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Volume
1 | 2003
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Peace
in the Valley:
A National-Political Interpretation of King Ottocar's Rise
and Fall
Donald
Backman
It
has been said that Franz Grillparzer understood very little about
politics. In spite of what he might have said to the public, his
King Ottocar's Rise and Fall was more than just a play depicting
past events in the nation of Austria. It was a thinly disguised
depiction of Napoleon and the nation to come... Full
Article>
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The
Labyrinth of Detection
Amie
Pascal-Joiner
In
reaction to reader-satisfying detective fiction, some modernist
writers, such as Paul Auster and Jorge Luis Borges, developed
"anti-detective" fiction, which is void of the traditional reader
satisfaction and in which the detective fails to solve the crime
that the author has presented. Both of these authors use the quest
of the detective to show the labyrinths of tragic human intellect
and the futility of a search for the Truth... Full
Article>
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Rigoberta
through the Eyes of Malcolm
Andrew
Oetzel
How
does one teach students about Rigoberta Menchú, why she is important
enough to have a room on the second floor of the Student Union
at San Francisco State University named after her, be painted
in prominence on the mural on the side of the San Francisco Women's
Building, and have won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992? The answer
is found by looking east to Malcolm X plaza, the preferred venue
for student protests of all sorts...
Full
Article>
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Things
Folklore:
A Translation of Shuji Terayama's Poem
"Jibutsu no fukuroa"
Jun
Kurihara
It
would be easy to read "Jibutsu no fukuroa" ("Things Folklore")
in the context of the worldwide revolutionary mood of the 1960's.
In fact, Terayama later wrote a play, Chi wa tatta mama nemutte
iru (Blood Sleeps Standing Upright), which is about two young
revolutionists, based on the first stanza of this poem. However,
the uniqueness of this poem should be found in Terayama's preference
for surrealist poetry...
Full
Article>
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Wolfram
von Eschenbach's Voice of Mercy During the Merciless Age of the
Crusades
Karina
Marie Ash
Wolfram
von Eschenbach's Parzival and Willehalm idealize the transformative
power of mercy during an age when crusade propaganda promoted
the redemptive power of merciless slaughter. Although they are
secular works of literature, both narratives depict a theme of
mercy that leads to peace and reconciliation...
Full
Article>
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The
Birth of the Afro-Cuban Identity Through Cuban Literature
Aimée
Reed
Afrocubanos
have contributed greatly to the establishment of Cuba's identity
and the gain of its independence. Through the study of Cuban writings
and authors, we see that a lineage of evolution of the black Cuban
subject exists: slave, freedom fighter, national icon, and finally
one of the clearest voices to comment on the progression of culture
and society on the island...
Full
Article>
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Editors'
Note
We,
the editors of Portals: A Journal in Comparative Literature,
would like to thank you for allowing us to share our thoughts
with you, the reader. We hoped to bring to you a sample of what
we might consider "Comparative Literature." These essays will
have nothing in common except that they cross the boundaries that
National Literature departments have put on them, and so have
found a safe and happy haven here in the Comparative Literature
Department at San Francisco State University.
The
theme of this volume, Untied Tongues: Alternate Voices in Comparative
Literature, reflects the type of essays we wanted to include.
We wanted to focus on literary voices not heard in classical "Canonical"
literature. These voices reflect the wide range of interests in
our department, from the Caribbean to Germany, giving words to
characters and authors previously neglected.
Our
vision was to create a doorway, a Portal from our department to
the outside community. As students at San Francisco State, we
feel that it is our duty to throw open the gates and let you share
in our world. From here, the threshold of this door, we welcome
you to cross over and peek into the inner sanctum of our department.
Brandace
Kling, Editor-in-Chief
Amie
Pascal-Joiner, Editor-in-Chief
Allie
Greene, Chairperson
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