any Spanish
words. Another argument that may defend the translator’s choice is that the
words “Ricardo” and “Guillermo” are much shorter than their equivalent words in
English, and therefore using these words allows more space in the subtitles to
include important information the dialogues may contain.
Despite
these arguments in favour of the translator’s option, the localization carried
out in the translation of these names is excessive and it might distract the
audience’s attention from other meaningful features on the film.
The
second item to highlight is the translation of the well-known monologue “To be
or not to be”. Contrary to any expectation, the so famous first verse “Ser o no
ser”, has been translated as “Existir o no existir”. It seems that the
translator pretended to break with any previous topic or demystify the so often
recalled verse. Again, this is not a case of bad translation, but rather it is
a matter of breaking the audience’s expectations. The reasons for this
choice are unknown to us. Maybe it was the translator’s aim to break with what
was expected; or maybe he considered that to be a most appropriate translation.
Finally,
it is worth mentioning the translation of one particular sentence. After
Ophelia’s funeral, Hamlet has a discussion with Laertes, Ophelia’s brother,
telling him how much he loved Ophelia and that noone else could have ever loved
her as much as he did. This discussion is held in a courtly language yet Hamlet
lets his feelings show and his discourse combines passion, grief and yearning for
revenge. However, Shakespeare is in the habit of mixing the tone in his
dialogues and he is able to insert a common saying in between a courtly
language. This practice keeps the translator’s in alert, since the original
tone should be maintained. An example of this common practice can be found in
the scene describe above. Hamlet – concluding his speech act – can be read to
say “la cabra siempre tira al monte”. At a first glance, this translation
caught my attention and I decided to investigate the reason for such a
surprise. The original version in English says: “The cat will mew and dog will
have his day”, meaning that “any given person's moment of glory is inevitable”
(http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=973515).
However, the use of a very common saying in Spanish changes the original
meaning. It might have been better not using a saying but keeping the meaning,
yet it could also be arguable, then that the versatility of Shakespeare’s
language is not conveyed.
4. Final Remarks
From
the analysis carried out, some conclusions should be drawn. Firstly, it is
important to highlight the usefulness of the subtitles. They help to understand
what has been considered the best adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet;
however, from my point of view, the translation has not been paid the
consideration it deserves.
Many
pages on Shakespeare can be found containing very useful information. It is not
just spending time searching and researching in order to find the kind of
information one is interested in.
5. Interesting Sites
v Main webpages used as
bibliographical references:
http://www.artmargins.com/content/cineview/semenenko.htm
Interesting
analysis and personal opinion about the film.
http://www.filmint.nu/?q=node/18
Commentary
on several adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Contrast between the
different versions.
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/
Original written text of Hamlet.
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=973515
Commentary
on one of Hamlet’s sayings.
http://levis.cti.gr/index.php?option=com_frontpage
Information
about the LeviS project.
http://www.dschjournal.com/reviews/dvd22op137.htm
Information
on King Lear, directed by Kozintsev and translated by Pablo Enrique
López Rodríguez.
http://www.imdb.com/find?s=tt&q=hamlet
List
of films released having Hamlet as the title.
v Other interesting webpages:
http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/TheHamletSite/films.htm
Productions
of an about Hamlet.
http://pages.unibas.ch/shine/linkstraghamletwf.html
All
kind of material on Hamlet.
http://www.teachwithmovies.org/
Interesting
website that offers Movie Lessons Plans and Learning Guides,
taking as reference a wide range of films.
http://www.ethicsineducation.com/HenryV.pdf
Article
that explains how to use Shakespeare’s Henry V in order to teach War
Principles.
All
these are just some examples there are infinite websites that offer information
on Shakespeare’s works and how to use it. I have only googled words and/or
sentences such as: Hamlet; Hamlet directed by Kozintsev; Hamlet on Film; Hamlet
en español; hamlet con subtítulos en español; traducir hamlet al español;
shakespeare subtitulado; hamlet’s language; films to teach shakespeare;
studying hamlet on film.
These
searches also showed other websites that have been ruled out. They were
informative about the plot and the characters and therefore more appropriate
for beginner students. These websites were, for instance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet,
http://www.enotes.com/hamlet/,
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/
FIRST PAPER
Subject : # 28034 Internet: herramienta de investigación
literaria Grupo A
Student´s name : García
Serra, Carlos
Title of
the paper : "Similarities: Madness in Don Quijote
and Hamlet"
Author or
topic : Cervantes, Miguel de. Don Quijote
de La Mancha Shakespeare,
William. Hamlet
Abstract :
I am going to point out some similarities that prove both works of art are very
close regarding to the theme of madness. I also remark their main differences
between them, and I give some examples
from the varied corpus examples given on the Net. I think there is sufficient
illustration for each similarity or difference. I did not consider to translate
all my quotations from both literary works. I considered that there was a
significant difference between the way madness is conceived in each character: Hamlet
(mad), Don Quijote (folly, fool). Appart from these elements, I explained in
detailed examples which ways both characters in their stories can have in
common or in contact: they both are wise madmen, they both are taking part in a
theatre play or pretending to be mad for one reason (revenge in Hamlet, for
instance) like playing in a game. It is a game for them. I also add some sort
of different madness, other characters’ roles, and some conclusions at the end
of the essay.
Auto-evaluation:
Although today is Friday, June 22, 2007. I hope you can signed the actas
considering my work. Sorry for the delay.
I will be able to go to the US. for the following year to work as a
Taship and do a master’s degree, and I would like to talk to you more about it.
Regards,
Carlos
Introduction
Both
Don Quijote and Hamlet have some points which are common. They are among the
most well-known world literary works.Both of them were conceived almost at the
same time, Don Quijote (1605) and Hamlet (between 1603 and 1605). Both literary
works make their writers famous. On the one hand, though Don Quijote is a
novel, it has a lot of drama of theatre plays. Don Quijote’s battles are very
dynamic, active, and the characters speak a lot, and action moves them to their
own circumstances. On the other hand, Hamlet is a theatre play, and there are
many estatic moments, psychological analysis of characters, which is found more
often in the genre of a novel. One of the functions of this King Hamlet is that
he is like the narrator of the story, and that technique is more frequent in
novels, as well. It is also remarkable that both Cervantes and Shakespeare pay
a lot of attention to madness, and the aim of this essay is to get an approach
to some similarities regarding madness in both main characters.
Similarities:
Madness in Don Quijote and Hamlet
After
searching on the Net, I can observe that madness is different between Don
Quixote and Hamlet. Even more difficult to explain the Don Quijote suffers from
“enloquecimiento” (folly), and he is an “enloquecido” (fool), while Hamlet
pretends to be crazy (mad), and suffers from madness, besides Ophelia was
totally insane indeed at the end of the play. The different kinds of madness
can be seen on many aspects, but there are similarities, which are worthwhile
to mention here.
Madness
is fluid and is not insanity in both characters. Both tragic heroes wage a
fatal and inflexible inner war. They are both wise madmen. Hamlet is torn
whether to take action (the outraged prince) or to avoid action (the madman),
and Quijote similarly debates between being inactive (the passionate reader)
and the one who wants to take action tirelessly (the madman).
Quijote
gets folly after having read too many cavalry novels. The protagonist adopts a
new name, and he is determined to see his lover, Dulcinea de Toboso, who is
really in love with her. He has never seen her before. That is why, Don Quijote
travels around in search of new adventures with his squire Sancho Panza to
improve the world: “¡Dichosa edad y siglo dichoso aquel adonde saldran a luz
las famosas hazañas mias, dignas de entallarse en bronzes, para memoria en el
futuro!”. The protagonist is considered an errant knight, following the model
of King Arthur in England and the Round Table, Amadis de Gaula, among others.
Cavalry is more than a religion in Don Quijote, it is a cult in his life, a way
of life. He is making war battles on many occasions which are not necessary at
all, he turned up totally wounded. He even sees reality in a other ways, as
though he was enchanted. He does not see reality, but fantasy. He sees things
and situations which do not exist. He is a noble, because he does not like the
world he is living in, so he is determined to struggle for a better world and
decides to enhance it, though his battles’ results are always negative. Sancho
says: “Era un pobre caballero encantado, que no había hecho mal a nadie en
todos los días de su vida”.
But
Don Quijote gets also mad because he is sad due to his absence of his dear
Dulcinea: he is insane of love. He is called “El caballero de la Triste Figura”
which related with melancholy, and tells us his kind of madness, too. It is an
innocent not dangerous madness, except for his own self. Don Quijote is a
tragic-comic character, who makes readers and other characters of the novel
laugh. The ones that make fun of him are, indeed, cruel. Don Quijote is
introduced in the novel more heroic than Hamlet, but he can be close to a
theatre play. Don Quijote is folly and because of that he is not scared.
Otherwise, Hamlet is not really folly, and owing to this issue he lacks of
courage to carry on things.
Both
of them make long speeches which is a manner of set them free, and cry their
afflictions. Hamlet says: “But break, my heart, for I must told my tongue.”.
They both suffer from nightmares, which was a sympton of being psychologically
insane at that period: “I have bad dreams” “Pero, estos sueños terribles me
hacen infeliz.” Both of them have one closed friend who accept them, even with
their evident craziness. None of them can put up with this cruel reality, and
so they both die. Death is inevitable for their destiny. They both have periods
of complete madness and lucidity. The reader sometimes does not know whether
Don Quijote is sane or isn’t in his right mind “Es un entreverado loco lleno de
lucidos momentos, pues ya supiera el genero de su locura; pero, como no la
sabia, ya le tenia por cuerdo y ya por loco, porque lo que hablaba era
concertado, elegante y bien dicho, y lo que hacia, disparatado, temerario y
tonto.” Both
heroes, as we can see, have a favourite identification: the madman, in addition
to the other self which is not so obvious.
In
Hamlet the protagonist is more hesitating before having a determined action. On
the contrary, Don Quijote is taking action in any circumstance, regardless of
the consequences. For both character, these fundamental features covers the
protecting camouflage of madness. The tragical heroe is the one who looks in
the mirror and finds out another self in him. These double personity is to make
readers look in the mirror, as well. But even the first image, the madmen are
the photographic negative of the readers’ conscience. This revolutionary
mission that madness takes part in the readers’ conscience is declarative and a
statement in itself. The madman is the militant of a missing world (fiction),
and the madman Hamlet causes a virtual ideal world, the world of justice. The
madness of Don Quijote is not clinical but a well-known construction of
imitation, like a game, being in Sierra Morena, he just imitates what the
love-mad knights do. He does exactly what he knew they do. We can observe that
Quijote has a ‘settled’ madness, controlled by a mental pattern and by this
similarly conscious and assumed, as that of Hamlet and similarly wisely
procreated ( he is “el ingenioso hidalgo” “esa es la fineza de mi negocio; que
volverse loco un caballero andante con causa, ni grado ni gracias: el toque
esta desatinar sin occasion.” If someones gets mad for a reason, then you are
truly mad. But this is not the case of Don Quijote. Likewise, Hamlet is the
wise madman who knows how to be mad. Quijote tells Sancho if he wants to be
given any credit to those he pretends he saw in heaven, he also must believe
all the quijotesque happenings from Montesinos cave. Here, Quijote reveals that
all is a game. He allows himself to tell the duchess that it is not known if
Dulcinea exists or is only imagined. She takes part in his madness, that is
all. She is just only an element of it.
In
both cases there is a pragmatic function, whether they are insane or sane. A
crazy person tries to consider things that others would not think of or even
look at. It is said that children and madmen always tell the truth.
Polonius
talks about Hamlet: “How pregnant sometimes his replies are! A happiness that
often madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so prosperously be
delivered of…”.
Someone
who is insane, people forgive their insults, all kinds of words, and even
reactions or actions. They would not be forgiven, if the character was not
insane. Thus, madness in literature is used to show with freedom all sort of
critiques or opinions withour fear of censorship. Cervantes, Shakespeare, Don
Quijote and Hamlet do that very well.
Another
similarity is that both characters practise a lot reflexion about themselves.
Hamlet in this sense is getting closer to novel practice using monologues,
especially when he is planning his revenge. Hamlet pretends to be mad after
talking to his father’s ghost: “But come- Here, as before, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, As I perchance hereafter shall think
meet. To put an antic disposition on, That you, at such times seeing me, never
shall, With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake, or by pronouncing of some
doubtful phrase.” Hamlet admits his madness acts on certain occasions: “Make
you to ravel all this matter out, That I essentially am not in madness, But mad
in craft. ‘Twere good you let him know.” Hamlet also says: “I am but mad
north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.” It
is clear that his madness is pretended, and as a tool he uses that technique to
hide his main goal which is revenge. Madness is used as a tool, and with that
he thinks he will be able to influence people around him, which is only
achieved when Claudio is shown guilty. It is only moment of the play when
Hamlet is able to do something, to cause an action, or reaction. In the rest of
the story, he is incapable of doing
something else, but he makes long monologues, and he is manipulated without
knowing him. Like Hamlet, Don Quijote is handled: people are trying to convince
him to go home and cure his injuries, etc. The whole travel itself is a way of
a cure to his own ill mind. Hamlet is a tragic character who is destined to end
up with a tragedy: Polonius: Mad for thy love?
Ophelia:
My lord, I do not know, But I truly do
fear it.
Claudius:
It shall be so. Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.
Hamlet
does not want to improve the world, but he wants to take his revenge due to his
father’s murder. Likewise, Hamlet is the only one that plays without
pretending, while around him are only treacherous, participants to the same
fraud: the king and the queen, Polonius, Laertes, Rosencrantz, Guilderstern,
even Ophelia. For Hamlet and Quijote madness is a theatre, it is a game, but
not for children.
Marcello:
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Hamlet:
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this
world!
Fie on’t, ah fie! ‘Tis an unweeded garden
Unlike
Don Quijote, Hamlet is a coward, because he is afraid of everything, except two
things: Death and freedom of speech. It is worth of mention that the characters
living around Hamlet do not exactly know neither the cause of his madness nor
the reason why Ophelia is mad, too. It is also not known Don Quijote’s coming
back from his sane mind. After winning in his adventures, he comes back home.
He needs cure his injuries and he accepts another different conception of
madness: from a knight turning into a shepherd. After that, he will detest all
cavalry books, recovering his normal state of mind. Thus, he
arranges all his last will, among other things, and then he confess and dies
setting his madness aside: “Loco soy, loco he de ser hasta tanto que tú vuelvas
con la respuesta de una carta que contigo pienso enviar a mi señora Dulcinea; y
si fuere tal cual a mi fe se le debe, acabarse a mi sandez y mi penitencia; y
si fuere al contrario, seré loco de veras, y siéndolo, no sentiré nada. Así
que, de cualquiera manera que responda, saldré del conflicto y trabajo en que
me dejares, gozando el bien que me trujeres, por cuerdo, o no sintiendo el mal
que me aportares, por loco.” At the same time,
Ophelia is happy for her madness, because she does not feel sad, although that
was the cause of her craziness. On the contrary, Hamlet feels desperation, but
he maybe is not really insane.
Death
cures their consciences and sufferings of this world. After death comes
paradise for believers. Passion has to be stopped in both cases. In
Don Quijote are reflected remedies to cure passion: “¿Quién mejorará mi suerte?
La muerte. Y el bien de amor, ¿quién le alcanza? Mudanza. Y sus males, ¿quién
los cura? Locura. De este modo, no es cordura Querer curar la pasión Cuando los
remedios son Muerte, mudanza y locura.
Conclusión
We
could sum up explaining that Don Quijote turns mad when he copes with reality.
On the other side of the coin, Hamlet cannot handle reality, so that he
pretends to get mad and so he has to die because of this. Don Quijote needs to
die, as well, because he lost his madness, lost the reason to be mad or folly.
Madness is represented in both literary works, although Hamlet’s madness and
Don Quijote’s foolishness seem different, a closer examination of its facts and
monologues has revealed that there are a lot of similarities.
The
message of Shakespeare and Cervantes is , indeed, that the only one who is
insane is the world itself, their characters are not out of their minds. The
period they are living in is disastrous, with a lot of poor people living in
the streets, people who steal, people who lie, people who kills for money, etc,
a world of chaos, a period of craziness. Both writers use the technique of
madness in their protagonists to criticise their contemporary reality they both
are living in their corresponding countries (one in England and the other one
in Spain). They both were living in a separated Europe filled with wars and
administrative disorders.
Madness
will be a tool to judge others’ madness, craziness, or foolishness. As Don
Quijote says: “a otro le parecerá otra cosa”, but it is also true that madness
is used strategically perfect in both works of art.
References
used:
http://www.litterae.net/Hamlet.htm
http://www.cuadernoscervantes.com/art_58_locuraquijote.htm
http://descargas.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/01715529104585000770035/014544_11.pdf
http://www.h-net.org/~cervantes/csa/artics85/johnson.htm
http://www.yale.edu/bass/writing/models/pdf/joshuatan.pdf
http://www.stanford.edu/~asphodyn/writing/SLEQ2E2.htm
Academic
year 2005/2006
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© aquí tu nombre
usuario@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press
FIRST PAPER
Subject : Internet:
ferramenta d'investigació lite Gr.SG (28034) 2006-07
Student´s
name : Gutierrez Campos, Marta Maria
Title of
the paper : "An Exploration of the Influences
of Don Miguel de Cervantes "
Author or topic : Cervantes, Miguel de
Abstract
: Don Quixote, by poet,
playwright and novelist Don Miguel de Cervantes’ is oft-cited as one of the
best novels ever written and a major influence on Western writers, including
William Shakespeare. While his influence on Western Literature is often
commented upon, this website will explore ways in which Cervantes himself was
influenced, by other writers as well as by the time in which he lived, preceded
by an overview of Cervantes in order to give some idea of his life.
Criteria and Search Methods
My criteria for selecting which web pages to include in my website
include:
The date of publication. Earlier postings will not include the latest
figures and research. While this is a consideration, it is not necessarily a
problem as some comments on Cervantes will hold true regardless of whether it
was made in the last ten years or not.
The purpose of the webpage is also an important consideration ie whether
or not it matches my intention to explore, persuade or define. It was also
important to understand whether the webpage was intended for students or for
the general public and for the most part I have included such pages that were
intended for study as opposed to general sites and sites that gave biographies
of Cervantes, as this was not appropriate for my website. One of the
difficulties encountered in this respect, was that many otherwise appropriate
sites on Cervantes, which delved into topics in some depth, were written in
Spanish, thus making them inappropriate for this webpage. Still more websites
required the user to make a purchase in order to acquire full texts on the
subjects.
I have included pages that list their sources, as this gives some idea
as to the accuracy of the webpage, marking the difference between comment or
opinion and researched hypotheses.
I discounted message boards and forums, such as http://mobydicks.com/lecture/Cervanteshall/wwwboard.html
as the qualifications of the authors
were unclear, there was a lack of quoted sources and posts were often off
topic.
Each page was assessed
with regard to the implied/intended audience. Although many search techniques
were used, looking through directories and following indirect links, the pages
selected were found using direct links from search engines Alta Vista, Yahoo
and Google, within the first 7 pages of search results.
Although the purpose of each page was seldom explicit, I found it
possible to infer a purpose from the way in which the text was presented, for
example whether the text was dense and accompanied by annotations and notes,
which suggests serious research and criticism, as opposed to sites that sported
many bright colours and pictures, which suggest (but does not mean entirely) a
site intended for information and perhaps topics explored in less depth. The
web address also gave clues as to the nature of the page, for example an
address featuring the ‘.edu’ domain immediately suggests a school,
college, university of other educational facility. Similarly, ‘.org’ implies a
not-for-profit organisation or charity that may be presenting information for
its own sake, and ‘.com’ implies (but again does not mean) a there may be
a commercial aspect to the site and that the user may be asked to part with
funds at some point whilst viewing the website.
Auto-evaluation:
Academic year 2006/2007
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Marta Maria Gutierrez Campos
margucam@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press
An Exploration of the Influences of Don Miguel
de Cervantes
Marta
Gutierrez
Introduction
Don Quixote, by poet, playwright and novelist Don
Miguel de Cervantes’ is oft-cited as one of the best novels ever written and a
major influence on Western writers, including William Shakespeare. While his
influence on Western Literature is often commented upon, this website will
explore ways in which Cervantes himself was influenced, by other writers as
well as by the time in which he lived, preceded by an overview of Cervantes in
order to give some idea of his life.
Contents
4.
Cervantes in
Relation to Aristotlelian-Thomist Epistimological Theories
5.
Cervantes and Tasso
Re-examined
6.
Did Cervantes have a
Library?
8.
Criteria and Search
Methods
Next [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Overview of Cervantes
This page provides a biography of Cervantes, before
the web site goes on to explore in more detail influences upon his writing.
|
Miguel de Cervantes 1547-1616 - surname in full CERVANTES
SAAVEDRA - nickname: Cripple of Lepanto |
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/cervante.htm
Chronology of Cervantes
This chronology of Cervantes is for the purpose of
illustrating how historical events may have influenced his life and thus his
writing.
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/cervantes/english/ctxt/cec/chron.html
Cervantes in England
This is the first of a number of pages that will
explore not only the impact of Cervantes writing on the Western World, but the
influences upon Cervantes himself.
http://www.ems.kcl.ac.uk/content/pub/b023.html
Cervantes in Relation to Aristotlelian-Thomist Epistemological Theories
This
article, from the Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America explores
Cervantes influence by Aristotelian-Thomist theories on epistemology., finding
evidence to support the theories from Don Quixote.
Américo Castro has proven that Cervantes was
influenced by the Neoplatonist theories of Bembo, Erasmus, and Castiglione (pp.
85-90). What evidence is there that Cervantes was familiar with
Aristotelian-Thomist epistemological theories distinguishing between sense-experience
and intelligibility and could have had them in mind when he elaborated Don
Quijote's ideas on the subject of enchantment? In general, the premises of the
present study are consistent with Forcione's thesis that through the figure of
Don Quijote (his ideas and actions), Cervantes sought «the liberation of art
from the mimetic theories that dominated the mainstream of literary theorizing
of the sixteenth century» (p. 121) and that were based on a misreading of
Aristotle's
Cervantes [Publicaciones periódicas] : Bulletin of the
Cervantes Society of America. Volume XII, Number 1, Spring 1992
http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/12937642021296061865624/not0001.htm
Cervantes and Tasso Re-examined
The following hyperlink links to a PDF by Daniel
Eisenberg that explores the relationship between Cervantes and Tasso.
Cervantes
and Tasso Re-examined
Please click the back button in the PDF window to
return to this page and continue.
Did Cervantes Have a Library?
The following hyperlink links to a PDF by Daniel
Eisenberg that explores whether or not Cervantes read extensively, and if so,
what he may have read and what evidence there is to support this.
Please click the back button in the PDF window to
return to this page and continue.
Cervantes and Aesop
This is an essay that ties Cervantes’ creations,
Cipion and Berganza, to work by Aesop.
Cipion,
Berganza, and the Aesopic tradition.
Publication Date: 22-MAR-03
Publication Title: Cervantes:
Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America
Format: Online
Author: Carranza, Paul
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-3049436_ITM
Criteria and Search Methods
My criteria for selecting which web pages to include
in my website include:
1)
1) The date of
publication. Earlier postings will not include the latest figures and research.
While this is a consideration, it is not necessarily a problem as some comments
on Cervantes will hold true regardless of whether it was made in the last ten
years or not.
2)
2) The purpose
of the webpage is also an important consideration ie whether or not it matches
my intention to explore, persuade or define. It was also important to
understand whether the webpage was intended for students or for the general
public and for the most part I have included such pages that were intended for
study as opposed to general sites and sites that gave biographies of Cervantes,
as this was not appropriate for my website. One of the difficulties encountered
in this respect, was that many otherwise appropriate sites on Cervantes, which
delved into topics in some depth, were written in Spanish, thus making them
inappropriate for this webpage. Still more websites required the user to make a
purchase in order to acquire full texts on the subjects.
3)
3) I have
included pages that list their sources, as this gives some idea as to the
accuracy of the webpage, marking the difference between comment or opinion and
researched hypotheses.
4)
4) I discounted
message boards and forums, such as http://mobydicks.com/lecture/Cervanteshall/wwwboard.html
as the qualifications of the authors were unclear, there was a lack of quoted
sources and posts were often off topic.
Each page was assessed with regard to the
implied/intended audience. Although many search techniques were used, looking
through directories and following indirect links, the pages selected were found
using direct links from search engines Alta Vista, Yahoo and Google, within the
first 7 pages of search results.
Although the purpose of each page was seldom explicit,
I found it possible to infer a purpose from the way in which the text was
presented, for example whether the text was dense and accompanied by
annotations and notes, which suggests serious research and criticism, as
opposed to sites that sported many bright colours and pictures, which suggest
(but does not mean entirely) a site intended for information and perhaps topics
explored in less depth. The web address also gave clues as to the nature of the
page, for example an address featuring
the ‘.edu’ domain immediately suggests a school, college, university of
other educational facility. Similarly, ‘.org’ implies a not-for-profit
organisation or charity that may be presenting information for its own sake,
and ‘.com’ implies (but again does not
mean) a there may be a commercial aspect to the site and that the user
may be asked to part with funds at some point whilst viewing the website.
Sexualities on
Shakespeare
<EN CONSTRUCCIÓ>
First Paper by
Nunila Martínez on Vicente Forés' “Internet com a ferramenta d'investigació
literària”
Aquest és el meu First
Paper per la assignatura “Internet: ferramenta d'investigació literària”
La pàgina consta de dos
estudis diferents: per un costat podeu consultar les conclusions i per un
altre, podeu consultar el procés d'investigació.
El procés
<EN CONSTRUCCIÓ>
Per al procés
d'investigació hem considerat oportú limitar-nos a recursos disponibles per
Internet, és a dir, no hem utilitzat cap llibre que no pugam llegir on-line. Ha
sigut, per així dir-ho, un procés que qualsevol persona podria haver fet des de
casa.
Per a trobar articles
sobre Shakespeare i la sexualitat ens hem referit a: http://scholar.google.com un motor de
recerca en bases de dades acadèmiques, però que dóna molts resultats que no ens
serveixen, ja que ens remet a llibres o a articles no accessibles dels que
únicament podem llegir el resum (abstract).
http://muse.jhu.edu
http://www.jstor.org
http://www.eric.ed.gov/
Per tal d'accedir a la
informació d'aquestos motors de recerca, hem utilitzat les sales d'informàtica
del la Universitat de València, que es troba subscrita a aquestos projectes.
També ens hauria agradat
poder utilitzar quotesXXXXX, però la Universitat de València no en té la
subscripció.
Per altra banda, hem
descartat totes les entrades trobades bé pel www.google.com
sense extensió .edu o que no vingueren avalades per alguna universitat o
revista literària. Material procedent de blogs i pàgines personals ha sigut
descartat, ja que més enllà de la curiositat que pugam sentir, no ens aportaría
una font fiable d'informació.
En aquest sentit,
podríem citar moltes pàgines, però per esmentar alguna, hem descartat la
wikipèdia (per que hem considerat que el caràcter de les contribucions no
garanteix la fiabilitat).
No obstant, no hem
descartat pàgines d'associacions, o membres d'associacions amb una visió
“diferent” de la sexualitat, com ara l'article de ______________, ja que trobem
que la seua visión és una més en l'ampli mosaic de possibilitats que la lectura
de l'obra de Shakespeare ens ofereix i que sovint ha sigut simplificada per
motius socials o polítics.
FIRST
PAPER
Subject : Internet as a Literary Research Tool
Student´s name : McDaniel Mann Stanley
Title of the paper : The Role
of Women in Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare´s Works
Author or topic :
Abstract : The aim of the information
presented in the website is to discuss the women characters created by Miguel
de Cervantes and William Shakespeare in their works. Shakespeare´s women characters are perhaps the most famous
characters made by any other playwright, and he goes to every detail to give
them a fresh look. Many times these women
are portrayed as rebellious feminists, but in reality they are merely reacting
against an unjust society which casts them aside as third-class citizens. Shakespeare´s women have strong feminine
influences and unique personalites which affect the plot and outcome of the
play. Similarily, we can take a close
look at the women in Cervantes´ works, and we can see that he thinks highly of
his strong, righteous female characters.
It even appears that Cervantes invoked great sympathy for women in his
works by turning whores into socially helpless women who have entered such a
profession due to their degraded situation.
Both writers treated women and feminism in a unique way, even to the
point of invoking great sympathy for women, unlike the bulk of their generation.
Auto-evaluation: This type of project has been completely new
to me, and, as a result, I have learned quite a bit about both writers and how
English speaking countries view Cervantes´s works and Spanish speaking
countries view Shakespeare´s. In
addition, I have learned to create a webpage.
Given the amount of time which I have spent on this project and what I
have learned from it, I feel I deserve a minimum grade of “notable”.
The Role of Women in Miguel de CervantesAndWilliam
Shakespeare´s Works
The way Cervantes handled women
characters revealed his sympathy for women who wished to take their own
decisions and argue for their rights.
Such sensitive themes as religion, social class and prostitution were handled
by Cervantes with grace as his women characters juggled all the injustices of
the times with their own situations, making desperate attempts to live their
own lives and cry out for recognition.
Similarily, Shakespeare´s women characters are perhaps the most famous
characters made by any playwright, often characterized as “rebellious
feminists”. Shakespeare´s audiences
were surely scandalized by feminine protrayals which not only went against all
logic of the times but also challenged theater goers to change their mind
frames and break taboos of the times.
A first look will be taken at two of Cervantes´s women
characters, Marcela (the countess who
abandons her fortunate living opting to live as a shepherdess) and Dulcinea
(the plain peasant women romanticized by Don Quixote) surely hints at the
author’s feeling for women in quest of their identity. Critics have explored the roles played by women, leading to further feminist
and gender studies to Cervantes for his sensitive method of depicting the women
of 17th-century Spain. “Unlike the bulk of his generation, Cervantes invoked
great sympathy for women. Although falling short of a “feminist” view, many
female characters such as Marcela and Dorotea in Don Quixote speak
powerfully arguing for their rights.”[1][1] Proof of this is how Cervantes turns whores into socially helpless women
coerced in to such degrading profession driven by poverty. Maritornes, the whore (of the tavern Don
Quixote thought to be a citadel) altered by the innocent stare of Don Quixote,
with whom she mistakenly gets into bed after making a date with a mule skinner.
Maritornes is the mule skinner’s whore and the tavern warden, but is capable of the sweetest and most
tender conversation to "the Ragged Knight of the Sorry
Countenance”.[2][2]
Maritornes, the hideous, but caring whore, the mournful, stunning
Dorotea married to Don Fernando before he left for Luscinda, and who feigned as
Princess Micomicona to get Don Quixote to depart the from the mountains, the
rich orphan Marcela who lives in the woods dressed as a shepherdess and
rejecting suitors Marcela and beautiful Lela Zoraida who helps the
prisoner of war from Leon to escape and marries this man renouncing her father,
her religion, and her country getting baptized in Spain – all of them seek a
different kind identity mark.
In Don Quixote there may
exist an association between marriage and prostitution in the option the women
adopt in order to socially authorize their lives, either for the deference to
authority, (as in the case of Lucinda who marries Cardenio's friend Don
Fernando, son of a duke, to soothe her parents, even if truly caring for
Cardenio with whom she is united again in the end) or for seeking refuge in
Christianity, as in the case of Zoraida. Marcela renounces marriage or
courtship living in harmony with nature and keeping away from the advances of
suitors. Dorotea who has been betrayed by Don Fernando when he married Lucinda
instead felt dishonored so as to go away from her village in cross dressing.
She feigns to be the Princess Micomicona, to con Don Quixote. Yet, she
basically wants to get married.
“Medea's utter hate and detestation for her husband pushed her to truly
harm her husband by killing her own children conveying her internal conflict as
Medea's motherly makeup made her ask whether or not she should go to such an
extent. Eventually her anger prevailed
over her calm and forced her into a crazy state to execute one of the most
brutal acts a mother could do.”[3][3] In Don Quixote, Dorotea disguises
herself quite a few times—from a man to a woman and ultimately to a princess.
Zoraida also undergoes a cultural duality, leaving her familiar world, for the
quest of a new identity. Cervantes’s female characters live with the Christian
notions of hope showing them the way. Zoraida’s defies patriarchal authority
because of a Christian religious quest and not for physical lust. Behind
Dorotea’s revenge plan, there is allusion of a woman’s attempt to regain lost
honor.
The distance that Cervantes
created between his female characters and the classical ones whose influence
can be traced in Don Quixote, was deliberately made so, in order to make
a sense of the present. Don Quixote,
albeit apparently giving the impression of an insane, schizophrenic, torn
between illusion and reality, according to modern studies, is a character who
sticks to his reasons, however convoluted. Expressing his idea of the peasant
girl (Aldonza Lorenzo) whom he refers to as Dulcinea of El Toboso, he says to
Sancho:
“For what I want of Dulcinea del
Toboso she is as good as the greatest princess in the land. For not all those
poets who praise ladies under names which they choose so freely, really have
such mistresses. . . .I am quite satisfied. . . to imagine and
believe that the good Aldonza Lorenzo is so lovely and virtuous.”[4][4]
This indicates that for Don
Quixote it is of lesser significance whether the girl is really Dulcinea of El
Toboso or not. This suggests an idea of love that is pragmatic. The expression
“For what I want of (her)” generates a
sense of frankness, a precise point to make, sort of a professional deal
stressing love’s terms and conditions, a kind of love that blends with Don
Quixote’s poetic love, a love that
stresses on usefulness. Dulcinea seems
to satisfy Don Quixote’s own ideal of love, and his love for her is a way of
attaining his gallant actions needed for a Knight Errant. Despite the fact that the love projected
here is a purpose-driven emotion, the novel depicts it as exclusive and
outstanding. Thus Don Quixote’s sense of exactitude is well admired. But Don Quixote, from a modern feminist view
appears as a male, macho. Especially when he says,
“It is impossible that there
could be a knight-errant without a lady, because it is as proper and natural
for them to be in love as for the sky to have stars. I can warrant that there
has never been a knight-errant without amours in any history written, for the
mere fact of being without them would prove that he was not a legitimate
knight”. [5][5]
Shakespeare, one of the most famous and well read
playwrights in English literature, has
created several different women characters—Cleopatra, Juliet, Beatrice, Viola
and others – who are still remembered. These women characters have different
qualities that actually give us a peep in the choice of the characterization
that Shakespeare creates. Shakespeare’s
women characters are perhaps the most famous characters made by any other
playwright. They are called by several different terms by the critics such as,
“unruly women” “the female wild” and the “outlaws”. Shakespeare goes to every other detail to give his women
characters a fresh look. They hold a special place in his plays and without
them perhaps the work may not be considered complete.
The critics have often called the
women characters unruly, who believe in living life on their own terms. Some of
them also believe that Shakespeare’s characters are rebellious feminists.
“Shakespeare’s heroines rebelled against the men and the society in their attempt
to rule or being broke down by a social arrangement mostly involving men.”[6][6] There is another point to note about
Shakespeare’s women characters that were in his plays when Elizabeth I was on
the throne. Critics believe that during the reign of Queen Victoria, the plays
of Shakespeare were framed particularly by keeping in mind the female audience
or readers. There was no single passage in the play which could violate
feminine sensibilities.
Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife in
Shakespeare’s most popular play Macbeth, is the most famous and fearsome
female character. She is not a feminine symbol in the play but a masculine one.
She is an immensely ambitious woman. She is an unruly woman, lusty for power
and greedy for position. The character of Lady Macbeth as framed by Shakespeare
is actually the most difficult for the Victorian age to take in. In the beginning itself, the audiences find
her making the plot of Duncan’s murder. She has no weaknesses in her character
and is strong and ruthless about her thoughts. She understands the situations
around her completely and knows that she has to force her husband Macbeth to
commit murder. Lady Macbeth is so
adamant abut her plans that at a point she even wants to shed her feminism to
so that she can execute the murder herself. In the words of Lady macbeth’s husband--she has a masculine
soul living in a female body that associates masculinity with violence and lust
for power. She has the ability to
control her husband with noteworthy efficiency, and she can overrule all his
doubts, protests and hesitations about committing the murder. She even
questions his manhood again and again to make him feel that he has to kill to
prove himself. After the murder, Lady Macbeth uses her will and strength to pacify
her husband’s nervousness. She portrays a more tragic role than Macbeth as
ambition causes her slow slide into madness more stoutly.[7][7] Therefore, he feels the guilt of the
crime even stronger. In the end of the
play, once the guilt takes her over completely, the sensibility of Lady Macbeth
becomes her weakness, which drags her into the darks of life, unable to cope
with the siutation. As she kills herself ostensibly, this indicates how she was
completely unable to deal with the guilt of the crime.
Cleopatra is the most popular
character created by Shakespeare in the plays Julius Caesar and Antony
and Cleopatra. She was the ruler of Egypt who succeeded in solidifying her grip on the throne by consummating a
link with Julius Caesar. Caesar was charmed by Cleopatra and she became his
mistress, despite the thirty years age difference between them. She gave birth
to a son, named Caesarion, about whom Cleopatra claimed Caesar was the father.
She wanted Caesarion to become his heir, but Caesar refused. It is believed
that when Caesar was assassinated, Cleopatra was present along with
Caesarion. After Caesar’s
assassination, Cleopatra got involved with Mark Anthony, who spent a great time
with her in Alexandria, upsetting the people back home in Rome. She gave birth
to his twin children and Antony married her in 37 BC. In the battle of Actium
in 31 BC, Antony's forces had to face the Romans in a naval battle fought off
the coast of Actium. According to a popular story about the war, Cleopatra was
also present there along with her fleet and when she saw that the fleet of
Antony is not well equipped to be able to face the far superior forces of the
Romans, she fled from there. Antony too left the battle in between to follow
her. This, indicates that Cleopatra used her tremendous beauty and charm to
control her reign and to protect it from the Romans. Cleopatra is one of the controversial heroines of Shakespeare’s
historical plays. Cleopatra is considered the most beautiful of women, who
bewitched several men rulers with her physical beauty and attraction. She is a
“gypsy” and has immense beauty and open sexuality.
Ophelia is a confused female
character created by Shakespeare. She is completely controlled by the
influences of people around her. This affects her ability to express her deep
feelings about anything. She has to hold back her emotions time and again and
this results in her going mad. Ophelia is a major influence on Hamlet and also
affects his return to sanity. Moreover, she also molds Laertes.[8][8]
Ophelia
is not one of the Shakespeare’s strongest women characters as her madness and
death are caused due to the pressure exerted by her father and the king on her.
When her father dies she looses both her identity and her sanity. Ophelia cannot give up without torturing
herself. Her craziness holds base on the mental torture that she develops due
to the constraint on her. Her madness and eventual suicide holds a great
influence on all other characters in the play. Laertes’s grief at Ophelia’s death makes him plan out the murder
of Hamlet. When Gertrude learns about Ophelia’s death, she goes into a state of
utter perplexity at the loss of such a nice and innocent person.
Beatrice is the witty heroine of
the play Much Ado About Nothing. Her character is memorable and is in
the original style of Shakespeare. We notice her opposing marriage firmly. She
makes her first comment to the messenger about Benedick’s welfare. She asks
many questions about him which indicate her growing interest in him which perhaps
she did not know about herself. Then, after Benedick and other soldiers arrive,
we see her having strong verbal duels with Benedick. The way in which she makes
comments about him indicates that they knew each other before. Like Ophelia, Beatrice is also influenced
by other characters which can be seen by her emotional engagements with Hero
and Claudio.
It is quite common for women to
have leading roles in the plays of Shakespeare. In romantic comedy plays like Much
Ado About Nothing and some tragic plays like Macbeth and Antony
and Cleopatra, we find Shakespeare’s women characters taking on the other
male characters. The women characters of Shakespeare have strong feminine
influences and unique personalities which affect the plot and outcome of the
play. Even though the plots of the plays are distinct, we find lots of
similarities between the women characters.
In conclusion, it is interesting
to note that Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, were ahead of their
time and used their feminine characters to make an “informal” protest against
the adverse situation suffered by women of the period. In the case of William Shakespeare, not
only did some of the women characters take on masculine attitudes, but they
also orchestrated plans and plots in order to highlight this shocking
distinction. As far as Miguel de
Cervantes is concerned, he dared to show sympathy for the plight of women in
Spain during the 16th century, and through his writings, hinted that
not only needed but deserved their own identity.
Bibliography
Book Project on an Ancient Greek
Drama Medea by Euripides, retrieved from
http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC
040522/Medea/medanindex.htm (accessed June 5, 2007)
Brittanica, Importance and
Influence of Cervantes, retrieved from
http://www.britannica.com/shakespeare/article-215817a
(accessed June 5, 2007)
Godayol, Pilar. Germanes de Shakespeare. Retrieved from
http://www.ub.es/cdona/Lectora_09/23%5B1%5D.%20Ressenya%20 Shakespeare.pdf (accessed June 12,
2007)
Hamlet. Retrieved
from
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet (accessed June 14, 2007)
Wilipedia. Retrieved from
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth
(accessed June 14, 2007)
Wirfs-Brock,
Jordan. The Duality of Don Quixote´s
Characater as Shown Through his Attitutde Towards Dulcinea of El Toboso, retrieved from
Academic year 2006/2007
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Stan McDaniel
smcmann@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press
Correo electrónico: tausiet@tausiet.com
|
Shakespeare Por Harold Bloom La
idea del carácter occidental, del ser interior como agente moral, tiene
muchas fuentes. Homero y Platón, Aristóteles y Sófocles, la Biblia y San
Agustín, Dante y Kant, y todo lo que quieran añadir. La personalidad, en
nuestro sentido, es una invención shakespeareana, y no es sólo la más grande
originalidad de Shakespeare, sino también la auténtica causa de su perpetua
presencia. En la medida en que nosotros mismos valoramos y deploramos
nuestras propias personalidades, somos los herederos de Falstaff y de Hamlet,
y de todas las otras personas que atiborran el teatro de Shakespeare con lo
que podemos llamar los colores del espíritu. * * * El
extraño poder de Shakespeare para transmitir la personalidad está quizá más
allá de toda explicación. ¿Cómo es que sus personajes nos parecen tan reales
y cómo pudo lograr esa ilusión de manera tan convincente? Las consideraciones
históricas (e historizadas) no han ayudado mucho a responder a estas
cuestiones. Los ideales, tanto sociales como individuales, eran tal vez más
prevalentes en el mundo de Shakespeare que lo que son al parecer en el
nuestro. Leeds Barroll señala que los ideales del Renacimiento, ya sean
cristianos, filosóficos u ocultos, tendían a subrayar nuestra necesidad de
adherir a algo personal que sin embargo era más grande que nosotros. Dios o
un espíritu. De ello se seguía cierta tensión o angustia, y Shakespeare se convirtió
en el más alto maestro en la explotación de ese vacío entre las personas y el
ideal personal. ¿Se deduce de esta explicación su invención de lo que
reconocemos como "personalidad"? Percibimos sin duda la influencia
de Shakespeare en su discípulo John Webster cuando el Flaminio de Webster
exclama, al morir, en El demonio blanco: |
I was born in
Portsmouth, England, 1976, but I soon moved to Valencia, where I grew up. I
graduated from Valencia University in 1999, where I majored in English
Philology.
Ever since I
was a high school student I had a strong interest in Japan. That interest first
started through the world of Japanese comics and cartoons, and that later on
evolved towards a fascination on the Japanese culture and society in general.
For that reason I tried to combine my studies in high school and university
with the study of the Japanese language. I felt that knowing the language could
be the key that might open many of the doors of the world that years ago
attracted my attention.
I was not
mistaken, for in 1999, just a month after my graduation, the Japanese Ministry
of Foreign Affairs chose me to join the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program
(JET) thanks to which I would be working for three years in a Japanese local
authority office as a Coordinator for International Relations between Spain and
Japan.
After the
contract with the JET Program ended, I had a 2 years contract at the Tokyo
branch of the Valencian porcelain company “Lladró”.
Since 2005 I have been working as a Spanish culture and language
teacher at the Spanish department of the Himeji Dokkyo University, near Osaka
and in the Kobe area.
Commentaries: Texts on the Future
Role of the Cyberspace and Hypertext
Views on Texts Dealing with the Future Role of Cyberspace
and Hypertext
* On Pierre
Levy's Cyberspace and the Future of Memory
* On
Howard S. Becker's Theory: The Necessary Evil
* On
Sven Birkerts' The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age
* On
Jay David Bolter's Degrees of Freedom
* On
Robert Kendall's Writing for the New Millennium. The Birth of Electronic
Literature.
* On
Jerome McGann's Comp[u/e]ting Editorial F[u/ea]tures
* On
Stuart Moulthrop's You Say You Want a Revolution? Hypertext and the Laws of
Media
@
Paper: An Insight
into the Presence of Shakespeare and Cervantes in Japanese Cyberspace
An
Insight into the Presence of Shakespeare and Cervantes
in
Japanese Cyberspace
PART
ONE: On William Shakespeare in the Japanese Cyberspace
In this section, we will try to describe each one of the
websites that were found to be valuable for our purpose to illustrate the
different areas in which we find the presence of Shakespeare. At the same time,
will try to order the pages by the themes or topics they can be grouped by. In
most of the cases the homepages will not have an English version, so the title
of each site will always be a tentative one, since it will be based in our
homemade and modest translation. And finally, by the end of this section a
general summary will be made as a commentary of the whole corpus of pages
selected.
Shakespeare
in the Japanese Web
Shakespeare in the Japanese Web
@
* Japanese Wikipedia:
William Shakespeare
* The Bard of Avon: Shakespeare in
Stratford-upon-Avon
* Todokoro’s Study Room on
Shakespeare
* The
Shakespeare Theater and Plays
* The Shakespeare Society
of Japan
@
* A Theatrical Company:
Shakespeare Theatre
* The Shakespeare Company
of Japan
* Academic Shakespeare
Company (ASC)
* The Shakespeare
Company for Children
@
Final
Thoughts on the Shakespeare Section
Final Thoughts on the Shakespeare Section
As we mentioned before, the material
on the Japanese web was too large to include all of it. The number of pages we
chose was so little compared to the existing ones that it was difficult to
consider them as a representative corpus. Nevertheless we have struggled to
give a vision as complete as possible about the webscape of Shakespeare
in Japan. We can conclude that there is a real interest in the playwright as
shown by the numerous theater companies dedicated to his plays. A lot of
research is probably going on too, but somehow it is difficult to spot on the
Internet, or it is not easy to find them by using the conventional search
methods. There is a great number of websites created by amateurs who have
interest in Shakespeare, and on a more academic level only a few were found. We
felt a lack of more articles, books, texts, essays and dissertations about
Shakespeare published on the Internet. However, as we said before, there must
be many more out there. The main question is: how to find them.
PART TWO: On Miguel de Cervantes in the Japanese Cyberspace
Even though there is a clear difference in the quantity of websites on
Cervantes found on the Internet compared to Shakespeare, the presence of
Cervantes was quite astonishing. Another point that we have to take into
account is that on the one hand, Shakespeare has a long list of plays to be
well known for, and, as we saw, there are many companies trying to represent
all the 37 of them as their personal goal. On the other hand, Cervantes is basically
known for his famous novel Don Quixote. Furthermore, we could say that
while many people have heard of the novel and even about its contents or about
the mythical scene with the windmills, very few of them know even the name of
its writer. Thus, the title Don Quixote has found its place within the
Japanese people, but unfortunately the name of Cervantes still does not ring a
bell for the majority of them. For that reason, and due to the poor search
results for the word Cervantes in Japanese with Google, we allowed ourselves an
additional second round with the word Don Quixote too in Japanese.
Cervantes on the
Japanese Web
* Japanese Wikipedia: Miguel
de Cervantes
* Puentefuente: The Life
of Miguel de Cervantes
* Seigow Matsuokafs Review
on gDon Quixoteh
* TURESPAÑA: The House of
Cervantes (Spanish Tourist Board of Japan)
* About Don Quixote and his
insanity
Don
Quixote in the Japanese Web
Don
Quixote on the Japanese Web
* Japanese Wikipedia: Don
Quixote
* Sanchofs gDon
Quixoteh Traveler Guide
* From Someone Who
Read gDon Quixoteh
@
* The Don Quijote Organization
Final
Thoughts on the Cervantes Section
As we mentioned before, the number of
relevant pages obtained when looking for the terms Cervantes or Don Quixote
was clearly smaller than the one about when we searched for Shakespeare.
Nevertheless, in this section we found a greater variety of areas. Whereas with
Shakespeare we got very few articles or essays actually written on Shakespeare
or any of his plays, there were so many pages with essays on Cervantes or on Don
Quixote h that we had to narrow down the number. Here we even found some
articles written by university professors, or professional writers. We could
argue that compared to Shakespeare it is sad that Cervantes is basically known
just for his famous novel, but we will agree that this one work has captivated
the attention of many Japanese minds. Cervantes was trying to represent a very
true image of Spain and the Spanish people through his novel. The story or at
least the image that it created for those who did not read the novel was true
enough to be able to make them associate the image of Don Quixote with
the Spanish culture and Spanish reality in general. According to the pages we
visited, this association between a work of fiction and the culture of a whole
country did not seem to be happening to the same extent with the concepts of
Shakespeare and Britain.
Academic year 2006/2007
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© jortor@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press
Módulo 01
Concordances
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your
hand
And Eternity in an hour
William Blake
(from Auguries of Innocence c.1800)
http://www.languid.org/cgi-bin/shakespeare?st=search&keywords=Time&operation=Submit
458 veces
KING HENRY IV, PART I : Act 4, scene 1
...
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS : Act 4, scene 4
Time in
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS : Act 1, scene 2
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS : Act 2, scene 1
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS : Act 2, scene 2
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS : Act 3, scene 1
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS : Act 3, scene 2
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS : Act 4, scene 4
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS : Act 4, scene 1
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS : Act 4, scene 2
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS : Act 5, scene 1
http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~matty/Shakespeare/test.html
Search results
Your search time resulted in 970 hits
The following words appeared in your search: time:1123
Act 1, Scene 2
http://www.leoyan.com/djvu-editions.com/SHAKESPEARE/COMPLETE/search.html
Concordance Search for 'time'
Printing matching lines from 1 to 25 of 26.
1: Shakespeare Comedy of Errors l, sir ? I never
saw her till this time. 1 .. S. Villain, thou liest;
http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/concordance/
Shakespeare concordance:
all instances of "time"
• time occurs 1,100 times in 966 lines within
42 works.
• Possibly related words: times, time's, timely, timed
• Look up "time" in the Merriam-Webster
dictionary
(offsite link; may not be found)
• The links below will show time in each listed work,
or you may want to see all the instances at once.
http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/
and search by play
http://www.shkspr.uni-muenster.de/queries.php
The Shakespeare Database Project
Módulo 03
Seguimos con tecnicismos
Hola,
Para cuando tengais que redactar algún trabajo académico quiero recordaros que
la forma de citar fuentes usadas y evitar plagios es conociendo el MLA Style
Sheet. Podéis encontrar ejemplos, explicaciones y cómo funciona en las
siguientes páginas, sobre todo:
El Purdue University Online Writing Lab y en particular:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_mla.html
MLA STYLE SHEET
By Dr. Abel Scribe PhD
http://www.docstyles.com/mlacrib.htm
Style Sheets for Citing Resources (Print & Electronic):
Examples & General Rules for MLA, APA, & Chicago & Turabian Styles
UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Style.html
Adopted by CCSN Library & CCSN Writing Lab Spring 1997
http://www.ccsn.nevada.edu/english/mlastyle.htm
Elegid la guía que mejor os vaya y de ahora en adelante todos los
'papers' usarán este método de citar fuentes y de referir la bibliografía.
Cualquier duda, etc. en el blog del curso, please!
Módulos Multi Media
e-mail: fores@uv.es
© Copyright
1995-2007 by Dr. Vicente Forés
Valencia_Austin 10/05/2004_07/23/2--7