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Journal of Literature and Art Studies

Volume 4, Number 8, August 2014 (Serial Number 33)

Contents Literature Studies

Imagological Topoi in Balkan Literatures 599 Marija Gjorgjieva Dimova

A Feminist Analysis of Protagonists’ Self-development in O Pioneers! and My Antonia 605 YANG Han-yu

Jamesian Impressions of the Cities 613 Tzu Yu Allison Lin

Art Studies

From the 19th-Century Novel to the Portuguese Contemporary Film Adaptation 618 Filomena A. Sobral

I Sing, Therefore I am—The Political Representation of Taiwanese K-pop Urban Fans at K-pop KTV (Karaoke) 628

Haerang NOH

Dracula as a Lovesick Monster, Iconology of the PFM’s Rock Opera 643 Andrea Del Castello

Revisiting Stoker’s Dracula: No Brave Good Villains Left 653 Carla Ferreira de Castro

Special Research

Birth of “Television Set” in Tashkent 661 Yuldashev Eldar Sadikovich

Journal of Literature and Art Studies, ISSN 2159-5836 August 2014, Vol. 4, No. 8, 599-604

Imagological Topoi in Balkan Literatures

Marija Gjorgjieva Dimova Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

The purpose of this text is to research dominant/typical images which have been constructed in the process of the

perception and representation of the stranger in Balkan literatures, and reciprocally, the images that strangers

constructs for the Balkan in the same literary context. Under conditions where Balkan literatures have been treated

as an alternative history of the Balkan, the author intends to see the role and power of literary work in creation, in

changing or rejecting the image for/of the Other/stranger. The analysis covers several areas: the dominant position

of image constructions; acts of invention an in(ter)vention; forming and transforming the images of the stranger;

the role of stereotypes and prejudice in constructing images; the role of the discursive communities in creating

images; and the role of the projective ideology in creating images.

Keywords: imagological constructions, significant stranger, projective ideology, dicursive communities,

stereotyped image

Introduction

The metaphorical representations of the Balkans as a bridge, a road, or a crossroads, that is, as a space

unfit for a permanent stay, but for by-passing, establish the Balkans as the “ideal” pilgrimage destination. The transitness and business of the Balkan region are also corroborated in the imagological representations of the relations between “us” and “the Others”, presented in numerous cultural discourses: mass media, politics, academic research, everyday life, reports and travelogues, popular literature, jokes, or novels. One variety of the literary articulations of the Other is the imagological topos of the foreigner’s image/image of the foreigner. If the foreigner is a concretized representative of a certain collective and a form of presence of otherness or foreignness, then the literary image of the foreigner is a mediated representation of that collective. Hence, this imagological topos in literature includes the relation between Balkanians and non-Balkanians. The elementary definition of foreigners stresses their position of aliens, immigrants, visitors, or conquerors. Ulrich Bielefeld underscores this aspect of foreignness, distance, non-belonging, joining a certain community—family or nation—which they might influence: transform or threaten (Bilefild, 1998, p. 28). Hence, the concept of the so-called significant foreigner, where the attitude towards the foreigner is key; s/he is not a passive observer but an active and influential participant in the environment in which s/he is staying (Bilefild, 1998, p. 131).

Marija Gjorgjieva Dimova, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of General and Comparative Literature, Faculty of Philology

“Blaze Koneski”, Ss Cyril and Methodius University.

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IMAGOLOGICAL TOPOI IN BALKAN LITERATURES 600

Several Imagological Patterns in Balkan Prose

The Image of the Foreigner as a Civilized Conqueror

That the old, clichéd images of the foreigner constructed through fascination and rejection have not disappeared (Bilefild, 1998, p. 109) is evidenced by the 1985 novel Vježbanje života (Exercising Life) by Croatian author Nedjeljko Fabrio. Among the multitude of images of foreign conquerors—Austrians, Frenchmen, Italians, Hungarians—lies the one of the foreigner as the promoter of civilization values (the revolution) and of progress (building a refinery in Rijeka). This perception is guided by the natives’ practical/existential reasoning: the foreigners will leave, but the refinery will stay. In the 1981 novel Nëpunësi i pallatit të ëndrrave (The Palace of Dreams) (1993)1 by Albanian author Ismail Kadare, the constructors of this image of the foreigner are the members of the Albanian Quprili family—they see the progress of their own people in their connection with the Ottoman invader: “The Turks (…) gave us Albanians what we lacked: the wide open spaces” (Kadare, 1993, p. 68).

The Image of the Foreigner as an Uncivilized Conqueror

In the 2002 novel Smrtta na dijakot (The Death of the Scrivener) by Macedonian author Dragi Mihajlovski there is the opposite image of the foreigner as the uncivilized conqueror: the Bitola scrivener Ravul and the Turkish commander Timurtaş are the two narrative focal points where the image of the other is projected. In constructing the image of the conquering foreigner, the uncivilizedness is stressed through the absence of basic patriarchal and ethical values—the lack of a sense of family and home, of decency and moderation: “Против кого треба да се бориме? Против орда неверници што не можат да си ги додржат семејствата (…) скитаат по светот, убиваат пристојни луѓе како нас” (Михајловски, 2002, p. 43).2 Both these images of the foreigner—as a civilized and an uncivilized conqueror—are varieties of the traditional construct of the foreigner as the outside enemy. This imagological stereotype is based on the dualism between us and the others, the relation to the feelings of fear, hate, disdain or indifference towards outsiders, as well as feeling the safety and the fundamental values of one group threatened by another (as, for instance, in Mihajlovski’s novel).

The Foreigner’s Image (of the Balkan Native)

The foreigner as an enemy assumes presence on a foreign territory, that is, his/her encounter with the native is an encounter with the unknown, with the alien. In the analyzed texts, there is an identical position from which foreigners perceive the native other: It is the position of the official representative of foreign authority, implying an imposed presence in an official capacity. High-ranking imperial administrators in the state/social hierarchy—consuls, viziers, generals, religious leaders, military commanders—participate in creating an identical, stereotypical image of the Balkanian as a savage and/or barbarian.3 In Kadare’s Gjenerali i ushtrisë së vdekur (The General of the Dead Army) (2008), the Italian general has come to Albania on a state mission in order to exhume and repatriate the remains of Italian soldiers. Burdened by his task, as well as the past, the general views the Albanian people as backward, with innate aggression and belligerence:

1 First published in 1981 in Albania. 2 “Who are we to fight against? Against a horde of infidels who cannot keep their families (…) wandering around the world, killing decent folk like us”. (translator’s note) 3 Norris (1999) concludes that ever since the earliest travelogues one has continually documented the two varieties of the image of the Balkanian as a “noble savage” and a “primitive barbarian” (p. 32).


“The Albanians are rough and backward people. Almost as soon as they are born someone puts a gun into their cradle, so that it shall become an integral part of their existence” (Kadare, 2008, p. 27). In The Death of the Scrivener, the sullen, exhausted Turkish commander is the perceptive background in relation to which the local population is identified as a “банда словенски тврдоглавци” (“a gang of Slavic mules”) whose fate is to be conquered and subjugated. In the 1945 novel Travnička hronika (Bosnian Chronicle)4 by Ivo Andrić the various foreigners’ perceptions construct the image of the savage Balkanian. The West-European and Ottoman emissaries in Travnik—the French and the Austrian consul, the Turkish viziers and their administrators—view the Bosnians as uncouth, uneducated, superstitious: “The Vizier tactfully alluded to the backwardness of the land and to the coarse and boorish manners of the people” (Andrić, 1993, p. 28). The French consul’s position is identical: “They are wild ignorant people. They hate everything foreign (…) It’s their barbarian way” (Andrić, 1993, p. 22).

Auto-Image

The imagological projections of the foreigner are reversible—they are founded on the parallel generating of auto-imagological representations. The image of the self is indirectly defined through the image of the other. The image is a translation of the other, as well as a self-translation (Пажо, 2002, p. 111). The self sees the other, and the image of the other transmits a certain image of this self that sees, speaks or writes (Пажо, 2002, p. 105). In the analyzed texts, the Balkan auto-image is founded on stressing several collective qualities, causally connected with foreigners:

(1) Adaptability as an additionally developed survival instinct is in conditions of an alien/invading presence. “Mi Hrvati ionako nećemo nikada nikog pobjediti” (Fabrio, 1986, p. 162).5

(2) Wavering between actual subjugation and the desire to rebel: “Pride is their second nature, a living force that stays with them all through life, that animates them and marks them visibly apart from the rest of mankind” (Andrić, 1993, p. 9).

(3) The need for open communication with foreigners—in The Palace of Dreams, the prosperity of the Albanian people is conditioned by their political and cultural association with the Ottoman invader: “One day they’ll win their independence, but they’ll lose all those other possibilities” (Kadare, 1998, p. 68).

In all the images of the foreigner, the portrayal of the Balkan barbarian/primitive nature has been realized alongside the auto-imagological representations positioned as counter-images. In Andrić’s novel, the French consul, explaining the vizier’s inclination through the principle of compensation, universally applicable to the other foreigners, creates an auto-image as well:

He thought he understood in a general way how and why foreigners loved France, the French way of life, and French ideas. They were drawn to them by the law of contrasts; they loved France for all those things they were unable to find in their own country. (Andrić, 1993, p. 141)

There is a superior auto-image of the foreigner as the counter-image of a hetero-image in The General of the Dead Army as well: “He was the representative of a great and civilized country and his work must be greatly worthy of it” (Kadare, 2008, p. 13).

4 First published in 1945. 5 “We Croatians will never defeat anyone anyhow”. (translator’s note)


Mechanisms of Construction

The bifocal perception through which auto-images and hetero-images are created is founded on a “projective ideology”. It involves a complex transfer of one’s own weaknesses/fears onto the other, resulting in a double effect: creating a distance from the other and, through it, self-identification (Biti, 1994, p. 145). The principle of turning the other into a dangerous enemy and turning oneself into a victim forced to defend her/himself (Biti, 1994, p. 145) is a manner of justifying one’s own position and behavior. That which Ulrich Bielefeld terms mixophobia or fear of mixture, of endangering one’s own purity and sense of domination are the fundamental motives guiding the foreigner when projecting hetero-images, and that phobia in turn generates an auto-image of the projected victim, as evidenced by Fabrio’s and Andrić’s novels. In the eyes of the dominant foreigner, the Balkanian is deliberately distanced to the opposite pole—of the uncivilized, the barbaric—in order to imply one’s own superiority. That is a direct application of the system of differential classification (Пажо, 2002, p. 117). In Fabrio’s novel, the conquering foreigner justifies his presence in Rijeka as part of the enlightenment mission of civilizational influence on the primitive people: “Francuzi (…) običavali ponavljati da su stigli amo zato da bi od domorodaca načinili civilizirane ljude” (Fabrio, 1986, p. 41).6 The image of the foreigner as enemy is a projection used to justify one’s own position of a victim: the subjugation under foreign rule for the Balkanians is a justification for their collective state of misery and backwardness. In Andrić’s account, the Turkish rule created some typical qualities, such as pretence, mistrust, laziness of thought and fear of every novelty, or everything and every movement. These qualities, developed through centuries of unequal fight and constant defence, became integral part of the nature of the locals and permanent traits of their character (Andrić, 1993). In The General of the Dead Army, the roughness and the belligerence on which foreigners base their image of the Albanian people get a different explanation in an auto-imagological context—as a survival instinct, developed in circumstances of constant subjugation.

One parameter for the imagological constructions is offered by the concept of “discursive community”, which Hutcheon (1994) defines as a “complex configuration of shared knowledge, beliefs, values and communicative strategies” (p. 91). Belonging to different discursive communities not only makes communication difficult but is also a source of the stereotypes and prejudices on which imagological representations are based. In The General of the Dead Army, belonging to different discursive communities is the reason of different interpretations of the phenomenon of the vendetta. Whereas foreigners understand the vendetta only from a psychological aspect, the local expert has a different explanation:

I know there are some foreigners who have the idea that our vendetta and various other pernicious customs are to be explained by the so-called Albanian psychology, but the whole notion is too absurd. They are merely customs that were once imposed on us by our former oppressors and religion. (Kadare, 2008, p. 128)

In The Palace of Dreams the discursive community facilitates the understanding of Albanian folklore by the Austrian consul. In Bosnian Chronicle, however, the unsuccessful reception of Racine’s tragedy Bajazet by the vizier is due to his non-belonging to the discursive community of the foreigner (the French consul). From his viewpoint, the theatrical representation of Turkish tradition—the harem—is unacceptable. For the same reason there are different interpretations of the geostrategic importance of roads: For the foreigner, they are the 6 “The French (…) used to repeat that they had come here to turn the natives into civilized people”. (translator’s note)


prerequisites of progress, whereas for the Balkanian they are merely a way of easier and quicker access of invading threats and therefore unnecessary.

Imagological Stereotypes

Literary images of the foreigner are imagological constructs projected through prejudice and stereotypes. Discussing the stereotype as a powerful form of the image, Pageaux underscores its partiality and polycontextuality. The stereotype as a short overview, as an abridged expression typical of a culture, transmits the smallest amount of information for greatest communication, with the widest range of possibilities and tends towards generalization (Пажо, 2002, pp. 106-108). In the novels too, the foreigner’s images of the Balkan native are always stereotypical.7 In the foreigner’s imagological representations, the Balkan is reduced to the oriental, as an antipode to the European. In Bosnian Chronicle (1993), the French consul perceives the Bosnian people through his literary preconceptions, drawn from the French travelogues on the Balkans. The negative stereotype in the hetero-image results from the stereotypical auto-image where one’s own dominance is reinforced—in a political sense, as well as in the sense of a civilizational, cultural and intellectual superiority. The contrast in the foreigner’s representations is strategic distancing of the natives through stereotypical stigmatization. This type of prevention is included in the conviction with which the Italian general comes to Albania and the French consul to Travnik. On the other hand, the natives are a priori mistrustful of the foreign, unexcited about novelty and convinced that foreigners always bring misfortune.

However, the texts from our corpus also demonstrate a parallel process of de-stereotyping, provided by double transformation. Firstly, there is a transformation concerning the explicit problematizations of certain kinds of prejudices and stereotypes: in The Death of the Scrivener, the foreigner causes the stereotypical opposition between conqueror and defender and the prejudices that identify the unknown and the foreign as unfortunate and evil. Secondly, there is transformation in the instances where inherited or adopted experiences and knowledge will be correctively treated in the act of immediate perception and in one’s personal experience with the other. Such a change is experienced by the French consul after meeting the vizier and the local population:

For an Oriental, the Vizier was unusually lively, cordial, and outspoken (…) He had none of that monolithic Ottoman dignity of which Daville had read and heard so much (…) Everything he met with in Bosnia and all that reached him from the embassy in Istanbul, and from the military governor in Dalmatia, was contrary to what he’d been told when he left Paris. (Andrić, 1993, pp. 28-31)

In The General of the Dead Army one witnesses the gradual transformation of the convictions with which the foreigner comes to Albania: “I felt I wanted to get to this savage, backward country as soon as I possibly could (…) But when we got there it all turned out differently” (Kadare, 2008, p. 134).

Conclusion

The imagological catalogue in the novels allows for several conclusions: (1) The heterogeneity of the foreigners with regard to their ethnicity and their position on the territory in

7 This is also stressed by Norris (1999), according to whom the “production of a Balkan semantics is based on a narrow range of persistent images, reinvented as appropriate in each historical moment” (p. 37), as well as by Todorova (2009), who sees the Balkans as “the hostage of a tradition of stereotypes” (p. 187).


which they are staying generates multiplied imagological projections: the foreigners as conquerors, enemies, civilized, and uncivilized strangers; furthermore, the images they create for one another and the various foreigners present in a third, neutral and, for them, foreign (Balkan) territory—the Frenchman’s image of the Austrian, of the Turk and vice versa in Bosnian Chronicle—and, of course, the foreigner’s image of the Balkanians. The multiplication also concerns the heterogeneity of the native—a member of various Balkan nationalities (Macedonian, Albanian, Croatian, Bosnian). Finally, there is a special kind of microlayering in Bosnian Chronicle, where the Turk is both the conquering foreigner and a native.

(2) The foreigner’s image is identical—negatively stereotypical, xenophobic, ideologically projective. The image of the foreigner, on the other hand, is more richly nuanced. In The Palace of Dreams and Exercising Life, the foreigner is necessary and undesirable, civilized and uncivilized, good and evil. Is that due to the fact that the authors are Balkan, so they feel the need to stress tolerance as Balkan immanence? But, the problem might also be interpreted differently: The Balkan sense of tolerance is not innate but acquired—the consequence of the permanent presence of foreigners in the Balkan regions and the forcedness of cohabitation. Hence, the credit for the development of Balkan tolerance goes to the foreigners as well.

(3) The images that are (self)referentially marked are multilayered. The novels contain a whole imagological series—image, hetero-image, auto-image and counter-image—in a reciprocal relationship. The dynamic perspective contributing to multilayeredness is also provided through the narrative proceedings in the texts: The foreigner in them is either the bearer of the dominant focalization (The General of the Dead Army, Bosnian Chronicle) or his viewpoint is equally juxtaposed to the native (The Death of the Scrivener). The play with the viewpoints stresses the importance of the position from which one perceives, represents and constructs.

(4) The novelesque images confirm the susceptibility of the Balkans as the subject of imagological research. They show its status as a “contact zone” and its historically confirmed status of a critical region, in terms of armed conflicts. The action in the novels takes place in periods of crises, indicating another stereotypical image of the Balkans as a “powder keg”.

References

Andrić, I. (1993). Bosnian chronicle. New York: Arcade Publishing. Bilefild, U. (1998). Stranci: prijatelji ili neprijatelji (Foreigners: Friends or enemies). Beograd: Čigoja štampa. Biti, V. (1994). Upletanje nerečenog (Intertwining the unsaid). Zagreb: Matica hrvatska. Fabrio, N. (1986). Vježbanje života (Exercising life). Zagreb: Globus. Rijeka/Opatija:Otokar Keršovani. Goldsworthy, V. (1999). Inventing Ruritania. The imperialism of the imagination. New Haven/London: Yale University Press. Hayden-Bakić, M. (1995). Nesting orientalisms: The case of former Yugoslavia. Slavic Reviеw, 54(4), 917-931. Hutcheon, L. (1994). Irony’s edge. London/New York: Routledge. Kadare, I. (1993). The palace of dreams. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Kadare, I. (2008). The general of the dead army. New York: Arcade Publishing. Norris, D. (1999). In the wake of the Balkan myth. Questions of identity and modernity. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Todorova, М. (2009). Imagining the Balkans. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Михајловски, Д. (2002). Смртта на дијакот (The death of the scrivener). Скопје: Каприкорнус. Пажо, Д-А. (2002). Општа и компаративна книжевност (General and comparative literature). Скопје: Македонска книга. Цивян, В. Т. (1999). Движение и путь в балканской модели мира. Исследования по структуре текста (Movement and path

in the Balkan world model: Researches into the structure of the text). Москва: Индрик. Цивян, В. Т. (1990). Лингвистические основы балканской модели мира (Lingusitic basics of the Balkan world model). Москва:

Наука.


A Feminist Analysis of Protagonists’ Self-development in

O Pioneers! and My Antonia

YANG Han-yu

Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing, China

This paper focuses on pioneer women’s development of the self from the perspective of feminism in O Pioneers!

(1913) and My Antonia (1994). As rigid social connections and concepts restrict women’s autonomy and freedom,

they must transform themselves and the world in order to survive. In order to analyze pioneer women’s process of

self-growth in the special period, the author of this paper compares and contrasts the specific situation, and

analyzes the characteristics of the protagonists in the above two novels. Through analysis, the authuor concludes

that pioneer women always create a nurturing and gracious atmosphere in their household. Practically, these

women successfully transmit the old civilization to the newly established homestead.

Keywords: Willa Cather, feminism, pioneer women, self-development

Introduction

Current Studies on Willa Cather

Willa Cather’s fiction has generated significant criticism and analysis during the last several decades. Four

biographical studies appeared within five years of Cather’s death in 1947. The first one is Mildred Bennet’s The

World of Willa Cather (1951), focusing on the memories and incidents of the Red Cloud years as they related to the

fiction. James Woodress’s meticulous biography, Willa Cather: A Literary Life (1987), illuminates the intricate

connections between her works and personal life. Sharon O’ Brien’s work on Cather, culminating in Willa Cather: A

Literary life is the most powerful body of criticism that deals with Cather as a woman and lesbian writer. Maxwell

Geismar’s The Last of the Provincials:The American Novel, 1915-1925 (on Willa Cather, Anderson,Fitzgerald)

(1959) offers the first comprehensive assessment of Cather’s fiction. He appreciates her investment of a life in art, her

attempt to find meaning through art, her struggle to maintain values in hostile and threatening times.

Another dimension in Cather’s studies began in 1967 with the publication of The Kingdom of Art by the

University of Nebraska Press edited by Bernice Slote. The volume gathers Cather’s dramatic and literary

criticism, from 1893 to 1896, and reveals both her intellectual complexity and her significant experience with the

arts and world literature. University of Nebraska Press published a book in 2000, named Willa Cather and

Politics of Criticism, written by Joan Acocella. It has evoked wide repercussion in study of Willa Cather.

Acocella provides an overview of Cather’s life and works, and shows that Cather’s works do not neatly fit the

YANG Han-yu, mater of arts, lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages, Beijing Information Science and Technology

University.

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A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF PROTAGONISTS’ SELF-DEVELOPMENT 606

demands of critics—from the Marxists to the feminists.

Cather’s place in American literature and culture has been the subject of several studies. The latest one is to

re-examine Cather’s writings from the aspect of eco-criticism in the context of globalization. Cather’s works

emerge as environmentally conscious texts when they are read against the background of Deep Ecology. Deep

Ecology emphasizes that human beings represent only one strand in the intricate web of life; all forms of life have

a right to continued existence; and human beings must integrate ecology into the world around them in order to

achieve a suitable existence (Woodress, 1989).

Thanks to such groups of scholars of interpretation we have deepened the understanding of Willa Cather’s

works and broadened our view on Willa Cather studies.

A Brief Introduction of Feminism and Feminist Literature

Feminism originates in the struggle for women’s social rights, political movements, and later developes into

the fight for equality between men and women in cultural and spiritual aspects. Feminists advocate the overthrow

of the patriarchal domination and improve women’s status. As the inevitable product of women’s liberation

movement, feminist literature advocates literary expression of women’s situation from the perspective of the

creation of gender awareness, and explores the feminine consciousness.

Feminist theory, which emerges from feminist movements, aims to understand the nature of gender

inequality by examining women’s social roles and lived experience; it has developed theories in a variety of

disciplines in order to respond to issues such as the social construction of sex and gender (Chodorow, 1989). The

feminist movement produces both feminist fiction and non-fiction, and creates new interest in women’s writing. It

also promptes a general reevaluation of women’s historical and academic contributions in response to the belief

that women’s lives and contributions have been underrepresented as areas of scholarly interest (Blain, Clements,

& Grundy, 1990). Much of the early period of feminist literary scholarship is given over to the rediscovery and

reclamation of texts written by women. Studies like Dale Spender’s Mothers of the Novel (1986) and Jane

Spencer’s The Rise of the Woman Novelist (1986) are ground-breaking in their insistence that women have

always been writing. More recently, Broadview Press continues to issue 18th and 19th century novels, many

hitherto out of print, and the University of Kentucky has a series of republications of early women’s novels. A

Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist

philosophy. A Room of One’s Own (1929) by Virginia Woolf, is noted in its argument for both a literal and

figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy.

The widespread interest in women’s writing is related to a general reassessment and expansion of the literary

canon. According to Elyce Rae Helford, “Science fiction and fantasy serve as important vehicles for feminist

thought, particularly as bridges between theory and practice” (Helford, 2005, pp. 289-291). Feminist science

fiction is sometimes taught at the university level to explore the role of social constructs in understanding gender.

Notable texts of this kind are Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), Joanna Russ’ The Female

Man (1970), Octavia Butler’s Kindred (1979), and Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale (1985).

The Harsh Social Environment

In the patriarchal society, “the sexual distribution of political authority and economic power tends either to

place women at the bottom of the system or to exclude them entirely” (Ryan, 1998, p. 5). Usually, women’s


function in the economic development is ignored or invisible. But in the social and economic development of the

American west, women possess a unique position because the value and degree of their participation in the

pioneering are necessitated by the arduous task that faces the American pioneers. “In order to accomplish the task

of planting a society in the wildness, no man, no woman can be exempted from this toilsome undertaking”

(Moynihan, 1990, p. 8). The efforts of frontier men as well as women are required and emphasized to create a

civilization out of the vast wilderness. Because women are needed in men’s undertaking, men’s oppression,

repression and suppression over women are not so evident and rampant. The pioneering process in the first part of

O Pioneers! (1913) is such a case.

In the patriarchal family, only the patriarch of the family can rise to the leadership in the economic, political,

cultural, and religious affairs of the community. The husband will make the important decision and does not pay

much attention to his wife. For example, Mrs. Bergson in O Pioneers! is one of these poor and neglected woman.

She is reluctant to leave her dear home for this raw place, but she has already internalized the patriarchal ideology

that makes men always have the dominant or masculine roles and women always have the subordinate or

feminine roles. Therefore, she has to move together with her husband against her own will, trying to reconstruct

her old life on the new land as possible as she can. Being unable to say “no” to her husband, Mrs. Bergson has to

content herself with preserving picking and other endless chores at home and in the garden. Since she identifies

herself with the traditional subordinate, passive and timid women, Mrs. Bergson will accept whatever her

husband gives to her.

Another couple in My Antonia (1994) plays the same. They are Mr. and Mrs. Harlings. Mrs. Harling actually

has strong, independent nature. She knows what she likes, and is not always trying to imitate other people.

However, such an independent and joyful lady behaves completely different when Mr. Harling is at home. No

matter how independent the woman’s own personality is, she is subordinated to male authority in marriage. The

husband is the God’s representative within the family, and a wife should not question his wisdom.

A man will have a sense of superiority enjoying his inherent privilege as a man in patriarchal society, no

matter how foolish and how incompetent he is. He firmly believes that he is always the dominant power in the

family and the woman only possesses a secondary economic and social status in it. A woman is inferior to the

patriarchal head and also the other male members of her household. What’s worst is that man intends to ignore,

even negate women’s function.

It should come to mind that this is still a male dominated world in which women are denied the freedom to

enter the public world. Society has the false belief that women are by nature less intellectually and physically

capable than men. Accordingly, a set of customary and legal constrains is established to block women’s

entrance to success is the so-called public world. As a result of this policy of exclusion, women are confined to

the domestic sphere and the true potential of many women goes unfulfilled. Because women are not given the

same opportunities and civil rights as men, they are confined to such household duties always assigned to

women in the sexual division of labor, such as cooking, washing, caring for children, ironing, mending, and

gardening. The space for women is so narrow that it nearly smothers them to death. Women can neither share

with men the rich and colorful life, nor participate in the keen competition on the battlefields of life.

Furthermore, they do not have many chances to embrace new ideas, without the sunshine from the outside, the

stimulus from competition, the introduction of new ideas, it can be easily imagined that women’s pace


becomes slow; their way of thinking is becoming rigid; their germ of life is extinct and there is no need for

them to compete with men, they are content with their status quo, and they do not have great incentives and

consciousness to improve them, which will do a great harm to the development and self-fulfillment of women

in the long run. This is a vicious circle. In turn, women’s incompetence will reinforce her status quo as the

subordinate and subsidiary beings both in the family and in the society. As women, they are living in a house

with a glass window through which they can peep at the busy and interesting life lived by men, but they are

denied the entrance to participate in and enjoy it. Life is also like a game whose riles are male made by men and

for men only. Although both men and women are competitors, women as one group of the runners in the race

for society’s goods and services are systematically disadvantaged.

Alexandra’s Frustration With Marital Problems

Different from the traditional passive women images in the past, Alexandra is a creative woman, who is

passionate to create a meaningful existence for her in the patriarchal society. Success brings loneliness as well as

wealth. Although Alexandra possesses a large wealth and enjoys some benefits that go with it, she is not as happy

as she is expected to be.

Having dedicated her beauty, youth and energy in the tiresome work of carrying on her father’s task,

Alexandra is still single at the age of 40 and she lives a very lonely life. Being a woman carrying great weight, she

longs for a partner to share her sorrows and joys, to release her fatigue, and to refresh her after a day’s work. From

her girlhood till her adulthood, when troubled or tired, a same dream recurs, in which, she was lifted and carried

lightly by someone very strong, she felt free from pain.

Alexandra is ambitious for her achievements on her land, but she’s also hungry for love and happiness of a

marriage. However, in a patriarchal society, her rightful pursuit for her personal happiness is no easier than her

transformation of the wild land. She can transform the wild land but she can’t transform the society full of gender

injustice and oppression over women.

In the novel, when Alexandra grows older, Mr. Bergson has to depend more and more upon her

resourcefulness and good judgment, recognizing that his daughter is intelligent. But in his mind, son and daughter

do not mean the same thing. Unfortunately, although his sons are industrious, he can never teach them to use their

heads about their work. However, unlike her mother, Alexandra not only dares to say “no” to men, but also has

the consciousness as well as actions to defend her individual rights and protect the downtrodden and the

ostracized, resorting to the means of law.

Together with Lou and Oscar, Emil also objects to Alexandra’s marriage. As for Emil’s reaction to her

marriage, Alexandra encounters an unexpected disappointment, sadness and irony. She has expected that he can

understand her a little more, than his two older brothers but Emil fails her. To Emil, Alexandra acts as more a

mother than a sister. After their parents’ death, she brings up Emil herself, builds her house for him, and sends

him to college in an attempt to create a chance for him to do whatever he wants to. Although Emil loves and even

admires Alexandra, he can never understand and appreciate her. Ironically, the people who really understand and

appreciate Alexandra are her friends Marie and Carl. Emil remains the same as his brothers—one member of the

superior male group.

Even Carl, Alexandra’s love, is not as good as he is expected to be. Before Carl plans to go away, Alexandra


confesses to him that she doesn’t need money, but needs him for a great many years. Furthermore, she says,

“what I have is yours if you care enough about me to take it” (Cather, 1913, p. 84). But Carl is not only “too little

to face the criticism of even such men as Lou and Oscar” (Cather, 1913, p. 90), but is also unwilling to accept

what Alexandra would give him until he has something to show for himself and has something to offer her. In

other words, Carl believes that women should be dependent upon men rather than vice versa. To share with

Alexandra what she has without offering something himself is to Carl unthinkable as well as unacceptable.

Therefore, despite being tired of the endless wandering days, he chooses to leave for Alaska to seek his fortunes

in order to vindicate his poor indignity as a man.

Carl leaves and Emil is gone, Lou and Oscar do not come to her home again, severing the relations with

Alexandra. Success can bring man wealth, fame, love, friendship, and power, almost whatever he desires,

whereas it brings women loneliness and a sense of resignation. Take Alexandra’s marriage for example, her

dedication to fulfill her father’s task is one reason that she has not got married yet at the age of 40. She simply can

find no time and energy to consider her marriage in the painstaking process of pioneering. But the more important

reason is that her success and her independence turn out to be a hindrance rather than a help to her marriage. Her

independence, success, and power must have kept many a man at a distance. Since these qualities are indirect

oppositions to the gender-related roles and attitudes as dictated by a male-centered society for its women. This is

the great sadness of a successful woman like Alexandra. To be a woman in a male-centered society is a hard

destiny but to be an exceptional one must be doubly hard. Feeling puzzled, helpless and tired, Alexandra

questions sadly “I wonder why I have been permitted to prosper, if it is only to take my friends away from me”

(Cather, 1913, p. 105). History is repeating itself. It’s common to find a woman behind successful men. But it is

rare to find a man behind a successful woman.

Antonia’s Frustration With Social Bias

“When boys and girls are growing up, life can’t stand still … they have to grow up, whether they will or no”

(Cather, 1994, p. 155). Cather portrayed Antonia who fully developed her characteristics through the conflicts

with society. Antonia’s move to Black Hawk signifies another milestone in her development. In order to better

support her brother Ambrosch’s farm, Antonia moves to Black Hawk town as a hired girl for the Harlings. There

she will explore and battle with physical and mental challenges in the form of people and societal conventions

for women and immigrants. The hired girls in Black Hawk have received social prejudice on their dual

identification of women and immigrants. The self-consciousness of Alexandra is exposed. Although the

immigrant country girls are good laborers, people of Black Hawk have prejudice and regard the immigrants as

stupid foreigners. People in the town thought these immigrant girls were another race and a great menace to the

conservative social order. “Physically they were almost a race apart, and out-of-door work had given them a

vigor which, when they got over their first shyness on coming to town, developed into a positive carriage and

freedom of movement” (Cather, 1994, p. 127).

They are not used to accepting the unconventional figures with vigor, positive carriage, and freedom of

movement. Pioneer women are totally different from traditional Victorian women.

In the new stage of life, Antonia is industrious and hard working. She also displays vitality, vivacity and

strength as she has done on the farm. She reveals a deep and spontaneous response to life, so she immediately


becomes popular with her employers. She herself also displays a happy life in the Harlings’ family. Antonia is at

first just as servile to her employers’ family as Mrs. Harling is to her husband, but soon rebels against the

orthodox expectations on the hired girls like her in Black Hawk. Her transformation is brought about after a

dancing pavilion has come to town. Being the best dancer of them all, Antonia is soon so fascinated by the dances

that she talks and thinks of nothing but the tent. As a result of her success at the tent, Antonia becomes the center

of a group of males who start to circle around her like flies. The iceman, the delivery boys and young farmers all

come to tramping through the Harlings’ yard to the back door to engage dances, or to invite Antonia to parties and

picnics, so a crisis is inevitable. Eventually she is forced by the autocratical Mr. Harling to quit going to the

dances where she attracts so much attention or get another job. In the eyes of Mr. Harling, Antonia has offended

public decency, as he tells her: “You’ve been going with girls who have a reputation for being free and easy, and

now you’ve got the same reputation” (Cather, 1994, p. 165). Mrs. Harling is of course on the side of her husband.

But to Antonia, the dances mean so much more than can be understood by men like Mr. Harling that she refuses

to give them up even if it means rebellion against her boss and giving up her job at the Harlings. “Stop going to

the tent?” she panted, “My own father couldn’t make me stop! Mr. Harling ain’t my boss outside my work”

(Cather, 1994, p. 165). Then Antonia and the Harlings part.

Antonia’s revolt against the Harlings is a rebellion in favor of the good things of life. Years of drudgery on

remote farm with an unpleasant mother and brother for company have begotten in her a fierce desire to enjoy

life’s sweets. The rebellion seems mild since it consists chiefly of having a good time and going out with young

men to dances, but the significance of her rebellion is that it shows Antonia’s asserting her independence from

Harlings as well as from her family.

After leaving the Harlings, Antonia decides to work for the notoriously dissolute Wick Cutter. Cutter is

described in such a degrading way that he reminds the readers of the filthy snake that Jim Killed. He is so hated by

the people that a boy would go to a good deal of trouble to throw a dead cat into his back yard. In fact, Cutter is

obviously planning to rape Antonia, but finally failed.

After leaving Cutter’s house, Antonia falls in love with a railroad conductor named Larry Donovan. He lures

her to Denver with promises of marriage and then deserts her. Antonia has to come back to the prairie, pregnant

and disgraced.

During this period, Antonia’s life stage moves to the town and city—Black Hawk and Denver. Antonia is

suddenly removed from a sparsely populated country to grow. In the beginning, Antonia lives the happy life at the

Harling’s. But as she leaves the prairie, she loses much of her contact with the land, which is the source of her

vitality and happiness, and experiences the bitterness of life in town and city. When she returns to the prairie, she

tells Jim, “I’d always be miserable in a city. I’d die of lonesomeness. I like to be where I know every stack and

tree, and where all the ground is friendly” (Cather, 1994, p. 250).

Pioneer Women’s Realization of Self-development

Traditional marriage is usually dominated and oriented by autocratic men. Hence, creating harmonious

family and marital life requires cooperation and endeavors of both sexes.

Women as geniuses always express their opinions and positions properly in order to achieve their rights.

With outstanding ability to express them and communicate with the world, these women characters never


embarrass them in facing difficulties and awkward situations. Pioneer women’s special capacity functions as a

rival to the suffocating and rigid social atmosphere. This trait of femininity symbolizes women’s devotion to life

and comprehending nature. Through communicating with their natural environment and people around, women

characters express themselves, forcefully and can comprehend their situation accurately. Consequently, capable

women are able to find adequate ways to adapt themselves to their environment. This feminine characteristic

qualifies them for keeping pace with the advancing world. In addition, independent women characters’ ability to

link strength with imagination carries weigh in the process of their self-development too.

Alexandra differs from Antonia in that she lays her emphasis on farming the land while Antonia pours her

energy to create harmonious family atmosphere. However, in addition to managing the farm, Alexandra protects

Ivar, watches out for Mrs. Lee, helps Emil to escape the corn fields, advises Marie, and organizes her brother’s

work. What she does shows her feminine and maternal affection. In a sense, she plays the role of a spiritual pillar

among people around her.

Antonia attracts Jim with her good nature. From the innocent and hard working country girls like

Antonia, Jim sees beauty, vigor and hope. Antonia as the most important woman in Jim’s life signifies the

country, the conditions, and the whole adventure of his childhood. Her womanhood and strength conform her

into “a rich mine of life, like the founders of early races” (Cather, 1994, p. 275). Jim admires her mainly

because “whatever else was gone, Antonia had not lost the fire of life” (Cather, 1994, p. 306). This merit of

endurance is the very element that Jim lacks in his life. From the beginning to the end, Antonia’s charm is

demonstrated in forms of womanhood, love and maternal affection. Jim remarks affectionately to Antonia

“I’d have liked to have you for a sweetheart, or a wife, or my mother or my sister anything that a woman can

be to a man” (Cather, 1994, p. 251). Actually, his admiration for her reveals men’s sterility and their

psychological dependence on maternal love.

Conclusion

This thesis focuses on pioneer women’s development of the self from the perspective of feminism in O

Pioneers! and My Antonia. As rigid social connections and concepts restrict women’s autonomy and freedom;

they must transform themselves and the world in order to survive. Through hardship, Willa Cather’s protagonists

have some common places that lead to their success. Pioneer women transform their environment with their

outstanding traits. Being intelligent and ambitious, pioneer women are extraordinary women who embrace new

ideas and new things full of passion, imagination and adventurous spirit. For them, life is to try, to experiment, to

pursue, to adventure, to transcend, and to die of having lived. Dissatisfied with her life no wider than her

cornfields, pioneer women yearn for the wide world to express herself and fervently hopes that they can enjoy the

freedom that men enjoy, the freedom, not just to create, but to be, to think and to feel.In Cather’s works, her

protagonists all respect knowledge and are interested in the things around them, which make them different from

the other people and could achieve unusual achievements. In order to analyze pioneer women’s process of

self-growth in the special period, the author compares and contrasts the specific situation, and analyzes the

characteristics of the protagonists in the two novels. Through analysis, the authuor concludes that pioneer women

always create a nurturing and gracious atmosphere in their household. Practically, these women successfully

transmit the old civilization to the newly established homestead.


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Jamesian Impressions of the Cities

Tzu Yu Allison Lin

Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey

A writer’s narrative style is about the way in which he or she comes to handle a subject—it can be a theme, a

character, or a place, etc.. When someone tries to define Henry James’s writing style, for instance, he or she is

amazed by the sense of richness in Jamesian styles, because of the writer’s own life experience and life style.

Travelling around different cities and going to art galleries and museums certainly construct James’s unique way of

seeing. In this article, the author wants to focus on Jamesian ways of seeing the relation between art and writing.

Treating novel as a form of fine arts, the author would suggest, James uses techniques of painting and photography

in the writing about the impressions of the cities.

Keywords: Henry James, impression, Paris, London, New York

Introduction

William James, in The Principles of Psychology (1890), proposes his understanding of the process of seeing,

focusing on the way which human consciousness interacts with the external world, in order to see “what the

world means to us” (Wilshire, 1968, p. 9). Human consciousness is the nexus of William James’s metaphysical

interpretation of subject-object dualism, because it does not appear to itself chopped up in bits. Such words as

“chain” or “train” do not describe it fitly as it presents itself in the first instance. It is nothing joined; it flows. A

“river” or a “stream” is the metaphor by which it is most naturally described. In talking of it hereafter, let us call

it the stream of thought, of consciousness, or of subjective life (James, 1981, p. 233).

The subject perceives the external world by making sense of the visual objects—what one sees. Using the

word “stream” as a metaphor of depicting how human consciousness works to produce impressions, William

James’s claim actually comes to reveal the significant relation between vision and mind through the process of

seeing, in a way which visual objects are internalised as impressions via vision and consciousness. In Henry

James’s novels, the reader can see the way in which impressions are formed through the stream of

subject-object dualism.

Paris

Henry James’s writing style is personal and experimental, as the French impressionist painters do in their

paintings. The French impressionists, as James claims in his essay “The Impressionists” (1876), collectively

represent a new artistic way of seeing the external world. The French impressionists are not interested in

Tzu Yu Allison Lin, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Foreign Language Education, Faculty of Education, Gaziantep

University.

DAVID PUBLISHING

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JAMESIAN IMPRESSIONS OF THE CITIES 614

portraying the exact look of visual objects. Instead of painting what the external world looks like, the

impressionists would paint their own unique impressions of what they see. The impression would be taken as the

truth, showing the artist’s vision and design in a work of art. Henry James himself, as a literary artist and art critic,

sees the aesthetics of French impressionism as a process of conscious “arrangement, embellishment, selection”

(James, 1989, p. 114). Similar to an impressionist approach, the author would suggest, in The Ambassadors

(1994), the act of seeing people, things and places reveals a particular Jamesian strategy of knowing the truth,

instead of searching for meanings only through the surface of things and visual objects.

Jamesian artistic vision is expressed through “the stream of thought”, which serves as an “account of a

process” of seeing (James, 1994, p. 4). The novel The Ambassadors itself is an impression of an anecdote of a

friend, whose name is Jonathan Sturges (Matthiessen, 1946, p. 15). Through writing, the city of Paris comes to

unlock Strether’s process of observation. Eventually, Strether’s way of seeing Paris reveals his impression of the

city, which comes to form the significance of Jamesian narrative style.

A writer’s style can be read as a textual pleasure of his or her own. The reader can recongise this style while

reading, as if seeing the “signature” (Donoghue, 1995, p. 228) of the writer. A writer’s narrative style also

indicates “the conscientiousness with which he works” (Donoghue, 1995, p. 228). Seeing literature as an artistic

form, James depicts Strether’s stream of feeling, thought and memory in an objective way. In order to achieve

“objectivity” (Wellek, 1958, p. 309), James uses an objective point of view—the narrator’s own—to depict truth

in his fictional world. To define the term “stream of consciousness”, Baldick (2008) points out that “Marcel

Proust’s novel A la recherché du temps perdu (1913-27)” is one of the best examples for this writing technique,

presenting “the connection between sense-impressions and memory” (p. 318) directly from the first person’s

point of view. Jamesian style at this point is a perfect first person narration, given by the narrator “I”, observing

and depicting Strether’s process of seeing.

The picturesque view of the French countryside is significant, including a boat which contains “a man who

held the paddles and a lady, […], with a pink parasol” (James, ssion of the Parisian events, revealing his own

awareness of the love affair between Chad and 1994, p. 309). James’s literary image depicts two human figures in

the boat, referring to an Impressionist expression of leisure, as John Singer Sargent’s lady, Violet Sargent, and

her parasol in A Morning Walk (1888, as cited in Adelson, 1997, p. 22). The brightness of the sunlight seems to

be Sargent’s “salute to Monet” and his Woman with Umbrella (1886, as cited in Adelson, 1997, p. 22). Strether,

bathing in the sunlight, comes to achieve his ultimate vision of the truth—an impre Madame de Vionnet.

London

James’s narrative point of view is personal and significant. It is a powerful way to show perceptions of a

character, in which the external world is observed by the viewing subject. James’s aesthetics of objective point of

view helps to examine human psychology in details, as in an experimental process of seeking “an impossible

perfection” (Wharton, 1925, p. 90), as in his novel The Golden Bowl (1983). The obsession of a perfect portrayal

of human consciousness, according to Fredric Jameson, is the very reason why Henry James is not “a minor

nineteenth-century man of letters” (Jameson, 1981, p. 222). Using the British Museum and the Bloomsbury area,

James’s London in The Golden Bowl, again, like his Paris in The Ambassadors, becomes a place where secrets

and hidden motives hide underneath artistic appearances. The “crack” (James, 1983, p. 429) of the gilded bowl


was seen. The crack was mentioned by Maggie in a dialogue. Ignoring the reader’s impatience, there are always

more to be said, before one reaches the essential point of James’s novel.

The city of London fulfils the “suggestiveness” (Woolf, 1986, p. 23) of the feeling of Maggie, which is

externalised as “the impression betrayed by her companion’s eyes” (James, 1983, p. 429). Maggie’s feeling is

depicted in detail, but indirectly. The city of London reinforces the scene of Maggie’s process of seeing in a

dramatic way, in which the novel takes its “dramatic step” (James, 1983, p. xlvi). Maggie’s walk on the London

streets is “an independent ramble, impressed, excited, contented, with nothing to mind and nobody to talk to […]”

(James, 1983, p. 412). The Bloomsbury area is a place where “funny little fascinating” shops—such as “an old

bookseller’s, an old printmonger’s, a couple of places with dim antiquities in the window”—all these, in James’s

writing, give the reader an “optical echoes” (Grossman, 1994, p. 321) of the world of objects in which

photographic realism emerges, indicating Maggie’s “unexpected finds” (James, 1983, p. 412) would happen soon.

James’s power of description certainly is in the hidden visual significance of the city.

Through depicting London, James’s verbal art also comes to represent the mood of an era. Taking The

Awkward Age as an example, in Book 1, “Lady Julia”, the reader can see that Vanderbank and Mr Longdon have

a nostalgic moment in a rainy and stormy London day. Through “the pleasant, ruddy room” (James, 1999, p. 2),

the afternoon light leaves an impression in the room. Vanderbank observes Mr. Longdon, having an impression

that “he had somehow an effect” (James, 1999, p. 3) of his 30 years of living in London. For Mr. Longdon, Van is

young, representing the new generation of the London society. The framed photograph in the room is a gift from

Little Nanda, indicating friendship between herself and Mr. Longdon.

Vanderbank the young man would not believe in friendship in London. The city, for him, is like “a huge

‘squash’, […]—an elbowing, pushing, perspiring, chattering mob” (James, 1999, p. 13). For John Kimmey,

James’s London “was becoming a mad world, ‘a huge squash’, without delicacy, discrimination, or a sense of

privacy” (Kimmey, 1991, p. 114). In this respect, Nanda’s photo seems to preserve a sense of innocence, as the

person in the image makes the reader visualise the generation gap between Mr. Longdon and Van, which is a

30-year “process of change and decay” (Hall, 1963, p. 35). James’s London indicates a dialectical tone of writing,

in a way which the traditional light of realism and the sophisticated and dynamic modern light are synthesised.

Looking at the photograph, Mr Longdon’s vision comes to reveal the city’s nostalgic past, which is so

untouchable as his tears and his “emotions of grief” (Kimmey, 1991, p. 143).

New York

James’s New York city contains a strong sense of discontent. In one of his New York stories, “The

Impressions of a Cousin”, the narrator’s journal is full of detailed descriptions, revealing what the narrator “I”

think and how “I” feel in the city. The narrator comes to New York for seeing the family members, although the

narrator thinks that the city itself is “nothing to sketch” (James, 2006, p. 383). Underneath the appearance of the

“too hideous” cityscape, “the narrow, impersonal houses, with the dry, hard tone of their brown-stone, a surface

as uninteresting as that of sandpaper […]” (James, 2006, p. 383), the narrator Catherine Condit finds it is the best

to write and to draw her own emotional status, which is constructed through her reactions toward people and

things around her. James’s realism in this short fiction does not quite fit into a standard definition of realism. The

dull appearance of New York city, in James’s writing, does not create “a lifelike illusion of some ‘real’ world


outside the text” (Baldick, 2008, p. 281). Catherine’s verbal sketch does show psychological realism in James’s

own term, which expresses through a direct first person narrative form, representing Catherine’s personal

impressions in a very sufficient way.

In Catherine’s journal, there is a verbal portrait of Eunice, which depicts a moment of Eunice’s smile. Her

smile is highly suggestive, in a way which the narrator Catherine is very much confused. The meaning of her

smile is very much unknown—is Eunice troubled by seeing what Mr. Caliph wants, through his brother Mr.

Frank’s marriage proposal? How much does she know about her own situation? Catherine’s impression of

Eunice, in “a very hot night” (James, 2006, p. 429), is as ambiguous as Eunice’s thought. In a “very hot night”,

Eunice,

…was alone in her room, without a lamp; the windows were wide open, and the dusk was clarified by the light of the street. She sat there, among things vaguely visible, in a white wrapper, with her fair hair on her shoulders, and I could see her eyes move toward me when I asked her whether she knew that Mr Frank whished to marry her. I could see her smile, too, as she answered that she knew he thought he did, but also knew he didn’t. (James, 2006, p. 429)

Eunice says there is nothing that Catherine can do, with “a laugh that was not like her usual laughter” (James,

2006, p. 430). She may not know exactly what Catherine knows—“Mr. Caliph is pushing his brother” (James,

2006, p. 430). Eunice’s situation is like the view outside of the window. There are hundreds of gas lights,

standing there, looking exactly the same, “as ugly as a bad dream” (James, 2006, p. 430). Catherine’s gaze and

impression reveal a typical “Jamesian moment” (Poole, 2006, p. 78) of knowing.

Conclusion

There is no ultimate version of truth. It depends on what one sees and how one expresses his or her own truth.

There are many different versions of truth, depending on not only one’s own perspectives, but also the social

context which one is situated in. As Maupassant once stated, “to believe in reality” is actually a very “childish”

thing, as “[o]ur eyes, our ears, our sense of smell, of taste, differing from one person to another, create as many

truths as there are men upon earth” (James, 1948, p. 72). Psychological realism is a style, in which James is able

to depict the mood of his own particular age. As an American travelled and lived through different European

cities, the significance of Henry James’s style, the author would suggest, is its difficulty to be understood by the

reader, with the international literary theme. Comparing Rome to New York, Catherine finds New York is not

very much likeable. As Tóibín (2009) once pointed out, the city of New York represents “a mixture of a

remembered Eden and a failed style” (p. 248). In James’s writings, the reader can sense his preference of

European cities. The charm of European cities stimulates James’s passion for art and life, as in the garden party of

Sunday afternoon, in 1895, in McNeill Whistler’s old house, James “reads into the Howells figure the pith and

precision of his character’s emotion” (Hocks, 1997, p. 43). Strether, in Paris, comes to realise that he “has

accordingly missed too much” (James, 1994, p. 1). Paris and London have their own charm, because they are

both old enough to arouse deep emotions and thoughts about art and life. James’s narrative style does have a

personal aim. The purpose of writing, for James, is to explore life through different places, in order to make “the

art, for if a picture a tale, or a novel be a direct impression of life” (James, 1948, p. 71). Henry James, in this

respect, is not merely a novelist. He is, ultimately, an artist.


References

Adelson, W. (1997). In the modernist camp. In M. Christian & N. Grubb (Eds.), Sargent abroad: Figures and landscapes (pp. 9-53). New York: Abbeville.

Baldick, C. (2008). Oxford dictionary of literary terms. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Buelens, G. (1997). Enacting history in Henry James: Narrative, power, and ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Donoghue, D. (1995). Walter Pater: Lover of strange souls. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Grossman, J. (1994). “It’s the Real Thing”: Henry James, photography, and The Golden Bowl. The Henry James Review, 15,

309-328. Hall, W. F. (1968). James’s conception of society in The Awkward Age. Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 23(1), 28-48. Hocks, R. A. (1997). Multiple germs, metaphorical systems, and moral fluctuation in The Ambassadors. In G. Buelens (Ed.),

Enacting history in Henry James: Narrative, power, and ethics (pp. 40-60). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. James, H. (1948). The art of fiction and other essays. New York: Oxford University Press. James, H. (1983). The golden bowl. Oxford: Oxford University Press. James, H. (1989). The impressionists. In J. L. Sweeney (Ed.), The painter’s eye (pp. 114-115). Madison: The University of

Wisconsin Press. James, H. (1994). The ambassadors. S. P. Rosenbaum (Ed.). New York: W. W. Norton. James, H. (1999). The awkward age. Oxford: Oxford University Press. James, H. (2006). The impressions of a cousin. In C. Tóibín (Ed.), The New York stories of Henry James (pp. 383-461). New York:

New York Review Books. James, H. (1948). Guy de Maupassant. In H. James (Ed.), The art of fiction and other essays (pp. 70-96). New York: Oxford

University Press. James, W. (1981). The principles of psychology: Volume I (1890). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Jameson, F. (1981). The political unconscious: Narrative as a socially symbolic act. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Kimmey, J. (1991). Henry James and London: The city in his fiction. New York: Peter Lang. Matthiessen, F. O. (1946). Henry James: The major phase. London: Oxford University Press. McNeillie, A. (Ed.). (1986-1994). The essays of Virginia Woolf. London: Hogarth. Poole, A. (1997). James and the Shadow of the Roman Empire: Manners and the Consenting Victim. In G. Buelens (Ed.), Enacting

history in Henry James: Narrative, power, and ethics (pp. 75-92). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tóibín, C. (2009). Henry James’s New York. The Henry James Review, 30(3), 244-259. Wellek, R. (1958). Henry James’s literary theory and criticism. American Literature, 30(3), 293-321. Wharton, E. (1925). The writing of fiction. London: Charles Scribner’s Sons. Wilshire, B. (1968). William James and phenomenology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Woolf, V. (1986). Mr. Henry James’s latest novel. McNeillie, 1, 22-24.


From the 19th-Century Novel to the Portuguese Contemporary

Film Adaptation∗

Filomena A. Sobral Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal

Porto Regional Center of the Portuguese Catholic University, Porto, Portugal

The literary adaptations of canonical novels for film provide a unique repository of both identity contents and

socio-cultural observations which can be revisited through the filmic representations. These recreations symbolize

not only a privileged visual interpretation of a nation, but they also allow us to examine how a given society reflects

itself through the fiction. In this sense, the objective of this paper is to reflect upon the Portuguese updated filmic

adaptation of The Crime of Father Amaro (1880) by the canonical author Eça de Queiroz. On one hand, the author

intends to rethink about the Portuguese identity portrayed by the film and, at the same time, the author manages to

observe how the Portuguese society is revealed. On the other hand, the paper aims to analyze the particular process

of the adaptation of The Crime of Father Amaro following a qualitative methodology.

Keywords: cinema, adaptation, literature, Eça de Queiroz, classical novels

Introduction

Cinema has always been based on literary material as a source of inspiration for some of its most prominent productions. This tendency dates back to the days of the silent movies and it is a practice that remains along the historiography of the cinema in the sound era. This interest is justified because books and movies share a common interest in narrative and, on the other hand, because both artistic languages benefit from this dialogue, exploring new frontiers that offer expressive possibilities each time the film gives an interpretation of the original text. Furthermore, national literature and movies represent an identity legacy that witnesses a unique cultural heritage. In the case of the classical literature, beyond the book’s patrimonial value stands the temporal validation and generational identification by the recognition of common references and by the repository of knowledge which motivates a social and cultural reflection.

This close relationship between literature and cinema, anchored under the sign of adaptation, approaches not only two important cultural forms of expression, but also provides a privileged observatory to reveal how a society represents itself through the fiction. In this sense, throughout this text, the author intends to develop an

∗ Acknowledgments: FCT and CI & DETS (Center for Studies in Education, Technology and Health, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu) (PEst-OE/CED/UI4016/2014), CITAR (Centre for Research on Science and Technology in Arts) (PEst-OE/EAT/UI0622/2014) POCI 2010, Portuguese Government and the European Union (FEDER).

Filomena A. Sobral, Ph.D., professor, School of Education, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu and CITAR Portuguese Catholic University.

DAVID PUBLISHING

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FROM THE 19TH-CENTURY NOVEL TO THE PORTUGUESE CONTEMPORARY FILM 619

analytical perspective of the updated filmic adaptation of The Crime of Father Amaro (2005), a canonical novel written in 1880 by the renowned Portuguese author Eça de Queiroz, to observe the Portuguese identity portrayed by the movie and, at the same time, to study the transformational process of the adaptation.

The analysis reflects on the feature film The Crime of Father Amaro directed by Carlos Coelho da Silva, because it is an updated transposition of the 19th-century Portuguese novel. This contemporary version provides a modern-day portrait of the Portuguese identity and, on the other hand, the fact that it is an adaptation of a novel by Eca de Queiroz motivates us to highlight the influence of an author who is considered a remarkable international ambassador of the Portuguese identity (Guerra da Cal, 1980). Eca de Queiroz is actually considered a brilliant observer of Portugal and of the Portuguese society (Monica, 2001), whose books have been adapted in a transnational context throughout the years.

The methodology used in this paper aims to describe and explain, allowing us to review important concepts associated to the literary adaptation, as well as questions related to the specificity of the up to date adaptations and also the Portuguese cultural representations and identity. The methodological approach is based on a qualitative content analysis. Therefore, it is established a dual task which begins to decompose the movie into its constituent elements (decomposition/description) and then it is endangered connections between these data to understand and explain (rebuild/interpret) (Gomez Tarín, 2010). This involves seeing the movie, identifying the narrative structure and its basic components and distinguishing between thematic fields to relate all this issues with the novel. Rejecting an approach centered on the textual fidelity, the perspective that was adopted is based on a model that considers the evaluation of the individual qualities of the adaptation. Consequently, it was developed a detailed analysis not only of the iconographic elements but also of the narration aspects, reflecting on the features of the filmic product in order to offer a possible interpretation of the dramatic unity under review. This meticulous process allows us to explore distinctive qualities of the transposition and attempts to emphasize the filmic individuality to characterize not only the production itself, but the national identity represented as well.

The Novel

The Crime of Father Amaro (1880) is a 19th-century novel which was first published in 1875 in the form of serials in the Western Magazine (Revista Ocidental), then it appeared as a book in 1876 and finally, in 1880, the third version of this narrative was released According to Reis (2005, p. 17) the final proposal of The Crime of

Father Amaro is “an adult and mature” work of art. The Crime of Father Amaro tells the story of Amaro Vieira, a young priest who, upon the death of the

Leiria's Cathedral cleric, is appointed to replace him. In that little country town, another cleric (Cónego Dias), who is Mrs. Augusta Caminha lover, arranges accommodation for Father Amaro in her house, where her daughter Amelia, a beautiful 23 year old girl also lives, as well as her paralytic old aunt Gertrude. Installed in that religious residence, under the silent consent of all who attend the devout evenings of the two ladies, Amaro and Amelia initiate a tempestuous love affair. Advised by his servant Dionysia, the young priest begins to have romantic encounters with Amelia under disguise of preparing her for a nun. However, misfortune looms upon the priest when he knows that Amelia is pregnant. To get rid of the situation the first idea of Amaro is to marry Amelia with a previous boyfriend, but soon he knows that the boy has emigrated to Brazil; the second hypothesis is to send Amelia to give birth in a distant place. When the baby is born Amaro gives him to a nanny who killed


all the babies who she received to take care. Weakened after the childbirth and imploring for her son, Amelia dies. Cowardly, Amaro departs without attending her funeral. He reappears some years later, in 1871, remorseless and even as a priest in a parish of Lisbon.

The Crime of Father Amaro is a novel that deals with a controversial central theme and it represents the literary evolution of Eça de Queiroz. Whereas the first version of the novel is established in a moment where the writer was outlining his style, in the two following versions of the novel there is a clear link to the Realism. This literary movement proposes a reformulation of ideas and literary models and symbolizes the preference for the detail, description and use of adjectives, as well as the use of new forms of expression. Furthermore, there is an enthusiasm for more controversial topics such as sex, incest, adultery and human fragilities, experienced by weak characters who give up to their fatal instincts. In a more radical level of these ideas emerges the Naturalism, a literary school that advocates on behalf of detailed observation of the surrounding reality and emphasizes the critical role of inheritance and environment in determining individual’s behaviors. Equally characteristic of naturalistic novels is the construction of dialogues that resemble the spoken language, which results in believable conversations and gives the book a contemporary dimension, as if we were reading a text that is always new.

Influenced by these features, The Crime of Father Amaro is a narrative that focuses not only on the crime of a young priest, but represents the crimes of other amoral religious, as well as the sins of the parishioners who represent a provincial and retrograde society. All this puts emphasis on the social observatory undertaken by Eça de Queiroz. For this reason the novel has a title―The Crime of Father Amaro and a subtitle―Scenes of a Devout

Life, thus, extending the universe of the novel. The Crime of Father Amaro accomplishes a socio-cultural critical process drawing attention to what Moura (2004, p. 502) considers to be the “revelation of an illiterate and fearful society, hidden behind concepts and prejudices that they are not aware of”.

In terms of the dominant themes of this novel, apart from the question of the priesthood without vocation, Eça de Queiroz underlines other subjects that concerned him, such as education, hypocrisy, political corruption, fraudulent journalism, women’s status and domestic unhappy life, located in an extremely social and mental well-characterized scenario (Reis & Milheiro, 1989). It emerges, therefore, the social environment and the small social groups where the characters move as responsible for the moral degradation of the protagonist. The construction of the fictional individuals is also object of meticulous attention by the 19th-century author because for him the characters are, at the same time, a product of the society and a mirror of that same society. Moreover, they also appear as critical tools and at the same time they are extremely credible.

Antero de Quental (2004), another well-known Portuguese canonical author, thinks that The Crime of

Father Amaro is “the best example of Portuguese social psychology” (p. 7) because in it Eça denounces a devout life of a Portuguese province, the small parochial ambitions, the intriguer within the private and social life and the ridiculous figure of some fictional beings that allude to members of the real community. Under the irony that The

Crime of Father Amaro is “just, basically, a plot of clerics and devotes whispered in the shade of an old Portuguese province cathedral” (Queiroz, 2004, p. 13), the canonical author starts a narrative that is not simple and represents a critical view towards the delay of Portugal.

Therefore, it is evident that The Crime of Father Amaro highlights several controversial issues with the “purpose of social intervention with strong ideological motivation” (Reis, 2005, p. 60). The canonical author condemns the inaction of the Portuguese and underlines the retrograde attitude of those who live dazzled by the


foreign influence and are unable to produce knew knowledge autonomously. On the other hand, the 19th-century writer illustrates a country that is dominated by a political, journalistic and intellectual elite which is characterized by the mediocrity. The national parochialism emerges in contrast to European progress. However, despite his tendency to caricature, Eca de Queiroz also shows a perspective of hope that progress destroys both apathy and delays which dominates the nation. Therefore, this is the starting point for a cinematic representation that gave rise in 2005 to a Portuguese film settled in the XXI century.

The Filmic Transmutation

In his letter to Augusto Fábregas, on 6th May 1890, Eça de Queiroz reveals admiration for the great interest in the adaptation of The Crime of Father Amaro for theater. He writes that “I never thought this novel as being capable of dramatization” (Queiroz as cited in Matos, 1993, p. 37). However, in The Crime of Father Amaro there are actions which are truly dramatic (Andrade as cited in Matos, 1993, p. 37). The truth is that this novel originated not only theatrical adaptations, but also filmic and television versions.

The Crime of Father Amaro (2005), apart from being the Portuguese most successful film in terms of number of viewers (380,671, ICA, 2009, p. 37), focuses on a subject that seems to be pleasing the Portuguese audiences. Indeed, the other Portuguese film that previously held the viewers record was Temptation (1997) directed by Joaquim Leitão, with 361,312 viewers (ICA, 2008, p. 39). This film was also based on the story of a forbidden love between a priest and a parishioner.

The 2005 filmic adaptation of The Crime of Father Amaro, although has its roots in the 19th-century novel, presents quite creative reinterpretations, which allows us to catalogue this sort of filmic adaptation as a free adaptation according to Doc’s Comparato typology (1993). In this type of adaptation it is common to emphasize the dramatic aspects of the text to create a new structure. This is what, effectively, the filmic transmutation of The

Crime of Father Amaro materializes, emphasizing the desire and celibacy of priests and transposing the story to an urban context in the 21st century. Therefore, the main subject of the film questions once more the celibacy and focuses on the fictionalization of the contemporary living of the priests in a Lisbon parish. Moving away from the source text, the process of metamorphosis involves other issues, such as delinquency, violence and problematic experiences within a social district. The adaptation also focuses on the question of social solidarity. In this sense, in parallel with the central theme of the priests' celibacy, the film accentuates a message of social solidarity, drawing attention to a subplot included in the narrative, to the reality of Lisbon’s problematic neighborhoods.

Thus, the film dramatizes criminality problems commonly associated to violent districts, and at the same time it underlines values such as solidarity, inclusion, rehabilitation and reintegration into society. The Parochial Centre attached to the church emerges as a space that brings together individuals and resources that are seeking to organize activities in order to raise funds to help the needy people and, secondly, it also develops a series of educational initiatives, training and basic health care.

In the Portuguese adaptation of The Crime of Father Amaro the subjects, as well as dialogues and scenes, are represented in an impetuous manner, using sex scenes, physical aggression, violence and, sometimes, obscene language. On the other hand, the film also fictionalizes controversial issues, such as suicide or child abuse. Therefore, alongside with the problems experienced within the Catholic Church, such as corruption, sexual scandals, power abuse and excessive behavior of some members of the church community, the filmic adaptation


focuses on contemporary themes. Although Amaro has always been interested in the female, the idea exhorted by the film is that his integration into a group of corrupt clerics will accelerate his sin. In the filmic transposition Amaro is the sinner and Amelia symbolizes an angry and unstable girl whose childhood innocence was stolen by a cleric who raped her. This disturbed past conditioned Amelia’s present. She is inconstant and erratic, always fighting with her mother and boyfriend and putting herself to the test. She defies the limits and is frequently aggressive, but also needy. Like Amelia, Carolina, the subplot’s protagonist, is also a problematic young girl.

It is precisely through Amelia and Carolina that other problematic topics are presented on the big screen. Carolina represents the disobedience to her father by becoming involved with the leader of the marginal, appears pregnant and runs away from home in the middle of the night. It is likewise through her that the abortion issue is explored in this fictional narrative text for the first time. Similarly Amelia also reveals family problems, inconsistency and attraction to problematic men, such as the criminal João Eduardo or the hypocritical Amaro. Thus, the character Amelia unveils four major themes: child abuse and rape, on the one hand, and abortion and suicide, on the other hand.

In this sense, in terms of adaptation, the film offers a reinterpretation of Eça’s literary heritage putting the emphasis on the creative freedom to renew a canonical narrative. The filmic interpretation adopts the novel as a starting point, especially in terms of theme and main characters, but transforms the substance (Comparato, 1993) to create a contemporary fiction where the dialogues, scenes and actions were written to approach the modern times. Therefore it is an adaptation that distinguishes itself from the classic-novels adaptations, in terms of aesthetic and narrative, and it also proposes a hybrid language (articulating various styles), albeit in a simplified manner.

Identity Portrait

Eca de Queiroz illustrates Portugal and the Portuguese in a caricatured and ironic way which facilitates the recognition of certain impressions of identity, culture and Portuguese society (melancholic tendency, artificiality and moral weakness (Reis, 2005, p. 40)), that continues to be of interest to the generality of the other arts. The author is responsible for the formation of a very important part of the Portuguese common identity as well as the cultural imaginary and Portuguese collective consciousness (Reis, 2009).

Knowing that the identity of a community defines itself “among many other things, for its models of fiction, and in particular by the dominant models of fiction which it consumes” (Lopes, 1995, p. 13), contributing the fiction to the revelation of important cultural references and identity, we can recognize in the film The Crime of

Father Amaro various elements to understand how the Portuguese cinema represents the contemporary society and the Portuguese identity through the filter of fiction. Several examples support the argumentation. First, the representation of the Catholic tradition of the country, not only visible in the historical architecture of the churches, but also evident in various symbols of the Catholicism present in the houses of the characters, such as the image of the Virgin Mary, the representation of The Last Supper (1495–1498) hanging in the living rooms or the crucifix placed above the beds. Also Joaneira’s friends symbolize the figure of the Portuguese religious women known for the constant gossip and the continuous lament of many diseases who act as the faithful representative of the traditionalist mentality, evoking the portrait suggested by the philosopher Lourenço (2009, p. 76) that the denigration and the constant criticism “is a tradition among us”.


Paradoxically, the film induces an image of a conservative society, along with the idea of an advanced and cosmopolitan nation. Throughout the times, the traces of the Portuguese identity have been qualified as idealistic and emotional (Dias, 1971), resulting from the maritime adventure that has highlighted not only a spirit of tolerance and adaptability, but also a mind shaped by religious influence that believes in miracles and presages (Lourenço, 2009). Later, under a period of dictatorship, the Portuguese developed a spirit of obedience and the society closed within itself (Gil, 2008). Therefore, the call of the sea and the memory of the great achievements, but also the consequences of the autocracy and the decolonization produced a feeling of present delay in the Portuguese nature which has intensified the sadness and nostalgia (Barreto, 2009). Despite the development of the country and the participation in the European Union, the Portuguese remain traditionalists and inheritors of ancient inertias of which José Gil (2008, p. 88) underlines envy, “passivity, fearful respect for hierarchy, individualism and the lack of future perspectives” and he recalls that what “we need today more than ever, is solidarity ”(Gil, 2008, p. 89). According to the same source, the Portuguese society “is among a modernity that never came through and a post-modernity that is gradually invading us” (Gil, 2008, p. 40), this corresponds to an “unfinished modernity” (Machado & Costa, 1998).

Aware of this context, the filmic adaptation of The Crime of Father Amaro portrays the national identity as paradoxical, between the religious and traditional, but also permeable to outside influences and seeking for modernization. Besides this, the adaptation represents a fictional frame in which the urban family is in collapse, it emphasizes the misunderstanding between parents and children, where children live independent lives and survive through a parallel economy. The film focuses the violence between gangs, the passivity in the face of crime, the respect for the religious authority and a daily living in a neighborhood where the opportunities for a better future are limited. At the same time, the filmic transposition emphasizes a message of solidarity and social inclusion in a creative strategy to captivate audience and approaching the national character.

Another aspect of the Portuguese identity presented in the film The Crime of Father Amaro (2005) is the traditional gastronomy. Based on the argument that the cookery is an important part of the history and cultural traditions of every nation, this characteristic appears as a Portuguese cultural heritage which is perfectly evident in the fiction. So when the character Joaneira receives Amaro into her house, the meal that she serves him is codfish, a popular dish well known and particularly appreciated by the Portuguese. In this scene the presence of the codfish is especially accentuated by a close-up of the fish being placed on the character's plate. To accompany the meal, Amaro drinks red wine, which reminds us of a cultural habit rooted in the national behavior and that Portugal is traditionally a country producer and consumer of wine (Silvério, 2000).

Another Portuguese identity routine shown in the film is the ritual of drinking coffee after the meals. The Portuguese are well-known for drinking strong black coffee in small cups, a practice that remains from the influences of the colonial past. The filmic adaptation under analysis also highlights a typical feature of the Portuguese culture that is the use of diminutives in the oral language. This facet is also emphasized by Eça de Queiroz in his novels, usually for ironic or critical characterization. This is what happens, for example, in the novel The Crime of Father Amaro with the character “Libaninho” whose name is precisely a diminutive and that uses plenty of expressions abundant in diminutives (Queiróz, 2004, pp. 61-62).

A further element of the Portuguese cultural identity that is evidenced by the film is the enthusiasm of the nation for the football. This is perceptible in the adaptation by the soccer games played by the kids and also in the


decoration of the neighborhood cafe that alludes to one of the greatest football clubs of Lisbon, commonly associated with the popular and historically with the Portuguese capital (Cardoso, Xavier, & Cardoso, 2007). Football is the sport that mobilizes the country. It is indeed an important factor in the construction of personal and collective identity of a large number of Portuguese citizens (Cardoso et al., 2007, p. 127).

In this sense, the observation of different aspects of the Portuguese identity presents in the fictional translation, such as the language, the gastronomy, the architecture, the religious habits and ways of being, allow us to distinguish peculiarities of the Portuguese and corroborate a specific individuality, though the film doesn't intent to raise questions about it. At the same time, these observations enable the drawing of a cosmopolitan identity, increasingly multicultural and permeable to outside influences, but also highly marked by tradition. This filmic representation explores the identification with a country that searches for modernity, but that, at the same time, is influenced by the conventions and memory. Embarking on a strategy that seeks for recognition, this adaptation confirms not only the traditional identity of the Portuguese, but also disseminates a sketch of the contemporary Portugal, thus establishing a bridge with the modern times. In this sense, the film recalls contemporary anxieties about celibacy, abortion, pedophilia and social problems. It also emphasizes social solidarity, the growth of criminality (drugs and guns), the priesthood without vocation, corruption and journalistic manipulation. All this themes together underline the fact that these are unsolved aspects in the Portuguese society that constitute a fruitful basis for the fictional imaginary. On the other hand, it is a narrative based on the universe of Eça de Queiroz which, by induction, incorporates the identity interrogation and themes that are important to the author, such as celibacy.

From Book to Film

As the administrator of a Portuguese little country town (Leiria, 1870-1871) Eça de Queiroz could observe a social, human, cultural and religious reality that became his inspiration to write The Crime of Father Amaro, using this scenario as a primordial basis to metaphorically characterize not only the Portuguese identity, but also the country itself.

Being faithful to the book, which is organized into 25 chapters, the film adaptation also starts with the death of Father Miguéis and reveals an image of the religious as amoral. Similarly, in the film, Amaro is introduced into the narrative to replace the Cathedral's minister and he is involved by the sinful environment of S. Joaneira’s house where he desires Amelia.

As in the novel, the film shows us, in the form of flashbacks, the childhood of the two protagonists. But, whereas in the case of Amaro the filmic characterization is very close to the literary description (Amaro reveals interest in the opposite sex from an early age and even religious figures raise his carnal desires); when it comes to Amelia the transformational grammar of the adaptation proposes a modern and cosmopolitan character whose past reveals not a fraternal relationship with the priests, but a sinful experience that has an effect on her unstable present.

Similarly to the book, the film suggests the message that education, heredity and environment are fundamental elements to determine the characters present condition. Amelia is shown as a consequence of her dysfunctional family and as a result of her subsistence in a poor neighborhood, which leads to a rootless life and a suicidal nature. Amaro is a young priest whose involvement in a degraded atmosphere will enhance his


separation from the church and lead him to the transgression without remorse. Inspired by a literary basis, the film presents around the main characters a group of fictional beings that

contribute to illustrate the social context portrayed. But while in the novel these figures are meant to critique religious fanaticism, the parochialism and the retrograde mentality of the country, in the film the characters appear as clichés to identify social groups easily recognizable (such as the religious women, homosexuals, delinquents or amoral priests) and to integrate themselves in a scenario that aims to draw attention to the cosmopolitan current action rather than to dialogue or to the psychological profile of the characters. Thus, while in the novel the characters “claim a social and cultural representativeness adjusted to a critical purpose” (Reis, 2005, p. 87), in the film the interventions are simplified in order to emphasize sexual and action scenes that include aesthetic and diegetic influences from the North-American action series, from the Portuguese soap operas and from the television journalism of sensationalist propensity (Baptista, 2008). Therefore, although in the novel the characters are used as social representation; in the adaptation the fictional beings operate as attractive to sustain a narrative of action.

The same can be observed about the thematic line. In fact, in the 19th-century novel the author discusses numerous topics susceptible of critical position, whereas the film focuses on the interpretation issues with no intention of “social protest”, but in order to get together a set of controversial elements to attract audiences, such as sex, drugs, crime, arms trafficking, pedophilia and suicide, among others.

The book portrays a patriarchal society where women, passive and submissive, are seen as figures who occupy themselves with the home affairs and with the religious life without social representativeness and the group of men, organized around clerics, control the minds of the faithful. This brings out a society dominated by the lack of individualization and subjectivity. In the literary transposition a multicultural and urban society dominates and social problems emerge with dysfunctional families where religion is in failure and where crime enhances survival through parallel economy. The filmic interpretation highlights the individuality and selfishness, hence the appeal of the plot to solidarity and social rehabilitation.

Both narratives, literary and filmic, accentuate an ending in which the priest emerges not only unpunished for his crimes, but continues his life as a conqueror. However, the novel takes the final episode to bring to light the “crisis of individual conscience” (Reis, 2005, p. 62), the dissolution of moral responsibility and the Portuguese conformist nature. On the other hand, it denounces the decadence, the paralysis and the stultification of the nation which is closed to the progressive ideas that erupted in Europe. The author’s irony is revealed in its entire splendor in the proclamation that the foreigners envy Portugal (Queiróz, 2004, p. 500). The film, in turn, accentuates an ending in which the carnal element explored throughout the adaptation stands out, filling the screen with a beautiful female who insinuates herself to Amaro. The focus goes to the aesthetic image and not for any ideological, social or moral content. Therefore, this ending emphasizes the sensorial appeal but not the critical reflection.

Conclusion

It is observed, therefore, that despite having as starting point a challenging Eça de Queiroz 19-century narrative, the film adaptation of The Crime of Father Amaro presents aspects of the Portuguese society and also the Portuguese identity that continue to be a topic of discussion even today. It is a reinterpretation that emphasizes especially the sexual content and the action scenes in a suburban current reality.


In the film, it prevails a popular and commercial narrative model. The way the topics are represented in the movie does not complicate the themes, but they are used in a simple approach which combines elements of action, spectacle and sensationalism in order to please the contemporary viewer. There is then a different approach from The Scenes of a Devout Life (the subtitle of The Crime of Father Amaro, 1880) of Eça de Queiroz and its critical point of view directed to the whole of the Portuguese society. At the same time, there is a combination of a wide range of subjects susceptible to pleasing a lot of heterogeneous receivers.

In terms of identity, the Portuguese society represented through the fiction film is traditional and conservative, but simultaneously modern and cosmopolitan. The national character is fictionalized as uncritical, conformist and contradictory. The contemporary reality is illustrated as full of contrasts, a city where historic heritage and the manifestations of the modern coexist in an unequal social reality where the poor neighborhoods highlight the differences. Nevertheless, while national identity is mirrored along the film, the adaptation does not complicate or questions, but only portrays in order to motivate proximity and identification

In this sense, the film is a controversial recreation that articulates polemic components (such as crime, priests, sex, violence, celibacy) in an urban setting where action and eroticism combine together to activate the voyeuristic propensity of the spectators. While the novel is a social observatory where the author develops a critical view of the socio and cultural through fictional characters, the film brings into play sex, action and contemporary stereotype characters. Thus, the bond between the film and the canonical novel serves only to exploit the narrative content and to provide the link between the film and a classic book of the Portuguese literature. It is a transposition that underlines the commercial dimension without complexity. In consequence, the visual representation of the national identity establishes a cinematic paradox of a contemporary society in order to appeal to the recognition and to induce viewing without the intention to lead to questioning or critical reflection on Portuguese society.

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de Queiroz (Ed.), O Crime do Padre Amaro (pp. 7-9). Lisboa: Edição Livros do Brasil. Reis, C. (2005). O essencial sobre Eça de Queirós (The essential about Eça de Queiroz). Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional Casa da

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I Sing, Therefore I am—The Political Representation of

Taiwanese K-pop Urban Fans at K-pop KTV (Karaoke)∗

Haerang NOH

National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan

The Korean popular cultural waves have been spread into East Asia for more than a decade. In late of 2000, for

most of the perspectives about Korean waves had been moved on the 3rd stage of the K-pop industrial structure,

K-pop idol stars as contents of Korean popular music have turned the pivotal contents in East Asia and West

countries. This research examined how Taiwanese K-pop consumers are identified as the K-pop enthusiast

legitimizing and what they represent the “prosumer” of Korean popular music. Moreover, the practice of K-pop is

getting turn consumer in Korean song karaoke (KTV) in Taipei city. What sort of cultural form emerges the

political representation in the cultural space, K-pop KTV in Taipei. Through how Taiwanese K-pop followers

diverse K-pop music for singing K-pop in KTV, it could more elaborate the meaning of contents the culture form of

space between production and consumption of the cultural mediation.

Keywords: K-pop, cultural diversion, Karaoke space, practice, Marxist feminism

Karaoke of the K-pop, by the K-pop, for the K-pop in Taipei

K-pop fevers are going to reach to all around Asia countries and over to the different cultural areas, South

American and West countries during last ten years. In the background of acceptation of the content, K-pop

music, K-pop entertainment companies are utilizing by internet sources as an alternative marketing method. As

the first of SM town live concert in Paris at June 2011, through attended around 14,000 ticket buyers observed

K-pop fans were separated in Europe1. Schmidt, the CEO of Google company, announced they would

arrange the K-pop You tube official channel2 on the You tube from December 2011 when he visited

Republic of Korea at November in the same year officially. In the background of the partnership between

Google and K-pop contents, Google intend to reflect that the K-pop contents had been engaging the recognizable

contents on YouTube around 2010 year. For instance, there were already 4 million viewers clicked for TVXQ

(东方神起)’s each official music videos, and another 3.4 million viewers for Girls Generation’s, and 2.6

million viewers for Wonder Girls’ in short period, etc.. K-pop contents had been built more a specific brand, as

the distinguished pop music “K-pop” on the internet, as emerged the millions of music video viewers for each

K-pop by over 20 Korean Idol stars during the same term.

The globalized K-pop industry and K-pop fandom emerged from the popular culture in Asia and the

contents spared out to West countries through the internet and digital technology devices. According to the

∗ KTV means the Karaoke and the prefix of Karaoke Television in Taiwan as well. For more explain, see Chapter 2 in this paper.

Haerang NOH, Ph.D., Department of Journalism, National Chengchi University. 1 Source: [SM Town live in Paris 2011], Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq6JCmXNO34 2 Source: Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/user/kpop

DAVID PUBLISHING

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THE POLITICAL REPRESENTATION OF TAIWANESE K-POP URBAN FANS

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research about the Korean waves by KOFIC3, the Korean Waves underwent to the third stage that extended to

other cultural territories and contents (see Table 1). As refer to the front, K-pop and Korean idol stars take lead

the latest stage of Korean waves, Korean popular songs and artists were the core contents for the present

Korean wave stage. For the raising of K-pop products and the success of K-pop market, however, there are few

treating the issue of K-pop audiences’ practice with K-pop music in everyday life. Otherwise, Taiwanese K-pop

followers have been taking an active part in making the cultural material circle between consumption and

reproduction as the cultural laborers. Furthermore, they had been building up the consumers of sovereignty as

well in the last ten years.

Table1

The Stage Flow of Korean Waves The first Stage The Second Stage The Third Stage

Key words Birth of Korean Wave Intension of Korean Wave Diversity of Korean Wave

Period 1997 till 2000 The mid of 2000s After later 2000s

Main Genres Soap operas, K-pops Soap operas, K-pops, Films, Online games

Soap operas, K-pops, Films, Online games, Cartoon, Korean, Foods

Boundary of Influence

China, Taiwan, Vietnam China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan and East Asia

China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan and East Asia, Mid-Asia, USA, Africa, EU

Main Contents

Drama: What love it is Idol group: HOT

Drama: Winter sonata (冬季恋歌), A

Jewel in the Palace (大长今) K-Pop and Idol stars, Online games

(Source: Adapted from Go, 2011, p. 50)

This research relies on extensive fieldwork experience and both as the observer for the K-pop consumer’s

using and representation meaning behind in leisure activities with K-pops. Karaoke (KTV), therefore, is one of

the patterns for music consumption and a sort of leisure for representation as K-pop consumers. In the same

perspective, K-pop Karaoke in Taipei is offering the meaning of cultural space and mediating the constituents

of Taiwanese K-pop followers. In other words, under the third stage of K-pop flow, what values involved to

Taiwanese audience representation in K-pop karaoke reflect to the users of internal nature for the cultural

distinction and the tension of cultural space, karaoke for Korean language lyrics songs only.

The Present Study

Historically, the first karaoke bars known in Taipei were established sometime in the second half of the

1970s under the overpass along the Hsin Sheng North Road (新生北路) in Taipei city. According to the

composer Lin Erh, who was a regular customer of one of those shabby bars in the dusty and noisy

neighborhood, there was no Chinese rendering of “karaoke” at that time, these karaoke bars had a sign that said

“Singing”(ko chang 歌唱) in Chinese ideograms or “Karaoke” in Japanese writing. Although the karaoke box

became popular in the late 1980s, it prototype can be traced back even before its importation from Japan. It was

not derived from karaoke bars but from a small room for viewing music video usually called M-TV (“M”

stands for Movie). The M-TV was launched around 1984 but soon after was used for video movies too, since it

cost less than the cinema and allowed the clients to see the movies they rented at video shops. However,

according to the request of the Uruguay Round Table, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) accused

to Taiwan government for the copyright protection and the problem of video piracy, the most of M-TV shops

3 KOFIC stands for “Korean Films Council” (Retrieved from http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/jsp/index.jsp).


630

were defined as illegal and were forced to close by Taiwan government. This devastating act gave birth to KTV

(“K” stands for karaoke) (Otake & Hosokawa, 1998, pp. 179-181).

As short histories of KTV in Taiwan, KTV had been taken for grant a leisure activity with popular music

to Taiwanese. Till 2010 years, KTV had been a sort of the populist of leisure activity for Taipei citizen’s

society and became a part of everyday life for representing one’s preference popular songs that they want to

sing in a singing room with others. KTV leisure is not for individual activity, but as a group activity at the

concurrent time and real same place. Here is an observation about the behaviors in karaoke space, Casey quoted

Kimindo Kusaka’s comment, and he mentioned karaoke was a part of the “culture of form”. In any country,

more than half of the citizens live a life of following orders from above (Lum, 1998, p. 172).

In same words, someone goes to the karaoke with some particular category person, it is not only the

audiences’ taste in popular music as a method of economic market analysis but also involved the meaning of

social agency’s behavior within a case of leisure activity.

Leisure of Sociology

In studies of urban leisure life, the leisure contents and popular categories concerned with social and

economic factors. Roberts (2010) researched the issue of relation between gender and leisure life. He argued

that during the 1980s this replaced work as the leading issue in the sociology of leisure. Second-wave feminism

forced gender up the research agenda. Feminist’s initial complaints were that leisure research had neglected

gender in general and women’s leisure in particular. These criticisms were immediately accepted, and it is now

20 years since it was possible to complain that gender or women’s leisure was neglected (Roberts, 2010, p. 5).

This new issue has been taken the existing perspective as Roberts mentioned. In addition, the main argument in

this study is emerged the relation between gender and leisure life as well.

Table 2

Leisure Activity in 2002

Newspaper / Magazine

TV KTV(Karaoke)Movie/ Music

Internet Shopping Sports Talk Volunteer Others

Female 47.38 21.29 9.22 62.52 46.66 42.18 13.78 22.88 6.03 8.68

Male 36.39 24.75 9.40 56.74 64.92 17.35 41.15 19.15 4.64 5.58

Ave. 41.56 23.12 9.32 59.45 56.33 29.03 28.27 20.91 5.29 7.19

(Source: Adapted from QIU, 2010)

Karaoke activity is actually became a choice for Taipei citizen’s leisure life, the karaoke room is a distinct

leisure activity to Taipei citizen (see Table 2). For understanding the meaning of karaoke within everyday life,

we might consider what kind of social factors affected to karaoke leisure. Previously, we need to fix out the

term of leisure for this research in sociological perspective. It is likely that any societal role will always depend

on the type of leisure and the other roles of the actors or consumers. Leisure may play a strong role in identity

stabilization during a certain life stage such as youth, and then recede in importance (Roberts, 2010, p. 8). In

addition, just as in the 1960s, the sociology of leisure needed to draw on broader sociological theories about

changes in 21st-century societies. For example:

The kinds of work-life balance and imbalances experienced by different socio-demographic groups in different countries; The implications for patterns of stratification of changes in the distribution and types of economics, social and cultural assets; The long-term implications of past and current changes in leisure socialization during childhood, youth and


631

young adulthood; The consequences for leisure behavior and social identities of the growth of commercial consumer industries and the spread of the associated consumer cultures; The implication of governments looking increasingly towards the leisure industries to promote economic growth, or to prevent stagnation or degeneration. (Roberts, 2010, p. 9)

As Roberts (2010) mentioned, the leisure activities connect with economics, social and cultural value and

identity. As well as the nature of leisure activity, it focuses on the popular music with everyday urban life in

this research. What kind of methods are popular music audiences using the popular music products? Except to

listen to popular music, how do they elaborate their identity through the genre and style of popular music that

they prefer? Hence, part of a popular musician’s learning occurs in groups where musicians can watch and

imitate other experience players. Group learning gives musicians a chance to “copy and exchange ideas,

knowledge and techniques, and learn to play together” (Green, 2002, p. 97).

In another inquiry issue, both of biology and genetics are the significant perception for KTV behavior.

However, there are several limitations need to be noticed. This study is only a narrow research and future study

needs to extend to several areas, for example, Chick (2008) mentions that anthropology of leisure would

explore the innate character of adjustment during doing leisure activity like art (includes: the graphic arts,

music, dance, drama, stage play, philology, and literature), entertainment, games, sports, joking, hobbies,

handicrafts, festivals, beauty pageants, religious rites, and media. Moreover, the ethnography of leisure,

cross-cultural validity of the concept of leisure, leisure and the evolution of culture, and cross-cultural

comparative studies of leisure (Chick, 2008) are not only investigating both of communicate-culture and KTV

behavior are rational and habitual-reflective behavior, but also proving Chick’s (2008) belief that

communicate-culture is the way that human has done for survival, and leisure behavior, an intuitional-reflective

behavior, is the way to adapt culture.

In short, the leisure activity involved the social role for not only presenting out social agencies’ life style,

but also establishing a community to reinforce one’s identity. For more approach to the main topic, we need to

discuss KTV as a leisure activity separately, also further more to understand the cultural role of KTV.

KTV, Behind of a Sort of Leisure Activity

The study between karaoke culture and the user behavior focuses on the popular culture by the perspective

of media sociology or social psychology. In the point of view to leisure meaning in social, within its own

discipline the sociology of leisure has always faced rival claims on its field. Initially the main challenge was

from cultural studies, especially the genre that examined popular cultures. Media sociology has always

positioned itself outside the sociology which has always positioned itself outside the sociology of leisure, and

likewise the sociology of the arts. Youth researchers have been more likely to investigate youth cultures than

youth leisure (Roberts, 2010, p. 2).

In social psychology, meanwhile, it predicts the intension and action under the relationship of the

individual and external social behavior. One of the perspective is the theory of reasoned action (TRA), as

mentioned by Fishbein and Ajzen, that insists one’s belief will influence his/her taste attitude on a circumstance,

and the social-pressure be evoked by self-regulation of social agent. Moreover, attitude and self-regulation will

affect his/her intention toward this issue and this intention is the key for him/her performing the behavior. On

another conception is the theory of planned behavior (TPB), which believes individual’s behavior is decided by

individual’s intention. However, except internal factor, attitude, and external social pressure, self-regulation,

TPB is mentioned that behavior also should be measured by the time and opportunity factors, perceived


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behavioral control (Ajzen, 1985). The consumption behavior in karaoke, in other words, which is a part of the

leisure behavior came out the user’s intention and it is the cause of performing in karaoke.

Criss (2008) describes the natural learning process as involving five steps beginning with observing to get

a goal, then forming a mental imagery, imitating, trial and error, and finally practicing. Motivation was

mentioned as an important factor that sparked off learning in students. Amongst the five steps, imitation is

described as a “natural ability we have when we are born” (Criss, 2008, p. 44) and through imitation, students

can “feel and experience” and thus learn better (FANG, 2009, p. 5). In the same context, Lilliestam (1996) as

cited in Folkestad (2006) describes the process of learning as consisting of the three major steps of listening,

practicing, and performing. This performance aspect of music learning is emphasized by Drinker (1967) who

advocates active participation in the performance of music by amateurs, in addition to intelligent listening

which is described as a prerequisite to musical understanding. Small (1998) elaborates that engaging in a

musical performance is an affirmation to the world of the performer’s identity and therefore needs to be taken

seriously (FANG, 2009, p. 6).

The identification of patriarchy as a “system of structures and institutions created by men is in order to

sustain and recreate male power and female subordination”, and the coalescence between theory and practice

was fundamental to the political perspectives of radical feminism. In particular, there was an identification of

the need for collective action and responsibility, and an acknowledgement that women’s experience, whether

heterosexual or lesbian, was rooted in the cultural and social circumstance of their lives. However, the

recognition of women’s oppression as universal, crossing race, class, and other delineating boundaries such as

age and physical ability, carried with it the implication that perfect equality is impossible and that matriarchy

and separatism might well be the only viable solutions. The identification of “sisterhood” as a cohesive

revolutionary force for developing self-identity in relation to other women, for “putting women first”, led to a

defense of separatism engaging in women only groups, engaging in political and social action with other

women (Whitley, 2000, pp. 45-46).

In summary, the implication of the commercial singing room consumer’s behavior and their choice for

leisure time could be examined under the theory of social psychology, as TRA (the theory of reasoned action)

or TPB(the theory of planned behavior). In other words, through the popular music practical and performance

by self-identity, the performer in KTV is not only for simple personal entertainment, but he/she reinforces

identification during sharing the singing song at the same time and space. In other words, what motivation and

intention make the Taiwanese K-pop audiences lead to K-pop KTV? Meanwhile, If they more share the same

category music or the distinguished genre and language of lyrics popular music, there could be formed what

shape of political meaning? In this research, the author focused on K-pop KTV in Taipei and the KTV

customers practice for approaching his inquiry issue.

Evidences

In research, the author followed two inquiry methods: data analysis and in-depth interview. For more

getting approach to K-pop KTV consumers’ behavior intention, they need to treat the K-pop materials they

shared and referred on online. In the other method, the author had contacted nine Taiwanese female participants

for this research and they were separated in two groups4, group A (see Appendix, Table 4-1) organized by four

4 See the appendix “Table 4-1 and 5-1” in this paper.


633

females (A1~A4) and the other five all female members (B1~B5) for group B (see Appendix, Table 4-1),

organized under the natural causality progress by every single oneself.

Secondary Data

The author gathered data about the main K-pop Karaoke, “EST(伊斯特) KTV” in Taipei city (see

Appendix, Table 4-2). Data sources relied on EST KTV main homepage and internet blogs that concerned with

news and issues about K-pop recently or historically. The full name of EST KTV is “EST Japanese and Korean

popular song center” and they are managing three chain stores in Taipei city.

Table 3

The Cost List of EST KTV (Unit: TWD) Time Monday~Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

10:00~11:29(07:00~11:29) 230 (25)* 230 (25) 300 (30) 300 (30)

11:30~15:59 270 (30) 270 (30) 300 (35) 300 (35)

16:00~22:59 300 (30) 350 (35) 350 (35) 350 (30)

23:00~02:00(23:00~07:00) 280 (30) 380 (35) 380 (35) (Need Reservation)

(Source: EST KTV homepage) * Charge tips: 3hrs per person and “(Num)” is for the extra charge for every 30 minutes a person.

They manage 7 days a week and the cost system followed the graded charge like the normal KTV

(Cashbox Party 钱柜 KTV, Holyday 好乐迪 KTV) in Taipei city (see Table 3). The cost level of the EST

singing room is higher than the other singing room’s chains in Taipei as participant A15 said, EST is a little bit

expensive for the ordinary customers. They are issuing the membership card for maintaining regular customers.

K-pop KTV consumers only must follow the original lyrics in the KTV. Basically, EST KTV equipped the

device for several different languages songs including Korean popular music and Chinese, Japanese songs as

well. But group A and B members went to EST KTV in order to sing and listen to K-pop with each other in the

major object. There could induce to two kinds of K-pop performance types: One type is for the non-Korean

language learners and another is for Korean learners. To the former case, they rely on the assonant of original

lyrics, and they use to imitate Korean pronunciation by re-formation of Chinese or Taiwanese language, as

called “Kong-er (空耳)” in Chinese. As a sound symbol, the non-Korean learners practice the pronunciation of

K-pop lyrics with the kong-er. According to one of several introducing “Kong-er (空耳)” blogs on internet sites,

the title mentioned to “You sing with original version music video, make you feel better (in Chinese “原版

MTV越唱越有FU!!”)”. Even if the Korean incapable audiences are willing to get closer to sing K-pops, they

are attending to feel K-pop as singing by their selves.

Also the imitated Chinese lyrics version by Girls Generation “Run Devil Run” on Youtube responded:

试试看.(Try this.) 第一~因为不会韩文. (Can’t speak Korean..)

第二~对着发音边听边唱依然不会唱(汗) (I can sing song follow the music, but cannot sing by myself

(sweat))

我想我有韩文障碍吧T^T (I think I have a learning disability for Korean T^T)

话说这版本名字好像太长了= =”拍谢 (This title of version is too long. = =” Sorry )

而且因为是注解..好像读的速度很慢 (And I attached by annotating, so it made slow down to read out)

p.s. 空耳就是听谐音来记歌词用的唷

5 See the appendix “Table 4-1” in this paper.


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(p.s. Kong-Er means imitated the original lyrics pronunciation just rely on listening and handing out)6 As we saw some subsistence, the non-Korean learners are exchanging information each other for singing in

original Korean lyrics. The reason is that they have a desire to perform K-pop music that they have seen or listened

expediently. Furthermore, they want to confirm that he/she is one of the K-pop fans of a genre and style of K-pop

artist. The rate of non-Korean users and Korean learners is out of the range for this issue, and not fixed the term of

Korean learner but there set up two Korean learners groups who are the customers for EST KTV in Taipei city.

Conversations With Two Groups

In this research, the author ordered to two of participants (A1 and B1) each of groups to recording sounds

and every single conversation during the singing activity at the KTV rooms. From organizing group member

till each group going to KTV, all processing depends on participant’s self will, not installed by researcher

artificially. And the author got three interviewees from two groups’ participants: A1, B1, and B2.

First of all, the author asked the motivation and the distinguished to go to K-pop KTV. Participant A1

referred to the question as said:

I’ll go if I have no choice. Not all of my friends like Korean songs or know how to sing Korean songs. I think KTV is depends on individuals like and dislike. Ms. Cheng (Participant A2) actually don’t like go to K-pop KTV…. (personal communication, May 19, 2012)

Participant A1 attached to: “ …Because they listen to Korean songs, they are willing to go to EST”. She

said she is not a hard K-pop follower, she told me:

It happened once when my Korean friends came to Taiwan. We had no idea about where should we go after dinner, so we went to Korean KTV. Except once that my Korean friends came to Taiwan, we always go there without male friend. The only reason is all my male friends don’t know Korean songs much. (personal communication, May 19, 2012)

Also, particularly, they organized members who have the background of Korean language learning and

willing to sing K-pop each other. In other words, when they arrange to go to karaoke for leisure activity, they

must consider the members character.

The author asked to interviewee A1 about the genre that she likes and practice pattern before coming to

K-pop KTV. She answered: “I won’t do any preparation just for going to KTV. But I do like to sing particular

singers’ songs” (personal communication, May 19, 2012). In the conversation of Group A, the participants

talked about song and music video also. Participant B1 responded to same question:

Hmm, My song list? Well, I often take watch some K-pop program, for example “Music Bank”7 or “Hit songs”8, in Internet. I want to listen new songs from the local program at the same time. (personal communication, May 19, 2012)

“My favorite program is ‘I’m a singer’, broadcast on MBC. Of course I’m watching on internet. I really

like to watch the program. I could encounter old K-pop by the cover song version” (personal communication,

June 30, 2012) participant B2 said. Under the wireless and mobile individual media atmosphere, Taiwanese

audiences rely on internet to connect to Korean TV program and gather new K-pop at real time. Participant B1

and B2 mentioned: “We just got EST KTV today but there was no updated new songs in June issued yet. 6 The imitated Chinese lyrics version by SNSD “Run Devil Run” (少女时代 SNSD Run Devil Run 中文空耳好多人好

多食物背他到腿软版) (Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACmznc4IJFA&feature=related). 7 A kind of K-pop entertainment show program produced by KBS(Korean Broadcast System). 8 A kind of K-pop entertainment show program produced by SBS(Seoul Broadcast System).


635

Maybe we need to wait a couple weeks” (personal communication, June 30, 2012). Digitalized media

device offers the marital that Taiwanese K-pop audiences need for popular cultural autonomy and

motivation to identify.

In another analysis of two groups’ song list (see Appendix, Table 4-2, Table 5-2), two different groups

participated in this research for sample, Group A recorded 29 songs (Recorder missed 40 miniutes in front of

beginning) and Group B recorded 47 songs in same branch room of EST KTV and at different date. We can figure

out several common points from two recordings. About song list, all seven songs duplicated (see Table 4). In this

observation experiment, the author realized five of seven duplicated songs are concerned with Korean drama. The

five Original Sound Tracks (OSTs) are not new songs but participants of two groups selected. In another common

point, all 76 songs are sung by nine participants, 25 songs are listed on Korean dramas and films OST.

Table 4

Duplicated Songs List of Group A and Group B Song Title Album (Year) Artist Memo

1 Love, Oh love (사랑, 사랑아)

Love Delight (August 2011)

Davichi Duo female R&B singer (Member: Kang Minkyeong, Lee Haeri)

2* I love you (사랑해요)

Athena OST (December 2010)

Taeyeon (太妍)

Singer: Girl’s Generation member, leader vocal (SM Ent.) SBS drama “Athena” OST (Period :13 December 2010~21 February 2011)

3 You and I (너랑 나)

Last Fantasy (November 2011)

IU Singer and Actress (with LOEN Ent.)

4* I have a lover (애인 있어요)

Ma Non Tanto (November 2005)

Lee, Eunmi Singer (with Neobiz Ent.) MBC “Last scandal” OST (8March2008~27April 2008)

5* Loving you, today (오늘도 사랑해)

The Princess’s Man OST (July 2011)

Baek Ji-young (白知英)

Singer (with WS Ent.) KBS “The Princess’s Man (公主的男人)” OST

6* Do you hear me? (들리나요)

Beethoven Virus OST (September 2008)

Taeyeon (太妍)

Singer: Girl’s Generation member, leader vocal MBC “Beethoven Virus (贝多芬病毒)” OST

7* White love story Coffee prince OST (July 2007)

Lin Singer : A member of group “As One” (Looterson Ent.) MBC “Coffee prince (咖啡王子一号)” OST

* Source: It marked for Korean drama OST (No.2 and No.4 till No.7) (Source: Figured out in this research)

Through K-pop performance, they want to show up a kind of positioning about the same category, K-pop

music. Participant A1 said,

Well… not really, I will ask the name and listen to it if I like it. But I won’t sing that songs when we go to KTV next time. I believe that everyone has his/her own songs and wants to sing it alone (personal communication, June 30, 2012).

Participant B1 responded to same question and said,

It’s not difficult to recognize to the different class at the KTV room. For example, I like to watch Korean Soap opera (drama). One of reason is to enjoy the OST. I’m not a enthusiast for K-pop practice so just depend on listening. Of course, I’m listen new K-pop idol stars’ song, but not much like singing the songs. (personal communication, June 30, 2012)

Another Participant (B2) agreed to this statement, and said:

I like listening love song so I love to watch Korean drama too. Actually, some of idol group songs too fast to me. Not easy follow the lyrics. But l can sing some lyrics, like English words or reversed single lyrics partly. It’s so fun. (personal communication, June 30, 2012)

Actually, there is connection of K-pop singer and drama OST. The broadcasted of most drama is not by

636

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In other perspective, the issue of media technology extended to E-Karaoke. The online Karaoke songs

list (see Figure 1), K-pop audiences already used the homepage service. In addition, the perspective of

Marxist feminism, the main K-pop KTV customer is account for female that is absolute majority. The

author believes that there needs to elaborate about what kind of social agency involved with K-pop KTV

and how to reproduce popular culture. Furthermore, the author is looking forward to clearing about the

fandom culture of Korean waves.

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Appendix

Table 4-1

The List of Participants for Karaoke (Group A) No Family Name SEX Year of Birth Period of studying Korean/Language institute Occupation

A1 Chen F 1980 3 years/Keep Korean class Marketing

A2 Cheng F 1974 More than 5 years/None Sales

A3 Wu F 1983 More than 5 years/None (Had been to Korea for studying Korean for 6 months)

Admin.

A4 Gao F 1977 More than 5 years/Keep Korean class (Had been to Korea for studying Korean for 1 year)

Translator

Table 4-2

Run Down in KTV (Group A) Time (Genre / Sex)

Title of Song (Arritst or OST title)

Conversations (In Korean: Thick and underline)

0:00:00~0:03:05 (Ballad/F)

#1. Love, Oh love (Davichi)

“Eon-ni (언니)!” [Sing together & feedback ] “No, I don’t want to do”

0:03:30~0:07:38 (Dance/F)

#2. Ugly (2NE1)

“Let me find out a song, ‘Su go hae sseo yo(辛苦你了)’”

“You did good jod(做的好)”

0:7:41~0:11:22 (Ballad/F)

#3. Men are all the same (Rumble Fish)

“I can’t sing this song” “Fine, let me sing alone” “You don’t know Man? Men are all same and not much special, haha” “Enough! Let singing this”

0:11:30~0:15:52 (Ballad/M)

#4. Not me (Pursuing)

“Hello?(여보세요?)”

0:15:58~0:19:07 (Ballad/F)

#5. I love you (사랑해요) (“Athena” OST on SBS)

“Next song is … I love you(사랑해요)”, “Too hard to sing” [Sing together] “My love” “I love you(사랑해요)”

0:19:13~0:23:02 (Dance/F)

#6. You and I (IU)

(Let’s together) “IU! IU!” “Wow, it’s too hard to sing, My god (아~,씨!)”

0:23:07~0:26:04 (Ballad)

#7. (Pursuing) “Is this yours?” “Hellow?” “Yeh, That’mine”

0:26:10~0:29:15 (Ballad/F)

#8. We meet again (Kim, Yeonji (Siya))

“Oh, It’s my song” “We have roll, lady. Don’t intercept song list.”

0:29:23~0:33:39 (Ballad/M)

#9. I’ve lost even my friend (FT Island)

“Next song is for me also” “Eon-ni (언니), Let’s sing together” “Be quire!”

0:33:47~0:37:07 #10. We loving each “We loving each other” “We … did each other, Haha. It’ so fun” “Ye, we did,


639

(Rock Ballad/F) other (Davichi & T-ara)

did” “You did good job!” “The End!”

0:37:12~0:40:41 (Ballad / F)

#11. I choose to love you (“See the love2” OST )

0:40:53~0:44:08 (Ballad)

#12. (Pursuing) A kind of OST

0:44 :20~0:47:30 (Dance/M)

#13. Dance with DJ DOC (DJ DOC)

0:47:55~0:51:38 (Slow Beat song/F)

#14. One Person (Chae yeon)

0:51:41~0:53:30 (Ballad/F)

#15. I have a lover. (Lee, Eunmi)

“Do you have a boyfriend?” “No, why ask me that?” “Just asking” “Boyfriend? Only disturbing me” “But I need one, haha!” “Oh, sheet! What a bad luck”

0:55:35~0:59:55 (Ballad/F)

# 16. The man (Secret garden OST)

1:00:02~1:02:52 (Ballad/F)

#17. Loving you, today (The Princess’s Man OST)

1:03:58~1:07:54 (Dance/F)

#18. You and I (Park Bom, a member of 2NE1)

1:08:00~1:11:50 (Ballad/F)

#19. Do you hear me? (MBC Beethoven Virus OST)

“I’ve heard this song many times before” “Here so much liquid smell in around this room” “Really?”

1:11:56~1:15:20 (Ballad)

#20. Bear doll (Lin)

“I think enough, No need” “I like this song”

1:15:28~1:19:46 (Ballad)

#21.You are not clear to know (KBS “Protect boss” OST)

“Let us sing together” “Oh, I don’t know this song” “Hey, No next song here?” “Eonni, did you take a nap?”

1:19:53~1:21:44 (beat)

#22. (Pursuing)

“Select for me Big bang’s ‘Day by day’” “Sorry, Not so good voice”. [Cut the song]

1:21: 49~1:24:10 (Dance/M)

#23. Day by day (haruharu) (Big Bang)

[Cut the song] “Why? Why? What’s wrong?” “Come on, re reservation!” “That was too difficult to us”

1:24:20~:1:28:52 (Ballad)

#24.White love story (MBC “Coffee prince” OST)

“What are you doing?”

1:28:58~1:32:56 (Dance/?)

#25. (Pursuing)

“I’m really fine” “Too high” “Don’t angry, Come down”

1:33:02~1:36:44 (Ballad/M)

#26. 내가 이러지 (Pursuing)

“Let me sing with you”

1:36:51~1:39:54 (Dance/F)

#27. I don’t care (2NE1)

“Oh! I don’t care” [Sing together] “I don’t ca-ca-ca-re”

1:40:00~1:44:25 (Fast tempo/F)

#28. Lonely (2NE1)

[Sing together] “Baby, I’m so lonely”

1:44:30~1:48:18 (Hip hop/M )

#29. Living in the heart (Untouchable)

“Time almost done. Ok, Last song”.

(Date: May 19, 2012 18:30-21:30/Place: EST KTV near the Zhongshan MRT station(中山站)).

Table 5-1

The List of Participants for Karaoke (Group B) No Family Name SEX Year of Birth Period of Studying Korean/Language institute Occupation

B1 Hsie F 1976 More than 5 years/Korean Institute in Taipei Marketing

B2 Liao F 1985 More than 5 years/Korean Institute in Taipei Sales

B3 Tsai F 1980 More than 5 years/Korean Institute in Taipei Admin

B4 Lee F 1982 More than 3 years/Korean Institute in Taipei Officer

B5 Chen F 1986 More than 5 years/None Translator


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Table 5-2

Run Down in KTV (Group B) Time (Genre/Sex)

Title of Song (Arritst or OST title)

Conversations (Korean: Thick and underline)

0:00:00~0:02:30 (Talk) [Facility and arrange Drinks]/“This remote control not pretty much workable” “Oh, You got hair cut. Look great”/[Select songs] “I’d like to sing 2AM’s new song”

0:02:31~0:06:16 #1. I wonder if you hurt like me (2AM)

Photos/Volume control/Select songs/“What should I sing? Anybody selected songs?”

0:06:11~0:06:40 (Talk) “Here is not enough new songs, No new song list in June”

0:06:41~0:11:19 (Fast Ballad)

#2. Can’t forgive you (SBS ‘Wife’s lure’ OST)

“Ok, Here we go”/“Oh, Someone selected Baek jiyoung’s song?” “Yeh, I like that song”/“Hurt!” “Hurt? Oh, You really feel hurt your throat. I misunderstood you wanna sing ‘Hurt’ for next song”

0:11:27~0:14:52 (Dance)

#3. Russian Roulette (Spica)

“I like this song’s MV”/[Take pictures]/“Who singing this Song?” “Who is Spica? I’ve never heard before”

0:15:06~0:18:58 (Ballad/F)

#4. Loving you, today (KBS “The Princes” Man’ OST)

“What is Next Song? Oh, I Know this song.<The Princes’ Man>OST, right?” “I’m not seen the drama yet.” “I’ve seen that already. But I’m not clear lyric” “I can sing the Original song, but I can’t sing the cover version coz the part of rap”/“Who can sing IU’s new song?” “Nope, I can’t. C: Me, too”

0:18:59~0:19:15 (Ballad)

(talk) “Wow, My dear! You’re really something. You can sing this song only take watch the drama? I just listen the OST, but didn’t repeat the song”

0:19:17~0:22:35 (Ballad)

#5. A word what I want to say (《Rooftop prince》 OST)

“Next is Roodtop… ”/“Let me sing this song!” “B: Oh! Go ahead”/“I didn’t watch this drama” “Really? What make you so busy?”/“Let’ s arrange this song. I believe everybody familiar this song. Sing together”

0:22:48~0:26:28 (Ballad/F)

#6. Missing you just like crazy (MBC “The King 2 heart” OST)

“I’ve watched this Drama all” “I’m not yet”/“ Find me ‘Like a stranger’ and … ‘Confession’”

0:26:32~0:30:25 (Ballad/F)

#7. Do you hear me? (MBC Beethoven Virus OST)

“What song?” “Do you hear me. It means ‘do you hear me?’ in Chinese” “Oh, Singer is SNSD’s leader, right?”

0:30:35~0:34:28 (Ballad/M)

#8. More Closer (SBS ‘The brain’ OST)

“That’s too much new song. Oh, I like this song.”/ “Why don’t someone sing with me?” “Nice voice. Obba, Obba!”

0:34:37~0:39:02 (Ballad/F)

#9. Day by day (As One)

“Ok, Who wanna sing the new JYJ Jun-su’s song?”/“That’s a good sound song”/“As one is in Korean or in English? I know another song”

0:39:10~0:43:05 (Dance, Cute/F)

#10. You and I (IU)

“IU song? Everyone can singing this song”/“Ok, Select a song, Coffee prince OST, for me’

0:43:20~0:49:27 (Ballad/M)

#11. The sketch of Memory (Korean film OST)

“Let me sing the song of Lee Eun-mi” “Lee Eun Mi version’s song ? I have a lover?”/“You’ve seen the film, right?” “No, not yet” “Wow, How did you sing this song?”/“No ‘To you’ lyric in this version song. Maybe this is a different version that I have lyrics version.”

0:49:35~0:54:05 (Ballad/F)

#12. I want to dream with you forever (MBC Pasta OST (SNSD))

“Ok. This song is for all of us.”/“‘I believe’, This song is a famous one. Ye, It is an anther OST”

0:54:09~0:57:45 (Dance/F)

#13. I don’t know (A pink)

“Let’s order a rock song!?”/“You really great. How do you remember the lyric only one listing”

0:57:52~1:01:46 (Rock Ballad/M)

#14. For you (Im Jaebeom)

1:01:50~1:06:37 (Rock Ballad/M)

#15. Confession (Im Jaebeom)

“Who wanna sing with me? I can sing the first lyrics” “It’s not a new song?” “Lee Seung-ji want to come Taiwan. Let me see his song”/“~Forgive Me”: I can’t forgive you(In Korean”/“Who know <Miss you> this song?”

1:06:43~1:11:16 (Ballad/M)

#16. Love (Im Jaebeom)

“Cause love (Sarang)? Who’ song?” “Singer is Im, Jaebeom”

1:11:22~1:15:10 (Ballad)

#17.Like Star (Taeyeon & The One)

“Two part separated song, Taeyeon and a Man voice”/“Oh, this part is for male”

1:15:11~1:15:22 (talk) “Would you check a song, but that is a kind of old K-pop” 1:15:23~1:18:45 (Fast Ballad/F)

#18. We were in love (Davichi & T-ara)

“You have to rap, but I didn’t practice rap” “Then just skip the rap”/[Clap!] “Yah, Come on! One more rap song!”

1:18:50~1:22:05 #19. Obba, Here (Super “Lee, you Solo!”


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(Dance/M) Junior Donghae & Eunhyeok)

[Sing together] Corus: “Obba! (오빠!) Obba! (오빠)”, “Wow! (아싸!)”

1:22:10~1:25:40 (Ballad/M)

#20. You, my dear (MBC “the lunar eclipsed sun” OST)

1:25:45~1:29:35 (Rock Ballad)

#21. You’re so beautiful (JYJ Xia Jun-su)

“You are so beautiful~!” “I know that song”

1:29:36~1:29:41 (talk) “I can’t remember the title of good song. Do you know that?” “Saranghae! Saranghae(loving you? loving you?)?”

1:29:42~1:33:22 (Ballad/M)

#22. Too love (KBS “Seonggungwan Scandal” OST)

“Wow, I like this song. Nice melody”

1:33:30~1:36:48 (Fast tempo/M)

#23. Find out (KBS “Seonggungwan Scandal” OST)

1:36:52~1:41:25 (Ballad/F)

#24. White love story (MBC “Coffee prince” OST)

“Have you ever sing this song before?” “Next song is Shinee’s? Right? Who’s next turn?”

1:41:32~1:45:15 (Jazz/M)

#25. Ocean travel (MBC “Coffee prince” OST)

“Wow, what a very slow song”. “Select for me <I do, I do> “ “Lots of people like him”

1:45:25~1:49:20 (Ballad)

#26. I have a lover (Lee, Eun-mi)

“Do you know <The song that only you could listen (너만 들을 수 있는 노래)>?” “I wanna sing the “Man better than flower (花样男子)” OST”

1:49:28~1:53:12 (Ballad)

#27. I believe (My Sassy Girl OST)

“Ha, Everybody know this song” “Why don’t you sing in Chinese a part” [Sing together] Korean version and Chinese version “It’s fun”

1:54:18~1:58:32 (R&B/M)

#28. Propose ( No-eul )

“What is song?” “You must heard before, I believe it familiar to you, absolutely” “But No. It’s first heard”/Singer No-eul, They are out from the Idol contest TV program. And this is a one of popular wedding song in Korea. I’ve heard the song in the real show program too.”

1:58:38~2:02:10 (Disco Dance)

#29. Lovey dovey (T-ara)

“Ye! Come on!” [Sing together] Lovey dovey! Lovey dovey! Woo~~!

2:02:16~2:05:48 (Disco Dance)

#30. Roly Poly (T-ara)

[Sing together] “~~ don’t know (몰라)! ~~don’t know (몰라)”

2:05:15~2:09:44 (Ballad/F)

#31. Maybe (KBS “Scent of Summer” OST)

“Oh, Scent of Summer OST” “I’ve seen this drama” “But I’m not” “And there is Chinese version too”

2:09:52~2:14:55 (fast song)

#32. Everyday (J-pop/AKB48)

“This new version or original?” “This is original version” [Sing together] Every Every day! “AKB48, then how they separate sing each other?”

2:15:02~2:18:59 (Fast tempo)

#33. Love light (CNblue)

“Actually, I can sing the front part”

2:19:05~2:19:29 (Rock ballad/M)

#34. I need you (K.Will) [Not for singing]

“Who’s song?” “Chue woo hyeok” “Oh~! I see. But I can sing his another song, not this one”/“OK, enough! let me cut this song now”

2:19:32~2:23:26 (Ballad/F)

#35. The song that only I can sing (Bada)

“I don’t remember this song. I’ve just seen only story 1. of the soap opera” “Do you know “Don’t say Ah-nyeong”?” “Is this OST?/No, This song made by Gerry who is a guest in MBC ‘the infinity challenge’)

2:23:31~2:24:15 (Rock Ballad/M)

#36. Severely (FT Island)

“Oh! FTIsland” “Who reservayed”/“Ok, No one wanna sing this, then let me cut”

2:24:20~2:26:07 (Dance/M)

#37. Crazy (Teen top)

[Sing together] I need you Baby Baby Baby, I want you baby baby baby “What a fast song” “Ok. Then I’d like sing ‘Don’t forget’” “Baek ji young’s song?”

2:26:11~2:30:32 (Ballad / M)

#38. I hope it would be that way now (Jo Yongpil )

“I know this song. It looks like an old song. So who’s version”/“Is this for Women song?” “No, Singer is male”/“I’ve heard this song another TV program, the singer was a woman”

2:30:38~2:35:05 (Ballad/M)

#39. Nameless Memory (SS501’s Heo Y.S.)

“The song is showed up on the TV program, “One night two days” “Oh! Woori, Woori. That means us in Chinese ”

2:35:11~2:38:46 (Fast song/F)

#40. Don’t say good bye (Davichi)

2:38:54~2:42:22 (Dance Ballad/F)

#41. Love, Oh love (Davichi)

2:42:30~2:46:35 #42. Rain and You (Korean “Next is a kind of OST, right?” “I’ve heard this song” “So many people sang this


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(Rock Ballad/M) film ‘Radio stat’ OST) song before. I know it is very famous song” “Yeh, I’ve heard several cover version”

2:46:43~2:50:48 (Ballad/F)

#43. The man (KBS “Secret Garden” OST)

“Nobody don’t know this song. Let’s together sing”

2:50:55~2:54:48 (Dance/F)

#44. Bring the boys out (SNSD)

2:54:53~2:58:05 (Ballad/F)

#45. I love you(사랑해요) (SBS “Athena” OST)

“Taeyeon’s song”/“Your best songs are slow tempo song, like this song”.

2:58:18~3:02:40 (Ballad/F)

#46. Father (In-su-ni)

“This song is really touchable song” “A-Beo-Ji (my father)~!” “I’ve seen the film(Aftershock 唐山大地震) only 30mins but it did touch my heart”

3:02:47~3:06:20 (Ballad/F)

#47. Can’t love (Seo In-young)

“Sing together”/“Why I’ve never heard this song? So who is the artist?” “Her name is Seo In-young”/“Maybe the last song? Right?”

(Date : June 30, 2012 15:30-18:30/Place: EST KTV near the Zhong-shan MRT station (中山站))


Dracula as a Lovesick Monster,

Iconology of the PFM’s Rock Opera

Andrea Del Castello AT Studio—School of Music, Sulmona, Italy

Playbills, covers, and logo of an opera often reflect the meanings of the drama. This paper focuses on above

mentioned issues with reference to Dracula, the rock opera of Italian band PFM (Premiata Forneria Marconi),

explaining how every visual aspects (also considering scenography and costumes) are closely linked to libretto and

music to show the consistency among the different facets of the opera production. In this procedure, graphic artists

and designers confirm their knowledge, but apart from this awareness, there are some symptoms of an unconscious

creativity as much coherent. As a result, this study aims to show how the management of the biggest colossal in the

history of rock opera tries―constantly torn between art and advertising―to attract a potential audience by means

of the iconography both of the composers and of the most famous vampire in the world.

Keywords: PFM, rock opera, Dracula, music iconology

Introduction

Contemporary works―compared with the remote ones―offer different possibilities to music iconography. Their aim is not only to give information about the history of musical instruments, performance practices or sceneries, because those are data that we can easy check out in person or acquire by other sources, but rather to reach conclusion about the history of culture and iconology too. In fact, when we analyse a source of the 21st century, probably we will touch it and interview its author or in any case the persons that have a relationship with it.

This paper is about popular music. In this branch the studies of iconography are very important, because the promotional strategies of the world market of music are really influenced by images.

Precisely the author will concentrate on the iconographic aspects of the PFM’s (Premiata Forneria Marconi) rock opera Dracula, relative to the logo, to the covers of the various discographic products, to the playbills and to the promotional poster of the disc, also analysing the relationship between the representation both of the composers and the protagonist of the opera, adding some reference about the scenography and the costumes.

PFM’s Dracula

This opera is a colossal without precedent: The producer David Zard invested about seven million euros on it. The shows began at the Gran Teatro in Rome on the fourth of March 2006 with a 1000 square metre stage, 260 costumes, 30 dancers, 14 actors, 150 persons of technical and managerial staffs.

Andrea Del Castello, bachelor, musicologist, scholar of music iconography, AT Studio—School of Music.

DAVID PUBLISHING

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DRACULA AS A LOVESICK MONSTER ICONOLOGY OF THE PFM’S ROCK OPERA 644

The libretto was written by Vincenzo Incenzo, based on Bram Stoker’s romance Dracula, written in 1897. But the main point of reference, by the explicit will of the PFM, was Francis Ford Coppola’s film Bram Stoker’s

Dracula, directed in 1992. The protagonist of this story expresses a strong, erotic magnetism, described by a psychological

introspection. Actually the PFM overturns the most well-known image of the Count of Transylvania: a pitiless monster, desirous of blood. In fact now the character denotes a big pathos because of an interior tragedy that he lives in a heart-rending way.

Furthermore Incenzo’s lyrics exalt the relationship between the protagonist that symbolises darkness and people who would like to reach the spiritual light of salvation. But they ineluctably prostrate themselves to the hidden yearning of their materiality, showing the impossibility of a splitting between Good and Evil.

Anyway, love is the main theme of the opera, the most carrying away strength, the only one that can overlook Death, in opposition to the works that deny eternal love: Man returns to the usual aim and pursues his feeling forever, sacrificing himself, making wicked gestures and twisted, spiritual fights against himself.

So Love is the real motor of the plot and it defines the development of a story that progresses between hyperbolical trepidations and delightful, coloured scenographic symbols; between hard rock atmospheres and pale strokes of suffused pianism; between tearing apart solistic arias and impetuous choristic sections.

The plot begins more or less on the same wavelength as the historical tradition of this subject, but the end is significantly different, because Dracula dies while he is waiting for the sunrise with Mina. In this situation he represents both the redemption’s sacrifice and an extreme gesture of love: to see the dawn at least once with his lover.

The Logo

In this opera there are a lot of antinomic couples: Good/evil, life/death, possible/impossible, past/present, light/darkness, and nightmare/reality.

Franco Mussida, PFM guitarist, explains how the band transposed this duplicity to the music by means of contrasts:

You can easily obtain musical contrasts, but you can hardly make them homogeneous. We added orchestra and choirs to the rock line-up: this sonority favours the reach of contrast atmosphere, but also obliges us to pay attention, not to recreate the usual stereotypes. We also added electronic sounds: you must have every colour in your paint-brush. (Del Castello, 2005)

Well, looking at the logo (see Figure 1), we can point out an antinomic couple, formed by the dynamic sense in opposite directions that the two most important letters play: the “D” and the “C”. The lines that portray those letters absolutely tend to two opposite poles: the “D” to the left and the “C” to the right.

But the librettist Vincenzo Incenzo states in the correspondence with the journalist Donato Zoppo:

Dracula is not the renewed version of the brawl between Good and Evil, but rather its aim is to induce the spectator to think that Good and Evil are very close, or better still they love each other […] Dracula is two lips of an only wound. He is the hidden side of human nature, the Good and the Evil that only apparently fight each other (Zoppo, 2006, p. 241).

In fact, a more careful analysis points out that the chiasmus formed by two intersected lines: The “D” and the “C” are just built on those ones (see Figure 2), as a representation of the most classical contradiction of the


opposite poles that attract each other: “due labbra della stessa ferita […] il Bene e il Male sono indivisibili (Two lips of an only wound […] The Good and the Evil are indivisible)” (Incenzo, 2005, p. 16).

In spite of all that, we can see another antinomic couple: approach/sending away. Moreover there is a more intricate intersection of converging lines: Every stroke of every letter seems to be

an extension projected by the ideal directions of the “D”’s upper and lower edge tangents (see Figure 3). So there is a total coherence among lyrics, music and iconographic aspects.

Figure 1. The logo. Source: Booklet.

Figure 2. The chiasmus in the logo. Source: Booklet.

Figure 3. Intersection of converging lines. Source: Booklet.

The designer of the logo is Federico Romanazzo. This is a private conversation between him and the author:

ADC: Did you read the book and listen to the opera before starting your work? FR: Sure, before the realization of the logo I watched Coppola’s film and listened to the PFM’s opera, even if it was

still without an orchestra. And some years ago I read Stoker’s book too. ADC: Did you create the logo liberally or did someone impose anything on you? FR: No production elements imposed anything on me. AD: According to me, your logo reflects the PFM’s opera: an antinomic couple formed by the “D” and the “C”, but

built on intersected lines, that is “the Good and the Evil are indivisible”. In spite of all that we can consecrate another, antinomic couple: approach/sending away.

FR: (he smiles) Well, the original idea was Dracula giving up his bad role: the birth of light. In fact the wedding in the final scene is dominated by the golden colour of the costumes, more lights and an infinity of reflections, that are, the symbols of the ransomed love, a monster that turns into a good being. Actually I had an initial idea for the logo: lightning rockets from the darkness. Then I directed my mind to the logo you know: Mauro Genovesi made the “D” with his paint-brush and I decided to use the same line to make the “C”, turning it upside down.

Subsequently, I began paying big attention to the balance: a so domineering “D” could unbalance the logo, but the “C” on her part should not be too big. All the rest turns around those two letters. Anyway we had to aim the balance, also considering the myriad of uses of this logo: newspapers, playbills, covers et cetera. But the logo had to be visible and recognizable too, whether big or small, oblique, horizontal or vertical and above all it had to be adaptable in every context.

ADC: In this whole harmony of curves, the “L” is an edge.


FR: Yes, the drawing of the logo is very dynamic; on the one hand it seems natural, but on the other hand―the case of the “L”―quite artificial. Initially the “L” was very feminine (see Figure 4), then I opted for a harder line, more “rock”, more coherent with the music that it represents.

(continues… ) (personal communication, September, 18th, 2007)

Well, Romanazzo unwillingly generates another antinomic couple: naturalness/artificiality. Instead, regarding the balance, we notice that the external letters (“D” and “A”) and the central one (“C”) are

separated from the internal couples (“RA” and “UL”): Those divisions create totally symmetric spaces (see Figure 5).

The last remark concerns the mirror-like aspect of the two principal letters. In Stoker’s work the mirror plays a considerable role: It is the means that Jonathan uses to be sure of the abnormality of his host. Dracula throws it away, indicating it as a cursed object, a horrid trifle of human vanity.

So, the symmetric dances that recreate the reflections of reality represent the mirror in the choreography. Instead, in the iconography this peculiarity is represented by the mirror-like letters: “D” and “C”.

Figure 4. Previous version of the logo. Source: Private archive—Federico Romanazzo.

Figure 5. Symmetric spaces in the logo. Source: Booklet.

Playbills and Dracula’s Eyes

“È l’occhio la finestra dell’anima (The eye is the window of the soul)” Tito Schipa Jr sang in Vieni sole from his Orfeo 9, the first Italian rock opera, the first ever performed in the world. In fact the composer-protagonist decided to represent his disguised face with open eyes drawn on the closed eyelids, even for the cover of the long playing (see Figure 6).

I planned the cover on a strong image of the film, the open eyes painted on the closed eyelids. I thought of an animation based upon that image, alternating the first and the third page of the double long-playing (closed/open and then open/open). (Schipa , 2005, p. 154) (see Figure 7)

Figure 6. Orfeo 9. Source: Album cover.


Figure 7. Orfeo 9. Source: Internal cover.

Figure 8. Handbill. Source: Radio Capital Archive.

Figure 9. Dracula (case, full version—2 cd). Source: Cover.

Figure 10. Dracula (highlights—1 cd). Source: Cover.

Figure 11. Jerusalem . Source: Album cover.

Well, it is noteworthy that the visual material of the two most important Italian rock operas is marked by the communicative power of the eyes: the cover of the disc for Orfeo 9 as well as the playbills, handbills and pamphlets for Dracula.

In addition, we can also notice the formal parallelism (see Figures 6, 7, & 8). Also the cover of the rock opera―or better still―the symphonic saga Jerusalem composed by DS Lionfire represents the contrast open eye/closed eye (see Figure 11). The deepening of the matter in relation to the iconography in art history would be lengthy and would lead off topic.

However, Romanazzo denies a direct influence from Orfeo 9.


Here is the second part of the interview.

ADC: Why did you decide to represent the eyes? FR: The logo is not sufficient for communication, particularly for a new opera. We wanted something else to stand

out: we tried with the image of a hand, then a mouth with a part of a tooth outside, but we did not want to use stereotypes. At last we chose the eyes, trying to give them a strong sense of deepness, allowing them to stand out in the red

background: it was disturbing enough, it referred to the concept we wanted to explain, but also we did not want this concept to be a predominating element of communication. After all they were not the eyes of our Dracula, we only wanted to give an idea.

ADC: Why are they blue? FR: Initially they had to be black in contrast to the red, whereas a white reflection of light had to give life to the iris.

Then David Zard had the idea to make them blue (see Figure 8). ADC: And why is there red colour around the iris? Do they refer to the Stoker character? FR: It is only a chromatic choice. At the start we wanted to base the communication on the black colour (as we did

for the case) (see Figure 9), then we opted for blood red (as we did for the disc) (see Figure 10) and then chose white for the title to get a strong light. (personal communication, September, 18th, 2007)

The Poster of the Disc and the PFM’s Gazes

Regarding the disc and its cover, when Romanazzo and his staff started working on the communication, there was still no material of the opera. For instance, the photos of the costumes (see Figures 12, 13, & 14) were made only nine days before the first dressed rehearsal. So play-bills of subsequent performances in Milano e Verona, represent the protagonist (see Figures 15 & 16). These are not Romanazzo’s works.

Figure 12. Vincenzo Matteucci.. Source: Photograph by Laura Camia.

Figure 13. Vincenzo Matteucci. Source: Photograph by Laura Camia.


Figure 14. Vincenzo Matteucci and Sabrina De Siena. Source: Photograph by Laura Camia.

Figure 15. Play-bill, Verona, September 21st-22nd, 2006. Source: David Zard production

Figure 16. Play-bill, Milano, October 21st-22nd, 2006. Source: David Zard production.

Figure 17. Premiata Forneria Marconi. Source: www.pfmpfm.it official website.


Figure 18. www.pfmpfm.it (il best). Source: Album cover.

In a first phase, the production asked Romanazzo to promote this product as a PFM’s disc, so he overlapped a photo of the musicians (see Figure 17) to the logo. At that time they changed their mind and decided to promote it as the disc of the opera: So only the logo remained on the cover (see Figure 10), but the solution with the image of the band was chosen for the promotional poster (see Figure 19).

Figure 19, Poster. Source: Musiza.

Figure 20. Franz Di Cioccio. Source: www.pfmpfm.it official website.


Well, why did Romanazzo’s staff choose just that photo? Of course, it was the most suitable one: It was an image already well-known and “digested” by fans and other people, as it has been already used as the cover for the double long playing www.pfmpfm.it (il best) released in 1998 (see Figure 18). Besides, the album title is a website promotion.

Figure 21, Premiata Forneria Marconi. Source: www.pfmpfm.it official website.

Another reason is the parallelism with the playbill and the handbill, as the gaze of the musicians is pointed to the referent-observer.

But the most important reason concerns the new look, the new image that the band wants to communicate: an idea of cultured, elegant composers for a refined audience.

Figure 22, Premiata Forneria Marconi. Source: D&D Concert

So diametrically opposite to the freak spirit of the youthful years (see Figures 20 & 21), the image that the PFM communicates in the 21st century (see Figure 22) reflects their aged characteristic, however hidden in the first phase of their career: a great culture that goes beyond its extreme, incommensurable technical skill. Well, the band has revealed this new look since the 90’s and particularly with this anthological album that―as Zoppo suggested “dispels every doubt: It is the manifesto of the new PFM” (Zoppo, 2006, p. 209).

References

Del Castello, A. (2005). Dracula, l’opera rock della PFM. Intervista a Franco Mussida (Dracula, the PFM’s rock opera. Interview to Franco Mussida). Retrieved from http:// www.musicalnews.com


Del Castello, A. (2006a). Cresce l’attesa e fervono i preparativi e perla prima dell’opera rock Dracula (The anticipation grows and preparations are going on everywhere for the rock opera Dracula). Retrieved from http://www.musicalnews.com

Del Castello, A. (2006b). Il debutto di Dracula della PFM al Gran Teatro (PFM’s Dracula début at the Gran Teatro). Retrieved from http://www.musicalnews.com

Di Cioccio, F. (1996). Due volte nella vita (Twice in a life) (2nd ed. (2009). Milano: Aereostella). Milano: Mondatori. Incenzo, V. (2005). Dracula. Roma: Musiza Edizioni Musicali. Oleari, A., & Stefanel, R. (2012). Storia di un minuto (History of a minute). Milano: Aereostella. Schipa, T. J. (2005). Orfeo 9. Il making. Civitella Val di Chiana-Arezzo: Zona. Stoker, B. (1897). Dracula. London. Zoppo, D. (2006). Premiata Forneria Marconi. Roma: Editori Riuniti.


Revisiting Stoker’s Dracula: No Brave Good Villains Left

Carla Ferreira de Castro University of Évora, Évora, Portugal

This article considers the implication of the main character, Count Dracula, the villain/anti-hero in Stoker’s text, as

a starting point to analysing the approaches deployed in the novel that introduce new stratagems to uncover the

motives which allow the readers to find excuses to deny “pure” evilness. Stoker’s Dracula (1897) introduced the

plausibility―in the realm of the gothic horror novel―of finding heroes in modern day “villains”. This paper will

argue this influence by introducing connections with modern “pop” vampires: from the teenage vampires in the

Twilight saga both the texts (2005, 2006, 2007, & 2008) and the film versions ( 2008, 2009, 2010, & 2012), to the

grown-up fantasies of Charlaine Harris in the True Blood saga (both the 13 books published between 2001 and

2012 and the Home Box Office TV series that started in 2008 and, so far is in its 7th season in 2014) and Tim

Burton’s Dark Shadows (2012), the remake of the 70s American Broadcasting Company Gothic soap opera (which

ran between june 1966 to April 1977). Bearing in mind the history of the vampire, through a brief account of its

constant presence in the contemporary film and television industry, we will attempt to unveil the cultural reasons

that bring light to the fact that modern society is out of brave good villains. The presentation will retrieve some

theoretical support from Cristopher Frayling’s analysis of the vampire myth, David Punters’ ideas on the modern

gothic and Maggie Kilgour’s assumptions on the rise of the gothic.

Keywords: Dracula, villains, pop-culture, postmodern gothic

Introduction

The theme of vampires has been addressed throughout centuries by literature and other art forms, at times with horror and repulsion, other times with attraction. The year of 2012 has marked the 100th anniversary of Bram Stoker’s death and, as a tribute to the author of Dracula, this paper revisits the notion of the villain, enumerating and considering the last two centuries of vampire literature and films, explaining the evolution of the notions of horror and fear, which have been altered by the introduction of elements of comedy, and by the transformation of the aesthetics of peril and blood in the post-modern youth culture that has rendered villains into modern heroes.

The Origins of Stoker’s Dracula

When Stoker’s Dracula was published in 1897, the myth of the vampire was not new. However, the approach chosen by Stoker, combining history with folklore, enabled the creation of an inspiring gothic novel which would be the starting point to the frenzy around the myth of the vampire and the profile of count Dracula.

Carla Ferreira de Castro, assistant professor, Department of Linguistics and Literature, University of Évora.

DAVID PUBLISHING

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REVISITING STOKER’S DRACULA: NO BRAVE GOOD VILLAINS LEFT 654

Such profile and Stoker’s novel have managed to entertain readers and film audiences around the globe for the past 115 years. Above all, the film industry and its audiences are indebted to Stoker: More than 1,000 films have been produced starring Dracula either as villain, hero, or a clownish character. Also, the tourism of Romania, particularly, the region of Transylvania, owes to the Irish author a number of gift shops starring Dracula/Vlad Tepes as the folklore vampire, at the same time they celebrate him, as a national hero, a man with barbarian ways but, nonetheless, just and willing to fight for his people. In the summer of 1976, the official Communist Party of Romania celebrated the 500th anniversary of Vlad’s death: There was also a postage stamp created for the occasion and former president Ceaucescu made a speech about their national hero.

The anti-hero―we cannot consider the Count as a villain, bearing in mind not only his ancestry but also the clear notion that he has a motive―depicted in Stoker’s narration is in fact a combination of two princes of Wallachia―a historical and geographical region of Romania, situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians―Vlad III and his son, Vlad IV1, also known as Vlad the Impaler. Vlad III, father of the Impaler, had been known as “Vlad Dracul” or “Dragon”, as a reference to the fact of being a member Order of the Dragon, pledged to fight the Turks from his territories. “Dracul” came to be a synonym for “devil” due to the numerous atrocities attributed to the prince Vlad Tepes, while defending his lands (namely, the decapitation, roasting, and impaling of his enemies). At the time, Stoker was devising the plot for his novel, the British Museum had already four pamphlets about the Princes, one by Bamberg with a woodcut portrait of Vlad the Impaler, which mentions that Vlad converted to Roman Catholicism later in his life. However, none of the pamphlets established the connection of Dracula with the myth of the vampire, and Transylvania. The reason for the inclusion of the vampire myth, which accounts for the popularity of the text, can be traced in the books of Emily Gerard about superstitions and folklore tales that were in vogue before Stoker published his novel, one in particular, Transylvanian Superstitions (1885) and that, together with Charles Boner’s Transylvania (1865), may have given the author some place-name locations and traditional superstitions of the region to incorporate in his “adventure story”. The vampire connection is something created by the west and, ironically, it is believed to have originated in Hungary, giving way to the legend that Vlad the Impaler, the hero who saved the Carpathian region, would rise at sunset from his grave, to watch over his lands. Other sources that have been pointed out as references to Stoker’s work are Byron’s Fragments of a Novel (1819), John Polidori’s novella The Vampyre

(also from 1819), and the epistolary form made popular by Wilkie Collins in The Woman in White (1860) and a little novel from 1887, whose heroin bears the same name as Jonathan Harker’s wife, Miss Mina and the

Groom (1887). Ludovic Flow, analysing Dracula in detail, has come to the following conclusion about Stoker:

He is a master of the commonplace style in which clichés flow as if they were impelled by the same pressure as genius. I don’t say this lightly. There is a semi-heroic, Everyman quality about his intense command of the mediocre—as

1 According to the entry in the yahoo encyclopaedia (in: http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/Vlad4) Vlad the IV, 1431? 1476, prince of Walachia (1448, 1456—62, 1476), known as Vlad the Impaler. He was the son of Prince Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Devil) and also called Dracula or son of the Devil. Vlad IV seized the Walachian throne briefly in 1448 and definitively in 1456 with the support of John Hunyadi, whom he had helped against the Ottoman Turks. Ruling with firmness and with cruelty toward his opponents, he created an orderly administration, developed commerce, and strengthened the army. In 1462, however, a campaign against him by the Ottoman Sultan Muhammad II resulted in his deposition. Vlad sought aid from the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus but was instead imprisoned in Hungary for 12 years. In late 1476, Vlad, with Transylvanian aid, regained the Walachian throne only to be defeated and killed by the Ottoman-supported prince, Laiota Basarab.


if the commonplace had found a champion who could wear its colours with all the ceremony of greatness. When such a man, just once, is thoroughly afraid, the charade stops and what you get is Dracula. (Frayling, 1991, p. 79)

The fact remains that it is due to Stoker’s profuse exploitation of clichés and stereotypes that the novel has survived throughout one century and has given way to a number of reinterpretations. It is precisely the use of commonplace that draws the attention of popular culture to the character of the count, from novels, stage, and film adaptations, video games, pinball machines, comics, cartoons (even Sesame Street has a count Dracula) and soap operas. It is impossible to list all the paraphernalia around Dracula from toys, to custom suits, mugs, magnets, T-shirts, and bumper stickers saying “I love Dracula” available at gift shops and online, ice-creams (in Portugal, Dracula was resurrected, in the summer of 2012, by Frigo). Therefore, the author will direct his/her analysis to the image of the vampire throughout the years using, when relevant, direct adaptations from Stoker, and focusing on the modern image of the vampire, no longer perceived as an anti-hero, but mostly, as an attractive creature, forever young and undead, capable of deploying the qualities of a modern hero.

From Murnau’s Nosferatu to Dario Argento’s Dracula: Film and TV Exploitation of Stoker’s Dracula

In Stoker’s novel the count is introduced as “a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere” (Stoker, 1897, p. 15).

Contradicting the notion that the true hero is Jonathan Harker, the first character the reader is introduced to, the fact is the title of the text reflects the importance of the vampire, and explains the contradictory feelings the reader experiences towards this anti-hero. This conflict accounts for the success of the novel: Though feared and dread there is an undeniable allure in Dracula that Harker himself experiences, not to mention Renfield, Lucy and Mina which stresses the fact that power, even with wrongful intentions, has always attracted attention. Stoker’s anti-hero emphasises this aspect, which explains why all characters appear easy preys at the mere presence of the Count. The charisma of Dracula is present in the way, Lucy, Mina, and Renfield cannot reject the animal magnetism the count exerts. Renfield begins to feel a necessity of creating his own preying chain before Dracula’s arrival in London and, as the count draws near, his zoophagous feeding habits become stranger and larger, in terms of size (from insects to mice and cats). Though Dracula’s victims reject this attraction, they are drawn to him, and experience pleasure when giving or receiving blood. Mina Harker receives blood from all the male characters but only experiences pleasure with the count. Jonathan Harker cannot deny the lust he feels when he is menaced inside the castle by three female vampires:

All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. (Stoker, 1897, p. 36)

As David Punter2 (1996) has affirmed,

It is hard to summarise Dracula, for it is such a wide-ranging book, but in general it is fair to say that its power

2 There are rumors that a Russian version of Dracula was attempted around 1920. If true, it would be the first cinematic adaptation of Dracula. However, no copies or records of such a film have survived, and its existence is dubious.There is also a Hungarian version from 1921, released in 1922. It was first shnown in Hungary and the copies and records that testify to its existance were lost during World War II.


derives from its dealings with taboo. Where taboo sets up certain bounding lines and divisions which enable society to function without disruption, Dracula blurs those lines. (p. 21)

The first attempt to portray on film the taboo Punter mentions was accomplished by Friedrich Wilhelm

Murnau, with Nosferatu in 1922. Murnau tried to use Stoker’s story as screenplay, but shortly after the film was released, Florence Stoker brought him to court, managed to put to halt its showing and had the German government retrieve all the copies. This implied that there were few showings in Germany prior to Dracula’s

moving into the public domain in 1962. In Murnau’s expressionist adaptation of Stoker’s text, the story has moved from London to Bremen, and the

names of the major characters were altered (Count Dracula became Graf Orlok, played by Max Schreck). Murnau’s Orlok is far from being the male seducer that attracts the audiences and accounts of the first showings tell about the horror the audience felt when he appeared on screen. However, the charisma and the magnetism were already noticeable. Once in the public domain, under its English title Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror (1922), the film was re-released on 8mm and is currently available and considered as one of the greatest films of the silent era.

In 1931, Tod Browning’s Dracula was played by Bela Lugosi, an immigrant from Hungary that barely spoke English and was given the role in the film after several actors have refused the part. The film was an adaptation of the play written by Hamilton Deane for the Broadway stage. The script was based on John Balderston’s revision of the Deane’s play. In Tod Browning’s film, Dracula’s London residence is placed in Carfac “Abbey”. It also provides answers for some of the questions Stoker left unexplained and it enlarges the role of Renfield, who is the one who first travels to Transylvania in search of Count Dracula. After closing the deal on the sale of a property in England, he is ravished by Dracula’s three vampire brides, which confers meaning to his insanity and his strong bond to the Count. Dracula opened on Friday the 13th, in February 1931, and run for eight days. In spite of the lack of publicity and the total absence of reviews, Dracula became the largest source of revenue of the year for Universal. As far as the main character is concerned, Bela Lugosi fulfils the role of an unsettling male figure and became a horror icon as Dracula, responsible for many viewers’ sleepless nights.3 With Bela Lugosi, Dracula kept the aura, still inspiring horror above all other emotions. It was with Terence Fisher and The Horror of Dracula, released in 1958, that the image of the count began to turn from sheer horror to attractiveness. The Dracula films produced by Hammer introduced the sexual element, already present in Stoker’s novel but minimised by other directors. Christopher Lee, who plays Dracula, has a mesmerising presence and his victims thought unwillingly, and the camera, along with the horror also shows the pleasure. Hammer’s Draculas also bear a close proximity with Stoker’s text. As Punter (1996) points out: “The Hammer Draculas have a sense of historical depth. …All the vampires, male and female, in Hammer’s films are sexually attractive, sometimes to the point of caricature…” ( p. 110).

This element of caricature, which can also be encountered in Stoker, introduces another key element to the study of main character as anti-hero/hero: the moment fear was able to be blended with parody; the audiences started to perceive Dracula differently and that contributed to the general acceptance of the evil character. Throughout three decades, Hammer has released nine films about Dracula: the one from 1958 above mentioned, 3 Tony Scott’s 1983 film The Hunger featuring Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon and David Bowie pays tribute to Lugosi in its opening sequence, set to Bauhaus’ Goth-Rock classic “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”.


known simply as Dracula in the UK and as The Horror of Dracula in the USA; The Brides of Dracula (1960) also directed by Terence Fisher with Peter Cushing as Van Helsing; Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) directed by Fisher: Dracula, played by Christopher Lee who is resurrected, preying on four unsuspecting visitors to his castle; Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) directed by Freddie Francis, still with Christopher Lee in the main role; Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) directed by Peter Sasdy with Christopher Lee as Dracula; Scars of

Dracula (1970) directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Christopher Lee; Dracula AD (1972)4 directed by Alan Gibson, again Cristopher Lee in the main role and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing; The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) also directed by Gibson with the same cast, and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974), directed by Roy Ward Baker and Cheh Chang (tough the latter is uncredited) introducing John Forbes-Robertson as Count Dracula but still with Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. These nine films use Stoker’s characters and, though their quality is distinct, they account for the interest of Stoker’s story and the amount of interest that the Dracula myth elicited. With the Hammer productions of Dracula, fear and horror started to encompass laughter and comedy.

It is also in the end of the 1960’s and the beginning of the 1970’s that Barnabas Collins appeared as the tortured immortal on television, the ABC show Dark Shadows (June 1966 to April 1977). With poor ratings in 1967, the Gothic soap opera added a new character to avoid being cancelled: Barnabas Collins, the 175-year-old vampire searching for his long lost love and seeking revenge. Played by Canadian actor Jonathan Frid, Barnabas was so successful and audiences were so drawn to him that, by the time Dark Shadows ended in 1971, he was virtually the star of the show. Barnabas Collins introduced a new step into the evolution of the anti-hero: Instead of being perceived as a ruthless killer, searching for youth, he was an undead Romeo doomed to an eternal search for his love. Barnabas inspired fears but also a new emotion that would prevail from the 1970’s onwards: pity for his tormented unbeingness and his anguish and remorse. In 2012, Tim Burton, transformed the series into the film Dark Shadows, starring Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins. Though it is unmistakably a Burton piece, he captures the essence of anguish and humour of the vampire and his desire to establishing his ancient lineage and the quest for his long lost love.

If one doubts the influence of Dark Shadows, one just needs to think of Francis Ford Coppola’s big-budget Bram Stoker’s Dracula, released in 1992. The film opens with Transylvanian war hero Vlad Dracula (played by Gary Oldman) embracing undeadness after discovering that his wife Elisabetha (Winona Ryder) has committed suicide. Oldman’s handsome Dracula inhabits a post-Dark Shadows world where, as the movie’s tagline states, Love Never Dies. By emphasizing the eternal love aspect of the plot, Dracula gains a new element that is not obvious in Stoker’s novel: a kind of romantic, erotic resonance quality. In the Coppola’s film Mina appears to be more in love with Dracula than her husband. His death is almost a heroic one and can be perceived as an act of love: Mina kills Dracula to release him, from his eternal torment and to free herself from a doomed love triangle. The myth of Dracula, (of which the myth of Don Juan is a variant) brings again that Romeo mixture noticeable in Dark Shadows.

This vision of romantic love associated with the undead is the root of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga

(2005, 2006, 2007, & 2008). Much like Stoker (who claims that the idea for Dracula was sketched after waking from a nightmare), Meyer’s first book, Twilight (2005) came to her in a dream: 4 This was set in the present, being the “present” 1972. This film is a parody, with the granddaughter of the last Helsing to kill Dracula as the main character. She is a hippie, and her group ends up resurrecting Dracula, who plots his revenge.


I woke up (on that June 2nd) from a very vivid dream. In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately. (Retrieved from http://stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html)

Meyer’s vampire protagonist, Edward, lacks the depth and the mystery of Stoker’s: He is no longer the cruel rapist who sucks blood to feed because he has been tamed by society’s code of conduct. The twilight saga is not about the absence of soul, because modern society has come to embrace the freedom from the culpability of sin. The blow on Catholicism, consisting on the refusal the existence of soul in an afterlife, thus erasing sin and remorse, in terms of religious belief and replacing them with a code of ethics determined by each society, gives way to this new dysfunctional triangle: A 17-year-old human, in love with an ageless young adult vampire, caught in a triangle with a werewolf friend. The main character, Edward, is a new hero: The problem for the average reader or viewers of the Saga is not whether the vampire will be extinct but the opposite: Will the girl attain a vampire condition herself, so they can love forever, since death will never do them part? Unlike Stoker’s, Meyer’s vampires can walk in the sun but avoid the rain (since they start to glow) and live among the humans and the werewolves. The main characters go to high school and, if it were not for the fantastic oddness of a human loving a vampire, the plot would be similar to any other adolescent series. To the young readers, the target of Meyer’s four books, Edward and Jacob are youth icons: Girls either prefer one or the other, depending on being attracted to the fair skin and cold blooded young vampire, or a tanned, hot blooded young werewolf. One can say that vampires are definitely cool to the 21st century youth. The merchandise around the film exploited their star pop qualities, creating specific memorabilia items for each “team”: The vamps and the weres. Some teenager girls’ dream is to encounter a true vampire and to live undead forever. In Meyer’s case, the sexual orientations have been dropped in favour of a complete heterosexual milieu and Edward becomes similar to Prince Charming in a fairy tale.

In the case of Charlaine Harris’ novels, the The Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse (the 12th and the last book of the saga was published on May 2012), they also enact the strangeness of multiple love triangles between the heroine, Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), a telepathic human waitress with a fairy grandfather, and other fantastic creatures: Namely vampires―who came out of the closet, not to face daytime, (which unlike Meyer’s but like Stoker’s work remains off-limits, unless they want to encounter a true death) thanks to the discovery of True Blood, a synthetic Japanese drink that substitutes human blood—werewolves, werepanthers, weretigers, fairies, and other metamorphous creatures with different sexual orientations.

The novels gained a new impulse due to Alan Ball’s screen adaptation for HBO (Home Box Office) of the True Blood series, in its Season 5 (Season 1 aired in June 2009 and the first episode of Season 5 was aired on 10th June 2012) and the popularity of the saga is such that it is HBO’s most watched show with an average of 12.6 million viewers per episode. This kind of popularity has only been achieved by another anti-hero series, Dexter (2006-2013), the 21st century modern bloody vigilante. Alan Ball’s adaptation, like Harris’s novels, no longer exploits the horror but takes advantage of another mundane reality-life in a fictional all-American small town, in the State of Louisiana, called Bon Temps―to introduce violence, sex and love as integral pieces in the life of


Sookie and her quest for true love. Ball has transformed a bizarre freak show of fantastic creatures into a sexy atmosphere, where Sookie dwells between the love of a powerful Nordic vampire Viking (played by Alexander Saarksgard) and first love, former soldier for the South, during the American Civil War, vampire Bill Compton. The character of Eric represents the modern day anti-hero: Sexy, powerful and dangerous with a particular sense of humour and his TV character has attracted legions of fans. The element of horror is completed dismissed, in spite of the bloody scenes and the violence displayed in every episode, leaving us to conclude that there are no brave good villains left and the perception of fear has travelled a long route from Stoker to Harris. Nonetheless, the motivation to trespass the boundaries of normality and common decency has endured throughout the last 115 years adjusting to new paradigms, as the boundaries become less strict and more tolerant in terms of our ability to tolerate displays of violence and strangeness. The capacity to feel horror is much more connected with visual and sound effects than with the plot itself.

To conclude this list, we must add the most recent version of Dracula, from 2012, by Italian horror-master Dario Argento who unveiled his own version of Stoker’s novel, this time in 3D, starring Rutger Hauer as Van Helsing, Asia Argento as Lucy, and Thomas Kretschmann as Dracula. In the writing credits, Argento acknowledges Bram Stoker (book), Enrique Cerezo, Stefano Piani, Antonio Tentori and himself for the screenplay. The film’s première occurred in Cannes and it was met with harsh criticism. The protagonist, from what can be observed in the trailer, is still an attractive man who entices his victims.

Conclusion

According to Maggie Kilgour (1995), “…the gothic villain is frequently an example of the modern materialistic individual taken to an extreme, at which he becomes an egotistical and wilful threat to social unity and order… ” (p. 12). The gothic anti-hero deployed in modern and contemporary narratives, films and TV series has been rehabilitated into a sort of pop star, enabling reader and viewers to respond to a primeval desire of escaping from mundane reality, dreaming while awake (unlike Stoker and Meyer) with cold-blooded “heroes” who will open the doors of eternal bliss on earth, where fantasy, beauty, sex, and money determine the ultimate yearning of modern audiences. Rosemary Jackson’s (1981) words “Fantasies are never ideologically ‘innocent’” (p. 122) remain true in contemporary society, as they were in the 19th century. The disadvantage can be a desensitisation towards aggression but, as Karl French (1996) recalls, the golden age of cinema, where no explicit violence was portrayed, took place in the midst of two World Wars. The main purpose of this paper was to enumerate relevant moments of the presence of the myth of the vampire, and the changing of perspective in the role of the count Dracula as pure evil. If in 1987, Stoker’s Dracula was a product of a necessity, to escape the established repression, nowadays the different adaptations and recreations have become a parody feeding pure entertainment to gothic pop culture.

References

Boner, C. (1865). Transylvania: Its products and its people. London: Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer. Byron, G. (1819). Fragment of a novel. Three Gothic Novels. New York: Penguin . Collins, W. (2008). The Woman in white. New York: Bantam Dell. Collins, W. (1887). Miss Mina and the groom. Little Novels (Vol. 2, p. 21). New York: Chatto and Windus. Frayling, C. (1991). Vampires. United Kingdom: Faber and Faber.


French, K. (Ed.). (1996). Screen violence. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing. Gerard, E., & Murgoci, A. (2013). Transylvanian Superstitions. New York: Scripta Minora. Harris, C. (2008). Dead until dark. United Kingdom: Orion. Harris, C. (2009a). Living dead in dallas.United Kingdom: Orion. Harris, C. (2009b). Club dead. United Kingdom: Orion. Harris, C. (2009c). Dead to the world. United Kingdom: Orion. Harris, C. (2009d). Dead as a doornail. United Kingdom: Orion. Harris, C. (2009e). Definitely dead. United Kingdom: Orion. Harris, C. (2009f). All together dead. United Kingdom: Orion. Harris, C. (2009g). From dead to worse. United Kingdom: Orion. Harris, C. (2010a). Dead and gone. New York: Ace Books. Harris, C. (2010b). Dead in the family. United Kingdom: Orion. Harris, C. (2011). Dead reckoning. United Kingdom: Orion. Harris, C. (2012). Deadlocked. United Kingdom: Orion. Harris, C. (2013). Dead ever after. United Kingdom: Orion. Jackson, R. (1981). Fantasy: The literature of subversion. London and New York: Routledge. Kilgour, M. (1995). The rise of the gothic novel. UK: Routledge. Meyer, S. (2005). Twilight.USA: Little, Brown and Company. Meyer, S. (2006). New moon.USA: Little, Brown and Company. Meyer, S. (2007). Eclipse. USA: Little, Brown and Company. Meyer, S. (2008). Breaking dawn.USA: Little, Brown and Company. Polidori, J. W. (1819). The Vampyre. Retrieved from: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6087 Punter, D. (1996). The literature of terror (Vol. 2). UK: Longman. Stoker, B. (1897). Dracula (1988 ed.). UK: Aerie Books Ltd..


Birth of “Television Set” in Tashkent

Yuldashev Eldar Sadikovich Uzbekistan State Institute of Arts and Culture, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

The invention and development of television art is closely connected with scientific research. The historic facts

have witnessed the influence of scientific research progress on the development of television art. In this paper, the

author intends to reveal some phenomenal facts which are known by very few people, namely, the first ever

appearance of electronic television in Uzbekistan. This paper gives us some authentic and valuable historic

materials for the invention and development of television set in the world.

Keywords: television, electronic television, television system

We became witnesses of a birth of the first purely electronic televisio in the world, in Uzbekistan and in its capital Tashkent.

—Sliviskiy, K. K. The Television Returned to Tashkent (1967)

Introduction

The invention of television has exerted a profound and wide-reaching effect on the nature and quality of modern everyday life. More vivid than radio, more intimate than film, television became one of the central and most significant technologies of the 20th century. Television took a long time to reach maturity, as it required the technology to broadcast as well as receive images, along with the cooperation of government and commercial interests to coordinate the supply of programming. But once television broadcasting became a reality and television sets were for sale to the average home, it quickly became the primary source for entertainment and information, first in the United States and England, and eventually throughout the world.

In recently published books and articles, all over the world, it was seldom referred to the history of television and its sensational opening in Uzbekistan. Being born in Uzbekistan, my motherland, the “blue screen” began its procession all over the world and conquered the heart of all people of planet. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the dominant role and merit of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the creation of the first electronic television in the world.

When writing the paper, the author studied historic documents of Central State Archive, and also other reliable documents. The 26th of July and the 4th of August in 1928 were the dates which initiated a brand new era in the history of mankind—an era of television.

At the corner of the Sayilgoh street and Sh. Rashidov avenue (see Figure 1) was installed a transmitter, and a receiver was also installed on the wing of the cinema “Khiva”, and the operator of Uzbek newsreel put the video

Yuldashev Eldar Sadikovich, lecturer of motion picture art, Department of Sound Producing, Cinema and Television Cameraman’s Art, Uzbekistan State Institute of Arts and Culture.

DAVID PUBLISHING

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BIRTH OF “TELEVISION SET” IN TASHKENT 662

on a moving tram. The moving Tashkent tram was for the first time seen on the screen, in that way the first television set appeared in the world with electronic-beam tube and the first in the world television transmission. That was the birth of electronic telecast—the prototype of modern television.

Figure 1. The project of a monument to a telephot in Tashkent. 1968.

This historical fact was filmed by Tashkent movie studio, and the film is kept in the CSA (Central State Archive) of the RUz. Frames of newsreel, in those long years, showed before film started, and there were a lot of recorded evidences of film-goers in the CSA of the RUz who saw in a big screen of the cinema television of B. P. Grabovskiy moving their familiar tram. In these long years, it was just a normal scene for viewers in our country. At that time, besides the polemics in Germany and television breakthrough in USA, most foreign experts acknowledged the top priority in Tashkent television technology. On October 1965, in a French journal, “Television” appeared in the quotation of the president of international association on radio engineering and electronics. Iysberg (1965b) frankly said: “Practically 100% telesystems tubes with cathode ray should date back to as far as 1925 in Tashkent. Uzbekistan” (p. 27). Another important document is the certification of International Union of a Press on Radio Mechanic and Electronics about the indisputable merits of Grabovskiy and Belyanskiy, who realized the first television transmission in the world by means of electronic television in 1928 in Uzbekistan.

On June 7, 1971 in Paris, according to the solicitation of one of the originators of televisions Mr. Ivan F. Belyanskiy, International Union of a Press on Radio Mechanic and Electronics (UIPRE) attentively considered and studied the patent of B. P. Grabovskiy, N. Piskunov and I. F. Belyanskiy under the numbers of 5592 and 16 733. The UIPRE gave patents for electronic device for issuing and receiving the moving displays on the radio in accordance with the rules of International convention.

The author studied all related scientific and technical materials and historic documents, which confirmed the fact of B. P. Grabovskiy and I. F. Belyanskiy about the first realization of television transmission by means of electronic television for the first time in the world. Thus the fist televison appeared in 1928 in Uzbekistan. B. P. Grabovskiy and I. F. Belyanskiy’s work influenced the development of the world electronic television, since it


was used on transmitting and on receiving stations of cathode-ray tubes. Their contributions were also reported in detail in the bulletin of International organization of radio and televisions on November 6, 1969. Knowing the history of development of technical facilities of electronics, we can confirm that merits of B. P. Grabovskiy and I. F. Belyanskiy in development of electronic television are indisputable. The inventor later said: “I personally didn’t know such legal fact, which testifies about the experiments of electronic television before July 26, 1928, so, my colleagues and me declare that the first electronic television appeared in the USSR in Uzbekitan” (as cited in Mukhamedov, 1967).

Documents Enclosed

A long time before many specialists acknowledged the authority of Tashkent in opening of electronic television, world television Olympus only began taking its beginning with a small building of mahalla (quarter) of Sheyhantaur.

Later merited inventor B.P. Grabovskiy, at that time, was a laboratory assistant at CASU (Cental Asian State University, now National University of Uzbekistan named after M. Ulugbek). There he got the first skills of experimental research. In an old city, a small comfortable house of mahalla (quarter) became the laboratory of world scale, where for the first time began the development of this great invention. Exactly here created and checked in practice the first in the world real working system of electronic television. But for breakthroughs in making the television one needed electronic-beam tube, which was impossible to make it at home workshop conditions, they needed fine instruments and help from specialists of this field, and the most important thing was material support for testing research.

In his last interview, Honored Inventor of Uzbekistan, B. Grabovskiy said:

Being a laboratory assistant at CASU (Cental Asian State University) in Tashkent, I invented cathode commutator, experiments with them gave positive results. With the help of Yuldash Akhunbabaev, who was very interested in this work and appropriated money for research program. We managed to conduct the experiments further. Certainly, we could not obtain such successes if without the help of Yuldash Akhunbabaev and other specialists of this area in Tashkent. (as cited in Mukhamedov, 1967)

Continuing this theme, the assistant of B. Grobovskiy, merited inventor of Uzbekistan, I.F. Belyanskiy said:

I got acquainted with Boris Grobovskiy in 1927, he captivated me with his ideas about electronic television so much that I could not think about other things. But there was a question where should we take money from for the realization of these ideas, and thinking about this question, I decided to go to Samarkand, straight to Yu. Akhunbabaev. At that time, the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan was in Samarkand. We started to explain to Yu. Akhunbabaev the importance of our work and sense of invention. Certainly that was very difficult time, but Yu. Akhunbabaev listenned to us and gave us much money for our work. So our work was in full swing. (as cited in Mukhamedov, 1967)

In the foreword of his book, B.P.Grabovskiy—an inventor of Telephoto wrote: “Yes, for developments of new technology of communication in conditions of commodity-money relations one needed much money. Frequent currency amounts embedded in development of product defined the degree of its readiness to mass production and introduction” (Vays & Urvalov, 1988, p. 5). From the investigation we found that both the developments and high-priced experiments of electronic television were financed by the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan. As a result, one of the wonder in 20th century took place under the administration of


Uzbekistan. There was an archival file named “Personal fund of Grabovskiy B.P. Fund 2562”, which is kept in State

archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan, can testifies the financial support of this project. The following is the statement of Grabovskiy and Belyanskiy to CPC (Council of Popular of Commissioner) of the UzSSR about asking for financial support on June 5, 1929.

We have invented a device, which can send pictures at any distance and the former experiments give brilliant results. We need 300 roubles and we will definitively finish the whole work. We also want to ask you to give each of us 200 roubles as we have been working for more than a year and we have not got our salaries so far yet. We are deteriorated, and now it is impossible to work in such condition. We have no power. We want you either to satisfy our request, or to refuse flatly. Then we shall throw to invent. (Grabovskiy & Belyanskiy, 1929, p. 190)

There was a memory of K. Slivitskiy in CSA (Central State Archive) of the RUz, who participated in developments of electronic television. K.Slivitskiy was a professional technician-engineer and creator of the first radio receiving-transmitting radio stations in Central Asia. Under the order of Yu. Ahunbabaev, he took part in improvement of “telephoto”. K. Slivitskiy said in its time:

Central executive committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Mr. Yu Akhunbabaev personally appropriated money for research program. In this period for the first time I met with Grabovskiy. V.P. Ichalov and me worked there under the order of V.A. Mokhryakov. Ichalov was master of his craft, fantastically worked at any tools, tools and devices he made by himself. And here we saw the first results: at the distance of 10 metres, Grabovskiy managed to send and get the picture of flame of a candle, carrying to transmitting tube. We began our collaboration on reconstructions of a telephoto, we enlarged sensitivity, stability, focusing sending and receiving device. Our industry didn’t do resistances, mica capacitors, variable mercury-alcohol resistances, and other details so that we had to do them ourselves. We tried great number of variants while finally we did not get satisfactory results. (as cited in Mukhamedov, 1967).

To enlarge the sensitivity of receiving part of a telephoto and install it in the premises of authorized people’s post and telephone committee on Central Asia in the office of Mr. V. A. Mokhryakov (see Figure 2) in distance of 20-30 metres from transmitter, they installed antenna. Here began the final test and adjustment of an equipment of telephoto. (as cited in Mukhamedov, 1967).

Figure 2. The Uzbek engineer Saidkhadzhayev with a tele-phot.


Newsreel was put on film—this first television transmission in movie-theatres of Central Asia at the end of the 20th years demonstrated this film. The priority of Uzbekistan in invention of electronic television in 1925 and in realization of the first in the world television transmission in 1928 was recognized all over the world.

Undoubtedly there is no need to speak about the modern times of television. We see their practical results with our own eyes. We watch the transmissions from thousands and thousands kilometers, with the help of televisions visited on the Moon and it does not surprise us. But in future our grandchildren and great-grandsons will see the transmission from other planet, and will have the pocket video-telephotos. But do not forget that all this began with telephoto in Tashkent.

Learning from the historical documents, it clearly stated what was going on the development of electronic television. Uzbek government selected his best specialists of that time for the improvement of a device. Apotheosis of invention took place due to hard and productive work of our prominent aces. All financial investments were also profitable because the main purpose was reached.

After invention had been approved by all scientists and different departments, all documents and devices were taken away to Moscow. Our invention of “Telephot” was not taken there the whole. But further development of a television also passed under the personal management of the Republic.

Elated by success, inventors continued to improve their device, insofar the condition allowed. After some months, on request of Tashgestram, professor Zlatovratskiy (see Figure 3) gave the conclusion that those work followed to carry out in the laboratory of Moscow or Leningrad. The trust hurried to send all installation with slow speed by railway in CBIRA—Central Bureau of Inventive and Rationalization Activities. Inventors looked forward to the notices of arrival of a cargo on its place. They prepared reports, set documents in order, and did the additional drawing. However, till the third months a cargo arrived at Moscow. At first it was not sent to the right address.

Figure 3. Grabovsky and the first director of the Uzbek television Mukhamedov (in the center).

Grabovskiy and Belyanskiy quickly went to Moscow with the first train. They went with small baggage: six files with the documents and drawings, three volumes of manuscript “encyclopedia of telephot” and underwear.


We nearly had no money. In spite of this, they were all in high spirits and nobody had doubt in victory. In Moscow, hastily settling in the hotel, we hurried to the engineering department of CBIRA. Here is what the spouse of B. Grabovskiy, L.Grabovskaya (1978) wrote in her own recollection.

We were in shock when we saw what happened. In boxes, where should be instruments sent by us, there were only broken glass and warped frameworks. Grabovskiy with shaky lips and pale face, shouted aloud.

What shall we do now? —shouted I. Shall ask…to restore the equipment—tried to becalm us Ivan. Of course, of course—Grabovskiy was hastily pleased. We tried to reassure each other, but all tortured the thought: how it could be so? Who could do this? Why? And that

do? Write the explanation—demanded on us. We shall write. Fortunately, soon after arrival in Moscow, friends met with Yu. Akhunbabaev, who arrived on official deals in GEC

(General Executive Committee). They told him about this trouble. A chairman of Uz GEC deeply thought about it. How should one help those young and bold enthusiasts? Taking the tube of a telephone, he talked on the phone for a long time with someone in Uzbek who understood neither Ivan nor Boris.

Now I rang to permanent mission—said Akhunbabaev. There will be concerned with your work. Uzbek government will undertake all expenses connected with making telephoto. If will be appeared any problem, address personally to me.

Our industry is not so well developed to make such device. Specialists recommended sending you for abroad. If it depends on only us, we are ready to go to world’s end—declared Grabovskiy. An Order for telephoto will be made through our trade mission in Berlin on company of “Telefunken”. Foreign

passport you will get in foreign department of AOMSA of Moscow Soviet (city council), all other documents—a warrant to currency and train tickets you will take in National committee of Foreign Trade. Corresponding letter has already directed there.

Luckly, Grabovskiy and Belyanskiy hurried to Moscow Soviet (city council). But there their expected new disillusionment: for getting passport, they needed recommendations from corresponding organizations about practicability of business trip.

But we have such recommendations from specialists of Uzbek Republic, and Grabovskiy pulled out from briefcase a reviews of different persons and Uzbek permanent mission. But all those were not enough.

They demanded the conclusion of CBIRA. Inventors work fell into the hands old specialist engineer Makhnovskiy. He kept it more than two weeks, finally, called the authors of telephoto.

It happenned that Belyanskiy caught cold and because of diseases could not go to CBIRA, and Grabovskiy left alone.

Mahnovskiy, bald, carefully shaven, shortsighted, long through spectacles looked at Grabovskiy’s scrawny figure and not asking to sit, asked:

Are you Grabovskiy? Yes, I am Grabovskiy—answered Boris Pavlovich. But I thought that you had beard and moustache—continued engineer ironically. No, I don’t wear moustache and beard—nearly with hate answered Boris. And I consider that maturity of wit of person is not at all defined by the amount of vegetation of his face. By the way, you are also shaved. Grabovskiy from the first minutes felt hostility to Mahnovskiy and further continued to answer with such tone. But

that, having eaten the pill, asked more carefully: What kind of education do you have? Finished the first course of Medical Institute, preparatory course of Tashkent university and studied at industrial

technical school. Little…But what education do you have comrade Mahnovskiy? He also had secondary technical education.


It is clear. Makhnovskiy was silent, then took off his spectacles and carefully cleaned them with handkerchief. Well what did you invent?—he asked. All are said in papers, - hardly controlling himself, answered Grabovskiy. But you explain yourself. Well. With what to start?—thought Grabovskiy—to tell him about the whole history of nerve-racking searchs, about

massive efforts of wit, worrisome days and sleepless nights? But will he understand? Everything seems to indicate that— no—he answered shortly.

We are working on the way of an issue and acceptance of moving images. Such a radio, it will be a great boon to the mankind. Person will see from thousand kilometers, through rocks, through any barrier...

Mahnovskiy whole was compressed, his shaven face became purple. This... this some kind of idle fancy!—began he, stammering just a little—Yes, will you understand anything about

electronics? You thought about impossible thing. Nobody from greater wits neither in Russia, nor on West, nor in America does not think about such thing. But you solved to overlay all! Think, Grabovskiy, are they all not funny?

Our idea was approved by many and even Rozing, was to say Grabovskiy. And we have already made much progress in this matter. Our experiments showed that we stand on correct ways.

Only give us now possibility to show it practically. But as to our not competencies, as you confirm, to the history of technical opening and inventions know much events.

I see, about what are you going to speak—Makhnovskiy interrupted him—But all these don’t refer to your idea. Don’t refer?! Grabovskiy lost his head—Then give us written conclusion, why it, our idea is insolvent. Well, we shall give. (pp. 124-142)

After some days, Grabovskiy and Belyanskiy really got conclusion from CBIRA that at present working on telephoto is hopeless, possibility of influence of thermoelectrons cathode ray in supposed scheme is doubtful…The letter was sent to Tashkent, in which was written that inventors were charaterized by the swindlers and crooks; they gave advice to stop any covert activity around electronics.

This was the last heavy nock. If Belyanskiy was on the strength of his nature and carried it comparatively easy, but Grabovskiy was worried, and forgot about dreams and withdrawed. Grabovskiy returned to Tashkent bewildered and devastated. In Moscow, they did not return him files with drawings, schemes, calculations, and the manuscript of “encyclopedia of telephot”, which could killed him. Soon after, Boris Pavlovich was seriously ill.

On January 13, 1966, the heart of an enthusiast inventor B.P.Grabovskiy stopped. B.P.Grabovskiy’s wife, according to his desire before death, sent his whole personal archive to the Central State Archive of Uzbekistan. Practically, after officially concerning Uzbekistan with invention of electronic television, native researchers and big organizations began working hard on its development. They participated such organizations as Tashkent Assotiations of Inventors, Central Asian district of communication. SASU, public bodies of ITR, plant named after Ilich, Leningrad plant “Svetlana”.

For creation of the first television set “telephoto” (tele-fot in Greek tele-far off, phot—a light) and electronic television system helped personally T. A. Saidkhodzhaev, the first Uzbek power engineer, which personally controlled the completing of device and checked the technical equipping of the laboratory. Exactly immeasurable potential of our country created the first real electronic television set. Created on that principle works modern “blue screens”. And today follows obligatory postulate this historical fact. The apogee of television era of mankind begins with small building of mahalla (city quarter), of an old city in Tashkent.


After years, the first broadcasting in Central Asia, the first movie theatre in Central and East Asia, as well as the first direct television airwaves would appear exactly in Uzbekistan.

Conclusion

Television was not invented by a single inventor, instead, many people working together and alone over the years, contributed to the evolution of television. At the dawn of television history there were two distinct paths of technology experimented with by researchers. Early inventors attempted to either build a mechanical television system based on the technology of Paul Nipkow’s rotating disks, or they attempted to build an electronic television system using a cathode ray tube developed independently in 1907 by English inventor A. A. Campbell-Swinton and Russian scientist Boris Rosing. Electronic television systems worked better and eventual replaced mechanical systems. However we cannot ignore the dominant role and merit of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the creation of the first electronic television in the world. Grabovskiy and Belyanskiy realized the first television transmission in the world by means of electronic television in 1928 in Uzbekistan. Their contributions should be memorized by us forever.

References

Grabovskaya, L. (1978). Reminiscence. Ural, 7, 124-142. Grabovskiy, B. P., & Belyanskiy, I. F. (1929, June 5). Statement for financial support. CSA UzSSR, f. R -89, on. 1 .f. 164, l, 190.

Original, manuscript, autograph. Central State Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Tashkent. Iofe, V. G. (2006). Documents of the personal B.P.Grabovsky’s fund on television stories. Herald of An archivist, 1, 234-242. Iysberg, E. (1965a). Electronic television system. Télévision. Iysberg, E. (1965b). The President of UIPRE E. Iysberg. Translation from French. Original there also, l. 1. There is a stamp on

original: Union Internationale de la Presse Radiotechnique et Electronique. UIPRE. CSA UzSSR, f. R-2562, on. 3, f. 69, l. 2. Central State Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Tashkent.

Mukhamedov, F. (1967). The television returned to Tashkent. Tashkent. DVD Rasina, P. I., & Urvalova, V. A. (1965). Destiny of one patent. Bulletin of Communication, 5, 146-153. Slivitskiy, К. К. (1971, February 11). Description of television broadcast of К.К. Slivitskiy. Archive filesof К.К. Slivitskiy. 1928.

QSL cards 1928. Central State Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Tashkent. Vays, M. L., & Urvalov, V. A. (1988). Collection of documents: B. P. Grabovsky the inventor of Telefot. Tashkent.

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