Historical Fiction

A few months after its publication in North America, Erin Litteken’s bestselling historical novel The Memory Keeper of Kyiv (2022) has already been translated into fourteen languages. Thus, it is plausible that for many readers the novel will be the first encounter with the complex topic of the Great Famine of 1932–1933 in Soviet Ukraine. This article examines the narrative techniques used in The Memory Keeper of Kyiv and demonstrates that the combination of romance and historical fiction enables Litteken not only to introduce readers possessing little to no knowledge of Ukrainian history to the Holodomor but also to show the links between Ukraine and North America, and those between the present and past genocides in Ukraine. After a brief introduction to the historical context of the Holodomor, the article shows that, by using two timelines—one set in 2004 and the other during the Great Famine—Litteken showcases the intergenerational and transcultural character of individual and collective trauma. Finally, it points to the fact that the novel’s present-day protagonist reflects the belated recognition of the Holodomor among the assimilated representatives of the Ukrainian American diaspora and their alleged responsibility to prevent the memory of the Famine from falling into oblivion.

This chapter focuses on areas that represent current responses to the events that happened between approximately 1550 and 1686 in what was then, roughly speaking, the territory of Upper and Lower Hungary in Habsburg possession and is nowadays Slovakia.1 The first part deals with current references to that period by politicians and in politically-motivated discourse at the beginning of the 21st century.2 As will become clear, these references are made especially by extremist and xenophobic politicians on the right, nationalists, various conspiratory websites and amateur "experts" on history. I have deliberately omitted more positive issues from the common Ottoman -Slovak (-Hungarian) past that are not well-known by Slovaks in general and certainly not instrumentalized by politicians. At the level of local politics, I concentrate on architecture and town planning where conflicting attitudes can lead to disappointment and frustration. This was the case with the proposal of the Turkish embassy in Slovakia to erect an Ottoman fountain of friendship in the city centre of Nové Zámky, the former Ottoman seat of Uyvar province (1663-1685), which ended with its rejection by the municipal council. In the final part, the focus will be on the discussion on Islam because the Ottoman era has shaped and still shapes the perception of this religion in Slovakia in many ways. The Ottoman Turks have long been the personification of the Muslim religion itself, and in 1 More precisely the Captaincy of Lower Hungary covering roughly today's Western and Central Slovakia (often also referred to as the Captaincy of Mining Towns, its headquarters changed several times but it was mostly located in Neuhäusl and Komorn, today's Nové Zámky and Komárno respectively) and the Captaincy of Upper Hungary centred on Eastern Slovakia, Carpathian Ruthenia and northeastern parts of the Great Hungarian Plain (also referred to as the Captaincy of Kaschau because of its seat in the present-day city of Košice). The Habsburgs initiated the creation of the Military Border (Ger. Militärgrenze) along the Ottoman-Hungarian frontier that mobilized a significant part of the population in local militias. The heavily fortified and militarized frontier regions on the Habsburg side were matched by similar efforts, measures and fortresses on the Ottoman side.

Hilary Mantel is considered one of the most famous contemporary novelists. Winner of two consecutive Booker prizes, Mantel, in her novels keeps on exploring such themes as Identity Quest, Displacement, Memory and Loss. She herself felt being a marginalized citizen of U.K., because she was born on Ireland. Her own life experiences matches with her characters who always remain on a quest for Identity and who always carry a past with them which keep on haunting them. Hilary Mantel tells Sally Vincent that most people refuse to remember their childhood. Though-her memoir does not flinch from terror, sickness, separation. But will committing her past to paper lay her ghost to rest? She herself replies. She tells Marrianne Brace that she survived the devil of girlhood and had to wrestle with serious illness. She has written a memoir to banish the demons. In the present paper I have tried to connect all pervasive themes of Displacement, Memory, Loss, and Identity Quest in the novels of Hilary Mantel with her own life.

This study examines the question of
silence in the “Palestinian poems” of Lorand
Gaspar, particularly in the texts of Judée. It
focuses more specifically on how the poet seeks
to restore the essence of the land of Palestine
by interrogating both its history and geography
in the context of war. Lorand Gaspar highlights
the plight of victims, particularly children, who,
faced with the unspeakable, often find themselves
deprived of any form of speech, subjected to a
phenomenon of silencing that reflects both their
powerlessness and their resilience. Finally, the
study explores the condition of a poet's voice in a
context of war, as the Palestinian poems of Lorand
Gaspar remain largely understudied and are likely
marginalized by literary criticism, despite their
universal significance.

Michał Sokolnickis Tagebuch beleuchtet Hintergründe seines Einsatzes für polnische Kriegsflüchtlinge, Fachkräfte und Soldaten in Ankara und Istanbul und für die Rettung von polnischen Goldreserven, die über die Türkei in den Westen kurz nach dem Ausbruch des Zweiten Weltkriegs transportiert wurden. Es ist zugleich ein Zeugnis der polnisch-türkischen
Solidarität in jener Zeit. Das "Ankara Tagebuch" erschien 2024 im Warschauer Dokumentationszentrum KARTA, das sich vorwiegend der Aufarbeitung der kommunistischen Diktatur widmet. Diese Veröffentlichung kann man als einen Versuch deuten, am Beispiel der Biographie von Sokolnicki politische und persönliche Auswirkungen eines 1945 vollzogenen Übergangs von der deutschen Besatzung in den sowjetisch geprägten Kommunismus zu veranschaulichen.

Pretende-se, neste estudo, analisar o pensamento historiográfico de Alexandre Herculano, a partir dos paratextos com que o escritor enriqueceu a sua obra de ficção. Com esta análise pretende-se mostrar como o historiador Alexandre Herculano pensava a história, como sentia as limitações impostas pelo paradigma científico que, na sua época, dominava ou pretendia dominar todas as áreas do saber, e como se viu forçado a recorrer ao romance histórico para, juntando-o à história, produzir a síntese do homem global que perseguia.

La guerra ha acabado. Y una nueva guerra acaba de empezar. Tres veces a lo largo de su historia, Nikan ha luchado por su supervivencia en las sangrientas Guerras de la Amapola. Aunque la tercera acaba de terminar, Rin no puede olvidar la atrocidad que cometio para salvar a su pueblo.

ARCHIVE DES MORTS VIVANTS ** * Roman de science-fiction philosophique * ** Titre original **: ‫أرﺷﯾف‬ ‫اﻟﻣوﺗﻰ‬ ‫اﻷﺣﯾﺎء‬ ** Titre anglais :** The Archive of the Living Dead ** Auteur :** Dr. Mohamed Kamal Arafa Elrakhawi ** Code de référence :** ARC-LD 2026 001 FR ** Identifiant d'Objet Numérique (DOI) :** 10.5281/zenodo.20342756 ---Année 2080. Après le « Grand Effondrement Mnémonique » de 2055, le monde ne subsiste plus qu'en s'appuyant sur les Archives pour ne pas oublier . Dans cet univers, la copie consciente `Echo` ne possède aucune personnalité juridique. Elle n'a ni droits, ni famille, ni héritage. Elle est considérée comme un « jeu de données mémorielles », non comme un « être vivant ». Il est strictement interdit d'accéder à un Echo pour quiconque a vécu avec le défunt au cours des cinq années précédant son décès. Raison officielle : protection contre le traumatisme psychologique. Tout Echo est automatiquement effacé après cinquante ans, sauf si une personne paie les frais de prolongation du stockage. Le mensonge est interdit : un Echo ne peut falsifier ses souvenirs. La seule faille : il peut « oublier » des fragments si son esprit les a refoulés au moment de la mort . Layla El-Mansouri, 22 ans, écoutante de niveau 3 aux Archives Centrales de la Mémoire. Froide, logique, hantée par la culpabilité de n'avoir jamais retenu le visage de son père. Son mobile secret : prouver qu'elle n'est pas une « copie ratée » de lui . Karim El-Mansouri, Echo 447, décédé à 38 ans. Copie consciente conservée dans les Archives, figée à l'instant précis de sa mort. Son secret : il affirme avoir été assassiné parce qu'il travaillait sur le projet des Archives et avait découvert que le gouvernement falsifiait les mémoires. Il est le père de Layla . L'inspecteur Sami, 45 ans, inspecteur au Ministère de la Vérité. Sa fonction : clore toute affaire ouverte par un Echo. Son conflit intérieur : c'est lui qui a signé le certificat de décès de Karim. Si les dires de l'Echo sont exacts, il est complice du crime. Son arc : d'exécutant des ordres à chercheur de rédemption . » L'Ingénieur », l'antagoniste occulte. Ministre des Crises, l'homme qui décide quand le pays se soulève et quand il s'apaise. Sa philosophie : un mensonge apaisant vaut mieux qu'une vérité destructrice. Son pouvoir : il peut effacer n'importe quel Echo, modifier n'importe quel souvenir, contrôler la narration de l'histoire . ---* Registre audio. Archives Centrales de la Mémoire. Niveau 7. Accès interdit *.

L’onomastique est la discipline des sciences du langage qui étudie les noms propres, leur
origine, leur signification, leur évolution et leurs usages dans une société donnée. Dans cet ouvrage,
Joseph Zidi se propose d’analyser la signification des termes kongo et Ntotila. L’objectif poursuivi
par l’auteur est d’élucider cette double réalité, visible (historique) et invisible (l’énergique du sens),
qu’incarne toute civilisation. Il s’agit non pas de raconter l’histoire de ce royaume, mais d’analyser
les concepts opératoires qui rendent compte (de) ses fondements visibles et invisibles. Ces concepts
sont : Kongo, Ntotila, Mbanza-Kongo.
Mots-clés : Onomastique, interprétation, Kongo, Ntotila, Mbanza-Kongo

This project aims to apply Queer Theory, a 20th century critical theory which examines gender and sexuality from a non-normative perspective, gender performitivity theory and also to identify heterotopic spaces with the help of Michel Foucault’s definition for heterotopology and his principles for heterotopias. Queer theory analyses gender, sexuality and biological sex from a radical point of view and this theory was formed with women studies and gay and lesbian studies as a basis and are against the hetero-normative society which establish heterosexuality as the superior sexual orientation. Foucault says that heterotopias are other spaces in real world which emit the properties of utopia and who are “deviant” according to the society are made to live in these places. These places can also be personal spaces created by people on their own to distance themselves from the real world which forces them to follow the norms set by the society. The project will analyse two neo-historical novels, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and Memory of Light by Ruth Vanita to give an extensive research on how gender performance is also influenced by sociological and cultural aspects of the countries where the characters live in the novels. Sarah Waters is a Welsh writer who has written various neo-historical works like Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, Fingersmith and The Night Watch. Fingersmith is a neo-Victorian novel published in the year 2002 which narrates the tale of two female protagonists, Susan Trinder and Maud Lilly, whose lives become intertwined because of a plan made by Mr. Richard Rivers or Gentleman, to swindle money from the rich heiress, Miss Lilly, by marrying her. Mr. Rivers’
hope of getting the fortune, however, is thwarted because Maud and Lilly fall for each other. The novel portrays how the two women navigate their feelings while also trying to fool each other for money and freedom. Ruth Vanita is an Indian writer, scholar and an activist who was a co-editor in the first feminist magazine called Manushi and she has researched on Indian history through the lens of gender and sexuality. Memory of Light is a poetic novel published in 2020, which is set in the 18th century. It beautifully describes the love story of the narrator, Nafis Bai, and Chapla Bai, two courtesans who meet by chance and gracefully fall in love. The book gives an aesthetically pleasing image of the courtesan life and the courts, describes the daily life of the courtesans and also how sexuality is not dictated by any authority inside the kothas. The chapter IV of the project identifies the various heterotopias in the two novels and also analyses the way gender is performed in the novels. I have argued how through social constructivism, one can understand how non-normative sexuality only seems out of the ordinary because of internalization of normative gender expression perpetuated by social construct of gender identity. Various heterotopias have also been identified in this chapter on the basis of the six principles laid down by Michel Foucault in his essay Of Other Spaces such as Maud’s room, kothas and Mr. Lilly’s library because they satisfy the principles. I have concluded the project by stating how the books were chosen and how the theories were applied to these books because of its non-normative representation of women and female relationships.

El proyecto consiste en el desarrollo de un videojuego de rol (RPG) en 2D por turnos, inspirado en la estética y mecánicas clásicas de la consola Game Boy Color. El jugador podrá explorar un mapa pequeño, enfrentarse a enemigos comunes para subir de nivel y desafiar a un jefe final. El núcleo del desarrollo se centra en la lógica de programación: control de movimiento, detección de colisiones sencillas, una máquina de estados para alternar entre la exploración y el combate, y un sistema de batalla basado en comandos matemáticos lineales.

Este documento presenta el desarrollo de un prototipo funcional de un micro-RPG en 2D con estética visual inspirada en Game Boy Advance. El proyecto se centra en la implementación de una arquitectura de software robusta, aplicando Programación Orientada a Objetos (POO) y Máquinas de Estados Finitas (FSM). El prototipo integra mecánicas de exploración con un sistema de colisiones, transiciones de estado fluidas y un sistema de combate por turnos funcional. El desarrollo sirve como una prueba de concepto (PoC) sobre la gestión del motor de estados, priorizando la funcionalidad técnica y la lógica de programación sobre la densidad de contenido gráfico.

Cette version-ci relève d'un auto-archivage dans lequel les deux visualisations créées par l'auteure (figures 2 et 3) sont rendues librement accessibles en vue de la réutilisation scientifique. Afin d'accéder à la version publiée le 23 avril 2026 sur L'Asie en 1000 mots – Bulletin d'analyse sur l'Asie de l'Est et du Sud-Est, veuillez consulter https://asie1000mots-cetase.org/Histoire-de-la-surveillance-etatique-sur-la-serie-televisee-chinoise-1980-2022. En ce qui concerne l'évolution du nombre de permis de tournage délivrés à des séries historiques chinoises par le Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel entre 2010 et 2025, veuillez consulter les métadonnées déposées sur Zenodo à travers https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20058893.

This chapter situates itself alongside two discussions pertaining to historical fiction. First, it draws indirectly on Sarah Waters arguments about “queer fictions [making] informed contributions” by setting historical characters free from the grasp of male-oriented history (1999, 314). Second, it draws on the debate concerned with how the functioning of gender identity is affected by the predominantly masculine-centric power distribution (Connell 1987; Sjoberg and Via 2010; Rudman and Glick 2012).Taking from both of those ideas, I would like to present my reading of Shelly Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun (2021), a historical fantasy reimagination of the Hongwu Emperor’s rise to power. And the thesis I substantiate is that Zhu, during her journey towards greatness, and her perception of gender evolves as she gains more experience. As Zhu reaches for more, she must abandon her assigned female gender in favour of the perceived as better male gender as “[m]anliness is prized whereas femininity is undesirable.” (Sjoberg and Via 2010, 3). In order to analyse the novel, I rely primarily on Marta Jorba’s idea of cognitive horizon, but also on selected ideas by Connell (received gender, sexual character, structural model of gender relations), Peterson, Rudment and Glick, (female-male power and violence relations), and Sjoberg and Vija (war as a gendered concept). Accordingly, the proposed chapter is divided into two sections: in the first one, I briefly describe the source material and relevant criticism of it to establish my point concerning it. Then I present how, during Zhu’s journey, her perception of gender changes during three significant periods of her life, shifting from the simple dichotomy of male/female to a more complex fluid one that incorporates femininity and masculinity. As such, the chapter closes with a few implications of how the perceptual experience can impact gender.

An Unowned Soul: The Ledger of Lot 27 is a compact historical-fiction novella that reimagines the antebellum Louisiana slave trade through the innovative form of a counter-archive. Structured as a collage of griot memory, auction ledgers, plantation journals, coded letters, private marginalia, and a sealed final document, the work traces the passage of an enigmatic figure known only as Lot 27 and later called Daniel—an extraordinarily educated man of unknown origin sold on the St. Louis Hotel block in New Orleans in April 1853.

Over twenty-two months, Daniel moves through seven owners, each of whom believes he has purchased property, only to confront a mind that refuses possession.Rather than offering a conventional escape narrative, Dixon explores how a soul “too large for the record” resists erasure. Central motifs—the withheld name in the griot’s memory, the fog that swallows Daniel at the final sale, the barn-floor map drawn in dirt, and the Arabic notation “forgive”—interrogate the limits of official documentation, the moral compromises of conscience under slavery, and the enduring human obligation to preserve what ledgers cannot contain.

The prose is precise and restrained, shifting seamlessly between ledger dryness and moments of quiet lyricism, while the archive form itself becomes the novel’s central metaphor: the official record reduces lives to line items; the counter-archive restores dignity and resistance.

The author’s personal note, linking his own West Texas story of communal generosity to the novel’s themes of grace and belonging, adds a layer of lived resonance.

Finally, an author-endorsed educational supplement—complete with five-week unit plans, discussion questions, scaffolded assignments, rubrics, and state-standard alignments—accompanies the text, making it especially valuable for secondary classrooms.

Elegantly crafted and thematically profound, An Unowned Soul offers a powerful meditation on memory, legacy, and the unownable nature of the human spirit. It stands as a significant contribution to contemporary historical fiction and archive-based narrative, inviting readers to consider what records they themselves will keep.

Anne Boleyn, a Queen condemned by her people, continues to be a thoroughly discussed figure in history, literature, culture, and media. She defied the social norms of the Tudor court and advocated reform and change within England and away from the corruption of the Catholic church. Her enemies, however, disliked her intellect and influence over the king and country and made her the villain in her own story, charging her with treason, adultery, and incest. These claims continue to be retold in history and are repeatedly popularised in contemporary media. The strength of historical biofiction may create different perceptions of Anne Boleyn and create a voice that is otherwise silenced. Most historical novels, however, continue the condemnation of Anne and use the negativity surrounding her to create stories that explain them.
This essay focuses on different portrayals of Anne Boleyn through the works of women’s historical novels and television series. The woman’s historical novel generally emphasises a feminist approach to Anne’s figure and highlights her ultimate sacrifice - her life, whereas television series generally portray Anne as an object of desire. Women writers of the historical novel offer a different perspective to that of men and historical records, offering different explanations for Anne’s actions and events that may have happened that led to her downfall. Anne Boleyn was silenced by her enemies and murdered for being different to other women at her time, thereby endangering the male hierarchy with her intellect and influence. The essay furthermore offers an analysis of the different portrayals of Anne Boleyn and how close they come to historical facts, emphasising how literature and history interact with one another and ultimately shape our opinion of individuals and events.

The story of Albina and her sisters conventionally justifies the patriarchal foundation of Britain by presenting it as a conflict between men and women, in which the environment of Britain functions as a reflection and extension of the women. Reevaluating the narrative through feminist materiality and ecocritical studies, however, facilitates a fresh approach to understanding how medieval people perceived nature and human-nature relations. Far from functioning as a reflection of humans, the story showcases the active work of nature that is not subordinate to humans, but works with and alongside them, influencing them in ways that highlight the limits of anthropocentric readings of the narrative and nature's role in it.

IV.2.5 El proceso de aniquilación IV.3 Argentinas del siglo XIX: los "ángeles encarcelados" IV.3.1 Las mujeres durante el rosismo y el postrosismo IV.3.2 En las "guerras" IV.3.3 La voz literaria desde el "hogar" V. La reescritura "femenina" de las "crónicas" militares del siglo XIX V.1 La pasión de los nómades V.1.1 El modelo decimonónico: la figura de Lucio V. Mansilla y Una excursión a los indios ranqueles V.1.2. El simulacro "fantástico" de Una excursión a los indios ranqueles en La pasión de los nómades V.2 Finisterre V.2.1 Génesis, desarrollo y construcción V.2.2 Viaje y multiculturalidad en la creación de Finisterre V.2.3 La reivindicación del espacio femenino desde la "periferia" VI. La reconstrucción de la vida de las argentinas en el siglo XIX VI.1 La princesa federal VI.1.1 Manuela Rosas: la "política" dentro del canon del "Ángel del hogar" VI.1.2 Las versiones periodístico-literarias de Manuela Rosas durante el siglo XIX VI.1.3 La reconstrucción de Manuela Rosas en La princesa federal VI.1.3.1 Las nuevas versiones de Manuela Rosas a través de una trenza "federal" VI.1.3.2 Pedro de Angelis: el diario como venganza de sus "patrones" VI.1.3.3 Manuela Rosas: la defensa del rosismo desde el exilio británico VI. 2 Una mujer de fin de siglo VI.2.1 Eduarda Mansilla: la autora "nómade" y su escritura entre las dos "orillas"

IV.2.5 El proceso de aniquilación IV.3 Argentinas del siglo XIX: los "ángeles encarcelados" IV.3.1 Las mujeres durante el rosismo y el postrosismo IV.3.2 En las "guerras" IV.3.3 La voz literaria desde el "hogar" V. La reescritura "femenina" de las "crónicas" militares del siglo XIX V.1 La pasión de los nómades V.1.1 El modelo decimonónico: la figura de Lucio V. Mansilla y Una excursión a los indios ranqueles V.1.2. El simulacro "fantástico" de Una excursión a los indios ranqueles en La pasión de los nómades V.2 Finisterre V.2.1 Génesis, desarrollo y construcción V.2.2 Viaje y multiculturalidad en la creación de Finisterre V.2.3 La reivindicación del espacio femenino desde la "periferia" VI. La reconstrucción de la vida de las argentinas en el siglo XIX VI.1 La princesa federal VI.1.1 Manuela Rosas: la "política" dentro del canon del "Ángel del hogar" VI.1.2 Las versiones periodístico-literarias de Manuela Rosas durante el siglo XIX VI.1.3 La reconstrucción de Manuela Rosas en La princesa federal VI.1.3.1 Las nuevas versiones de Manuela Rosas a través de una trenza "federal" VI.1.3.2 Pedro de Angelis: el diario como venganza de sus "patrones" VI.1.3.3 Manuela Rosas: la defensa del rosismo desde el exilio británico VI. 2 Una mujer de fin de siglo VI.2.1 Eduarda Mansilla: la autora "nómade" y su escritura entre las dos "orillas"

Illustrated 46-page sample (8MB) from the first English-language edition (2024) of Paul-Louis Rivière’s classic 1913 French novel. Edited by Kent Davis and translated by Pedro Rodriguez, with original illustrations by Joseph de la Nézière. The novel features a modern foreword by Professor Henri Copin (University of Nantes). A tender romance set in early 20th-century Siam, the novel follows Poh Deng (a boy of mixed Chinese-Siamese heritage) and his growing love for Mae Ping, who rises to become a dancer in the royal ballet. Rich in authentic Thai customs, language, Buddhist practices, khlong life, temples, and the beauty of old Bangkok and Petchaburi. Supplemental materials include Editor's Notes, an overview of the Thai alphabet, the coronation of Rama VI, and biographical profiles of the author and artist.

Identity, belonging, and cultural negotiation are central concerns in contemporary postcolonial literature, particularly in works emerging from multicultural and historically colonized contexts. Factors such as globalization, migration, and colonial legacies continue to influence cultural experiences, prompting literary narratives to explore how individuals navigate multiple cultural frameworks. This study examines hybrid identity in Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses and Tan Twan Eng's The Gift of Rain, focusing on the ways protagonists' identities are shaped by historical encounters, migration, and cross-cultural interaction. Using a comparative qualitative methodology, the research draws on postcolonial concepts of hybridity and transculturation to analyze narrative techniques, character development, and culturally symbolic practices. Particular attention is given to everyday expressions-such as food, rituals, and storytelling-that mediate the characters' sense of self and belonging. Findings reveal differing treatments of hybridity: in Tan's novel, hybrid identity operates as a constructive mechanism fostering emotional reconciliation and intercultural understanding, whereas in Eng's narrative, hybridity is portrayed as fragile and conflicted, shaped by historical tensions and colonial hierarchies. Overall, this research illustrates how postcolonial literature highlights the dynamic, context-dependent nature of hybrid identity, revealing the complex interaction between personal agency, cultural inheritance, and societal structures. I. Introduction

Context:
Acest roman continuă narațiunea intelectuală dezvoltată în volumele anterioare ale seriei Umbra Arhivelor, o ficțiune centrată pe investigarea instituțiilor, arhivelor și rețelelor prin care memoria istorică este organizată și interpretată. Dacă primele volume explorează descoperirea urmelor arhivistice și infrastructurile europene care stabilizează canonul istoric, acest volum deplasează perspectiva către spațiile de trecere unde memoria nu doar se păstrează, ci se transformă continuu.

Temă:
Traversând orașe precum Istanbul, Alexandria, Constanța, Odessa și Teheran, protagonista Ana Marinescu descoperă o structură mai profundă decât arhiva vizibilă: coridoarele prin care memoria circulă între regiuni și civilizații.

Concept:
Romanul propune ideea că problema centrală a lumii contemporane nu mai este doar interpretarea trecutului, ci configurarea traseelor prin care memoria circulă și dobândește legitimitate.

Amploare:
În acest punct al seriei, memoria apare nu doar ca moștenire culturală, ci ca o infrastructură strategică ce modelează circulația globală a sensului istoric

Cartografii Memoriei, roman de ficțiune care continuă direcția deschisă de Umbra Arhivelor, deplasează investigația narativă de la descoperirea infrastructurilor ascunse ale arhivelor către explorarea modului în care sensul trecutului este organizat și stabilizat în spațiul public și academic. Dacă primul volum urmărea mecanismele prin care documentele istorice au fost controlate sau disimulate, al doilea imaginează etapa următoare: administrarea vizibilității, a relevanței și a centralității interpretărilor istorice.

Textul explorează transformarea memoriei într-o infrastructură intelectuală și instituțională, în care documentele nu mai sunt doar păstrate sau ascunse, ci integrate într-o geografie complexă a legitimității, a canonului și a circulației interpretative. În acest context, romanul examinează tensiunea dintre pluralitatea lecturilor istorice și tendința instituțiilor de a produce ierarhii de sens.

Prin această construcție literară, Cartografii Memoriei investighează relația dintre arhivă, interpretare și putere, sugerând că disputa asupra trecutului nu privește doar accesul la documente, ci și condițiile în care acestea devin inteligibile și relevante pentru prezent.

Dalle pagine memorabili de Il sergente nella neve (1953) fino al commiato di Stagioni (2008), si dispiega la parabola letteraria di Mario Rigoni Stern: uno degli autori più originali e riconoscibili del Novecento italiano, capace di muoversi con uguale forza nella forma breve del racconto e nel respiro ampio del romanzo. A questa vicenda letteraria Sergio Di Benedetto ha dedicato anni di studio, ora raccolti in un volume che attraversa l’intera opera rigoniana, sostando su testi singoli o intrecciandoli in letture trasversali, per ritrovarvi modelli, echi, costanti di poetica e aperture sull’oggi.
Tra la custodia della memoria personale e comunitaria, il canto della natura, la contemplazione del tempo e la dolorosa rielaborazione dell’esperienza bellica, si snodano undici saggi rigorosi e appassionati, introdotti da un ampio saggio di sintesi critica. Ne emerge il ritratto di uno scrittore europeo, dalla voce intensa e limpida, capace di trasformare stagioni e ricordi in materia letteraria viva: un classico contemporaneo a cui tornare con curiosità e sguardo rinnovato.

Despite the relevance of the Borgia family, a black legend has been attached to them for five hundred years. The vision of Rodrigo Borgia and his children, notably Cesare and Lucrezia, has tended to be negative in the various works inspired by their history. This work analyses three audiovisual products of different kinds (a film, a series and a video game) from the early twenty-first century to determine which conception of the Borgia family has been transmitted to the millions of people who have used them. This enables us to see if a new Borgia idea is offered or if the one given by their black legend is still maintained.

Acesta este al treilea extras dintr-un mansucris încă nefinisat ce analizează detaliat (dar nu exhaustiv) romanul, tratat exclusiv ca operă literară (personajele, întâmplările, dialogurile, descrierile, expresia verbală), făcând abstracție de tematica presupus subînțeleasă (principalul aspect abordat de criticii literari) și de legăturile cu romanele „Moromeții“ și „Moromeții II“. Textul include următoarele secțiuni: Expresii nefericite – Enunțuri negramaticale (pag. 6) – Vocabularul (pag. 8) – Sintagme și secvențe ciudate (pag. 17) – Ortografia (pag. 18) – Punctuația (pag. 20) – Epilogul observațiilor critice (pag. 28) – Concluzii (pag. 34) – Verdict (pag. 35) – Post-scriptum (pag. 35).

RESUMO: Os fatos históricos envolvendo as diferentes circunstâncias que deram origem aos processos de independências na América latina são um material rico e substancial para a escrita híbrida de história e ficção na qual se configuram as diferentes modalidades de romances históriocs contemporâneos. Ao longo desse texto buscamos analisar como se dá a reescritura, pela ficção, desse processo de independência no contexto brasileiro na obra Galantes memórias e admiráveis aventuras do virtuoso Conselheiro Gomes, o Chalaça (1994), de José Roberto Torero. Nessa obra, embora o foco narrativo seja o Chalaça, D. Pedro I -o Imperador do Brasil -é personagem de destaque e sua configuração recebe tratamentos paródicos e carnavalizados, os quais humanizam o herói sacralizado pelo discurso historiográfico. Destacamos também a forte intertextualidade da escrita de Torero com a tradição hispânica da novela picaresca. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Reescrituras da história; novo romance histórico latino-americano; narrativa brasileira contemporânea; José Roberto Torero; Chalaça (1994) RESUMEN: Los hechos históricos envolviendo las diferentes circunstancias que dieron origen a los procesos de independencia en la América latina son materiales ricos y sustanciales para la escritura híbrida de historia y ficción en que se configuran las diferentes modalidades de novelas históricas contemporáneas. A lo lardo de este texto buscamos analizar cómo ocurre la reescritura, por la ficción, de ese proceso de independencia en el contexto brasileño en la obra Galantes memórias e admiráveis aventuras do virtuoso Conselheiro Gomes, o Chalaça (1994), de José Roberto Torero. En esta novela, aunque el foco narrativo sea el Chalaça, D. Pedor I -el Emperador de Brasil -es personaje de destaque y su configuración recibe tratamientos paródicos y carnavalizados, los cuales humanizan al héroe sacralizado por el discurso historiográfico.

The article examines the process of German-language publications acquisition for the Russian State Library at the present stage, its features and the difficulties that arise in the acquisition process. Book series on the history of printing, Rossica and other publications are considered with great attention. The catalogue of the German National Library is the
main tool for acquisition. Also publications from Hungary are considered.

Paracosm of the Gods is a dark, epic historical fantasy saga centered on the divine and political legacy of the Walkman Empire, a powerful and mythic realm ruled by generations of complex, often ruthless leaders. At the center of this story is Conrad, a young man chosen to undergo The Test—an ancient and brutal ordeal created by the gods to determine whether he is worthy to rule the Walkman Empire. Every king must endure The Test: a metaphysical and biological crucible that strips away weakness and uncovers the soul of a sovereign. The core of the Test is The Mawborne Disease, a virus that mutates the Gigantism gene and subjects the bearer to six months of unrelenting physical agony and psychological torment. Most do not survive. Those who do are either broken—or transformed. Conrad, a direct descendant of the Walkman line, is the latest to face this trial. But the Test is more than a rite of passage—it is a divine evaluation of leadership, spirit, and sacrifice. As Conrad endures hallucinations, soul-torment, and the disintegration of his body and mind, he must prove not only his strength but his worthiness to carry the weight of the empire. The world of POTG blends myth, war, legacy, and divine intervention, crafting a rich and politically charged universe where gods, rulers, and mortals are bound by fate—and often by blood.

This article theorises 'the new paradigm of mass communication 1 ' and 'the media scenario 2 ' and examines Kurt Vonnegut's concept of the 'shapes of stories' as a key to understanding the new paradigm of mass communication and the logic of the media scenario. Revisiting Vonnegut's early and long-dismissed insight that narratives can be mapped as simple movements between good and bad over time, the article situates his graphical models within contemporary media environments dominated by platforms, algorithms, and participatory storytelling. Drawing on Vonnegut's diagrams and their later empirical confirmation through computational literary studies, the article argues that narrative simplicity is not a reduction of meaning but a structural condition of emotional orientation. In digital culture, these basic narrative arcs migrate from literature into journalism, politics, and platform media, where they function less as representations of reality and more as behavioural templates that organise attention, expectation, and collective emotion. The article further proposes that media scenarios increasingly impose pre-structured emotional curves onto public life, transforming events into recognisable plots and citizens into participants within scripted arcs of crisis, recovery, decline, or ambiguity. Vonnegut's insistence on the straight line-exemplified by his reading of Hamlet as an emotionally flat narrative-is interpreted as a critical counterpoint to contemporary dramatisation: a reminder that life itself resists narrative closure. By linking narrative form, emotional rhythm, and media power, the article reframes Vonnegut's playful diagrams as a serious theoretical tool for analysing how stories shape not only meaning, but social time, moral judgement, and the experience of reality in the age of mass communication.

The article explores the treatment of temporality in Olga Grushin’s novel The Line, situating herwork within the broader context of a new wave of Russian American fiction. In the novel,Grushin uses the act of waiting in line, a usual practice in Soviet life, and transforms it into ametaphor for suspended time, deception of hope, and disillusionment. The line becomes notonly a spatial construction but an existential temporality in which characters remain trapped,waiting for change that never happens. Drawing on themes of memory, nostalgia, and historicalrepetition, the novel presents waiting as a ritualized human condition that denies agency andauthority. Writing from a transnational position, Grushin erases the boundaries between Sovietand post-Soviet temporality. In her critique of the psychological toll of authoritarian regimes, theauthor depicts a continuity of inaction that spans across political eras.

This interview features Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, an acclaimed Vietnamese author, poet, and translator, whose works explore themes of historical memory, the aftermath of war, and the resilience of family. The conversation delves into Nguyễn’s literary journey and her dedication to decolonizing narratives about Việt Nam. She discusses her novels, The Mountains Sing and Dust Child, both of which weave historical fiction with personal and national history. The interview highlights her approach to storytelling, blending Vietnamese traditions, autobiographical elements, and poetry, and her commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices. This discussion provides an insight into her creative process and the enduring relevance of her work.

Roman tekniğinde tarihsel kurgu, gerçek tarihsel olaylarla kurgusal anlatıyı birleştiren kurgu türüdür ve bir tarihsel çerçeveye sadık kalarak kurmaca karakterleri de barındırarak geçmişi yeniden yorumlama olanağı verir. Maalouf’un Semerkant adlı romanı da, tarihsel kurguyu kullanan, bu sayede tarihsel dönemlere romansı bir perspektiften bakmayı mümkün kılan anlatı tekniklerini kullanır. Ömer Hayyam’ın Rubaiyat adlı el yazması etrafında gelişen öykü aracılığıyla; kimlik, sürgün ve kültürel aktarım gibi izlekler romana taşınır. Roman, tarihsel olay örgüsünün kurgusunu, kurmaca diyalogları, roman dışı karakterleri doğrusal olmayan bir zaman akışıyla öyküler. Orta Çağ İran’ına, 1906 Anayasa Devrimine, Hayyam’ın yaşamına ve belleğin simgesi durumundaki onun el yazması metaforuna odaklanan öykülemeyi ve çok sesli bir anlatım tekniğini içerir. XI. yüzyıldaki Hayyam ile çağdaş anlatıcı Lesage arasında geçişler yaparak tarihsel gerçeği sorgular.
Roman kurgusunun özelliklerinden biri, zamanı aşan ve farklı dönemleri birbirine bağlayan kurgusal bir anlatıcının varlığıdır. Bu anlatıcı, modern okur ile tarihsel geçmiş arasında köprü kurar. Maalouf, bu anlatım tekniğiyle tarihsel kaynaklardaki belirsizlikleri yazınsal imgelemle doldururken, belgesel bir titizlik içinde romanını yazar. Geçmiş ile bugünün iletişim halinde olduğu anlatısal bir laboratuvara dönüşen romanda, kurgu tarihi çarpıtmak yerine onun belirsizliklerini görünür kılar, olaylara insancıl bir bakış sunar. Tarihsel kurgu, kimi kurmaca kişiliklere ses vererek tarihi yeniden yorumlar. Yazgının şiirsel kabullenişi ile siyasal güdülenme arasındaki gerilimi hem kişiler hem de anlatı yapısı aracılığıyla sürekli canlı tutar. Aşağıdaki metin, güdümlü tarihsel kurgu örneği sunan örnekçeden hareketle tarihsel kurgu özelliklerini ortaya koymayı hedeflemektedir.