Hyperbole

Moeder Godskerk – hyparschaaldak
Het meest opvallend aan de Moeder Godskerk is het betonnen hyparschaaldak. Een soortgelijke dakvorm is zichtbaar bij de beroemde kapel van Le Courbusier, de Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp (1954) en de tijdelijke kerk van het Vaticaans paviljoen op de Expo 58 in Brussel, maar bij deze kerken zijn andere technieken gebruikt.  Het hyparschaaldak van de Moeder Godskerk bestaat uit een dunne betonplaat, een techniek waarmee in de jaren vijftig geëxperimenteerd werd, vooral in Latijns Amerika. In Nederland werd het schaaldak in hyparvorm eerder toegepast bij de protestantse Paaskerk in Amstelveen door architect Van Asbeck in 1963, maar voor katholieke kerken was, en is, de Roosendaalse Moeder Godskerk uniek.
St. Josephkerk – Paraboolvormige koepel
Het meest opvallend in het interieur van de kerk is de grote, wijde, paraboolvormige koepel. In de architectuur raakte de paraboolvorm in het begin van de twintigste eeuw in de mode (Jugendstil) en tijdens het interbellum werd de paraboolvorm veel gebruikt door architecten van de Amsterdamse School. Naast de esthetische waardering voor de vorm, is de paraboolvorm ook uitstekend geschikt om grote ruimtes te overspannen.

Trop, tel qu’il apparaît omniprésent dans le parler jeune actuel est-il en train de réinjecter de la passion dans le discours ? Il est en tout cas manifeste que l’on assiste à un renouvellement de ses potentialités syntaxiques et énonciatives, comme un aboutissement de ce vieil adverbe, qui a tour a tour ou en même temps exprimé l’abondance, l’excès et l’intensité. Dans cette étude, nous reprenons, en les distinguant, les principales valeurs et constructions associées à trop, depuis la langue médiévale, pour les rapprocher de l’usage contemporain « jeune » caractérisé par une innovation considérable : pendant des siècles ce marqueur a principalement porté sur une partie du référent de l’énoncé (intensité d’une qualité, d’un procès quantifiable). Les nouveaux emplois l’associent en revanche presque exclusivement à l’attitude « passionnelle » du locuteur.

The official title of this paper is "Emotional repression and physical mutilation? The cognitive and behavioural impact of exaggeration in the Sermon on the Mount". It is a pre-publication version of a book chapter for the volume Social and Cognitive Perspectives on the Sermon on the Mount, edited by R. Roitto, C. Shantz, and P. Luomanen (Sheffield: Equinox, 2021). For the final version I refer to that volume.

En el presente trabajo me propongo estudiar el recurso de la hipérbole en la novela Cien años de soledad de Gabriel García Márquez y a qué objetivo responde su utilización. Como es sabido, en la obra se presentan sucesos hilarantes que parecen exagerados y disparatados. Me propongo explicar estos hechos, encontrar el motivo de su utilización y hacer una clasificación de las hipérboles; es decir cuándo se usan y para qué, puesto que la hipérbole constituye el principal recurso sobre el cual descansa la técnica del realismo mágico, que fue ampliamente popularizada por este escritor.

The indefinite pronoun mǝʾūmā, usually rendered ‘anything’, has been identified by several scholars as belonging to a linguistic category known as the negative polarity item (NPI).  NPIs are words or phrases that cannot occur in simple episodic affirmative clauses, but are grammatical in negative clauses and certain other non-affirmative contexts.  This paper presents a detailed analysis of mǝʾūmā in in biblical and contemporaneous extra-biblical texts, in the light of cross-linguistic research on NPIs, with the aim of elucidating its syntactic properties, contextual restrictions, semantic denotation, and rhetorical effects.  The results of this study demonstrate that mǝʾūmā belongs to the group of emphatic NPIs, which express a minimal value on a scale and have the rhetorical function of intensification.  mǝʾūmā is shown to occur (with only one possible exception) only in known NPI licensing environments, including negative, interrogative and conditional clauses, as well as in a clause with covert negation.  In its semantic denotation mǝʾūmā expresses a minimal value on a contextually determined scale and involves an implicit “even”.  On the rhetorical level mǝʾūmā has the characteristic intensifying effect of the emphatic NPI, often involving hyperbole.  These results have significance for Bible translation, indicating that the standard rendering of mǝʾūmā with English anything does not adequately convey the intensifying force of the Hebrew indefinite pronoun.

Abstract Except for metaphor and metonymy, the study of most traditional figures of speech has largely been neglected in Cognitive Linguistics. This article attempts to fill this gap by exploring a broad range of figures of speech in terms of their dependency relations and organizational patterns. It distinguishes between basic and non-basic figures of speech, where the latter arise from variants of the basic cognitive operations that shape the former. It then discusses these figures in terms of their interrelationships, their shared features, and the attitudinal or denotational nature of their meaning effects. The result is a unified account of figurative language.

The use of war-related metaphors by Western political leaders to characterise their efforts to deal with the COVID19 pandemic and its socio-economic consequences has drawn a lot of journalistic criticism, some of which cited or referred to linguistic and/or philosophical theorists (Lakoff, Sontag). The impact of the ILLNESS-AS-WAR metaphor complex has indeed been a key-issue in the study of metaphor. It has been denounced as hindering an efficient treatment of illnesses because it treats patients as war victims and favours radical cures’ that prioritise elimination of the illness agent. It has also been viewed as an obstacle to empathetic doctor-patient communication, to the empowerment of patients and to a realistic perception of illnesses by the public. In the context of the COVID19-related debates, PANDEMIC-AS-WAR metaphors have been linked specifically to the spread of conspiracy theories.
This chapter studies reactions to public announcements and descriptions of nations waging war on COVID-19 by British politicians and media. It argues that their uses of the PANDEMIC-AS-WAR metaphor fulfil different rhetorical and argumentative functions: a) to rally support, b) to frame a narrative that explains developments in public health management and c) to justify specific policies. These different uses have also met with varying reactions in the public. In view of such multi-functionality of metaphorical scenarios, some of the ‘blanket criticism’ of all occurrences of WAR and FIGHTING terminology appears to be unjustified. On the other hand, the public’s awareness of political instrumentalisations of WAR-based conceptualisations of crises for specific strategic purposes needs to be further differentiated, to gain a precise view of their public reception and impact.

Political philosophers often employ figures of speech such as metaphors, similes, hyperbole, and parallelism in order to add some sort of a literary or rhetorical quality to their writings and also to help the reader understand their political philosophies. For instance, even though warning against using metaphor for the possibility that it might be deceptive (Hobbes 4:102-3), Thomas Hobbes contradicts himself, perhaps due to the nature and power of metaphor, and uses the “Leviathan” for illustrative purposes for his case. In his book Two Treatise of Government, John Locke, similar Hobbes, builds his case on rational arguments and utilizes metaphors and parallelism (such as “mixing labor,” “body politic,” and “appealing to heaven”) only for illustrative purposes, to give rhetorical power to arguments that are not, in their definitive formulations, based upon metaphor. In his explanation of philosophies, Locke’s use of figures of speech makes his case more philosophical and illustrative with real life examples, whereas Hobbes’ use appears more political and hypothetical.

The potential societal impacts of automation using intelligent control and communications technologies have emerged as topics in a number of recent writings and public policy initiatives. Constructed entities labelled as ‘thinking machines’ (such as IBM’s Watson as well as intelligent chatbot and robotic systems) have also played significant roles in this discourse. This paper provides an historical sequencing then analyses a selection of writings produced since the 1940s concerning the economic and social issues involving artificial intelligence (AI) research and applications. The paper explores how overstatements and hyperbolic themes and concepts, often stemming from AI’s early periods (including from Herbert Simon), are being employed in characterisations of current AI approaches in apparently-opportunistic attempts to provide rhetorical support for various large-scale business and societal initiatives. It also addresses the relative neglect of consideration of many of AI’s sociotechnical failures and discontinued approaches in recent examinations of automation and social welfare issues. The paper discusses the moral logic of AI researchers and developers providing reasonable and measured narratives in public discourse rather than hyperbole, efforts that can empower decision makers to make sounder judgments concerning the technology’s current and future applications as well as allocate the rewards of the technology more equitably.

1. Giriş
 
21. yüzyılın yaşantı gerçeğini yeniden şekillendiren ve sıklıkla vurgulanan yeni dünya düzenine bir geçişi ya da onun bir provasını andıran COVID-19, pandemi olarak ilan edildiği 11 Mart 2020’den beri insana dair her olguyu gerek eylem gerek imge gerekse gösterge bağlamında bir bütün olarak yeniden yapılandırmıştır. Bağlam nedir ya da nasıl olmalıdır sorusuna yeni cevapların türediği ya da türetildiği bu süreçte yeni medya araçları; antropolojinin, sosyolojinin, psikolojinin, politikanın ve ekonominin boyutlarının yapılandırma seyrini ve hızını etkileyen ve imgenin neyi imgeleyeceği (F. de. Saussure, 1960) ve bunun nasıl yorumlanacağına yönelik hem yaratıcı hem eleştirel düşünme biçimi ile farklı bakış açılarının hem ortaya çıkması hem de sadece yerel değil küresel ortamda hızla yayılmasını tetikleyen kilit düzlemler olmuştur. İnsanı ve insana dair her şeyi buluşturan bu düzlemler hakkında yapılan çalışmalar göstermiştir ki yeni medya COVID-19 gibi geniş çaplı olaylarda insanların medyanın girişik araçları ile görsel ya da işitsel ve görsel-işitsel olarak tepkilerini anlık ortaya koyma imkanı sunmaktadır (Abd-Alrazaq A, Alhuwail D, Househ M, Hamdi M, & Z., 2020; Li C et al., 2020). Nitekim, bu çalışmalarda Çin’de COVID-19 pandemisinde vaka sayısının zirveye ulaştığının medyada duyurulduğu dönemde insanların da COVID-19 gerçeğine yönelik çeşitli medya mecralarında yaptıkları araştırma ve paylaşım sıklığında da zirveye ulaşıldığı gösterilmiş. Dahası, çalışmalarda; yeni medyada yürütülen söylemin, ister içinde kirli bilgi (bakınız Karikatür-2) ister doğru bilgi olsun,  insanların sosyal algılarını yeniden inşa ederek tutum ve davranışlarını etkilediği ve böylece bu tepkilerin sadece dijital düzlemde vücut bulmasının yanında sosyal düzlemde eylem olarak vücut bulmasına neden olduğu da gösterilmiştir (Kim, Fast, & Markuzon, 2019; Mendoza, Poblete, & Castillo, 2010; Ribeiro et al., 2018, June; Starbird, Maddock, Orand, Achterman, & Mason, 2014). Nitekim, CNN international’ın İtalya’nın Lombardy’a bölgesinde pandeminin önüne geçmek için hükümetin sokağa çıkma kısıtlamasına gidebileceğine dair söylentiyi hükümet kanalından resmi bir açıklama yapılmadan önce duyurması, insanların bölgeden kaçmak için kalabalıklar halinde havalimanları ve tren istasyonlarına akın etmelerine sebep olmuştu (John & Ben Wedeman, 2020).

Hyperbole has been associated with both metaphor and irony. The paper acknowledges the similarities that hyperbole has with them. It also focuses on the differences between hyperbole and both tropes. Thus, the paper shows that hyperbole is a unique figurative speech act that should not be linked to either tropes. The paper shows that hyperbole does not only share characteristics with metaphor and irony, but also it shares features with generalization. There are also differences between hyperbole and generalization. This makes it more clear that hyperbole does resemble different figurative speech acts and is distinct from them at the same time.

Hyperbole is traditionally understood as exaggeration. I argue instead that the point of hyperbole is emphasis. By overstating that things are greater (lesser) than expected, hoped, or desired, we shift the salience of the target property, thus making it more emphatic. This enables to express surprise or other relevant affect in reaction to how much, or how little, our expectations have been either exceeded or thwarted. This purpose is well suited to hyperbolic expression. This is because hyperbole naturally draws a contrast between how things are and how they were expected to be, exaggerating the gap between them. I conclude by considering the characteristics of hyperbolic figures where hyperbole mixes with other figures of speech.

Etik och retorik i Jesustraditionen innehåller två essäer av Thomas Kazen, professor vid Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm. De två essäerna behandlar på olika sätt Jesustraditionen -- berättelser om Jesus och utsagor som tillskrivs honom -- i Markus, Matteus och Lukas. Den första fokuserar på mänskligt beteende, den andra på det figurativa språket. Bägge låter kognitionsvetenskapliga perspektiv belysa textanalyserna utifrån övertygelsen att bibeltexterna blir mer begripliga när vi tar hänsyn till hur människan fungerar, hur hennes tänkande och känsloliv utvecklats, hur hennes kropp och intellekt hänger samman, hur hennes emotioner och beteenden interagerar och hur hennes språk och handlande hör ihop. "Empati, rättvisa och försoning" är Kazens installationsföreläsning vid THS 2011. "Kameler, gengångare och amputationer" bygger på föreläsningar om överdrifter i bergspredikan (Århus 2015) respektive i Jesustraditionen (THS 2016, San Antonio 2016).

Este livro fala da exorbitante pregação do apóstolo São Paulo. Nós a chamamos de “exorbitante” porque sua paixão pela proclamação da mensagem da cruz de Cristo se mostra, com bastante freqüência, ardente, descomedida, quase que demasiada. Paulo apresentava a cruz como veemente declaração do amor de Deus e insistia para que seus ouvintes reagissem de forma positiva a seus apelos. A tenacidade de seu testemunho parece ter incomodado a alguns de seus ouvintes, mas não há como negar o sucesso de sua abordagem: Paulo e seus colaboradores impactaram o mundo e a época em que viveram (At 17:6). A partir do exame das hipérboles e exageros paulinos, chegamos à conclusão de que essa pregação exorbitante é simplesmente a resposta apaixonada de Paulo a sua exposição ao amor descomunal, insopitável e incondicional do próprio Cristo. A resposta parece fácil e suficientemente óbvia para dispensar este livro. No entanto, esperamos que nossa jornada pelo entusiasmo avassalador de Paulo, de alguma forma, enriqueça a própria jornada espiritual e intelectual daqueles que, conosco, se aventurarem pelas palavras de excesso e descomedimento paulinos. Nossa época tem nos tornado demasiadamente contidos e tímidos. É chegada a hora, talvez, de darmos mais vazão a uma forma de sentir e pensar que realmente nos eleve a Deus.

It’s natural for hyperbole to mix with metaphor and irony, and other figures of speech. How do they mix together and what kind of compound, if any, arises out of the mixing? In tackling this question, I shall argue that thinking of hyperbolic figures along the lines familiar from ironic metaphor compounds is a temptation we should resist. Looking in particular at hyperbolic metaphor and hyperbolic irony, I argue, they don’t yield a new encompassing compound figure with one figure building on another. Instead, what we have is one dominant figure colored with hyperbolic tinges. So what does hyperbole bring to the mixing pot? I suggest we should think of hyperbole in hyperbolic figures as being an interpretive effect, modulating the working of the partner figure and thus rendering more emphatic.

This paper addresses Peter Sloterdijk's optimistic 'attitude'. I show that it is a philosophical posture based on pragmatic speculation and spiritual exercise. By situating it in a tradition that passes from Leibniz's meliorism to Whitehead's ecology of propositions by way of James, I argue that optimism is an essential component of a public use of reason of which the finality is no longer the good sense of critique but the care for common sense. At stake is the cosmological and cosmopolitical care for the possibility of rationalization processes in a 'monstruous world' of ever denser feedback mechanisms.

"The concluding chapter, penned by C. E. Emmer, both revisits and greatly expands upon disputations within the contested territory of kitsch as term and tool in cultural turf-war arsenals. Focusing on debates surrounding two visual responses to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Dennis Madalone's 2003 music video for the patriotic anthem 'America We Stand As One' and Jenny Ryan's 'plushie' sculpture, 'Soft 9/11,' Emmer utilizes these debates to reveal the coexisting and competing attitudes towards ostensibly kitschy objects and the contentiousness of deploying kitsch as a term in these debates. The buzzing activity of the internet provides much of the raw material for his arguments. Through his close reading of both the works themselves and the public response to them, Emmer once more focuses attention on the competing and overlapping attitudes towards kitsch and the way in which it and its semantic cousins remain a viable and valuable resource with which to police the borders that surround the artworld. Ultimately, his contribution further grounds a wider premise operative in this collection--namely, that a simple and rigid dichotomy of kitsch and (high) art does not and indeed cannot capture the elusive and mercurial nature of kitsch." --from the editor's introduction.

Abstract: This paper focuses on hyperbole, a long neglected form of non-literal language despite its pervasi-veness in everyday speech. It addresses the production process of exaggeration, since a crucial limitation in figurative language theories is the production and usage of ...

HERGESEL, J. P. O processo de hiperbolização das marcas estilísticas dos personagens de Carrossel/Patrulha Salvadora como estratégia de extensão narrativa. In: 8.º Encontro de Pesquisadores em Comunicação e Cultura, 2014, Sorocaba, SP. Anais do 8.º Encontro de Pesquisadores em Comunicação e Cultura. Sorocaba, SP: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação e Cultura da Universidade de Sorocaba, 2014. v. 1. p. 1-18.

Resumo: O processo de hiperbolização das marcas estilísticas de determinados personagens, quando estes são inseridos em uma nova diegese, pode ser considerado uma estratégia de extensão narrativa. Um exemplo desse fenômeno é a série Patrulha Salvadora, que aproveita os personagens construídos previamente na telenovela Carrossel: a transformação das características psicofísicas em habilidades sobre-humanas corresponde ao que entendemos por hipérbole de estilemas. Este trabalho, portanto, estuda a transição entre o natural e o exagero como forma de criar uma narrativa continuada, além de destacar a hipérbole como figura de linguagem responsável pela (re)construção do mote de uma ficção audiovisual. Assim, discorremos a respeito do deslocamento diegético ocorrido entre a telenovela Carrossel e a série Patrulha Salvadora, marcado, sobretudo, pelo auxílio da websérie Jornal Kauzópolis; analisamos as marcas estilísticas dos personagens reaproveitados e como a websérie frisou essa particularidade, visando a suscitar a curiosidade e evitar o estranhamento; e comentamos a estratégia de concretização da qualidade abstrata em superpoder – característica atribuída, neste caso, à hipérbole – para produzir uma extensão narrativa. Para fortalecer essa discussão, consultamos autores como Benjamin Abdala Junior, Tzvetan Torodov, Kelly Cristina Lourenço Pinheiro e Silvia Maria Sousa, além de recorrermos a artigos de jornais e revistas, bem como visitas ao site do Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (SBT). 
Palavras-Chave: Narrativas Midiáticas. Marcas estilísticas. Concretização. Hipérbole. Extensão narrativa.

Study of Cicero's attacks on Sextus Cloelius. Polysemy and phonetic innuendo construct ambiguous references that implicate Cloelius in acts of sexual obscenity. The understanding of ambiguity, word play, and presupposition all require collaboration from the listener. By using such devices, Cicero allows himself to allude to unmentionable topics and, more importantly, gets the audience involved in his arguments. Cicero uses sexual innuendo, irony, and hyperbole to a greater extent in his speeches to the senate than in to those to the people. Given the close link of the themes of invective with an aristocratic system of values, it is not surprising that the people were not privy to this kind of complicity. At other times, Cicero's invective was used for political manipulation, since the speeches to judges were overheard by the crowd. In a final published version of a speech taken out of its original context, invective could become a tool of political propaganda. The invective against Cloelius is a good example of propaganda, for its aim was the political attack on Cloelius' superior, Publius Clodius (Abstract from L'Année Philologique 82-01534).

В данной статье была предпринята попытка выявить значение термина адинатон, а также ввести классификацию адинатонов, идентифицированных в качестве таковых греческими авторами. В начале приводится обзор существующих определений и их источников, одни из которых рассматривают адинатон как риторическую фигуру или приём в виде гиперболы крайней степени невозможности, вторые как фольклорную формулу «мира наизнанку», другие как тему или мотив, и, наконец, последние как способ аргументации. И при этом все эти определения ссылаются на формулировки, якобы существовавшие в классических руководствах по риторике. Между тем, в древнегреческих и византийских текстах слово адинатон использовалось в качестве рабочего термина исключительно для обозначения паремиографических выражений, обозначающих бессмысленные действия. В статье приводится список пословиц, обнаруженных в посвящённых этой теме собраниях (зафиксированных в рукописи Vaticanus graecus 306 и коллекции псевдо-Плутарха), а также даётся их классификация по типу высказывания, что может способствовать пониманию концепций бессмысленного и невозможного, существовавших в греческой мысли.
The objective of this article was to provide an understanding of the term 'adynaton' and a classification of 'adynata' identified by Greek authors. We approached the term by starting with a broad overview of the existing definitions and their sources: some define the term narrowly as a rhetorical device, a kind of extreme hyperbole, or folkloristic scheme of mundus inversus , some as a theme or pattern, whereas others consider it as a method of argumentation, and all of them referring to the classical rhetorical manuals. The exploring of Ancient Greek and Byzantine texts led us to another understanding of this word, namely, as the type of proverbs about those who take up a pointless task. We offer a list of these proverbs found in Vaticanus graecus 306 and "κλογή περὶ τῶν ἀδυνάτων" of pseudo-Plutarch as well as their classification that can eventually shed light on the Greek conceptions of senselessness and impossibility.

This paper investigates how individuals perceive hyperbole in victim statements. Despite being one of the most commonly used literary tropes, the comprehension and cognition of hyperbole has been largely ignored in the psycholinguistics literature, and despite detailed literature outlining the emotional behaviour of victims, the use of figurative language has been largely ignored in the forensics literature. In the present study, two experiments were undertaken. In Experiment 1, 32 participants were recruited from groups with forensic experience or training. Participants were presented with 16 victim statements; eight contained a number of hyperbolic phrases and eight contained non-hyperbolic counterparts. After reading each statement, participants were asked to answer questions that would quantify perceived credibility on accounts of belief, sympathy, victim-impact, and likeability. The results from Experiment 1 showed that hyperbolic speech made a significant negative impact on all four credibility measures. In Experiment 2, 32 jury-eligible individuals performed the same task. Results from this experiment demonstrated that the use of hyperbole made testimonies more believable and made the victim seem more impacted. Results are discussed in terms of the real-world implications of using hyperbolic language, and individual differences in the comprehension of, and reaction to, figurative statements.

ÖZ Makale, " küçük etiğin " filozofu P. Ricoeur'ün, " etiğin filozofu " E. Levinas'a yönelttiği eleştirileri, kutsiyet/azizlik felsefesi çerçevesinde ele almaktadır. Bu bağlamda makale, felsefi anlamda stratejik bir yöntem olarak görülen hiperbol yoluyla geliştirilen kutsiyet felsefesinin anlaşılmasında, Ricoeur'ün hiperbolik eleştirilerinin katkısını sorgulamaktadır. Levinas etiğinin son dönemine odaklanan Ricoeur'ün etik sorgulamaları, her iki filozofun etik kendilik anlayışlarından ayrı değildir. Ben ve Başkası ilişkisini karşılıklılık/simetri temelinde inşa eden Ricoeur etiği, kendi'nin adil kurumlar içerisinde başkalarıyla beraber ve başkaları için iyi yaşam ereğinin hedeflenmesine dayalıdır. Levinas'ın etik yaklaşımı ise Ben'in Başkası karşısındaki sonsuz sorumluluğu ile şekillenir. Başkası ile kurulan etik ilişki karşılıksızlığa, çıkar-gözetmezliğe, Başkası'nın rehini olmaya, Başkası için olmaya ve Başkası'nın yerine geçmeye bağlı bir kutsiyet/azizlik içerir. ABSTRACT The article deals with P. Ricoeur's, the philosopher of " little ethics " criticism of E. Levinas, " the philosopher of ethics " within the frame of philosophy of sainthood. In this context, the article questions the contribution of Ricoeur's hyperbolical criticism in understanding the philosophy of sainthood which is developed by a philosophical strategical method of hyperbole. Ricoeur's ethical inquiry which focuses on the late period of Levinas' ethics is not apart from both philosophers' understandings of the ethical " self ". Ricoeur's ethics, in which he constructs the relation of ''the I and the Other'' on reciprocity/symmetry, consists in aiming at the good life with and for the others, in just institutions. Levinas' ethics, on the other hand, proceeds along with the I's infinite responsibility towards the Other. The ethical relationship with the Other includes a holiness/sainthood depending on an unreciprocated, disinterested hostage situation where the I becomes for the Other and substitues him/her.

How pure is the pure hyperbole? The role of metonymic mappings in the construction of some hyperbolic effects The present paper is concerned with the cognitive status of expressions traditionally referred to by the name of hyperbole, its chief aim being to demonstrate that metonymic mappings are often operative in producing various pragmatic effects found with hyperbolic expressions. This claim is tested on several types of so-called " pure " hyperboles, primarily on number hyperboles. It turns out that no viable all-round definition of hyperbole can be formulated that would be based on an isomorphic relation between linguistic form and a corresponding meaning shift. What seems to remain constant across different traditionally defined subtypes of hyperbole is just the hyperbolic effect brought about by a great variety of linguistic means and conceptual processes.

Futurismus, Dadaismus und Surrealismus praktizieren [...] eine Kultur der Expansion; der erste spielt mit der Energie der Dinge, der zweite auf der Haut der Objekte und also des Alltäglichen, der dritte dagegen geht unter die Haut des Subjekts. Jedenfalls suchen diese Poetiken alle eine Erweiterung, jenseits der Phänomenologie von Subjekt und Objekt, jenseits des Identitätsprinzips, das den positivistischen Rationalismus des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts beherrscht hatte. (Achille Bonito Oliva, Im Labyrinth der Kunst)

In the 19th century, especially around 1900, the circus was one – if not the – major cultural institution: With monumental productions, huge menageries and freak shows, circuses were travelling around the world. And circus had, and still has, an immense impact on literature. Surprisingly, however, circus in fiction has remained largely unexplored. In my first monograph, I reveal the appearance and cultural meaning of the circus and its arts in ‘circus novels’ and ‘circensic novels’. Although I analyse typologically and poetologically postmodern and contemporary texts, a major part of my work elucidates the development of circus fiction since the 19th century and the cultural history of circus arts – and in particular their hyperbolic aesthetics.
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Der Zirkus als paradigmatischer Ort trickreicher Scheinerzeugung und authentischer Extremleistung lebt von der Spannung des Widerspruchs und ist ein Spielfeld vielfältiger Inszenierungen. Die Affinitäten zwischen Zirkus und Literatur lassen sich auf die der Ästhetik des Hyperbolischen inhärenten fiktionalen und narrativen Elemente zurückführen, auf seine originären, das Erdichten, Erfinden und Fingieren auslotenden Dimensionen, die als Spielarten der Lüge täuschen können und das Manegenspiel attraktiv für literarische Ausgestaltungen und Interpretationen machen.

Vor dem Hintergrund der Kulturgeschichte der Manegenkunst und ihrer literarischen Traditionen, die zur Hochphase des Zirkus um 1900 unvergleichlich aufblühten, diskutiert diese erste umfassende Studie zur Zirkusliteratur seit der Postmoderne die Ästhetik des Manegenspiels in ‚Zirkusromanen‘ und ‚zirzensischen Romanen‘, wobei Texte von Peter Carey bis Sara Gruen typologisch differenziert und poetologisch charakterisiert werden.

Etik och retorik i Jesustraditionen innehåller två essäer av Thomas Kazen, professor vid Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm. De två essäerna behandlar på olika sätt Jesustraditionen -- berättelser om Jesus och utsagor som tillskrivs honom -- i Markus, Matteus och Lukas. Den första fokuserar på mänskligt beteende, den andra på det figurativa språket. Bägge låter kognitionsvetenskapliga perspektiv belysa textanalyserna utifrån övertygelsen att bibeltexterna blir mer begripliga när vi tar hänsyn till hur människan fungerar, hur hennes tänkande och känsloliv utvecklats, hur hennes kropp och intellekt hänger samman, hur hennes emotioner och beteenden interagerar och hur hennes språk och handlande hör ihop. "Empati, rättvisa och försoning" är Kazens installationsföreläsning vid THS 2011. "Kameler, gengångare och amputationer" bygger på föreläsningar om överdrifter i bergspredikan (Århus 2015) respektive i Jesustraditionen (THS 2016, San Antonio 2016).