BOOK REVIEW
Maria-Ionela Neagu (Ed.), Voyage and Emotions across Genres. Berlin: Peter Lang GmbH, 2020, 276 pp, ISBN: 978-3-631-81001-9.
Reviewed by Jana Bérešová, Trnava University, Slovakia
The book, entitled Voyage and Emotions across Genres, brings together papers that are framed within two main subjects: literary studies representing voyage and discursive approaches to space and emotions. As stated in the introductory article (pp. 9-15) by Maria-Ionela Neagu and Sky Marsen, this work aims to emphasise that locations in which people live are not stable entities. Rather, they are dynamic spaces in which people are constantly developing and evolving due to their search for identity, co-constructing the meaning of their experiences within multiple contexts, and respecting the changes and differences occurring around them. The work is divided into two balanced sections, each comprising eight articles, presented in either English or French, with a clear organisational intent.
The opening article in Part One is entitled “Voyages to the End of Gulliver’s Night? The Dynamics of Private and Public Emotions in Gulliver’s Travelsˮ by Norbert Col, in which Gulliver’s initiatory journey is seen as a journey to self-discovery. His encounters with other cultures and languages highlight the solipsism of the ‘splendide mendax’, as he becomes estranged from his own identity.
In the article entitled “Erotic Experience in Céline’s Journey to the End of the Night” (Voyage au bout de la nuit), written by Gerald J. Butler, the protagonist reaches the conclusion that ‘human nature is the same everywhere and not what cherished ideals require of it’. Ultimately, the protagonist’s perception of the world is shaped by his negative experiences, leaving him with the impression that there is no viable solution to the circumstances he faces.
Anca Dobrinescu’s contribution, entitled “Contemporary Fiction as Literature of Travelˮ, focuses on the topic of globalisation. It emphasises that globalisation generates interconnectedness and creates the premise for cultural encounter, bringing the self and other in closer and more frequent contact than ever before. Although the contemporary world is heterogenous and hybrid, it is contemporary literature that enables readers to view the world in its full complexity.
In her study, Diana Rînciog sets out to portray Flaubert as a writer and traveller, elucidating his ideas, sentiments, uncertainties and aspirations. She seeks to decode the impersonal art that made him famous in his novels. Furthermore, he is an avid collector of exceptional images and sensations, seeking to discover enchanting locales that transcend the limitations of his temporal context. Nevertheless, travel is considered a principal avenue for acquiring knowledge and experiencing emotions, as presented in “Voyager, ‘voie royale’ de la connaissance et de l’émotionˮ.
In her article, “The Outside and the Inside Labyrinth in Satyricon Petroniusˮ, Cristina Iridon examines the Petronian novel, in which the labyrinth is regarded as a symbol of the world or life as a prison, where all paths are so intertwined that there is no way to return. The exterior labyrinth symbolises the Early Empire in Roman history, whereas the interior labyrinth represents the escape and pursuit of the other.
In her analysis of the chapter entitled “No Name Womanˮ from Maxine Hong Kingston’s “The Woman Warriorˮ, Ioana Rădulescu employs a dual perspective shaped by two cultural contexts to examine the relationship between public and private space: American and Chinese. The public sphere exerts a profound influence on the private realm, disseminating ideologies, values, and beliefs that shape individual and collective consciousness. However, due to its incompatibility, the private is regarded as the Other and perceived as a threat to the established order.
Rodica Brad’s contribution, entitled “Voyage en Orient de Lamartine comme voyage de l’âme en quête de Dieu et de l’autreˮ, focuses on the search for spirituality and presents Lamartine’s view on the Orient. The images of the Orient are indicative of Lamartine’s perception of the world and his expectations. The Voyage en Orient is essentially the work of a Christian poet, who was subjected to significant challenges and was acutely aware of his role as a divinely inspired cantor, which he was duty-bound to fulfil for the benefit of his fellow Westerners and Easterners.
The final paper of the first part is a contribution from Mihaela-Claudia Trifan. Entitled “The Traveller and the Outsider as ‘Impartial Witnesses’ in Romanian Novels about Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej’s Regimeˮ, it offers an analysis of how the established and credible motifs of the traveller were exploited to lend reliability to a specific type of novel that served a political purpose. The communist regime was perceived as more credible when evaluated from the perspective of an outsider, rather than from the standpoint of those directly involved in the historical events that occurred in Romanian society during that period.
Part Two is initiated by Piotr Cap’s work, entitled “Ideology, Conflict and Emotions in Critical Discourse Research: A Cognitive Perspectiveˮ, reviewing cognitive models and models of spatial cognition. The paper presents a case study of proximisation in political discourse and offers conclusions regarding the potential benefits and future applications of spatial cognition as a valid methodology in Critical Discourse Analysis.
In her article, Florentina Puşcalău examines the extent to which the recognition of universal emotional expressions facilitates communication in an intercultural context. The study entitled “Universal Emotions in a Multicultural Classroomˮ was informed by a philosophical perspective that sought to elucidate relationships that might otherwise remain opaque. The objective of the study was to ascertain the efficacy of facial expressions and non-verbal behaviour in facilitating the identification of human emotions observed in a multicultural classroom in Germany.
A foreign country offers the visitor the opportunity to gain insight into the lives of people from different cultures and languages (French and Arabic). The research presented by Adriana-Viorela Gheban in her article, entitled “Le stage-voyage – un échange interculturel et interlinguistiqueˮ, focuses on the analysis of the internship reports from 1931 to 1939 in the school situated across Eastern Sahara and Kabylia. The corpus is characterised by a preponderance of autobiographical discourse.
In their contribution entitled “Shared Emotion in the Romanian and Indian Cultural Spaceˮ, Elena Cristina Berariu and Andrea Peterlicean examine the role of women in a traditional family structure, which is continuously challenged in the modern world. Despite the differences between Romanian and Indian culture, both exhibit comparable values pertaining to tradition. The objective of this study is to identify the similarities between the portrayal of Romanian and Indian women in the private sphere, which is often characterised by a submissive and weak representation. The results of the study provide evidence that contemporary women are more independent than is commonly portrayed in traditional stereotypes, as exemplified in advertising.
In her study entitled “L’émotion véhiculée par le discours de spécialité contenu dans les manuels de FLEˮ, Gabriela Toma examines an approach to the emotional dimension of specialised discourse. The study presents evidence in the form of examples taken from textbooks used in Romania. One of the explicit aims of the study is to ascertain whether the expression of emotion has a didactic function. While scientific texts are often characterised by a depersonalised quality, the question of whether such a phenomenon as scientific emotions exists is undoubtedly answered in the affirmative. The scientist, the student, like every human being, responds to the stimulus of the situation in which they find themselves, whether it be their work or their interaction with others.
In her article entitled “Les toponymes étrangers dans la littérature de voyage roumaine de XIXe siècleˮ, Domniţa Tomescu provides an overview of the early travel literature of the 19th century. The linguistically oriented study enables readers to ascertain whether the names of foreign places were reproduced in their original form or adapted to the phonetic and grammatical rules that govern the Romanian language. The paper presents the results of the study in a clear and concise manner, with a particular focus on the findings related to the two aforementioned instances.
The penultimate article, written in French, is Diana Costea’s “Techniques narratives dans l’écriture de voyageˮ. The author of the article attempts to address the questions that arise from J. M. G. Le Clézio’s apparent ambivalence between the novel and the travel story. In Le Clézio’s travel writing, the theme is either absent or diminished, space assumes a central role, description takes precedence over narrative, and the elements of space determine the narrative. The significance of his work lies in the way he presents a portrayal of the desert, intertwined with a delineation of the characters.
The monograph concludes with the contribution of Maria-Ionela Neagu and Daniela Chiru, entitled “Motivation at Play in Institutional Contexts – Metaphorical Reasoning and Representationˮ, which presents a cognitive perspective inspired by the Conceptual Metaphor Theory. In light of recent research, the LEGO® Serious Play® methodology has been identified as a promising creative problem-solving technique, offering potential for cognitive and psychological development. The authors concentrate on four key areas: personal change, team collaboration, business potential and innovation. The study demonstrates how the participant’s construction is shaped by embedded image schemas and conceptual metaphors originating from the cognitive unconscious.
In conclusion, this monograph makes a significant contribution to the field of personality formation through exposure to other cultures. It demonstrates how new meanings can be embedded in the self, thus enriching the individual, while simultaneously allowing for respect for others despite diversity of opinions and attitudes, as well as diversity of perceptions of the world. The individual contributions facilitate the development of the concept of intercultural communication.
References
Neagu, M.-I. (Ed.). (2020). Voyage and Emotions across Genres. Berlin: Peter Lang GmbH. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3726/b17410.
How to cite this article: Bérešová, J. (2024). Book review: Maria-Ionela Neagu (Ed.), Voyage and Emotions across Genres. Berlin: Peter Lang GmbH, 2020, 276 pp, ISBN: 978-3-631-81001-9 (2024). Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 17(2), 153-156. Doi: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2024.17.2.10
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