Critical Survey

This study aims to examine the historical and present influence of foreign literary processes on Chinese literature, emphasising the integration of cross-cultural influences into Chinese literary forms. A mixed-method approach, incorporating historical, comparative and critical text analysis, was utilised to examine the adaptation and transformation of foreign components in Chinese literary works, notably evaluating contributions from India, Western Europe, Japan and Russia. Research demonstrates that foreign literary exchanges provided significant thematic and stylistic enhancements, including Indian mythological elements, Western realism and Russian psychological depth, each influencing unique literary trends in Chinese literature. Modern Chinese literature evolves through digital platforms, fostering cultural exchange and enhancing its global presence. Incorporating external elements deepens Chinese storytelling and positions it in global literary discourse. Globalisation enriches its cultural uniqueness while integrating universal themes, offering valuable insights for scholars and readers exploring Chinese literature's global significance.

This study aims to identify the functions of the simulacrum in postmodern literature and to determine how it is used as a device to create effects and meanings. The study addresses the theories of postmodernism, emphasising the characteristics and features of this trend, such as fragmentation, paradox and play of meanings. It also analyses the techniques of postmodern literature, including intertextuality, metanarratives and deconstruction, which create fertile ground for the emergence and use of simulacra. The study identifies the functions of a simulacrum: creating the effect of hyperreality, using it as a means of criticism and irony, destabilising the perception and exploring subjectivity and identity. The study shows that the simulacrum serves not only as a tool for artistic expression but also for philosophical analysis.

Philip Larkin is known for his rejection of metaphysical consolation, and yet in some of his more philosophic and existentialist poems, such as ‘Absences’ and ‘Here’, many critics describe a desire for freedom that leads to a metaphysical transcendence that seems at odds with the vision of such a confirmed atheist. This interpretation of transcendence in these poems by Larkin is a misreading of his thought. What Larkin is describing in ‘Absences’ and ‘Here’ is freedom without transcendence, arrived at through the promise of the endless creation of new limits. The philosophic framework for this insight is from Nietzsche, an influence that is pervasive in Larkin though little acknowledged.

This study analyses three categories of works by William Shenstone – Elegies, Levities; or Pieces of Humour and Odes – in terms of their poetic and cultural specifics. The findings are further applied to the process-oriented research of the poems’ translation into Chinese in order to explore their cultural implications. It is concluded that the most challenging category for translation is Levities due to the lack of an equivalent tradition in Chinese poetic history. As a result, the cultural expressions and certain references natural for Western literature are a complication. Nevertheless, the overall tendency of imitating the poetry of the past and deploying the said types of poetry by Shenstone make the cultural reverberations in the Chinese translations more vivid and vibrant.

This article examines the depiction of failed masculinity in Kiran Nagarkar's Cuckold (1997). Within conventional gender standards, men are often regarded as privileged because hegemonic masculine ideals are inscribed upon them. Yet, despite holding powerful positions, such as kingship, the struggles of men who fail to fulfil socially appointed masculine roles have long remained unnoticed. The intricate interplay of historical, social, and political forces contributes to the rigid construction of masculine norms, marking any breach as a sign of unmanliness, emasculation, or failure. Nagarkar, an Indian author who fuses history and myth, explores this notion of failed masculinity through the fictional Maharaj Kumar, a sixteenth-century Rajput prince. The novel traces his failures across multiple spheres of life and his relentless attempt to align himself with the ideal of a ‘manly king.’ Through close reading, this article ultimately foregrounds the destiny of a failed man shaped through Maharaj Kumar's character.

The purpose of this study was to uncover the role and significance of the oxymoron in postcolonial literature. To fulfil the purpose of the study, a systematic approach to identify and classify oxymorons in texts was conducted. In addition, methods of literary analysis, analysing contextual factors and historical context, were used to contribute to the understanding of the meaning of the oxymoron in postcolonial literature. Oxymorons were found both at the level of titles of works and in the text itself. Not only do they convey the contradictory and unbalanced nature of the postcolonial experience, but they also help the authors to create deep and multifaceted characters. The study highlighted the specific features of oxymoron use in different postcolonial contexts and identified common thematic and stylistic features.

The relevance of this study is determined by the need to understand the transformation of the concept of the tragic hero in the context of modern literature and its reflection in the works of Arthur Miller and Ernest Hemingway. The aim of the article was to analyse the images of the tragic hero in the works of these authors, allowing for the identification of both common traits and unique features that characterise the modern tragic hero. Using literary-stylistic and comparative analysis, the research looked at works such as Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and Miller's Death of a Salesman. The results showed that, although the social and cultural settings of the writers vary greatly, both show sad heroes defined by inner conflict, existential problems and loneliness against society's alienation.

This article is an application of concepts to the reading of poetry borrowed from Jonathan Culler's Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics and the Study of Literature (Cornell University Press, 1975). I also use Roland Barthes’ language codes; hermeneutic, semantic, symbolic, actional and cultural-referential demonstrated in his well-known text S/Z, with slight modifications for their application as well. The discourse advocated by Culler was itself explored earlier and developed by Bulgarian/French historian Tzvetan Todorov in a reading method called Poetics, not to be confused with Aristotelian poetics. These concepts have been previously applied to literary fiction, though they have never been systematically applied to the reading of poetry. This is the sixth article in applied poetics published utilising this methodology since 2019.