Analysis of William Shakespeare's Hamlet by Means of CHAPLIN, the Characters and Places Interaction Network Software. We obtained the social network of the play.
More at the
Showing posts with label Letteratura inglese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Letteratura inglese. Show all posts
Sunday, 5 April 2015
Thursday, 24 October 2013
A literary experiment on Harry Potter and his social network
Literary works can be analyzed in the framework of the network theories, as proposed for instance by the Stanford Literary Laboratory, in some of their experiments. The plot of a play or a novel, can be displayed as a network of interacting characters, where the timeline of the plot is projected on a planar graph. We can discuss this approach and apply it to the first novel of the Harry Potter series written by J.K. Rowling, entitled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Besides being an entertaining application for teaching networks, this approach can help in highlighting some features of the plot structure.
More details at:
A.C. Sparavigna, On Social Networks in Plays and Novels, The International Jounral of Sciences, Volume 3, Issue 10, 2013, Pages: 20-25, PDF
More details at:
A.C. Sparavigna, On Social Networks in Plays and Novels, The International Jounral of Sciences, Volume 3, Issue 10, 2013, Pages: 20-25, PDF
Monday, 11 April 2011
The Eye of Osiris
"The Eye of Osiris" is a novel written by Richard Austin Freeman (1862 - 1943). He was a British writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr Thorndyke. A large proportion of the Dr Thorndyke stories involve genuine points of scientific knowledge, from areas such as tropical medicine, metallurgy and toxicology. In this crime novel, Dr Thorndyke solved the mistery using a X-ray photography of a mummy.
"It was all clear enough so far. The peculiar sound that filled the air was the hum of the interrupter; the bulb was, of course, a Crookes' tube, and the red spot inside it, the glowing red-hot disc of the anti-cathode. Clearly an X-ray photograph was being made; but of what? I strained my eyes, peering into the gloom at the foot of the gallows, but though I could make out an elongated object lying on the floor directly under the bulb, I could not resolve the dimly seen shape into anything recognisable. Presently, however, Dr. Norbury supplied the clue. 'I am rather surprised,' said he, 'that you chose so composite an object as a mummy to begin on. I should have thought that a simpler object, such as a coffin or a wooden figure, would have been more instructive.' "
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0605551h.html
The novel is named from an Egyptian symbol, the Eye of Horus.
The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power and good health. The eye is personified in the goddess Wadjet. The name Wadjet is derived from 'wadj' meaning 'green' hence 'the green one' and was known to the Greeks and Romans as 'uraeus' from the Egyptian 'iaret' meaning 'risen one' from the image of a cobra rising up in protection. More at Wiki
Wadjet was one of the earliest of Egyptian deities who later became associated with other goddesses such as Bast, Mut, and Hathor, who is also depicted with this eye. Burial amulets were often made in the shape of the Eye of Horus, to protect the owner in the afterlife and to ward off evil. Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern sailors would frequently paint the symbol on the bow of their vessel to ensure safe sea travel (Charles Freeman, The Legacy of Ancient Egypt, Facts on File, Inc. 1997. p.91).
"Horus was the ancient Egyptian sky god who was usually depicted as a falcon. His right eye was associated with the sun Ra. The eye symbol represents the marking around a Peregrine Falcon's eye that includes the "teardrop" marking sometimes found below the eye."
It is interesting to note that, in the ancient egyptian calculus, the Eye Of Horus defined number one (1) = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 + 1/64, by throwing away 1/64. The parts of the Eye were used to represent fractions.
"It was all clear enough so far. The peculiar sound that filled the air was the hum of the interrupter; the bulb was, of course, a Crookes' tube, and the red spot inside it, the glowing red-hot disc of the anti-cathode. Clearly an X-ray photograph was being made; but of what? I strained my eyes, peering into the gloom at the foot of the gallows, but though I could make out an elongated object lying on the floor directly under the bulb, I could not resolve the dimly seen shape into anything recognisable. Presently, however, Dr. Norbury supplied the clue. 'I am rather surprised,' said he, 'that you chose so composite an object as a mummy to begin on. I should have thought that a simpler object, such as a coffin or a wooden figure, would have been more instructive.' "
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0605551h.html
The novel is named from an Egyptian symbol, the Eye of Horus.
The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power and good health. The eye is personified in the goddess Wadjet. The name Wadjet is derived from 'wadj' meaning 'green' hence 'the green one' and was known to the Greeks and Romans as 'uraeus' from the Egyptian 'iaret' meaning 'risen one' from the image of a cobra rising up in protection. More at Wiki
Wadjet was one of the earliest of Egyptian deities who later became associated with other goddesses such as Bast, Mut, and Hathor, who is also depicted with this eye. Burial amulets were often made in the shape of the Eye of Horus, to protect the owner in the afterlife and to ward off evil. Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern sailors would frequently paint the symbol on the bow of their vessel to ensure safe sea travel (Charles Freeman, The Legacy of Ancient Egypt, Facts on File, Inc. 1997. p.91).
"Horus was the ancient Egyptian sky god who was usually depicted as a falcon. His right eye was associated with the sun Ra. The eye symbol represents the marking around a Peregrine Falcon's eye that includes the "teardrop" marking sometimes found below the eye."
It is interesting to note that, in the ancient egyptian calculus, the Eye Of Horus defined number one (1) = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 + 1/64, by throwing away 1/64. The parts of the Eye were used to represent fractions.
Amulets on display at the Egyptian Museum, Torino
Friday, 28 January 2011
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1818
Questa poesia parla di Ozymandias, altro nome di Ramses II.
Sunday, 9 January 2011
The Doors to Aslan
C.S. Lewis wrote "The Chronicles of Narnia" as fantasy novels for children. Written between 1949 and 1954, the series is Lewis's most popular work. The books contain Christian ideas intended to be easily accessible to young readers. In addition, Lewis used characters from Greek and Roman mythology as well as traditional British and Irish fairy tales.
According to the paper,"The Wardrobe as Christian Metaphor", by Don W. King, Mythlore 14 (Autumn 1987), C.S. Lewis is aware of how frequently the door is used metaphorically in the New Testament and that Jesus is often associated with a door. In John 14:6 for instance, Jesus tells to be the door to communion with God. Lewis' knowledge of Scriptures is put to work throughout Narnia. As we can read in the paper by Don W. King, "doors are used significantly in the stories and echoes of the Biblical references made above resonate clearly. Four specific points about Lewis' use of doors are noteworthy: 1) Literal doors lead to the Door, Aslan; 2) Aslan is a two-way door; 3) Passage through the different literal doors into Narnia is always unplanned; and 4) All who enter the doors are called into Narnia, but none are compelled to stay; indeed, some who are called do not seem to belong. First, in every instance the literal doors that the children use to enter Narnia eventually lead directly to the Door, Aslan. The doors themselves take on different forms, from the wardrobe door in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the framed picture in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to the railway station in Prince Caspian and The Last Battle to the magic rings and the Wood Between the Worlds in The Magician's Nephew. Literally, the doors function to take the children out of their real world and into a new other world". The doors serve to move the children from the everyday life to a new reality. All the doors inexorably lead to Aslan.
According to the paper,"The Wardrobe as Christian Metaphor", by Don W. King, Mythlore 14 (Autumn 1987), C.S. Lewis is aware of how frequently the door is used metaphorically in the New Testament and that Jesus is often associated with a door. In John 14:6 for instance, Jesus tells to be the door to communion with God. Lewis' knowledge of Scriptures is put to work throughout Narnia. As we can read in the paper by Don W. King, "doors are used significantly in the stories and echoes of the Biblical references made above resonate clearly. Four specific points about Lewis' use of doors are noteworthy: 1) Literal doors lead to the Door, Aslan; 2) Aslan is a two-way door; 3) Passage through the different literal doors into Narnia is always unplanned; and 4) All who enter the doors are called into Narnia, but none are compelled to stay; indeed, some who are called do not seem to belong. First, in every instance the literal doors that the children use to enter Narnia eventually lead directly to the Door, Aslan. The doors themselves take on different forms, from the wardrobe door in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the framed picture in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to the railway station in Prince Caspian and The Last Battle to the magic rings and the Wood Between the Worlds in The Magician's Nephew. Literally, the doors function to take the children out of their real world and into a new other world". The doors serve to move the children from the everyday life to a new reality. All the doors inexorably lead to Aslan.
M R James - Lost Hearts
Montague Rhodes James, (1862 – 1936), used the publication name M R James. He was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge and of Eton College. He is well-known for his ghost stories. James's ghost stories were published in a series of collections: among them, the "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary". Many of the ghost tales were created as a Christmas Eve entertainment and read aloud to friends.
Read more, Lost Hearts
"It was a day of curious experiences for Stephen: a windy, noisy day, which filled the house and the gardens with a restless impression. As Stephen stood by the fence of the grounds, and looked out into the park, he felt as if an endless procession of unseen people were sweeping past him on the wind, borne on resistlessly and aimlessly, vainly striving to stop themselves, to catch at something that might arrest their flight and bring them once again into contact with the living world of which they had formed a part."
"It was a day of curious experiences for Stephen: a windy, noisy day, which filled the house and the gardens with a restless impression. As Stephen stood by the fence of the grounds, and looked out into the park, he felt as if an endless procession of unseen people were sweeping past him on the wind, borne on resistlessly and aimlessly, vainly striving to stop themselves, to catch at something that might arrest their flight and bring them once again into contact with the living world of which they had formed a part."
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