Howard Jacobson‘S Shylock Is My Name 16
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1 2 HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ JOURNAL OF ANGLOPHONE STUDIES Published: Department of English Language and Literature Faculty of Education University of Hradec Králové Rokitanského 62 500 03 Hradec Králové Czech Republic ISSN: 2336-3347 (Print) ISSN: 2571-032X (Online) Vol. 5 No. 2 2018 Web: http://pdf.uhk.cz/hkjas/ Volume’s editor: Jan Suk Original illustrations: Ivan Mečl Print: OptyS, spol. s.r.o., Dolní Životice 3 Hradec Kralové Journal OF Anglophone STUDIES Editorial Board Bohuslav Mánek, University of Hradec Kralové, Czech Republic Helena Polehlová, University of Hradec Kralové, Czech Republic Editor in Chief Jan Suk, University of Hradec Kralové, Czech Republic Advisory Board Šárka Bubíková, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic Richard Burt, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA Yilin Chen, Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan Jan Comorek, Charles University, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic Kacie Hittel Tam, University of Georgia, Athens, USA Mirka Horová, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic Ema Jelínková, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic Şevki Kömür, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman Üniversitesi, Kötekli/Muğla, Turkey Stanislav Kolář, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic Ivan Lacko, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic Pavla Machová, University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic Marcela Malá, Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic Michaela Marková, Technical University Liberec, Czech Republic Ildiko Neméthová, University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovak Republic Ryuta Minami, Shirayuri College, Tokyo, Japan Atilla Pató, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic Hana Pavelková, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic Jozef Pecina, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic Ondřej Pilný, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic Václav Řeřicha, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic Martin Štefl, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic Věra Tauchmanová, University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic Ladislav Vít, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic Olga Vraštilová, University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic Michaela Weiss, Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic Yukari Yoshihara, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan Hradec Králové Journal of Anglophone Studies Contents Jan Suk Liminal Identities and Interdisciplinary Inspirations: Introduction to Hradec Králové Journal of Anglophone Studies 8 Petr Anténe The Merchant of Venice as an Early 21st Century British Jewish Novel: Howard Jacobson‘s Shylock Is My Name 16 Peter Barrer Going Nowhere for Now: Changing New Zealand‘s Flag and the Move to a Republic 24 Jan Čapek Sexual Devouring: The Desiring-Production of the Subversive Undead in David Cronenberg‘s Shivers 37 Eva Čoupková The First Adaptations of Mary Shelley‘s Frankenstein 46 Veronika Geyerová Merged Consciousness in Virginia Woolf‘s Works 58 Tatiana Hrivíková Precedential Phenomena in Cross-cultural Communication 67 Mariana Machová „Curious Creatures“: Elizabeth Bishop‘s Animals as Messages to Translate 90 Ivona Mišterová „Never such innocence again…“: British and American Drama on the Czech Stage during the Great War 101 Jozef Pecina Within That Cup There Lurks a Curse: Sensationalism in Antebellum Temperance Novels 111 6 Zuzana Tabačková Grandmother‘s Narrating Recipes: Food and Identity in Contemporary Arab American Writing 119 Alice Tihelková A Winter of Discontent or a Summer of Lost Content? The Portrayal of the 1970s in the British Press 131 Calls 141 Notes on Contributors 153 Mission Statement and Guidelines for Submissions 157 Ethical Statement 159 7 Liminal Identities and Interdisciplinary Inspirations: Introduction to Hradec Králové Journal of Anglophone Studies It is happening again: the last volume of Hradec Králové Journal of Anglophone Studies in 2018 is out. Unlike in previous years, the present volume is the result of strenuous activity against the backdrop of turbulent changes both in the most local degree – in the editorial context, and also in Anglophone world. Locally, with two members of the editorial board stepping down to pursue their academic careers elsewhere, the rest of the editors had to work even harder. On the global scale, US president Donald Trump releases increasingly controversial statements, one following another. Yet, how is this related? More than ever, I dare say, as I believe is it the fundamental role of the journal to provide unbiased insights in the post-truth world we live in. The journal embraces linguistic, sociocultural and methodological issues of the Anglophone world. All aspects are being challenged these days. Oxford English dictionary announced its year of the word, and perhaps without much surprise, it was the word toxic, connected not only to the environment, but primary to relationships and representation. The Nobel prize in literature, perhaps again without wonder, was not awarded due to sexual scandals and alleged candidates’ names leaks for betting reasons. Certain hope can be, I am convinced, traced in the present articles, which undoubtedly provide original, well-researched observations and conclusions which besides its erudition sparkle with an ultimate quality: inspiration. Looking at the etymology, the word inspiration, from Latin inspirare, suggests certain divine guidance. Similarly, while looking at its figurative meaning, the word implies a person, situation or an object stimulating intellect, emotions, and creativity. Considering its physiological aspect, the word inspire is a synonym to inhaling - the act of drawing air into the lungs of mammals while breathing. Let me know take a digression, creative, albeit seemingly disconnected. “Turning and turning in the widening gyre/The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;” is the opening of “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats, a poem, which perhaps, is more timeless than ever. The current Anglophone world represents how “mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,/…/the ceremony of innocence s drowned;/the best lack all conviction, while the worst/ are full of passionate intensity,” Yeats continues. Take the example of Brexit and the current US president Donald Trump. Contemplating about the latter, inspiration in its latter meaning is the result of his own divine role as a saviour exercising a great amount of intellectually and emotional stimuli, unfortunately more of the shocking nature. One of the frequent emotions accompanying the inspiration of lungs is sighing in disappointment. It can be of no surprise that Donald Trump’s pre-electoral promises were not kept. The great wall erected on the Mexican-American border has not yet been built, let alone paid for by the Mexicans. On the contrary, President’s latest steps signal that if built, the wall will be paid for by American tax-payers. Furthermore, Trump’s campaign built on mutual support of and by the LGBTQs resulted in a series of extremely harsh measures taken against this growing minority, having shocked even many of his electors. Awe and utter disbelief are states of mind preceded by deep inspiration and accompanied by holding one’s breath. The recent appearances of the president appear even more shocking and 8 absurd. As a response to massive wildfires in California, Trump advocated a made-up recommendation from the Finnish president Sauli Niinstö who should have allegedly advised Trump to rake forests the way they do in Finland. Even more bizarrely, having been boasting at the UN with historically the strongest economic progress in history, Trump was met with a wave of unexpected laughter, not sympathetic, but bitter. Clearly, the opposite is true as the high tax imposition on Chinese products is ridiculously shocking and is going to have undoubtedly long-term negative financial consequences for the American economy. This fact, however, may paradoxically contribute to Trump’s popularity due to several factors: first, he is seen as a man of the crowd. His highly limited vocabulary and frequent insults are not far from say the Czech president Miloš Zeman, who actually claims to be Trump’s supporter and friend. Secondly, Trump’s own economic success embodying the America Dream may create a false belief that the aforementioned economic measures are beneficial for the growth in domestic productivity and the decrease in unemployment. Again, here parallels can be seen on the examples of the Italian ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi and the current Czech PM Andrej Babiš. This position of a strong redeeming figure, mixed with the aura of an untouchable Alpha-male conspicuously resembles the omnipotent divine being exemplified to a large degree by the Russian president Vladimir Putin. American culture is built on the premise of manifest destiny, the belief that they are the elect ones. Transcendentalism, the first truly American movement teaches us to be self-reliant and pragmatic. American history has always been inspired by great self-made men, e.g. Benjamin Franklin, Henry Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk to name just a few. Therefore, inevitably, the mixture of the extraordinary features that the current American President abounds with: arrogance, big-headedness, self-centeredness, self-importance, the pragmatic ability to convince even at the cost of lying, and a strong drive for omnipotence make him logically and undoubtedly the most inspiring president, at least for the easy-to-be-influenced Americans living in the post-truth presence. The inspiring liminality of our toxic post-truth identity is encompassed in the