Handbook of Intermediality

This handbook offers students and researchers compact orientation in their study of intermedial phenomena in Anglophone literary texts and cultures by introducing them to current academic debates, theoretical concepts and methodologies. By combining theory with text analysis and contextual anchoring, it introduces students and scholars alike to a vast field of research which encompasses concepts such as intermediality, multi- and plurimediality, intermedial reference, transmediality, ekphrasis, as well as related concepts such as visual culture, remediation, adaptation, and multimodality, which are all discussed in connection with literary examples. Hence each of the 30 contributions spans both a theoretical approach and concrete analysis of literary texts from different centuries and different Anglophone cultures.

Measuring Intensity of End of Life Care: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND Many studies have measured the intensity of end of life care. However, no summary of the measures used in the field is currently available. OBJECTIVES To summarise features, characteristics of use and reported validity of measures used for evaluating intensity of end of life care. METHODS This was a systematic review according to PRISMA guidelines. We performed a comprehensive literature search in Ovid Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews and reference lists published between 1990-2014. Two reviewers independently screened titles, abstracts, full texts and extracted data. Studies were eligible if they used a measure of end of life care intensity, defined as all quantifiable measures describing the type and intensity of medical care administered during the last year of life. RESULTS A total of 58 of 1590 potentially eligible studies met our inclusion criteria and were included. The most commonly reported measures were hospitalizations (n = 44), intensive care unit admissions (n = 39) and chemotherapy use (n = 27). Studies measured intensity of care in different timeframes ranging from 48 hours to 12 months. The majority of studies were conducted in cancer patients (n = 31). Only 4 studies included information on validation of the measures used. None evaluated construct validity, while 3 studies considered criterion and 1 study reported both content and criterion validity. CONCLUSIONS This review provides a synthesis to aid in choosing intensity of end of life care measures based on their previous use but simultaneously highlights the crucial need for more validation studies and consensus in the field.

Der Körper als Gefäß. Eine Studie zur visuellen Anthropologie des Alten Orients

The perception of the human body as container is widespread in cognitive linguistics, psychology and anthropology and is estimated to be universal. But what can we say about the specific context of the Hebrew Bible as well as Ancient-Near-Eastern texts and material culture, and more especially about anthropomorphic vessels in the Levant? Biblical, Egyptian and Mesopotamian texts compare the human body with pottery in order to emphasize its status of having been created (Geschöpflichkeit) on the one hand, and its fragility (Zerbrechlichkeit) on the other. Not in every case does the metaphor refer to an individual. Very often, however, it is used with relation to groups of people (nations) and requires particular caution when it comes to drawing a conclusion about the embodiment. The archaeological-iconographic record demonstrates that the human body, especially the female body, was imagined as a container. The fact that vessels in the shape of female bodies are the majority can partly be explained with the association between container and pregnancy. This essay aims at stimulating the discussion about embodiment in the Ancient Near East, concepts of emotion the body as a container in the Hebrew Bible, and its relation to the material culture.

A Forgotten Original or an Original Copy? On MS. Douce 387 in the Bodleian Library: Collecting Early Modern Festival Books

Focusing on one manuscript, today in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, this chapter deals with the question how early modern objects became collectable items. The manuscript is categorized as MS. Douce 387 and its name indicates that it came from the collection of Francis Douce (1757–1834), who was keeper of manuscripts in the British Museum from 1799 until 1811. MS. Douce 387 is described in the catalogue of the Douce’ian collection as the “presentation copy with coloured designs by Marten de Vos and others” of the 1595 printed festival book Descriptio publicae gratulationis … in adventu … Ernesti archiducis Austriae. This festival book, printed in Antwerp’s Plantin-Moretus press, was commissioned by the magistrate of the city of Antwerp to commemorate the Joyous Entry of Archduke Ernest of Austria from June 1594; that an “archducal copy” bound in red velvet was commissioned as well and was owned by the Archduke is know as well. However, first research showed that Oxford copy cannot be this “archducal copy” or Marten de Vos’s artist’s copy even though it is the only know version with a handwritten text and hand-drawn illustrations. It rather should be examined as something totally different altogether. The main question remains why someone then commissioned a hand made version of this festival book, something unknown for other books of this genre? Why would someone between 1600 and 1800 sit down and copy texts and prints from a collectable book? Why was there such an on-going interest in early modern festival books? Could this manuscript be the only later made copy of the “archducal volume” or is it rather a forgery made for the European collectors’ market?

Subtile und direkte Mechanismen der sozialen Konstruktion von Geschlecht in Schulbüchern. Vorstellung eines Kategoriensystems zur Analyse der Geschlechter(un)gerechtigkeit von Texten und Bildern

Ausgehend von der Frauenbewegung in Deutschland wurden bereits vor über 40 Jahren erste Analysen zur Darstellung der Geschlechter in Schulbüchern vorgelegt. Sie haben gezeigt, dass weibliche Charaktere im Vergleich zu männlichen seltener und oft in geschlechterstereotypen Rollen dargestellt werden. Heute besteht auf gesellschaftlicher Ebene deutlich mehr Geschlechtergerechtigkeit, dennoch existieren nach wie vor subtile Formen von Diskriminierung in Schulbüchern. Der vorliegende Beitrag dokumentiert die Entwicklung eines Kategoriensystems, das geeignet ist, das Ausmaß von Geschlechter(un)gerechtigkeit in Texten und Bildern aus aktuell in deutschen Schulen verwendeten Deutsch- und Mathematikbüchern zu analysieren. Neben den Häufigkeiten der Darstellungen von weiblichen und männlichen Charakteren und der Geschlechtstypizität ihrer Rollen und Aktivitäten können hiermit zwei subtile Mechanismen der Herstellung von Geschlechterungleichheiten untersucht werden: geschlechter(un)gerechte Sprache und die räumliche Darstellung weiblicher und männlicher Charaktere. Erste Ergebnisse der Anwendung des Kategoriensystems für Deutsch- und Mathematikbücher werden in der Diskussion dargestellt.

Literary Encounters of Fundamentalism: A Case Book

Literature, literary interpretation and criticism have always had an interestingly paradoxical relationship with fundamentalism: fundamentalisms are generally built on texts, which can be sacred and exclusive, and on a claim to exclusive authority for interpretation. Therefore they tend to see the cornucopian profusion of texts and interpretations so typical of Western concepts of Literature as a threat; a circumstance which has been widely exploited by writers and critics to engage with fundamentalism on its home turf. The volume addresses the cultural given that the term ‘fundamentalism’ has acquired such wide-spread currency, at least in the West. In their various approaches, the contributions examine what fundamentalism has come to signify for those who use the term so extensively and so indiscriminately; and they try to establish what this implies for reaching more productive and positive positions in negotiating fundamentalisms. In doing so, the contributors offer investigations of literary approaches to fundamentalism across a wide range of important contemporary discourses and from a number of cultural perspectives. Readers will expand their understanding of the significance of fundamentalism, and of the value of literature as a highly specialized medium for explorations in this field.