Signs in Disguise

Knjiga Dramaturški eseji: iz Splita na scenu gledat može se razumjeti kao slojevita intelektualna mapa kazališnog prostora, ali i kao sustavno oblikovan teorijsko-analitički pothvat koji nadilazi okvir prigodnih kazališnih osvrta. Već na razini koncepta djelo uspostavlja ambiciozan cilj, sagledati kazalište istodobno kao umjetnički fenomen, kao društvenu instituciju i kao simbolički sustav u kojem se oblikuju i preispituju kolektivni identiteti. Naslov knjige iznimno je znakovit i nosi metodološku težinu. „Iz Splita” nije tek geografska oznaka, nego polazišna točka interpretacije. Split je kulturni kontekst, mediteranski imaginarij, povijesni sediment i urbani mentalitet. To je grad snažne književne i kazališne tradicije, ali i prostor u kojem se susreću različite estetske i ideološke struje. Autorica time jasno pozicionira svoju perspektivu, ona ne pretendira na apstraktnu neutralnost, nego otvoreno priznaje vlastitu kulturnu upisanost. S druge strane, „na scenu gledat” označava aktiv...

The essay discusses Miriam Toews’s novel Women Talking by focusing on the trauma of rape. Based on a true event that happened between 2005 and 2009 in a remote Mennonite colony in Bolivia, the novel follows the story of women and girls in the colony who were raped and now suffer from memory loss, traumatic memories, and the return of the repressed. By talking to each other and planning their escape, the women gain insight into the injustice of patriarchy within such a small religious community. The narrative moves from the idea of memory being synonymous with imagination, through the idea of traumatic memory as a trap, to the final idea of regained memory that, in the case of the raped women, serves as an epiphany. This essay will explore the ways in which memory functions in the novel to unravel the patriarchal discourse that keeps the women submissive and guilty of their own victimization. Traumatic memory will be examined through the lens of trauma theory (Caruth, Herman, Stampf, Pe...

A work of popular culture celebrating its own genre, the romantic comedy Book of Love (2022) can be used to explore the relationship between literary and popular fiction, as defined by Ken Gelder (2004). The film focuses on Henry Copper, a lackluster British debut author, and María Rodríguez, his Mexican ‘traduttore, traditore’ who rewrites Henry’s novel into a steamy romance bestseller. As such, the film juxtaposes literary and popular fiction authors and celebrates the skills and practices behind popular fiction, especially romance and its portrayal of desire. Adopting Janice A. Radway’s view that reading romance is a feminist act, the film’s heroine not only reads but also writes romance to assert her identity and reclaim her power from her patriarchal surroundings. Finally, Book of Love explores the contested issue of literary translators’ authorship by following María from an unrecognized contributor to Henry’s book’s success to an independent author. In discussing these three top...

Recent years have seen a rise of academic interest in Gibraltarian cultural studies. The annual Gibraltar International Conference, initiated in 2023, and the Gibraltar Digital Project cultural platform, launched in 2025, focus strongly on language and literature, particularly the specific nature of Llanito and distinctive features of Gibraltarian literature, which seems to have gone unnoticed—for decades, if not centuries—either as part of the Commonwealth or postcolonial literature or as a separate production in its own right.Some of the characteristics of Gibraltarian literature, frequently stressed by scholars, include its preoccupation with the past, the question of identity, balancing between the British and Spanish Other, the similarly balancing language, and various aspects of border imagery. All of these feature prominently in the seven novels and three short story collections authored by M. G. Sanchez, probably Gibraltar’s most prolific author and certainly one deeply dedicat...

Although the crab is a widely spread animal and is even part of culinary traditions, its presence in literature is surprisingly minimal. In culture, the crab is associated with beliefs tied to the astrological sign and constellation, which hold specific roles in both astronomy and mythology. As beliefs are directly connected to time and place, the crab also has a particular role in the medieval bestiary. The richly diverse bestiary of Italian literature teems with animals, both real and mythical. Some are more prominently featured than others, directly reflecting their role in daily urban or rural life, especially in folk beliefs. In Italo Calvino's collection Italian Folktales (Fiabe italiane), there are only two tales where the crab plays a central role and is mentioned in the title. In one tale, the crab symbolises prosperity, while in the other, it serves as a magical means of transportation. In children's literature, the crab often represents human negative traits such as envy and...

Though N. V. Gogol’s “Vij” is commonly recognized as a work of horror, the elements motivating this interpretation still lack sufficient, systematic research through a contemporary horror studies apparatus. This paper offers a cognitive stylistic analysis of “Vij,” integrated with a biocultural perspective on horror. It aims to identify and explain the mechanisms through which “Vij” evokes fear by analyzing its language and the cognitive structures and processes underpinning it. Drawing on conceptual blending theory, the study demonstrates how horrifying entities—especially the witch—are constructed through the incremental integration of mental spaces, yielding emergent concepts grounded in cultural tradition and evolved fear circuits while remaining contextually specific. Special emphasis is placed on the role of sight, from perceptual instability to predation, demonstrating how linguistic patterns engage deep-seated fears. The paper further argues that the narrative’s exploitation of...