Heroism

Rezension: Rostislav Aliev: Brestskaja krepost'. Vospominanija i dokumenty. [Brester Festung. Erinnerungen und Dokumente] Moskau 2010.

by Christian Ganzer

After many people asked for a more readable version of this text thаn the Belarusian translation that was published in ARCHE journal in 11/2011 I decided to upload the German original. A Russian translation will follow soon.

The Heroic Narrative Breaking: Bad Heroes or Good Villains

by Travis Limbert

This is a rough draft of a final paper for a graduate course on heroes and villains. This paper focuses on how the main character Walter White, from the TV show Breaking Bad, can be reflective of cultrual notions of heroism as his character evolves throughout the show.

Спекуляцыі замест сур'ёзнага даследавання.

by Christian Ganzer

Review: Rostislav Aliev: Brestskaya krepost'. Dokumenty i vospominaniya. Moskva 2010.
Published in: "ARCHE pachatak" 11-2011, pp. 162-172.

Рецензия: Ростсислав Алиев: Брестская крепость. Документы и воспоминания. Москва 2010.
Опубликованна в "ARCHE пачатак" 11-2011, стр. 162-172.

“CACHALOTE” EO INCÔMODO HEROÍSMO DE SOBREVIVER

by Ricardo Postal

Sankari on kuollut-eläköön sankari!: kuolintapa saagojen sankaruuden mittana

by Joonas Ahola

"The Hero is Dead - Long Live the Hero! The Manner of Dying as a Measure of Heroism in Saga Literature"
Published in Elore 1/2005.

Heroic narratives tell about past exemplary figures that were often warriors in a European context. Narratives about... more Heroic narratives tell about past exemplary figures that were often warriors in a European context. Narratives about warrior heroes served the interests of the highest strata of an aristocratic warrior society in which the narratives were created and preserved. The same applies to Icelandic Family Sagas, which derive from heroic poetry both by content and social function. Although saga heroes vary, they share characteristics such as bravery connected to fatalism and a strong sense of honour. Heroic characteristics are at their most extreme at the moment of death, of which there are numerous examples in the saga literature. However, sagas depend on genealogical and historical tradition and sometimes even the greatest of warriors die natural deaths, neutral in heroic terms. Grettis saga, the Saga of Grettir, is one of the latest Family Sagas. The death of Grettir represents a brave stand against fate, reaching the level of a myth, whereas the death of his brother Illugi represents the social aspects of heroism, significant in the Icelandic Commonwealth. Their deaths illustrate well different aspects of the form of heroism represented in the Sagas of the Icelanders.

Heroism in the Harry Potter Series

by Rita Singer

Chapter: 'Harry Potter and the Battle for the Soul: The Revival of the Psychomachia in Secular Fiction'

On regular intervals a discussion of Christian elements seems to arise in the Harry Potter novels. Usually, the... more On regular intervals a discussion of Christian elements seems to arise in the Harry Potter novels. Usually, the critics are looking for the obvious and either end up praising the inclusion of a number of selected imagery or the lack of a comprehensive Christian world view on all levels. Consequently, a balanced discussion of the series from a theological point of view is still missing to date. J. K. Rowling said herself on the matter that her novels 'are not that secular' . This article argues that the Harry Potter novels not only contain Christian imagery, but that they are constructed after a once very popular and highly influential literary genre of the Middle Ages, namely the psychomachia. The struggle of seven virtues against seven vices forms the narrative arc of the entire series and, thus, firmly roots the stories in the Christian literary tradition. An analysis of the final instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, shall serve as an example to introduce the reader to the most important aspects of the psychomachia and their respective application.

Czy "legendarna twierdza" jest legendą? Oborona twierdzy brzeskiej w 1941 r. w świetle niemeckich i austriackich dokumentów archiwalnych.

by Christian Ganzer

In: Wspólne czy osobne? Miesca pamięci narodów Europy Wschodniej. Białystok/Kraków 2011, S. 37-47.

A short discussion on the duration of the fightings for the Brest fortress in June 1941 mainly on the basis an... more A short discussion on the duration of the fightings for the Brest fortress in June 1941 mainly on the basis an analysis of German losses and numbers of Soviet POWs.

"Heldentum, Tragik, Tapferkeit." Das Museum der Verteidigung der Brester Festung

by Christian Ganzer

Published in Osteuropa 12/2010

The Myth behind Middle Earth - a modern mythmaker's saga

by Felix Abrudan

University Seminar Paper.

The Problem of Woman as Hero in the Work of Joseph Campbell

by Sarah Nicholson

Feminist Theology January 2011 vol. 19 no. 2 182-193

http://fth.sagepub.com/content/19/2/182.short?rss=1&ssource=mfr&patientinform-links=yes&legid=spfth;19/2/182

Through the frame of the Sumerian myth of Inanna, this essay explores Joseph Campbell’s body of work on the hero’s... more Through the frame of the Sumerian myth of Inanna, this essay explores Joseph Campbell’s body of work on the hero’s journey and living mythology. Particular focus is placed on examining both the place of woman as hero and the symbol of woman for the (male) hero in Campbell’s work. This essay suggests that Campbell’s theories present both possibilities and problems from the perspective of feminist analysis for the representation of woman as hero.

Beyond the Call: The Representation of the Warrior Hero in the Iliad and the Seven Samurai

by James Stratford

Archilochus the ‘Anti-Hero’? Heroism, Flight and Values in Homer and the New Archilochus Fragment

by Laura Swift

Forthcoming in Journal of Hellenic Studies 2012

‘From War Heroes to Sporting Heroes: a Brief Study of the Transformation of the War Hero into a Sporting Hero in Iliad 22 and 23.’

by James Stratford

Published in Bulletin of the Australian Society for Sports History, 36 (2002), 5-10 (2002).

Deconstructing the Hero

by Iain Thomson

The politics of totemic sporting heroes and the conquest of Everest

by Paul Gilchrist

Published in Anthropological Notebooks, 12(2), 2006, pp.35-52.

This article prepares the conceptual ground for understanding the sporting hero. It focuses upon the totemic logic of... more This article prepares the conceptual ground for understanding the sporting hero. It focuses upon the totemic logic of the sporting hero; the social, cultural and political conditions that bring the hero into being. This position is elaborated through a review of an interdisciplinary literature and a discussion of the British sporting hero. In particular, the essay focuses upon ideas and legacies of the heroic that have emerged through attempts to conquer Everest, as a heightened symbolic site for the continued generation of British imperial aspirations and heroic masculinities. It culminates with an examination of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who in 1953 ascended Everest, but whose case is illustrative of the powerful associations suggested by the totemic approach. However, Norgay's example is also used as a reminder of the assumed relationships and associations between the hero and society. It cautions that we balance continuities and complexities in future studies of the sporting hero, and that we remain sensitive to the constructedness of the sporting hero, experienced through history and by collectives and individuals.

Heroic leadership, mountain adventure and the English: John Hunt and Chris Bonington compared

by Paul Gilchrist

Published in Hart, C. (ed.) (2008) Heroines and Heroes: Symbolism, Embodiment, Narratives and Identities (Kingswinford: Midrash Publishing)

This paper explores the notion of heroic leadership in a comparison of two men who were at the forefront of national... more This paper explores the notion of heroic leadership in a comparison of two men who were at the forefront of national and imperial success in the mountains of the Himalaya – Colonel John Hunt and Chris Bonington. The historical and ideological relationship between national enterprise and normative (‘heroic’) types of masculinity will be interrogated through a study of Hunt, whose leadership led to success for Tenzing and Hillary on the first ascent of Everest in 1953, and Bonington, who was responsible for the first British ascent of Everest, by its South West Face, in 1975. It will argue that in both cases qualities of manliness were intrinsic to their selection as leaders. However, their selection and social construction as heroic leaders came at the expense of others who deviated from norms and expectations of the aristo-military imperial adventurer. Using autobiographies, biographies and expedition accounts, this chapter discusses the accommodation of a tradition of English national hero alongside other types of male adventurer whose motivations and ambitions in climbing at high-altitude point to different traditions and subcultural experiences.

Motherhood, ambition and risk: mediating the sporting hero/ine in Conservative Britain

by Paul Gilchrist

Published in Media, Culture and Society, 2007. (Pre-publication draft)

In May 1995, a 33 year-old woman named Alison Hargreaves made her name by becoming the first woman (and second person)... more In May 1995, a 33 year-old woman named Alison Hargreaves made her name by becoming the first woman (and second person) to make an unaided solo ascent of the world’s highest mountain, Everest. She was constructed as an exemplar of the highest order, a national heroine to be proud of, and in the vein of a series of British female heroes who punctuate the typically masculine narrative of national achievement. By August she was dead, the victim of a violent storm on the upper reaches of the peak they call the Savage Mountain, K2. The focus of vitriolic media attention, Hargreaves was stripped of her heroic status and condemned for the irresponsibility of leaving her two small children motherless and so opened a national debate on ‘motherhood, ambition and risk’. This paper explores that debate. In so doing it probes the meaning of heroism, as both a culturally mediated idea of extra-ordinary actions, and as part of a wider politics of recognition and representation that calls on us to consider the role of public communication.

I Need A Hero: Where have all the Good Men Gone in Contemporary English Drama

by Özlem Karadağ

An article on "in-yer-face" and Mark Ravenhill's epic cycle of plays "Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat" published in "Batı Edebiyatında Kahraman" (Hero in Western Literatures).

Nikos Kazantzakis, Nietzsche, and the Myth of the Hero

by Marinos Pourgouris

International Fiction Review, Volume 32, Numbers 1 and 2 (2005)

C. G. Jung's statement, given during his five-year-long seminar on Zarathustra, may be extended to express the parodic... more C. G. Jung's statement, given during his five-year-long seminar on Zarathustra, may be extended to express the parodic structure of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Out of a travesty of the Gospels Nietzsche's Antichrist is born to "seduce" mankind away from the paleontological Christian eschatology and into the new vision of the Overman. Jung called the tendency of any concept to give birth to its opposite enandiodromia.2 The same enandiodromic relationship exists between Nikos Kazantzakis's The Last Temptation of Christ3 and the story of Jesus Christ as it is revealed in the New Testament. Both Nietzsche and Kazantzakis employ a return to the historical moral arena in which the counter value-system was born. "As a historical being," writes Mircea Eliade, "man killed God, and after this assassination — this 'deicide' — he is forced to live exclusively in history."4 In myth, time is reversible: "a primordial mythical time made present."5 In other words, mythological time attempts a return back to the indeterminable epoch in which things 'originated.' The neo-historical modern era, however, is independent of the sacred mythological time, and thus a return to the moment when hierophany6 gains its meaning constitutes both a "deconstruction" and a "fixing." The death of God poses an enormous threat to life and its capacity for transcendence: The Last Man — a modern nihilist. Both The Last Temptation's and Zarathustra's return to the arena of Christian morals aims to shudder its moral foundations as well as to provide a process that overcomes the nihilist attitude of the Last Man

“‘Your soul is whole and completely your own, Harry’: The Heroic Self in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter.”

by Lena Steveker

IN: Heroism in the Harry Potter Series. Ed. Katrin Berndt and Lena Steveker. Farnham: Ashgate, 2011. 69-83.

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is deeply indebted to the tradition of Gothic literature. Not only are the novels... more J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is deeply indebted to the tradition of Gothic literature. Not only are the novels set in an enchanted castle complete with ghosts and hidden chambers, they also heavily depend on two key motifs of the Gothic tradition – the doppelganger and the split character.
Voldemort is set up as Harry’s doppelganger; due to the parallel structures used to construct both characters; he functions as Harry’s dark mirror image. In addition, Voldemort is represented as a split character in the very sense of the word since he has split his soul into seven Horcruxes, with which he hopes to defeat mortality. Harry is also sketched as a split character as he loses control over his own consciousness from time to time and enters Voldemort’s mind. In short, Voldemort and Harry can be seen as two rewritings of conventional stereotypes of the Gothic tradition.
However, the motif of the split character has an additional function in the Harry Potter series because it can be analysed to negotiate a specific concept of self as well as the relationship between self and ‘other’ which Rowling’s texts outline. As this essay will argue, her novels – especially Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007) – conceptualise the self as a closed unity. Harry eventually succeeds in establishing his self when he is eventually able to purge himself from the part of Voldemort’s soul lodging inside himself. Since their hero is established as a separate, autonomous self, the novels can be seen to enter the philosophical discourse of ethics that negotiates the relationship between self and other. In contrast to such influential late 20th-century philosophers as Paul Ricoeur and Emmanuel Levinas, Rowling constructs a concept of self that denies any connection between self and ‘other.’ The Harry Potter series rather privileges a humanist notion of self which can only be called nostalgic from the perspective of 21st-century literary and cultural criticism.