Folklore for a New Century

Folklore as a discipline had promising beginnings in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By the end of the twentieth century, however, the academic study had begun to fade in academies, and the substantive content had lost a great deal of public interest. Three books deal with the practice of folk studies and ask the question of where folklore might go in the twenty-first century. One looks at the theoretical history of the discipline, while the other two have an ethnographic bent and open up folk materials to embodied and reflexive analysis.     

The twenty‐second Katharine Briggs memorial lecture,November 2003

The elite theories of witchcraft in early modern Europe rested on the elaborate imaginary constructs of scholastic theologians, with their implications about a cosmic struggle between good and evil. These were reinforced by a range of popular beliefs and practices, and by the iconography of such artists as Bosch, Grien and Cranach. The imaginary world of witchcraft always tended towards a Manichean dualism that commanded widespread popular support, but aroused doubts among the elites. The fears on which it played, of sterility and dearth, bad mothers, and death, gave it an extraordinary imaginative appeal, which also helps to explain its reappearance in modern literature.     

Two medieval plague treatises and their afterlife in early modern England

This study of an adaptation of the popular John of Burgundy plague treatise by Thomas Moulton, a Dominican friar, ca. 1475, and a translation of the so-called Canutus plague treatise by Thomas Paynell, printed 1534, shows how the medieval traditions they represent were carried forward, well into the sixteenth century, and also subjected to change in light of religious, moral, and medical concerns of early modern England. The former had a long life in print, ca. 1530-1580, whereas Paynell's translation exists in one printed version. Moulton's adaptation differs from its original and from the Canutus treatise in putting great emphasis on the idea that onsets of plague were acts of divine retribution for human sinfulness. In this respect, Moulton reshaped the tradition of the medieval plague treatise and anticipated the religious and social construction of plague that would take shape in the first half of the sixteenth century. Its long history in print indicates that Moulton's treatise expressed the spirit of that construction and probably influenced the construction as well. The contrasting histories of the two treatises attest not only to the dramatic change brought about by religious and social forces in the sixteenth century, but to a growing recognition of the value of the printing press for disseminating medical information-in forms that served social and ideological ends.     

Soviet Geographic Literature

A review of geography publishing in the Soviet Union analyzes the output of literature by categories of end-users: (1) publications designed for professional geographers, including works on theory and method, university textbooks, periodicals and serials, and bibliographic and information services; (2) geographic publications intended for the public at large, including regional studies of different levels of sophistication on the Soviet Union and foreign areas as well as popular geography books; (3) geography textbooks and study aids for elementary and secondary schools, which represents the largest portion of geography publishing in terms of volume, with an average of 4 million books printed each year. Recommendations for improvements in geography publishing include the creation of a Council on Literature, made up of professional geographers; the establishment of a centralized publishing house that would specialize in geography (except for textbooks, government publications and special-purpose literature), and the establishment of a translation journal that would disseminate some of the more significant foreign articles in Russian translation.     

百年来中国对韩国史学史研究的回顾与展望北大核心CSSCI

20世纪初,随着朝鲜汉籍陆续进入中国学术视野,中韩史学比较研究陆续展开,孟森、吴晗等史家作出了重要贡献。从1949年到1992年中韩建交前,中国大陆学界对韩国史学的关注较少,中国台湾出版了一批韩国史学史研究成果,延续和拓展了相关领域。1992年中韩建交对于中国韩国学的发展有至关重要的作用,在韩国史学史、中韩史学交流与比较等领域都有一批学术成果问世。回顾百余年来韩国史学史研究的历程,中国学术界的研究成果呈现如下特点:论文较多,专著较少;专题性、叙述性的评介较多,全面系统的论述较少;对韩国汉文史籍的关注较多,非汉文韩国史籍甚少;自说自话的论著较多,与韩国学术界的对话较少。针对这些问题,还需做更全面的努力,以推动韩国史学史研究。     

Colouring the Nation: A New In-Depth Study of the Turkey Red Pattern Books in the National Museums Scotland

Abstract

The production of Turkey red dyed and printed cottons was a major industry in the west of Scotland, particularly in the mid- to late nineteenth century. Although the extensive works were pulled down in the second half of the twentieth century, our knowledge of this industry is significantly aided by the survival of approximately 200 pattern books, now housed in the National Museums Scotland. These pattern books, examined along with business papers, exhibition catalogues and the Board of Trade Design Registers, are the foundation for a new study into the wider Scottish decorative textile industry. The ongoing examination of these pattern books has shown the variety and longevity of Turkey red dyed and printed patterns, as well as providing insights into wider aspects of the textile industry, including issues of design, manufacture and trade.     

藏书家、古典戏曲文献学家傅惜华

傅惜华是20世纪著名的藏书家、古典戏曲文献研究专家,其一生著述甚丰,尤其在戏曲目录学领域贡献突出。本文将视角固定在图书典籍上,略述傅惜华对中国戏曲典籍的收藏保存、著录传播、捐公奉献。     

检方施治:防疫方书与清代的疫情防控

抄录、编撰、刊印、传播、参阅防疫方书,是清代疫情期间常见的医疗实践活动。防疫方书的大量涌现是一次次疫病流行激发的结果,是疫情防控实践本身的重要组成部分。它们在染疫病人救治、防疫力量动员、防疫知识整合和普及等方面发挥着独特的媒介作用,是相关人、事、物实现链接和互动的一种重要途径,是人们积极主动地应对疫病、控制疫情、维护生命健康的一种"原动力"。相较于其他常见防疫举措,防疫方书深度参与到多种疫情防控实践中,实际构成了一种自发性、分散性、非制度性的疫病应对机制,具有成本低廉、传导性强、覆盖面广、溢出效应大等特征。     

Spiritualism after the Great War

British Spiritualism has attracted a good deal of historicalcomment, but most scholars assume that popular interest in themovement had faded by the close of the First World War. Thisarticle examines Spiritualism and the culture in which it flourishedbetween the wars and in doing so challenges the assumption thatbelief in the supernatural was thoroughly displaced by science-basedsecularism in the twentieth century. Spiritualist egalitarianismreflected and responded to the increasingly democratic valuesof the twentieth century, but more important for Spiritualism'ssuccess was its ability to incorporate a variety of existingsupernatural concepts into its developing and flexible cosmology.The many ways in which traditional supernatural beliefs penetratedeveryday language supplied simultaneously a rich resource forSpiritualist thought and a setting where conversion to Spiritualismcould feel natural and even inevitable.     

Patron and Patriot: Dinshah J. Irani and the Revival of Indo-Iranian Culture

This article examines the life and work of Dinshah Irani, a prominent Parsi scholar, lawyer and philanthropist who was a key intellectual intermediary between the Parsi community of Bombay and the intellectual community of Iranian nationalists during the 1920s and 1930s. The article details the role played by Irani in patronizing the publication of Zoroastrian-themed printed works in Bombay that were intended for export to the reading market in Iran. By focusing on the life and work of Dinshah Irani, the article details the important role the Parsi community of Bombay played in the revival of Iranian antiquity during the early twentieth century. The article also highlights the transnational cultural and intellectual history of Iranian nationalism during the Reza Shah period.     

寶卷印本形制流變考述

本文以寶卷印本爲研究對象,在目驗原書的前提下,從裝背、扉畫、字體三個方面總結其印本形制的特徵,考察寶卷從早期宗教出版物到晚期通俗讀物的演變。寶卷印本之所以出現這種前後截然不同的變化,是由其文體屬性的演變決定的,而這種屬性的變化正是其晚期受到以小說爲代表的通俗文學影響的結果。     

Maps,Mapping, Modernity: Art and Cartography in the Twentieth Century

While the history of cartography has freed itself from debilitating debates over the scientific and artistic status of maps, considerations of the relationship between art and cartography have continued to focus largely on pre‐modern maps, avoiding critical examination of twentieth‐century art and science in cartography and leaving intact the impression that these followed distinct paths in the modern period. In this paper, however, I have drawn on theoretical work in Science Studies and taken account of modern art's separation from aesthetics to suggest that an examination of art and cartography in the twentieth century should focus on mapping practices rather than on maps as such. A summary overview of modern‐art movements and selected works indicates a continued, if critical, engagement of avant‐garde artists with cartography, and the examination of more popular newspaper artwork produced in the context of the intensely modern visual culture of mid‐twentieth century Los Angeles indicates a similarly close connection between modernity, art and cartography.     

The Cult of Animals

The early modern history of the festivities associated with Hallowe’en and St Valentine’s Day reveals a significant overlap in early forms of celebration and customary practices. In the eighteenth century, however, each day developed its own distinctive traditional identity. This article argues that this was a result of mass print culture and the spread of literature: primarily in popular verses, the poetry of Robert Burns, and the influence of William Shakespeare.     

Kleinstadt und Bibliothek in der Frühmoderne. Zu Genese und Struktur der Ratsbibliothek der fränkischen Reichsstadt Weißenburg

Small town and library in early modern times: Even small German imperial towns in particular were unable to conduct their daily business without maintaining a library with a wide range of excellent and usefull books suitable for employment by the judiciary, the administration, the health-care services, the church and school system as well as for supporting the interests of the town effectively. It is clear that the municipial council placed high value on the acquisition of the most important works in the field of law, theology and literature treated in school considering the relatively rational manner in which the “Ratsbibliothek” (library of the council) of the imperial town of Weißenburg (Bavaria) took stock of its books in the early modern times (16th to 18th century): this can be seen in the contemporary cataloguing (1600/1745/1829) of the library. Since the library orientated itself pragmatically towards the administrative interests of the town, there was hardly any inclination towards the acquisition of works in the fields of philosophy or poetry. — This study is based on the first edition of the “Beringer-catalogue” included (1600).     

清末民初留日医学生报刊传播西医活动述论

文章以留日医学生报刊为中心,对清末民初留日医学生传播西医活动进行梳理,在此基础上努力复原留日医学生＂学医＂和＂传医＂活动的真实面貌,进而管窥留日医学生及其创办的报刊在中国近代西医传播史上的重要地位。清末民初,大批爱国志士心怀医学救国之梦,东渡日本学习现代医学,标志着国人被动接受西医的终结。赴日医学生组织学会,创办报刊,致力于德日派西医体系的传播。德日派西医在中国现代医学史上虽然没有英美派西医的影响力大,但是也为中国医学的近现代转型做出重大贡献。赴日留学生报刊对开启民智,振奋民族精神发挥了不可低估的作用。     

From Senegal to Augsburg: Gum Arabic and the Central European Textile Industry in the Eighteenth Century

West Africa’s role in the early modern economy is usually reduced to that of a supplier of forced labour for American plantations while other types of trade — especially direct trade between Western Africa and Europe — are often marginalised in scholarship. This article argues that the West African substance gum arabic played a vital role in the large-scale production of printed cottons and linens in Europe — one of the major areas of popular consumption at the time. Its unique qualities and the fact that it was available in large quantities made gum arabic from Senegal and Mauritania indispensable in producing high-quality prints in large numbers for a reasonable price. The article advances this argument by looking at Central instead of Western Europe, in order to illustrate how pervasive this substance was in the eighteenth century. Even regions far removed from the Atlantic — such as the South German city of Augsburg, in today’s Bavaria — needed to find a way to access this Senegambian product in order to produce their popular textiles. The article thus seeks to contribute to a better understanding of Africa’s role in the development of European textile industries and its contribution to consumption patterns by following a specific material from Western Africa to Central Europe — from Senegal to Augsburg.     

关于19世纪中国史学历史意义的思考

19世纪中国史学在中国史学发展史上具有划时代意义．它不仅标志着传统史学的终结,亦同时标志着近代史学的开端,是中国史学新陈代谢的交会点和转折点,并为20世纪初新史学的形成与发展奠定了基础,指明了方向。在社会思想领域,19世纪中国史学还起到了重大的思想启蒙作用,对19世纪中国社会的历史进程产生了巨大而持久的影响。     

Materialist hermeneutics,textuality and the history of geography: print spaces in British geography,c.1500–1900

This essay canvasses a range of recent work in literary studies and the history of science advocating a ‘materialist hermeneutic’, an approach to the study of texts which takes seriously their printed format as a bearer of expressive meaning. The essay goes on to show the role of such a hermeneutic in revising our narratives of the history of geographical thought by looking at the print format of British geography books in the era 1500–1900. It is argued that the age of discovery created a ‘problem situation’ for geographical knowledge which was solved by the geographical grammar, this solution only collapsing with the closing of the world in the late-nineteenth century. It is further shown that the so-called ‘new’ geography of the late-nineteenth century developed a radically different print space for geography. The print spaces of early modern and new geography are shown to have been key determinants of the social and intellectual positioning of geography as a scholarly enterprise.     

Extraordinary Satisfactions: Lesbian Visibility in Seventeenth–Century Pornography in England

This article analyses seventeenth–century pornographic literature and popular ballads to explore alternative representations, and hence interpretations, of female same–sex desire than those presented by either early modern legal, medical and religious discourse in which the image of the tribade predominates, or the homoerotic prose and poetry of female writers. It argues that early modern culture was not limited to interpreting sexual acts between women as the result of either a physical abnormality (clitoral hypertrophy) or the desire to live as a man, and thence to take on his sexual as well as social role.