Symbolic function in pre-schoolers

The paper is dedicated to studying the oneiric text of S. Krzhizhanovsky’s novel “Sideline.” The topicality of the research is due to modern literary criticism interest in examining various aspects of artistic hypnology of Russian writers, as well as studying the works of “returned” authors, including S. Krzhizhanovsky. The realization specifics of the structural model of the literary dream in question can be presented as the following scheme: unconscious falling asleep – dream-journey – awakening by falling down. Different variants of artistic implementation of the main metaphors connected with dreaming are analyzed: “dream-life” in the image of briefcase-cushion and the image of “million-brained” dream of equality and brotherhood; “dream-death” in the image of the leader of a dream world, with the prevalence of thanatological vocabulary in the description of the city of dreams. The ways of imitating the space of real dreaming in the oneiric text of the novel are studied: awakening by falling, sudden muteness of characters, sudden change of location, etc. Also, the specifics of using the plot device of an unannounced dream is considered contributing to the illusion of “reality” of everything that happens to the character in the city of dreams. An attempt is made to consider the oneirotop of the novel in terms of classification by genre and function, plot and composition, images and esthetics and characters, as well as artistic functions of dreams in the literature (plot function, psychological function, idea, and symbolic function). The oneiric text of Krzhizhanosky’s novel “Sideline” is viewed as an artistic realization of the author’s original idea of the subconscious, dreamy origin of a communist utopia.

The research, by referring to the Dur Untash city at the Symbolic level, seeks to answer the question that how in urban semiotics, the city's identity has acquired a semantic significance beyond its significance. The situation of the city expresses a state that any kind of dominant discourses has lost their accreditation capacity and authority, and the audience cannot rely on any of the currents that were considered as definitive. City identity is nothing but fractal games that there is no source of authority that indicates the fixed meaning of these formulas and this is a social contract. These contracts derive from the semiotic rules which is agreed upon in the community. In this game will be try to impose certain meanings on the city identity using the symbolic function; to internalize meta-narrative (internalization process) and in this way, the identity and the presence of the Dur-Untash city will be recorded in time and reach an immortal realm.

After having briefly but exhaustively recalled the main lines of Freudian psychoanalytic thought, we have discussed a possible psychoanalytic theoretical model for human symbolic function mainly centred on the action of a set of primary psychic mechanisms rejoined around the negative, in its widest sense according to the works of André Green. A chief aspect of this pattern has turned out to be an underlying, irreducible dialecticity that reflects on the one hand, the typical feature of human symbolic function, and, on the other hand, the main outcome of the unavoidable presence of a basic dichotomy formalized the so-called phallic logic, that is, that primordial, ancestral and irreducible logical nucleus inevitably present in the deepest meanders of human psyche as an inborn structure phylogenetically preformed and ontogenetically re-established during the psychic evolution of any human being.

In humoral physiology the pregnant body was considered capable of transforming menstrual blood into nourishment for the foetus. After childbirth, blood became breast milk. However, this harmonic continuum was threatened when the maternal body was unable to transform blood into milk: in the Hippocratic aphorism 5.40, when blood cannot be transformed in the breasts of women, it indicates madness. We analyse medieval interpretations of this condition through the commentaries of university masters who examined this textual and clinical reality. We discuss how humoral physiology – an extremely flexible system of thought – could only conceive of maternal bleeding breasts with recourse to madness. Disharmony in the maternal body not only disrupted the physiological routine but also the symbolic function of mothering.

Relational rules structure the relationship between the oligarchs and the elite, and the oligarchs and the institutions of the regime. The chapter analyses how the 11 relational rules functioned in the Soviet Union and China over the life of the respective regimes. It explains how the oligarchs sought to insulate themselves from below and, in looking at the role of political institutions, tackles the idea that institutions serve little more than a symbolic function in authoritarian regimes. A major focus is also the power of the individual leader, its nature and bases and how this related to those institutions.

‘ “They don’t speak our language”: identity in linguistics’ considers the relationship between language and identity. For individuals and groups, language has instrumental and symbolic functions, which can be in conflict with each other. The instrumental function of communication stands for inclusion, while the symbolic function of identity manifestation stands for exclusion. Language serves identity manifestation with regard to nation, region, social class, ethnicity (race), gender, and age. The respective linguistic differences can be highlighted or downplayed. Yet, on the level of individual expression in both speech and writing, language has biometric qualities allowing for highly reliable speaker identification.

This article explores, informed by recent ecocritical thinking regarding the interpretation of literature in past and present, the symbolic function of the forest space in the Middle High German heroic epic Nibelungenlied. Intriguingly, both the protagonist Siegfried and his nemesis Hagen operate in, through, and with the forest, but only Siegfried emerges as a true master of the forest, which provides him, through various channels, with much of his true strength and power. In many respects, the poet projects the forest as an ominous space where the lives of the courtly protagonists are reflected and determined. However, each protagonist responds to and engages with the forest in different way. This ecocritical approach uncovers a heretofore mostly ignored perspective regarding the importance of the forest in the Nibelungenlied.

AbstractOn October 22, 2015, two days after the Liberal Party of Canada came to power, The Globe and Mail published an editorial entitled “Canada to the World: Xenophobia Doesn’t Play Here.” The article suggested that, in these times of migration crises, a rising xenophobic discourse and neo-nationalism, it is essential for the European countries to start taking lessons in navigating cultural diversity from Canada, the first country in the world that institutionalized principles of multiculturalism. This view is clearly reflected in the repertoire politics of Canadian theatre institutions, specifically the National Arts Centre (NAC) Ottawa, the only theatre company in Canada directly subsidized by its government. Mandated to support artistic excellence through arts, the NAC acts as a pulpit of official ideology. It presents diversity on stage as the leading Canadian value, and thus fulfills its symbolic function to serve as a mirror to its nation.However, this paper argues that, by offering an image of Canada, constructed by our government and tourist agencies, as an idyllic place to negotiate our similarities and differences, the NAC fosters what Loren Kruger calls a theatrical nationhood (4–16). A closer look at the 2014 NAC English theatre co-production of Kim’s Convenience will help illustrate how the politics of mimicry can become a leading device in the aesthetics of national mimesis – a cultural activity of “representing the nation as well as the result of it (an image of the nation)” (Hurley 24); and how the artistry of a multicultural kitchen-sink can turn a subject of diversity into that of affirmation and sentimentalism.