The Chosen Few: The Order Pour le mérite and the Order of Merit

Abstract

Brain disease or injury is a terrible thing, but the fact that the same kinds of brain diseases occur the world over offers researchers the opportunity to address the question posed by the title to this review. In the research described here, we assessed the reading skills of adult neurological patients (who had been normal speakers and readers prior to the onset of their brain damage) in both England and Japan. We chose patients in the two countries with the same causes and neuroanatomical locations of brain damage. The writing systems of English and Japanese differ fundamentally in the manner in which written words represent the sounds and meanings of the words in their respective languages. If the organisation of language in a person's brain is determined by the characteristics of the language he or she has learned, it follows that there should be little or no commonality in the patterns of reading deficit across these two languages. On the other hand, if the same principles of brain organisation apply across different cultures and languages, then we should be able to predict the nature of the reading impairments from one language to another when the same part of the brain is malfunctioning. The results discussed strongly suggest that the brain's organisation of language is in fact the same no matter which language you speak.     

The Schillers of the suburbs – creativity and mediated sociality

Theories around the cultural geography of creativity have given new life, in recent years, to negative perceptions of the suburbs as ‘isolated’. These theories have emphasised the importance of ‘clusters’, ‘precincts’, ‘incubators’ and ‘hubs’, suggesting that even in the era of the Internet, creativity requires an immediacy of social interaction, which can only be found where there is social concentration. The paper brings these theories into question through a long historical perspective on the relation between creativity and ‘mediated sociality’. Drawing on the work of Elias, it suggests some surprising parallels between the position of German artists and intellectuals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and suburban creative practitioners today. The former were in many respects ‘isolated’, relatively dependent on mediated sociality, and yet they produced a major historical flowering of creative activity. The example prompts us to think more sympathetically and optimistically about the creative potential of contemporary suburbia.     

An Analysis of the Literary Structure of the Zand ī Wahman Yasn

In this article it is maintained that the extant Zand ī Wahman Yasn is a work which was composed to be recited orally. In it mythological and historical material familiar to both storyteller and audience is woven into an integral text whose purpose is to interpret contemporary events. An analysis of each chapter shows how various rhetorical devices belonging to every level of language are used to underscore the contents and give cohesion to the text. These devices include alliteration and assonance, grammatical parallelism, and clusters of synonyms. Different types of dialogues and monologues are discussed and comparisons are made with other extant texts with apocalyptic themes.     

“The Painter in Two Frames”: An Archaeological Investigation of Kamal-ol Molk’s Agency in the Field of Art and Politics

An agent’s actions in different fields and its changes can leave material traces. Therefore, archaeology in its broadest methodological meaning surveys material culture and seeks to investigate an agent’s action in a process. Our archaeological excavation in Neshat Garden led to the discovery of material traces of lifestyle changes of a well-known agent from the late Qajar/early Pahlavi era. Mohammad-e Qafari, nicknamed Kamal-ol Molk, was a famous painter of the Qajar court. He left the court in middle age and entered politics as an agent of opposition. Kamal’s journey to Europe was a turning point that extended to the end of his life. At the same time, Iran’s sociopolitical context experienced significant evolution, including the Mashroute Movement and the rise of Pahlavi dynasty to power. Such mutations made Kamal-ol Molk abandon/change his activities in the field of art, sponsored by the power structure, to engage in political activity. His exile/compulsory migration to a faraway village in northeastern Iran is the outcome of his political activities. The present research is based on archaeological surveys and excavations in two sites: Kamal-ol Molk’s house and Neshat Garden. The archaeological investigation of Kamal’s life in context, his paintings, letters, and photos as a long-term process reveals an artist who was also political. His agency in politics was so effective that in order for the “holy honorable party” to survive, he sometimes ordered assassinations.     

Cultures of Incomprehension?: The Legacy of the Two Cultures Debate at the End of the Twentieth Century

This paper considers the impact of Snow's Two Culture's thesis on debates about the place of science and scientists in society in the latter part of the twentieth century. Debates concerned with the public understanding of science and the ‘science wars’, both of which relied to some extent on the dividing of society into ‘two cultures’, are contextualised within longer efforts by scientists to popularise definitions of science and society and their relationship with other epistemic communities. This paper argues that we should think about all these episodes as part of ongoing rhetorical boundary work, reflective of strains and stressors on science as an institution. The two cultures debate has provided one powerful rhetorical device, amongst many, for ongoing boundary work to establish or question science as the dominant form of knowledge in society and delineate who is allowed to speak for it, and wield its power.     

‘An Organic Part of the Whole Structure’: John Curtin's Empire

In March 1957 Harold Macmillan expressed to Dwight Eisenhower that the British government was ‘considering abandoning Hong Kong’. The hitherto unknown Hong Kong Question in 1957 grew primarily out of Britain's imperial decline, and particularly the difficulties of defending Hong Kong. During the Cold War Hong Kong was a colony too valuable for Britain to abandon in peace, and yet too peripheral to be worth committing scarce resources to for its survival at war. The British dilemmas were exacerbated by the 1956 riots in Hong Kong and the general defence review undertaken by the Macmillan government in 1957, both of which raised serious questions about the adequacy of a reduced garrison to maintain internal security. The United States also showed concern about the future of the British colony in the light of Anglo-American differences over the Suez crisis and China policy. As a result of the Bermuda and Washington conferences in 1957, the Anglo-American relationship was restored by Eisenhower and Macmillan, a restoration which, as the latter saw it, made Hong Kong ‘a joint defence problem’ between the two allies. Together with the Chinese communist policy of leaving the colony alone, the Hong Kong Question was thus resolved inadvertently.     

The Book of Job – The Cyclical Progression of the Aporia

ABSTRACT

This article explores the relation between aesthetics and theology in the Book of Job. The overall aim of the article is to explain the relationship between centre and periphery (poetry and prose) and its significance for the theology of the book. The article claims that Job's problem is not the attainment of wisdom but how to reconcile wisdom with suffering—how to relate to suffering. And this theological theme is propagated through aesthetics—including stylistic, narrative, compositional and structural features.

It is impossible to point out a preferential reading in the Book of Job because of the fundamental and structural dissonance of the text. This destabilized, ambiguous, paradoxical, ironical and dissonance-producing text is the hermeneutical starting point. Qua dissonance-producing text this feature is used as foundation for the interpretative task. And to get a comprehensive grip on the book two instruments are used: the literary and compositional means are analyzed, and the structural elements are evaluated in their relation between frame and centre. Following this line of interpretation reveals that the stylistic differences of the work manifest crucial theological distinctions. In the book of Job, shape and aesthetics are meaning and theology.     

The Rise and Fall of Alexander the Great – The Need for Medical Analysis: Reply to Commentaries

Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C. from an unknown cause. By elucidating the nature of his death, we can better interpret various aspects of Alexandrian history. Alexander’s death may have ensued from the sequelae of a congenital scoliotic syndrome. It would therefore be of significance to note that one of the greatest leaders in history who conquered much of the then known world may have been suffering from a physical disability.     

Pursue,Obtain, and Lose:An Analysis of Gatsby’s Images from the Perspective of Narrative Structure

《了不起的盖茨比》深刻地描写了“爵士时代”人们的生活与观念,以及金钱和享乐掩盖下的精神堕落以及“美国梦”的幻灭。小说中的主人公盖茨比就是为了实现其“美国梦”——企图通过财富和社会地位来换回昔日的爱情,最后付出了生命的代价。这部小说有个最基本的叙事结构:追寻-找到-失去。以盖茨比追寻-找到-失去其梦想为线索,我们大致能得出三个典型的形象:悲剧、传奇式英雄以及孤独。悲剧形象的论述是以那个人人都怀有“美国梦”的“爵士时代”为历史背景。盖茨比传奇式英雄和孤独形象则是以象征美国梦的“绿灯”为线索,以“追寻-失去”这样更紧凑的叙事结构来进行阐述的。