Die Sprache des Wahnsinns. Harald Kaas und sein Erzählband ‘Uhren und Meere’:Harald Kaas and his short story collection 'watches and seas'

This essay examines the only book published by the late Harald Kaas. His collection of short stories Uhren und Meere (1979), dealing with depictions of psycho-pathological states of mind, gained Kaas a short-lived notoriety as he himself was a certified schizophrenic possessing first-hand experience of psychiatric treatment. This essay sets out to investigate whether or to what extent the stories in Uhren und Meere can be understood as a document of the language of madness. It concludes that despite the biographical dimension of his schizophrenic experience, Kaas’s texts fail to voice an as it were unadulterated language of madness. However, when read in conjunction with his quasi-poetological interview statements, it is possible to determine the very nature of madness as a collapse of a logical system of language. Meaning that language cannot actively be used to express madness, while at the same time madness can express itself in a language that we necessarily fail to understand. The language of madness manifests itself as the madness of language.

Sofia’s story in translation. Leaving Shanghai:translation and commentary

The article analyzes the French short story "Sofia's Story. Leaving Shanghai," by Isabelle Charpentier. The characters and plot are explored. It discusses the author's unique writing style which is the use of long and detailed lists that appear at interval's throughout. It presents the story's translation in English language. Also cited is a list of a different sort towards the end that encapsulates the juxtaposition and contrast that centers on Sofia's experiences.

Sofia’s story in translation. Leaving Shanghai:translation and commentary

The article analyzes the French short story "Sofia's Story. Leaving Shanghai," by Isabelle Charpentier. The characters and plot are explored. It discusses the author's unique writing style which is the use of long and detailed lists that appear at interval's throughout. It presents the story's translation in English language. Also cited is a list of a different sort towards the end that encapsulates the juxtaposition and contrast that centers on Sofia's experiences.

To cut a long story short:an analysis of formulaic sequences in short written narratives and their potential as markers of authorship

Previous research into formulaic language has focussed on specialised groups of people (e.g. L1 acquisition by infants and adult L2 acquisition) with ordinary adult native speakers of English receiving less attention. Additionally, whilst some features of formulaic language have been used as evidence of authorship (e.g. the Unabomber’s use of you can’t eat your cake and have it too) there has been no systematic investigation into this as a potential marker of authorship. This thesis reports the first full-scale study into the use of formulaic sequences by individual authors. The theory of formulaic language hypothesises that formulaic sequences contained in the mental lexicon are shaped by experience combined with what each individual has found to be communicatively effective. Each author’s repertoire of formulaic sequences should therefore differ. To test this assertion, three automated approaches to the identification of formulaic sequences are tested on a specially constructed corpus containing 100 short narratives. The first approach explores a limited subset of formulaic sequences using recurrence across a series of texts as the criterion for identification. The second approach focuses on a word which frequently occurs as part of formulaic sequences and also investigates alternative non-formulaic realisations of the same semantic content. Finally, a reference list approach is used. Whilst claiming authority for any reference list can be difficult, the proposed method utilises internet examples derived from lists prepared by others, a procedure which, it is argued, is akin to asking large groups of judges to reach consensus about what is formulaic. The empirical evidence supports the notion that formulaic sequences have potential as a marker of authorship since in some cases a Questioned Document was correctly attributed. Although this marker of authorship is not universally applicable, it does promise to become a viable new tool in the forensic linguist’s tool-kit.