The ‘Fool’s Cap’ map of the world: exploring critical cosmopolitanism through cartographic critique

The ‘Fool’s Cap’ map of the world is thought to date from the late sixteenth century and is often attributed to a little-known Christian sect called the Familists. It places a map of the world in the place of a face inside a jester’s cap, playing upon the subversive figure of the jester and his ability to ridicule those in control. The Familists were cosmopolitan and valued the idea of the world citizen, but insisted upon self-reflection, in ways not dissimilar to contemporary scholars of ‘critical cosmopolitan’. This article makes a case for viewing the Familists’ thinking as an early form of critical cosmopolitanism – critiquing its own culture whilst maintaining belief in what constitutes a good ethical world citizen. It engages with the debates forged by thinkers such as Martha Nussbaum and Gerard Delanty, and links these to the idea of emancipatory potential of globalization advanced by Leslie Sklair.     

浅论萧伯纳的悲喜剧特征

本文主要研究萧伯纳的悲喜剧特征。萧伯纳擅长于创作反映社会各层面的悲喜剧 ,他的创作不但表现了对国家社会的命运和前途的关注 ,而且在文学、艺术风格上都获得了极大的成功。     

近代西欧国家现代化与文艺复兴之关系探析

从广义上讲近代西欧国家现代化的进程是从1500年开始的,但引导近代西欧国家走向现代化的指导思想可以追溯到14世纪开始的文艺复兴。本文试图探讨一下近代西欧现代化与文艺复兴之间的关系,从一个新视角阐明文艺复兴对后世的影响。     

西欧文艺复兴时代文学与艺术的阿拉伯渊源

学术界普遍忽视西欧文艺复兴时代之文学和艺术的阿拉伯渊源问题。以近代第一位 诗人但丁的《神曲》为例，可见其时文学的阿拉伯来源是十分明显的。文学之外，阿拉伯艺术还对 文艺复兴时代西方的建筑艺术、装饰艺术和微型艺术有重要影响。     

塞壅:康有为论中国专制的生存根基

塞壅,即阻隔,人与人之间的隔阂。康有为从对中国历史的思考中,得出了中国专制政体实质上即造成人与人之间分层阻隔、相互隔绝的生存状态,以便掣阻与统治。康有为震惊天下的"七次上书"即是对专制阻隔的最大挑战,并从深层思考上对此阻隔作了鞭辟入里的描述与揭示,从而标明必须以文化之光去烛亮人们心灵的晦暗蔽塞之处,方可有现代文明产生,方可成为现代人。     

灾难中的转变:黑死病对欧洲文化的影响

黑死病给人类带来了空前的灾难,也对欧洲文化产生了重大的影响。它从思想和政治上动摇了中世纪天主教会的专制地位,为文艺复兴的理念与价值的萌发提供了适宜的环境;它打破了人口僵局,有利于经济的长远发展和技术的改进,为文化的复苏奠定了物质基础。当欧洲从瘟疫的阴影里步出时,相伴而来的是人文主义、个人主义、世俗主义的诞生,以及文学新潮流的涌现,等等。黑死病未必是导致这些现象发生的直接原因,但它无疑对文化的转型起到了催化剂的作用。     

西方音乐节奏的形成及演变

节奏,是音乐的灵魂,对音乐的形象塑造和情感表达具有非常重要的作用。作为一种客观现象的节奏,有其产生、发展和演变的独特历程。不同时代、不同地域、不同民族对音乐节奏的不同认识赋予在创造性的想像力领域起主要作用的节奏以鲜明特色。通过剖析和研究古代至中世纪时期、文艺复兴及巴洛克时期、古典主义及浪漫主义时期、近现代时期的西方音乐节奏发展演变和不同特征,可以更进一步地认识西方音乐节奏及其发展趋势。     

美国“南方文艺复兴”时期作品中的骑士精神探奥

作为一种地域文学,美国“南方文艺复兴”时期的作品素以其鲜明浓郁的本土特色著称于世。然而,深入考查发现,其本土特质中却蕴蓄着丰厚的欧洲文化元素,尤以欧洲骑士精神最有代表性。聚焦“南方文艺复兴”时期作品所体现的欧洲骑士精神,探析其对欧洲骑士精神的吸纳与融汇,揭示骑士精神对该文学道德体系的筑基作用,为从异域因素探究本土文学特色的发生与成型提供一个新的研究范例。     

Immersed in sfumato: Correggio’s sensory palette and the immersive Renaissance

ABSTRACT

This brief essay examines the multisensory aspects of the painterly technique of sfumato, first through an analysis of Corregio’s interpretation of the myth of Jupiter and Io, then in the broader context of Renaissance approaches to the representation of space. While scholarship has emphasized the optical character of sfumato, aerial and linear perspective, the last part of this essay replaces these approaches in the context of the immersive character of Renaissance arts and suggests parallels with the dissolution of boundaries between art and audience characteristic of modern and contemporary art.     

What makes a network go round? Exploring the structure of a strong component with exponential random graph models

A strong component is a subgraph in a directed network where, following the direction of ties, all nodes in the graph are reachable from one another. Mutual reachability implies that every node in the graph is theoretically able to send materials to and/or influence every other node suggesting that strong components are amongst the more egalitarian network structures. Despite this intriguing feature, they remain understudied. Using exponential random graph models (ERGM) for directed networks, we investigate the social and structural processes underlying the generation of strong components. We illustrate our argument using a network of 301 nodes and 703 personal lending ties from Renaissance Florence. ERGM shows that our strong component arises from triadic clustering alongside an absence of higher-order star structures. We contend that these processes produce a strong component with a hierarchical, rather than an egalitarian structure: while some nodes are deeply embedded in a dense network of exchange, the involvement of others is more tenuous. More generally, we argue that such tiered core-periphery strong components will predominate in networks where the social context creates conditions for an absence of preferential attachment alongside the presence of localized closure. Although disparate social processes can give rise to hierarchical strong components linked to these two structural mechanisms, in Florence they are associated with the presence of multiple dimensions of social status and the connectedness of participants across disparate network domains.