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Emotions, language and identity on the margins of Europe / Kyra Giorgi.

Van Pelt Library P325.5.E56 G56 2014
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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Giorgi, Kyra, 1977-
Series:
Palgrave studies in the history of emotions
Palgrave Studies in the History of Emotions
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Emotive (Linguistics).
Language and culture--Europe.
Language and culture.
Historical linguistics.
Europe.
National characteristics.
Historical linguistics--Europe.
Physical Description:
x, 234 pages ; 23 cm.
Place of Publication:
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Summary:
"Nations usually define themselves in positive terms; they proclaim themselves strong and victorious, or developed and prosperous. But what does it mean when the opposite is true - when negative feelings like regret, nostalgia, melancholy and fatalism are said to be the true essence of a culture? And what does it mean when these feelings are encapsulated in a single, untranslatable word?Bringing together three such word-concepts from Europe's periphery - saudade in Portugal, the Czech litost of Milan Kundera and Orhan Pamuk's of Istanbul - this book investigates claims that they embody the historical experiences and character of a people. In each case, it explores the historical, cultural and psychological mechanisms behind the invention of negative autostereotypes to offer new ways of thinking about individual and collective identities. This eclectic and broad-ranging study is not only a historical survey of emotions, but also a meditation on hope, belonging and the search for authenticity in the modern age"-- Provided by publisher.
Contents:
1 Emotions into History 8
Untranslatability 8
Naming emotions 10
Nostalgia: an early word-concept 12
Melancholy sadness 13
Peripheral identities 16
Progress, modernity and time 17
National characters, spirits and emotions 19
Melancholy, modernity and the intelligentsia 21
Part I Saudade and Portugueseness
2 Proudly Alone? 32
What is saudade? 32
The polemic-a 'dialogue of noncommunicators' 35
Crisis 41
Portugal and Europe 43
Alienation and periphery 48
3 Modernity and Martyrdom 53
Saudosismo as a fundamentalist religion 53
Race and essentialism 55
A pleasurable pain 59
Portugal immortal 62
Hope for the future 64
Pascoaes-prophecy and delusion 67
Disllusionment 72
Part II Litost and Czechness
4 Evolution of a Fatalism 84
What is litost? 84
The 'Czech Destiny' debate 88
'The Tragedy of Central Europe' 94
With suffering, without pity 97
Translation and resistance 99
Middle ground 101
5 Culture As Identity 103
Czech linguistic nationalism 103
Little Czech man, little Czech nation 107
Czechness personified 109
Humour 111
Faith and belonging 114
Part III Hüzün and Turkishness
6 Defining Memories 126
What is hüzün? 126
The melancholy text-Istanbul: Memories and the City 129
Pamuk-the personal and the political 133
Translation and audience 135
Modern Istanbul, modern Turkey-the book's context 137
Modes of Turkishness 140
Nostalgia and time 144
7 Occidental Tourism 149
Istanbul and its discontents 149
Looking at Istanbul 154
Turkish melancholy from Empire to Republic 156
The re-enchantment of Turkey 160
Turkishness and immaturity 163
The happy Turk 165
The old and the new 168.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 182-225) and index.
ISBN:
9781137403476
1137403470
OCLC:
881805615

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