Gaze in Flux

Moje pronicljivo oko ne slabi tijekom pregleda i sada pomno istražuje moguće simptome pothlađenosti na bezizražajnom licu žene koja čita. Što to čita? Oprostite, kažem napokon, puhnuvši tu riječ u bijeli šum. Žena ne pomiče nijedan mišić, ni milimetar njezina tijela ne grči se, čak ni ne trepće. Oprostite. Mogu li sjesti? Moje usne mehanički izbace te riječi – to je pitanje dio sklopa kojim hinim milosrđe i koji sama svakodnevno podmazujem uljem. Mogu li? Noge su mi olovne, koljena se koče, bole me zglobovi, zapešća, a najviše kvrgavi nožni palci. No ženu to ne dira i na tren pomislim: da uistinu želim sjesti, mogla bih to učiniti; ova je klupa javno dobro, to jest, moja koliko i njezina. U tom slučaju, moja je molba blesava: mogla bih sjesti, no ne želim niti bih trebala sjesti – snijeg na klupi smočio bi mi bijelu suknju, bijele hulahopke, gaćice i mlohavu kožu dupeta. Da sjednem, smočila bih se, osjetila bih hladnoću poput vrele plahte koja mi prlji guzu. No tražila sam da sjednem, ...

This paper explores how Eurocentric ideas of nationalism and cosmopolitanism differ from Indian thinker and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore’s views and in what ways the intersection between nationalism and cosmopolitanism takes place in his novel The Home and the World (1919), originally published as Ghare-Baire in 1916. The novel will be analyzed mainly through Kai Nielsen’s philosophy of cosmopolitan nationalism (1999) and Kwame Anthony Appiah’s concept of rooted cosmopolitanism (2005). Tagore yearned for the conglomeration of different cultures and despised narrow perspectives on nationalism as constricted by geographical boundaries. As per his humanitarian worldview, he prioritized cosmopolitanism as his forte. The novel does not propose any conflict between ‘the home' and ‘the world'; rather, it suggests a state in which the home and the world would be negotiated to form a harmonious whole. In the Swadeshi period (1905-1911), when the future of Indian self-rule was being mulled ov...

Serial ?he Genius of Russian Detection, I. D. Putilin, written by Russian author Roman Lukich Antropov (Roman Dobryi) at the beginning of the twentieth century, undoubtedly falls into the category of detective fiction; however, the titles of its individual instalments, such as The Secrets of Okhten Cemetery, The Bloodsucking Vampires of Petersburg, The Spring of Volga Sectarians etc., suggest a strong influence of Gothic literature. The article aims to expose the presence of Gothic literary devices in Antropov’s stories, including the introduction of supernatural monsters, namely ghosts and vampires, dismal atmosphere, sublime locations, structures, and objects, causing temporal distancing from the present into the past, suspenseful episodes invoking terror, and horror-infusing visualities. Moreover, the article proposes that the intention behind these elements is not merely to complicate the mystery and intensify the reader’s experience but also to convey cultural meaning related to t...

This article examines the aesthetic category of the ‘Instagrammable’ and explores what it means for destinations like Telašćica Nature Park to be seen as Instagram Hot Spots. I begin by addressing issues arising from the spread of social media platforms like Instagram, particularly the role of marketing and the subtle operations of digital algorithms. From there, I explore the shifting notion of “authenticity” in tourist sites like Telašćica, where the Instagrammable aesthetic takes root, redefining what it means for a place to be “seen.” I argue that ‘Instagrammable’ as an aesthetic category resonates with the ‘picturesque,’ which once reflected economic and colonial entanglements; now, the Instagram aesthetic speaks to an era of communicative capitalism (Ngai; Dean). Within this aesthetic framework, Telašćica is confronted with what Jodi Dean calls a ‘whatever subject’ – a subject whose “whatever” signals a form of communication that lacks depth, a hollow connectivity that does not s...

Nineteenth-century England demonstrated a peculiar attitude toward the child. On the one hand, eighteenth-century Romanticism had brought about the idea of the Romantic Child, an idealized figure characterized by being inherently pure, innocent, and divine. On the other hand, the child was subject to intense sexualization and objectification, especially the “little girl,” an eroticized figure constructed by sociocultural tendencies and convention rather than being biologically determined, i.e., defined according to her age. The coexistence of these deeply ambivalent ways of perceiving the female child are, in turn, related to restrictive gender norms, with the middle- and upper-class Victorian woman idealized as the ‘angel in the house.’ As these women were expected to be confined to the domestic sphere and educate their children, a cult of childhood arose, along with philosophical incursions into the psychological development of the child. Taking into consideration this context, this ...

Valter Hugo Mae tim je riječima u romanu opisao početak, zapravo nastavak potrage za smislom, iskazujući istinske emocije ljubavi, privrženosti i požrtvovnosti, baš kako i dolikuje majkama.Bog u tami (Deus na escuridao) posljednji je dio druge tetralogije Valtera Huga Maea, portugalskog književnika novije generacije, jednog od najznačajnijih portugalskih umjetnika 21. stoljeća. Svojom osebujnom poetikom ostavlja važan trag u razdoblju suvremene književnosti, koje istaknuta teoretičarka književnosti Ana Paula Arnault naziva hipersuvremenošću (hipercontemporaneidade).Ovaj četverodijelni ciklus obuhvaća romane svedene pod zajednički naziv „braća, otoci, odsustva”. U spomenutu tetralogiju spadaju romani Dehumanizacija (A Desumanizaçao) iz 2013. godine, zatim Beskrajno poetični ljudi (Homens Imprudentemente poéticos) iz 2015., Bolesti Brazila (As Doenças do Brasil) iz 2021. godine te posljednji o kojem pišemo, Bog u tami (Deus na Escuridao) objavljen 2024. godine.