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Copyright of Mitteilungen des Deutschen Germanistenverbandes is the property of Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Orson Welles created Orson Welles' Sketch Book in March 1955, a documentary series for the British BBC. The series, comprising six episodes of fifteen minutes each, featured Welles sharing personal anecdotes alongside sketches he had drawn himself. Nearly seventy years later, this approach mirrors techniques used by contemporary YouTubers, who utilise social media to disseminate their content. By analysing Welles' use of self-reference in this series and comparing it with existing studies on YouTuber storytelling, this article explores the parallels between Welles' narrative techniques and modern content creation practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a letter of Robert Southey, the first English translator of the Cantar de Mio Cid, appears a curious anecdote concerning the theft of the eponymous hero’s sword Tizona from the castle of Béjar during the Peninsular War. Contemporary memoirs identify the alleged culprit as Colonel William Mayne of the Loyal Lusitanian Legion, while suggesting a more benign interpretation of the episode. The actual weapon in question can be traced in records of the duchy of Béjar, and now belongs to the British Royal Collection. Though traditionally attributed to Diego López de Zúñiga, hero of Las Navas de Tolosa, the sword can be properly identified as having belonged to Rodrigo de Vivar y Mendoza, 1st marquis of Cenete and count of Cid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant information about Ibn Bājja's interest in climatology is limited to a few vague anecdotes. This article seeks to expand our understanding of his views on the inhabitable and uninhabitable regions of the earth, drawing primarily on his commentaries on Aristotle's Meteorology (al-Āthār al-ʿulwiyya) and Generation and Corruption (al-Kawn wa-l-fasād). The article presents an attempt to explain why Ibn Bājja believed that some sections of the earth are inhabitable, how climate affects the human character, and how this topic fits into Ibn Bājja's overall framework of thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a much-needed exploration of Irish comedy and its practitioners during the nineteenth century, particularly addressing the lack of scholarly attention that has been given to this period in Irish theatre. While theatre historians have extensively chronicled the development of comedy, pantomime, and burlesque in Victorian Britain, similar studies are scarce for Irish theatre of the same era. The focus of this article is on two prominent figures in the realm of observational comedy in nineteenth-century Irish theatre: Patrick Frederick Gallaher and Denis (Dan) Leonard. Both actors, whose careers spanned from the early 1800s to the late 1870s, played pivotal roles in shaping Irish theatrical comedy during some of Ireland's most politically and socially turbulent years. Importantly, their work also marked a significant shift in the depiction of the stage Irishman, a character that has been more commonly analysed in the context of American theatre. By examining the careers of Gallaher and Leonard, this article aims to shed light on how these performers helped to transform the stereotypical stage Irishman into a more nuanced and observationally comedic figure. This evolution, often overlooked by scholars, reveals the complexities of Irish identity and humour during this era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baltic German anecdotes (Pratchen) are a relatively unexplored part of Estonian folk humour, much like Baltic German culture within Estonian culture as a whole. This study focuses on anecdotes about Lutheran clergymen, which offer material for comparison with the more thoroughly researched Estonian counterparts. These humorous tales provide valuable insights into the cultural history, mentality, language as well as everyday life of the Baltic German community. Older Estonian anecdotes about clergymen often emphasize the social and ethnic differences between Estonian peasants and the clergy. In contrast, Baltic German anecdotes provide an internal perspective, exploring the role of the clergy within the Baltic German community and their outreach beyond it. The anecdotes can offer explanations for certain aspects that remain obscure and are therefore ridiculed in Estonian anecdotes. Two key features of Baltic German humour are its oral nature and the tradition of competing in witticisms (pliggern), a "national sport" possibly rooted in student culture. Initially shared orally, these anecdotes often referenced known people and places. They were later written down to preserve the memory and cultural history of the community. Older anecdotes published between the world wars, became classics that kept appearing in various forms in later collections. World War II added a final layer, with humour providing a way to encapsulate and process epochal events. In Baltic German anecdotes, clergymen are depicted in everyday activities and relationships, often taking on the role of the trickster parson. Unlike in Estonian jokes, the dynamic between the nobility and the church features prominently. This often takes the form of a humorous tug of war between the clergyman and the noble patron of the church, who may have attended school together in the past. The parson's attitude towards parishioners is usually benevolent but patronizing, with the parish clerk, sexton, and coachman often playing supporting roles. Another central theme is the clergyman as a political figurehead, reflecting the tensions caused by the official campaigns of Russification and conversion to Russian Orthodoxy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores strategies for generating and evaluating novel research ideas. Researchers can identify promising ideas by systematically exposing themselves to new, practitioner‐relevant information and by contrasting emerging facts with existing theories. Additionally, by identifying the necessary conditions that are required for an idea to become a viable research project, researchers can quickly discard low‐prospect ideas, freeing up mental space and time to evaluate new research opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a framework for a phenomenology based on pure transcendental phenomenology that examines the nature of both the experience of viewing and creating animation. The technological innovation of film and cinema in general is based upon two overarching principles. The first is the phenomenon of the captured frame and the second is the spectator's phenomenological experience of sequences of such captured frames. It is argued among animation and film theorists alike that the insights offered by the consideration of the phenomenon of the cinematic frame should form the nexus of all film theories. This paper argues that a complete theory of film and cinema should start by explaining this fundamental conceptual bedrock, and that the 'already-created' frame of film restricts insight into the phenomenology of cinema spectatorship. The article also shows how the practice of animation is instrumental to the proposition and elaboration of a phenomenology of animation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baltic German humour and anecdotes about clergymen Baltic German anecdotes (Pratchen) are a relatively unexplored part of Estonian folk humour, much like Baltic German culture within Estonian culture as a whole. This study focuses on anecdotes about Lutheran clergymen, which offer material for comparison with the more thoroughly researched Estonian counterparts. These humorous tales provide valuable insights into the cultural history, mentality, language as well as everyday life of the Baltic German community. Older Estonian anecdotes about clergymen often emphasize the social and ethnic differences between Estonian peasants and the clergy. In contrast, Baltic German anecdotes provide an internal perspective, exploring the role of the clergy within the Baltic German community and their outreach beyond it. The anecdotes can offer explanations for certain aspects that remain obscure and are therefore ridiculed in Estonian anecdotes. Two key features of Baltic German humour are its oral nature and the tradition of competing in witticisms (pliggern), a “national sport” possibly rooted in student culture. Initially shared orally, these anecdotes often referenced known people and places. They were later written down to preserve the memory and cultural history of the community. Older anecdotes published between the world wars, became classics that kept appearing in various forms in later collections. World War II added a final layer, with humour providing a way to encapsulate and process epochal events. In Baltic German anecdotes, clergymen are depicted in everyday activities and relationships, often taking on the role of the trickster parson. Unlike in Estonian jokes, the dynamic between the nobility and the church features prominently. This often takes the form of a humorous tug of war between the clergyman and the noble patron of the church, who may have attended school together in the past. The parson’s attitude towards parishioners is usually benevolent but patronizing, with the parish clerk, sexton, and coachman often playing supporting roles. Another central theme is the clergyman as a political figurehead, reflecting the tensions caused by the official campaigns of Russification and conversion to Russian Orthodoxy.

The article focuses on how political humor, particularly through memes, engages with cultural representations of capitalist extraction and colonialism. Topics include the role of memes in critiquing the mining industry, the intersection of digital culture and extractivism, and the decolonial perspectives on resource extraction and its global impacts.

"Aliyya Ghurra" is a work by Maktabi Shirazi (c. 865 - after 941 AD) written in the meter of Nezami Ganjavi's "Seven Bodies". This work is a translation of Imam Ali's precious sayings into verse form. The poet selected one hundred words from "Al-Laali Prose" and translated each saying into one or more couplets accompanied by a poetic anecdote. The book was first published in 1313 AH by Hossein Kuhi Kermani based on the only known manuscript belonging to Malek al-Shoara Bahar. This initial publication was riddled with errors and inaccuracies. In the next attempt, Mahmoud Abadi published a corrected edition in 1999. However, Abadi did not have access to the original handwritten manuscript and could only work with the flawed Koohe edition. While Abadi's corrections were a step in the right direction, the text still requires further refinement. In this discourse, the researcher had access to Bahar's original manuscript, as well as another complete handwritten copy of the poem. By comparing these sources to Koohe and Abadi’s editions, the researcher identified the remaining mistakes in Abadi's correction and noted the missing words from the earlier published versions in order to present a more comprehensive and accurate version of "Gol-e Sad Barg-e Bagh-e Morteza" (The Flower of a Hundred Leaves from the Garden of Morteza). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary work in Black Studies reflects the urgency of integrating lived experience into scholarly work. Scholars such as Saidiya Hartman and Christina Sharpe employ autobiographical frames and anecdotes in their writing in order to legitimate historically undervalued forms of knowledge production, and, as Hartman writes, to "counter the violence of abstraction." Despite the efficacy of this methodology, however, the move itself remains under-theorized, even as scholars advocate for the necessity of taking seriously the intellectual labor and output of Black female academics. "The Actual Scale of Breathing" examines the genealogy of Black feminist writers from slave narratives to the contemporary who find themselves in the impossible position of wanting to speak from experience but find the work of self-disclosure harmful. I argue that these writers innovate form to both refuse unearned access to interiority – specifically to white readers – while at the same time cultivating community through the incorporation of a polyphonic authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Gossip: Uncredited Accusations as a Bypass to Libel Laws" explores the blurred line between gossip and news, highlighting how gossip has been historically used to slander opponents without facing libel claims. It delves into the manipulation of media narratives through paid-for hit-pieces and puff-pieces, showcasing the impact of gossip on journalism and public perception. The series reframes the start of gossip to focus on figures like Cindy Adams, who engaged in pay-to-play writing to soften America's perception of corrupt figures. The article also touches on the evolution of gossip journalism, from Yellow Journalism to modern-day celebrity gossip websites like Perez Hilton. [Extracted from the article]

In an interview created in 1981–1982, M. Masud R. Khan told of his background as a Muslim from a wealthy landed family in British India. He narrated how he came to London in his early twenties. He met with John Bowlby to inquire about receiving a psychoanalysis. Bowlby mistakenly thought he wanted to become a psychoanalyst. Intrigued by the idea, Khan ended up applying for training as a psychoanalyst and was accepted to and then completed the training course. The interview includes his anecdotes about Melanie Klein, Donald W. Winnicott, and Anna Freud. In his supervision with Klein, she provided some 'marvelous interpretations', he noted, but, in his view, she undervalued the analysands' personal experiences. Not only did he have an analysis with Winnicott, but he assisted Winnicott in the elder analyst's writing. Despite their long association, Khan claimed that he and Winnicott respected but disliked each other. Anna Freud generously helped Khan when he was ill. She also told him that her father, Sigmund Freud, largely gave up on friendships with men after his breaks with Carl Jung and Otto Rank and the death of Karl Abraham. Khan described his work-in-progress on Virginia Woolf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humour plays a substantial role in the dissemination of ideas, beliefs and practices. In particular, it can offer an alternative framework for addressing situations of struggle, stress and suffering, such as war, political strife and social upheaval. In Palestine, humour is manifested in many everyday interactions, functioning as a coping mechanism and offering a way to confront both the Israeli Occupation and the dire political and economic situation. This article engages with humour as it occurs in the everyday lives of Palestinians, looking at the role of humour in a specific context, in a time of political violence. One of the arguments I wish to make is that each new atrocity or each further erosion of rights is reflected in a new series of 'in-jokes', which enable Palestinians to refer to, make sense of and adapt to the painful realities they encounter in everyday life. The narratives of individuals' lives in Palestine are reflected upon via the exploration of humorous daily discourse which is displayed in jokes and humorous anecdotes. I explore what thoughts, desires and fears individuals and families in Palestine share within their social networks in the form of jokes. In addition, the article traces what kind of jokes are circulated and how people in various situations react to different kinds of jokes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many philosophers have approached the nature of laughter and various ideas have been put forward in the period from the classical period to the present day. One of the relevant ideas was created by the pioneers of relief theory, who sought the nature of laughter in the act of release from psychological pressure. Relief theory appears as one of the most difficult subjects to diagnose, as a result of its dependence on certain psychological conditions, within the framework of the ecology of Turkish laughter. Bektashi narratives, in which the Turkish–Islamic synthesis is intensely seen, probably take the lead among the Turkish anecdote types that can be included in the subject area of relief theory. In the Ottoman geographical region of the 13th century, Bektashism, which was established with a mystical Sufi understanding based on Hacı Bektaş Veli, started to generate products with an intense subject of laughter over time. It is known that Bektashism, which is the continuation in Anatolia of the Turkish Sufi tradition initiated by Hoca Ahmet Yesevi in the 11th century in the Khorasan region, was also respected by the Ottoman Empire for a long time. Bektashism, which is a continuation of the cultural understanding of Islam, became the subject of anecdotes as a type as a result of certain historical events. In Bektashi narratives, which are reflected in anecdotes as a type, it is easy to determine the situation that causes laughter but difficult to make an analysis of why the matter in question is laughed at. From the narrator's point of view, there is a fear as to why he/she is telling the story, and, from the listener's point of view, there is a feeling of having sinned because he/she is laughing. Bektashi anecdotes, which have an element of laughter other than the classical laughter elements based on equivoke, consist of a suppressed fear in their content. The act of laughter, which occurs when the suppressed fear causes sudden relief, reveals the feeling of having sinned based on the aggressive attitude of the anecdote towards religious figures that has been aroused in the person. This situation brings along the necessity of explaining the laughter element in Bektashi anecdotes with the theory of relief. The interpretation of Bektashi anecdotes based on the views of Sigmund Freud, one of the pioneers of relief theory, on laughter and its relationship with the unconscious has made it possible to evaluate this in the context of "substitution" theory. The theory of substitution, a mechanism identified by Freud on the interpretation of dreams and the content of anecdotes or jokes, occurs in cases where a statement and its response deviate from the direction indicated by the original statement. For the formation of the theory, which is characterised as a psychological deviation or a product of faulty reasoning, a subject contrary to social norms must be dealt with, laughter must not depend on equivoke and it must be found in the last response of a conversation. Based on these data, five Bektashi anecdotes have been identified using the sampling method in the article and substitution theory has been applied to the identified jokes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The counter-Versailles literature (counter-VL) is born out of the resistance to Versailles literature (VL). The latter is in essence the same as humblebrags. Authors of counter-VL pretend to post VL but are essentially making up jokes or expressing ironies and self-mockeries. Based on the samples gathered from Weibo, this study divides counter-VL into two types according to how their non-VL nature is revealed. By identifying the echoed VL strategies, we investigate how the irony of VL and self-mockery are incarnated in counter-VL and result in humorous effects. This study also highlights the social and psychological factors that influence the creation and effects of counter-VL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disparagement humor may harm perceptions of joke-tellers' core traits and trustworthiness differently when it "punches down" rather than "up" at its target. This was experimentally tested with a sexist joke in Study 1 (n = 161) and a boss/employee joke in Study 2 (n = 331). Consistently, joke-tellers who punched down seemed less competent, lower in status, and less trustworthy (assessed via a hypothetical monetary trust game). Jokes that punched "down" (versus "up") seemed less affiliative in general, and particularly aggressive only in a sexist humor context, perhaps due to more normative expectations of aggression in gender-based contexts. Implications for curbing disparagement humor, particularly from high-status people, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers selected book illustrations that were published in the 1530s by Augsburg printer Heinrich Steiner. It compares Steiner's choice of images for Schimpff und Ernst (1534), a popular anthology of entertaining and serious anecdotes compiled by the Franciscan preacher Johannes Pauli, with woodcuts that Steiner had previously employed in newly translated, moral–philosophical texts by Cicero and Petrarch. Although all three texts problematize the art of painting according to classical and medieval narratives, which urge caution in viewing lifelike images, each proposes diverse solutions for regarding illusionistic works of art. Whereas prior studies focus on the intentions of individual authors, this article highlights the printer–publisher's agency. One image recycled in disparate works speaks to art's multifaceted functions for upper-class, lay readers. This article argues that Steiner's selection of images inserts Pauli's chapter on artists and illusionistic painting into ongoing debates in Reformation-era Germany about the proper role of images in religious ritual. This cross-reading of image–text pairings in the early 1530s offers insights into the complexity of period attitudes towards visual art, the painter's profession, and the beholder's responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay reconsiders Benjamin Franklin’s pre-Revolutionary writings and his later Autobiography (1771–90) within the historical frame of the rise of fictionality, as charted by Catherine Gallagher and others. Before the novel took off in America, fictionality developed in shorter, nominally non-fictional forms. In this article, Franklin’s essays, letters, and almanacs are read for their peculiar proto-fictional elements. More than simply being examples of a new brand of American humour or an emergent individualist ethos, Franklin’s wit and its absorption into a metafictional style of writing and publishing depended on readers’ assuming positions of “ironic assent,” or what this essay calls, in the context of eighteenth-century American politics and law, “republican circumspection.” This phrase names an epistemic attunement whereby subjects willingly suspend the ontological security of the self for an empty screen or void onto which they can project character representations that straddle the line between private and public personae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Doxa Comunicación is the property of Fundacion Universitaria San Pablo - CEU and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi is the property of University of Cumhuriyet, Faculty of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Comparative Literature Research / Pizhūhish/Hā-yi Adabiyyāt-i Taṭbīqī is the property of Tarbiat Modares University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

"Minimalistic" stories, in their modern sense, were born in the 1960s in the west, and they have been considered and welcomed in Iran for more than two decades. The use of essential elements of the story, very low volume and extreme brevity in language use, compactness and silence, the unexpected and surprising ending, charm, simplicity, chastity of language and appeals are, of the most important components of this new genre. Definitions for minimalist / Anecdotes include different ideas terms of the size and number of elements. The current paper aims at reviewing and analyzing the confusions and mistakes in this regard. The main purpose of this article is to state the differences and contradictions, and to clarify the boundaries, as well as to correct components of this genre to show that specifying limits is not allowed in the creation of creative works. The most important finding of this research is that a Minimalist / Anecdotes have two outstanding features which are counted as; small size, compactness and silence. This means that many Minimals are Anecdotes due to their small size and a number of short stories are minimal due to silent features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits an ostensibly important monument in Classical Attic historiography: the so-called Tomb of Critias, as preserved in a scholium note in Aeschines' "Against Timarchus" (1.39). We survey prior scholarly positions on the realia of this monument, suggest it is a fiction, and consider the possible sources for the hexameter verse associated with it. We argue that the poetic composition from which the entire tradition derives, rather than being an inscription on a tomb, may in fact be an oligarchic commemoration, perhaps an encomium or epitaphios logos recited at Eleusis in the aftermath of the fall of the Thirty. As such, the verse composition may allude to a historiographical tradition that viewed the Thirty as a subversive hetaireia/kōmos group led out to govern the unruly dēmos. The reception of this composition generates a 'lieu de mémoire' in the historical imagination of later readers. The composition offers a piece of comparanda for the political views expressed by other Athenians with pro-oligarchic tendencies, an extreme formulation that strongly contrasts with the extant writings of Critias, Plato, and Xenophon. In revisiting this short anecdote we highlight the relevance of both scholia and monuments in our understanding of Attic historiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks a threefold exploration of an aspect of Mark Twain's forays into translation, particularly with respect to one tale's fate in its first French version. First, back-translation's most ostensible purpose is to represent a foreign language text's (in)accuracy transparently; Twain, assuming a persona as a naive mistranslator, humorously reinvents the procedure to disparage a rendering of his work, constituting an act of translation (meta)criticism and producing a work of parody. The study turns to literary back-translation as an emerging horizon of translation "against our teleological conception of translation" (Lane 2020a, 6), and a potential source of creative misprision or misreading. Twain uses literalism, I demonstrate, as a comic strategy to confound sense. I show cases in which Twain indulged in pseudotranslation and free-associational mistranslation often as imaginative perspective-taking. Secondly, I survey the intrigue behind his famous back-translation of the jumping frog tale, including its textual variations, and locate it as a subversion. Thirdly and finally, I perform a comparative reading of representative passages from Twain's story, the 19th-century translation by Theodor Bentzon (actually Marie-Thérèse Blanc), and Twain's vengeful back-translation, in order to reveal patterns of the American writer's translation technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper continues from the two previously published in Folk Life, that concern daily and seasonal life, women's work and food production and preservation in the northern Icelandic valley of Vatnsdalur, in the later 1970s and after. It addresses the tunes and words of 'folk-style singing' in spontaneous contexts, in the home, farm work environment and at social events, noting that the practice later diminished, though it ceased only in about 2015, with the deaths of the leading singers. The relationship to the production of music in church is then considered. The paper then goes on to consider aspects of the general narrative folk tradition recounted at the period in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on reminiscences of Martin Walser, particularly centered around his connections to Dresden, Germany and his literary works. Topics include his meticulous research process for novels set in Dresden, his profound engagement with the city's cultural and historical facets, and personal anecdotes reflecting on his creative discipline and interactions with literary figures like Siegfried Unseld.

Walter Kintsch has an unparalleled impact on the field of discourse processing. In this article, I describe the impact he has had and continues to have on my own work. I summarize my impression of Walter with two words—grace and gravitas—and provide anecdotes to show how these qualities of his personality have impacted me as a researcher. Furthermore, I discuss how his work with Teun van Dijk on situation models was instrumental for the development of the event-indexing model and the immersed-experiencer framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]