New Trends in Russian Intellectual Anti-Americanism: The Strange Case of Viktor Pelevin’s Novel S.N.U.F.F.

Victor Pelevin’s 2011 novel S.N.U.F.F. is discussed in terms of being a dystopia and a Menippean satire, as well as an anatomy of today’s cultural interactions between Russia and the West. Pelvin’s consistent approach in constructing an elaborate critique of U.S. cultural imperialism is examined in relation to the expansion of popular culture, and also through a Eurocentric epistemological hegemony in the context of which U.S. leftist–liberal academics teach the non-Western ‘rest of the world’ what such things as gender, race, homo- and heterosexuality, femininity, masculinity, sexism, hate speech, etc., should mean in one’s respective culture. The vast, panoramic satirical canvas of intellectual attitudes and cultural beliefs that Pelvin has drawn is described as an attempted worldwide ‘colonization of the mind’, which has today become an avatar of cultural Americanization.     

Reading advertisements: Race vs. ethnicity?

This essay is based upon the responses of thirty‐four respondents to a selection of clothing advertisements. A cross cultural sample of males and females was used to look at the relationship of ethnicity to personal identity as it was encountered through the reading of these advertisements. The discourse of color and race tended to be used more frequently in these “encounters” than that of ethnicity. This analysis outlines the dominance of the discourse of color and its relationship to the visual text.     

愤怒:市场异化VS.社会反抗

愤怒感是转型的孪生物近年来,中国社会的愤怒感逐渐上升,这既表现为日常生活中的各种摩擦,也表现为规模不等的社会冲突事件。社会的愤怒感高涨,是转型社会共有的特点。英国在19世纪中叶狄更斯的时代,美国在19世纪下半叶的"镀金时代",社会整体上都很愤怒。大凡一个国家,快速进入市场化、工业化、城市化,社会结构必然     

Prophetic Reading: Sisterhood and Psychoanalysis in H.D.’s HERmione

Abstract

This article offers a comparative reading of H.D.’s 1927 kunstlerroman à clef, HERmione and Freud’s Dora alongside an intertextual close reading of its dense web of literary allusions in order to argue that it offers a sustained critique of Freudian psychoanalysis and an alternative origin story for the condition of hysteria. Drawing on the notion of prophecy as it is thematised in the novel, the article demonstrates H.D.’s prefiguring of Juliet Mitchell’s recent reconfiguration of hysteria as a response to, replacement by, or failure of identification with a sibling.     

A Review of: “Exploring Black Sexuality. By Robert Staples.”

Higgins, Trussell, Moore, and Davidson (2010) expand our understanding of sexual satisfaction by showing that first vaginal sex is more likely to be psychologically than physically satisfying and by revealing differences between women and men and similarities between African Americans and Whites. Their analyses highlight the need for further theory-building, explicating the dynamics of change over time, integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches, and articulating implications for public policy. These are crucial steps toward developing a social science of sexual satisfaction. More research that focuses on positive aspects of sexuality, such as satisfaction, should be encouraged.