Animals Speaking in the Fiction of Jin and Malamud
In his article "Animals Speaking in the Fiction of Jin and Malamud" Matt Prater discusses "The Jewbird" by Bernard Malamud and "A Composer and His Parakeets" by Ha Jin as transcultural texts which involve non-human animals as major characters. Jin and Malamud examine differing representations of animal language and how these representations connect to the politics of both interspecies and transnational relationships. By applying critical animal studies and transnational discourse and by charting the interlinking of other-ings by theorists such as Carol Adams and Susan Kappeler, Prater attempts to show that animals figure into transcultural and transnational discourses in ways other than the symbolic
The Dynamics of Anti-Semitism in Bernard Malamud’s ‘The Jewbird’
Jews were forced to adopt ways of the West by European Journalists and other organisations and especially dominant Christians and also forced to develop a tenant mentality in order to achieve assimilation which will be acceptable to Europeans in order to allow Jews to stay peacefully. Any deviation from forced and acceptable norms will lead to trouble as is being faced by Schwartz in ‘The Jewbird’. They were contributing to the GDP of Europe but they were never thought to be a part of the nation. As a result, Jews always thought themselves as tenants as they were made to believe so by the Whites also. A tenant has to follow the rules and regulations in order to assimilate properly but sometimes this race for over assimilation is leading to self-hatred for their own community members among Jews. This is also anti-Semitism. So, anti-Semitism is working in many ways apart from the way it is generally understood. Antisemitism may be religious hatred, self-hatred or may be having its postcolonial dimensions. All these dynamics of antisemitism can be found in ‘The Jewbird’ by Malamud.
The Millennial of Castile (1943): the historical culture of Spanish Fascism
Abstract The creation of new symbols and historical myths were common practices of nationalist politics, especially in Fascist regimes. In 1943 the Franco regime organized the most impressive historical commemoration celebrated in post-war Spain: the Milenario of Castile. With its heterogeneous mixture of history and spectacle, the Milenario of Castile was by far the greatest historical commemoration promoted by the State during the 1940s. Taking the commemoration of the Milenario as a case study, this article examines the historical culture of Spanish Fascism, as well as the attempts of the Falangist intellectual elite to impose a concrete national narrative in post-war Spain. At the same time, the article analyses the historical discourses and aesthetics displayed throughout the commemoration, underlining its Fascist character, and consequently the transnational dimension of the Fascist politics of the past. Finally, the article reflects on the scope and limits of the process of Fascistisation in Franco's dictatorship, especially in its commemorative culture.