Interviews Mcintyre with Professors Jeffries And

Inspire & Amaze June 2015

Visit from Poland

´ creative Students WOrks

EFUESTE

Interviews McIntyre with professors Jeffries and

INSPIRE & AMAZE 06/2015, Issue 1

Student’s Journal of the Institute of British and American Studies

Advisory board: doc. PhDr. Milan Ferenčík, PhD., prof. PhDr. Jaroslav Kušnír, PhD., James Sutherland-Smith M.A., doc. Zuzana Straková, PhD., doc. PaedDr. Alena Kačmárová, PhD., doc. Mgr. Sandra Zákutná, PhD.

Chief editors: Mgr. Maroš Buday, Mgr. Barbora Popovičová, Mgr. Jana Ščigulinská

Graphic design: Mgr. Jana Ščigulinská

Composition: Mgr. Maroš Buday

Cover layout: Mgr. Jana Ščigulinská

Cover photo: Patrik Štrama

Back cover photo : Lenka Pellová

Linguistic advisor for texts in English language: Mgr. Jonathan Gresty

The correctness of submitted texts in Slovak language is the responsibility of the authors

Publisher:

Prešovská univerzita v Prešove

17. novembra 15

08001 Prešov

Address of the editor’s office:

Inštitút anglistiky a amerikanistiky

Filozofická fakulta PU v Prešove

17. novembra 1

Slovenská republika

Contact: [email protected]

Articles published in the journal INSPIRE & AMAZE cannot be published, copied or otherwise circulated without the editors’ knowledge.

This journal is unmarketable. This journal is issued twice a year.

The editors of this journal accept submissions in English and Slovak language. The articles should not exceed the total of 5 journal pages. The submissions are evaluated and edited by one of the members of the journal’s advisory board.

Table of Contents

Foreword ...... 4

Linguists on a Visit at IAA ...... 5

An Interview with prof. Dan McIntyre ...... 6

An Interview by prof. Lesley Jeffries ...... 8

A Refreshing Erasmus Visit from Poland ...... 10

EFUESTE - Effective Use of the EPOSTL by Student Teachers of English ...... 13

English in Prešov’s Linguistic Cityscape ...... 14

Students' Works ...... 20

My Future. My Fears and My Hopes...... 21

A Conversation Which Has Enriched My Life ...... 24

Chloé Jobert: On Presov ...... 25

Steppenwolf Made Me Think... About Thinking ...... 26

Cigarette Ban ...... 28

Symbolism and Imaginery in The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath ...... 29

Poet´s Corner ...... 33

Poetry Lost in the Dark Tides of Sophisticated Society ...... 34

As Wild as the Poppies ...... 35

Becoming Her ...... 36

Detox ...... 37

Sitting on a Wooden Bench ...... 38

As this academic year nears its end, the first official issue of our proud institute’s journal Inspire & Amaze sees the light of day. At the time when the notion of our Institute having its own journal was conceived, I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical. It was mainly because I myself, like many of you, was a student here, and until me and the other PhD students started mulling over this idea, I’m not ashamed to admit that I thought students to be inherently lazy to do something extra. That not much will come of it…

However, I know when to concede defeat, and I’m very happy to have been proven wrong. You, our Institute’s students have come together and came through for us by writing essays and poems of your own voli- tion, and for that, I’m eternally grateful. I’m mostly thankful to all of you, dear students, as well as my esteemed colleagues, for giving me a purpose, one more thing to look forward to at the end of each semester. I sincerely hope that the tradition we started here will be preserved long after we will have finished our studies. You’ve all been great, and you have my warmest thank you.

Maroš Buday, editor of Inspire & Amaze

Linguists on a Visit at the Institute of British and American Studies

23rd March 2015 was an important date for our Institute as prof. Lesley Jeffries and prof. Dan McIntyre (University of Huddersfield) accepted the offer to be a part of the Slovak academia for a while and after participating in the Conference in Nitra they were brave enough to set out for a journey to Prešov. Despite only a day-lasting visit, we can honestly say, and maybe the professors would agree, that we made the most of it.

The only blue thing that Monday was the sky, and in connection with a full lecture hall, we couldn't have hoped for a better start. The morning lecture on “Stylistics - the State of the 'Art'” given by prof. Jeffries and prof. McIntyre combined the area of stylistics with real and every-day linguistic data which demonstrated the power of language we employ on a daily basis.

After the lecture primarily aimed to be given to the students of the Institute of British and American Studies, the focus moved to our teachers and doctoral students. While prof. McIntyre led the seminar for PhD students, prof. Jeffries participated in the workshop “Discourse and Ideology: Seminar in Critical Stylistics” with the members of KEGA (030PU-4/2014) research project and was kind enough to comment on each member's piece of research as well as to provide priceless advice on its potential elaboration. Following the trio of lecture, seminar and workshop, the professors and Institute's staff met in a more informal setting where a vivid discussion of not only academic nature lasted until late.

The visit of prof. Jeffries and prof. McIntyre was very much appreciated by our students as well as teachers and we sincerely hope it wasn't the last time our academic paths crossed.

By Mgr. Diana Krajňáková

An Interview with prof. Dan McIntyre

Profile: He is a professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Huddersfield. Before coming to Huddersfield, he taught English Language at Liverpool Hope University, applied linguistics at the Open University, and EFL at a private language school in northern Italy. He has a BA, MA, and PhD degrees in linguistics from Lancaster University. He’s a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and most of his current teaching is focused on stylistics, the history of English language and corpus linguistics. He is a member of the international Poetics and Linguistics Association. He edits the series Advances in Stylistics for Bloomsbury, and co-edits Perspectives on the English Language for Palgrave alongside prof. Lesley Jeffries.

As an authority on linguistics, you certainly have a lot of experience with teaching as well as research activities. Which one do you prefer?

Actually, I find it difficult to choose! And that’s because I think the two are inextricably linked. I think doing research makes you a better teacher for two reasons. First, it means you can introduce students to findings that no-one else yet knows about – and that’s exciting. But secondly, doing research means you constantly have to put yourself in the position of being a student; that is, you’re always learning something for the first time. And I think it’s useful for your development as a teacher to always remind yourself of what that feels like. By the same token, I think teaching makes you a better researcher. Having to explain your ideas clearly and concisely to a group of students who may well be very sceptical about what you’re saying(!) really makes you think hard about whether your ideas make sense.

What topic does your current research activity involve?

At the moment I have two main projects that I’m working on. The first is looking at the effects on characterisation of TV subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. We are using models of characterisation to assess the stylistic effects that are generated when subtitles differ from the original dialogue. This is with the aim of finding ways of improving subtitling for TV drama. The second project is investigating speech, writing and thought presentation in Early Modern English journalism; that is, news reports from around 1500 to 1750. We are interested in seeing whether reporting techniques were different in the Early Modern period from now, and if so, why. Related to this, I’m currently writing a book with my colleague Brian Walker which is an introduction to Corpus Stylistics.

What is (was) your favourite research area in the field of applied linguistics?

My background is in stylistics and that is still the field that I work in most. I think it’s an under -rated and under-researched area within applied linguistics and I would like to see more people working on understanding the impact of style in language. Increasingly, I use corpus linguistic methods too.

What is thing you are most proud of up to this day? Personally, and professionally.

Professionally, the thing I am most proud of is how much our department at Huddersfield has changed and improved over the years. When I started working there nearly 11 years ago, English Language was taught within an English department and we had just five lecturers in the area. Now we are a department of Linguistics and Modern Languages with around a dozen members of staff and are just about to make two more permanent appointments. It’s a really vibrant department with lots of interesting things going on, including the magazine we publish about language called Babel (www.bablezine.com). We are also welcoming more and more international students and visitors, which is great. I’m not sure what I’m most proud of personally. I’m quite pleased with the bookcase I built in my spare bedroom!

Are you aware of any mistakes which are most common among foreigners trying to acquire English language?

I used to teach English as a foreign language in Italy and it was quite common for students to mix up the words kitchen and chicken. But I’m pretty sure my Italian was a lot worse than their English! My Chinese students often find articles difficult to grasp and of course there’s the perennial problem with phrasal verbs and the apparent lack of systematic rules for pronunciation. Learning which nouns are countable and which aren’t can also cause some difficulties. But really, I would say that these are minor issues when you’re learning English and not something to worry about overmuch. Native speakers certainly won’t care if you get a few things wrong in conversation; there is so much variation in English anyway that they probably won’t even notice! Instead, concentrate on learning as much vocabulary as you can. The accuracy will come later. I’ve been trying to learn Hungarian for some time now (my wife is from Budapest) and the biggest problem I have is precisely that I can’t remember enough words!

What was your impression of Slovakia as a country, and Prešov in particular?

I thought it was beautiful. I took the train from Nitra to Prešov and the journey through the Tatras was fantastic. I thought Prešov was a beautiful city with some amazing architecture. And I find the history of the whole region fascinating.

Could you describe the activities you were involved in during your stay in Prešov?

My colleague Lesley Jeffries and I were visiting Milan Ferencik, who had been a visitor at Huddersfield some months previously. We spent some time talking about possible collaborative links between our universities and Lesley and I gave lectures on stylistics. I also spent some time talking to some of the PhD students in the department about their research, which was really interesting.

Is there anything you’d like to say or wish to our students and academic staff?

Well, first of all I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone for their hospitality! My impression of the department was that it is a really friendly place with lots of interesting work going on. In that respect it very much reminded me of my home department in Huddersfield. All being well, we will soon have an Erasmus link between our departments and when that is in place we will be very pleased to welcome visitors from Prešov! By Maroš Buday & Barbora Popovičová

An Interview by prof. Lesley Jeffries

Profile: Her dissertation was on stylistics of newspapers, and her first book (Jeffries, 1993) was on the stylistics of poetry. She joined the University of Huddersfield in 1990 and was Head of English before appointed as the Research Coordinator in 2005, and the Chair of English Language in 2007. She is the series editor of the Perspectives on the English Language series for Palgrave, and a member of the editorial board of the journal Language and Literature (Sage). She has supervised three PhD students to completion and has another four students she is currently supervising on topics ranging from the language of advertising to negation in discourse.

Your scope of research within the realm of English language is quite extensive. Do you have any particular area of interest which you are especially fond of? If so, why?

I get bored easily, so I always keep a range of work going, to keep me focussed! I am equally fond of the stylistics of (contemporary) poetry and the analysis of the language of politics and power. This is because I see them as fundamentally the same at a textual level, though of course the purposes and effects on readers may differ.

Before you became interested in linguistics, you were interested in literature. What brought about this fairly rapid shift of interest?

Ah well, it was a LONG time ago (at school) that I first picked up a book by David Crystal (his Pelican book just called ‘Linguistics’) and realised that this was the discipline I needed to enable me to explain the literary effects that my teachers were asking me to write about, without giving me the tools to do so! I dropped my literary interests then for a number of years, studying General Linguistics at Undergraduate level and then applying what I had learnt to the language of newspapers for my doctorate. At about the same time, I was working on my first book – about the language of poetry. I started to see the links between the two strands of my work when first I came across PALA (the Poetics and Linguistics Association) which became my intellectual ‘home’ not least because the people in it are so welcoming and friendly!

In your viewpoint, is there a difference between common discourse which is frequently the subject of the field of applied linguistics, and the nature of the language of literature?

No! At the textual level, there is nothing at all dividing any kind of discourse from any other. If we had to learn a whole new system of language use for each text type or genre we encounter, there would surely be cognitive overload. What I’m trying to do at the moment is to apply the critical stylistics framework I’ve been working on to a more literary purpose. I’m hoping to show that the textual meanings are the same at one level, though they may have different interpretative effects (aesthetic as opposed to ideological). The differences are mainly social and cultural, and a question more of extent than type. So, for example, external deviation is

more extreme in poetry than in news reporting, but can happen in both and is certainly also present in advertising language.

By the way, I think the term Applied Linguistics is one that needs reclaiming! It should not just refer to TESOL or EFL and neither should it apply to largely theoretical and descriptive work on texts (I hate the word discourse). I like to use AL to refer to the practical applications of linguistics to real world problems. This would include language teaching and learning, of course, but also speech therapy, language in conflict, advertising, politics, literacy and so on. That makes sense doesn’t it? It also places stylistic work (textual, discourse, whatever you want to call it) squarely in the centre of linguistics and not at the periphery!

What topic does your current research activity involve?

Ah well, I’m trying to finish a book with my colleague, Brian Walker, on the language of news reporting in the years when Tony Blair was the Prime Minister in the UK. It’s a corpus stylistic study and we’re focussing on individual keywords that took on particular meanings during that period, such as ‘choice’ and ‘respect’. I’ve notices that the Labour Party has started to over-use the word ‘aspiration’ since their defeat in the 2015 election. And it doesn’t mean what we’d normally mean...it’s becoming the new adjective to refer to people who don’t cost the state any money!

What was your impression of Slovakia as a country, and Prešov in particular?

I really enjoyed our visit to Slovakia and Presov is a lovely city. The highlights were the views of mountains as we travelled by train from Nitra to Presov; our visit to the Polish border (though it was very cold!); our very pleasant walk along the river your great campus from the quirky B&B we stayed in; the bean bags that you have in the academic buildings... and pleasant evenings eating and drinking in the town centre.

Could you describe the activities you were involved in during your stay in Prešov?

In the morning, I gave a lecture to a packed auditorium of students and staff (who were impressively attentive and asked good questions!). Then in the afternoon I spent time listening to staff discussing their research projects and giving them advice and feedback. It was quite intense, but very enjoyable! We also met the Dean and the head of internationalisation (not sure of her title!). Everyone was very welcoming.

Is there anything you’d like to say or wish to our students and academic staff?

I’d like to thank you all for your hospitality and wish you all the best for the future. I was saddened to hear that many young people feel they have to leave Presov for other cities and countries. It is good of course to travel, particularly whilst you’re young (indeed we hope to set up and exchange with Presov) but this is a great and resourceful country, so I hope some of you will return and help to build it into the success it deserves. The grass isn’t always greener elsewhere! By Maroš Buday & Barbora Popovičová

A Refreshing Erasmus Visit from Poland

Our Institute of British and American Studies was pleased to welcome two Erasmus guest lecturers Prof. Przemysław Łozowski, PhD. and Dr. Anna Włodarczyk-Stachurska from the University of Technology and Humanities in Radom, Poland. They paid a visit to our lovely town of Prešov from March 16 – 19, 2015. During their almost one week stay, they gave a series of stimulating lectures focusing, first and foremost, on lexical semantics (backed up with some insights into cognitive linguistics) and English lexicography. Their visit within the framework of Erasmus Plus teaching mobility serves to prove the importance of this exchange scheme not only for students but also for visiting lecturers.

Prof. Przemysław Łozowski, PhD. is an acclaimed authority on cognitive linguistics among English scholars not only in Poland but also all over Europe. Over the years, he has carried out extensive research at St. Peter's College in Oxford and has authored two monographs entitled Vagueness in Language: from Truth-Conditional Synonymy to Un-Conditional Polysemy (2000) and Language as Symbol of Experience: King Alfred's cunnan, magan, and motan in a Panchronic Perspective (2008). Apart from being one of the founding fathers of the English Department at Radom he currently also holds the post of the Head of the English Department at the Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej University in Lublin.

During his visit to Prešov, Prof. Łozowski, PhD. delivered a thought-provoking lecture “Lexical semantics with and without lexical (sense) relations“ in which he took a critical stance towards a structuralist approach to lexical semantics for most of the 20th century. His second open lecture entitled “Being happy and sad in English: a historical perspective“, given on the premises of the Rectorate, also drove home his status as an unparalleled lecturer.

Dr. Anna Włodarczyk-Stachurska is a Vice- Dean at the University of Technology and Humanities in Radom. As a researcher, she focuses primarily on sociolinguistics and lexicography. With regard to the former, she has written a monograph entitled On Sociolinguistic Variation: The Case of English Women Terms (2011). Her brand-new publication comprises The Rudiments of Lexicography and Sociolinguistics (2015), co-written with Prof. Grzegorz A. Kleparski.

In her lectures, Dr. Włodarczyk-Stachurska elucidated the problem of dictionary structure and definitions in an intriguing manner, making her lessons most inspirational for our students. Since lexicography does not enjoy a status of an independent course at our Institute, Dr. Włodarczyk- Stachurska managed to whet our English students´ appetite for this vast field of study and aroused their curiosity about the topic accordingly. Moreover, both visiting lecturers were also received by the Institute Director Assoc. Prof. Milan Ferenčík, PhD. as well as Assoc. Prof. Zuzana Straková, PhD., Vice- Dean for foreign relations, while being engaged in a friendly conversation.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the Erasmus visit of the two lecturers from Poland met with a strong interest and positive feedback both on the part of our students as well as staff members. It proved that one of the great advantages of the Erasmus mobility is to enable lecturers to share their expertise and knowledge with a new studentship without any geographical borders. On behalf of the Institute of British and American Studies, we wish to express our sincere gratitude to our Polish colleagues for finding time in their busy academic lives to come to Prešov and provide our students with some novel perspectives in lexical semantics and English lexicography. Thanks so very much for spicing up our lessons with your presence and charisma, making lexical semantics less mundane for those of us fortunate enough to attend your brilliant lectures.

By Klaudia Bednárová-Gibová

EFUESTE - Effective Use of the EPOSTL by Student Teachers of English

Turkey, Antalya. 10 – 15 April, 2015. Hacettepe University (Turkey), Latvia University (Latvia), Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland), University of Rijeka (Croatia) and University of Prešov are five partners of the EFUESTE Project, led by Prof. Dr. Ismail Hakki Mirici from Turkey and funded with support from the European Commission. The meeting in Antalya, preceded by two kick-off meetings in Ankara and Rijeka, gathered 50 student teachers of English and their coordinators to discuss important ideas and schemes with the aim to improve the EPOSTL, the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages. Nine participants from the University of Prešov, led by Assoc. Professor Kovalčíková and Assoc. Professor Straková, joined the international assembly and contributed to the outcomes of the first meeting.

What is EPOSTL?

In order to train EFL teachers in accordance with the common European standards of the foreign language teacher qualifications, the EPOSTL introduces common principles in foreign language education programmes across Europe. Identifying core competences, formulating corresponding didactic competence descriptors, and embedding these in portfolio to help student teachers reflect on their knowledge, are one of the main objectives of the EPOSTL. In order to achieve the desired standard educational objectives recognised across Europe, English language teacher training programmes include the EPOSTL oriented implementations for developing basic professional qualifications of language teachers.

Sharing experience

The EFUESTE project aims at gathering English language teacher training academics and student teachers from different European contexts and providing them with a common basis for sharing ideas and experiences about how to design effective EPOSTL supported implementations in their system. In Antalya, the project meeting started with general presentations where participants described the current status of “teacher education”, “the EPOSTL”, and “viewpoints towards the EPOSTL” in their countries. Moreover, the project groups from different European educational

12 contexts discussed the EPOSTL descriptors comparing them with their specific educational goals. In addition, we made a needs analysis as well as literature review and discussed the ways how these European standards can be adapted into our own systems, how foreign language teacher training curricula should be revised, how the students should be motivated to keep an EPOSTL, how the EPOSTL can be transferred into an electronic setting as an E- EPOSTL, as well as how it can be made accessible from every part of Europe.

Do your best, make a difference

Summing up, taking part in such a project gave us an opportunity to look closer at the importance of self-assessment and encouraged us to work conscientiously on developing the portfolio in a way for it to become even more accessible, useful and helpful. Busy schedule, international company of peers, friendly welcome of the organizers, and beautiful Turkish scenery created an atmosphere not only of hard work and personal development but also multicultural and joyful entertainment. The realisation that the voices and opinions of students actually matter in the process of developing such an important means for teacher development made us very thankful for being a part of this working group and encouraged us to be even more hard-working and enthusiastic during the upcoming months, as more tasks await to be finished and further cooperation between the universities is planned for the next two years.

By Bc. Veronika Zvijakova University of Prešov

In case you wish to learn more about the project EFUESTE, click on: http://www.efueste.com/

English in Prešov’s Linguistic Cityscape

The presence of English in the local linguistic landscape can be observed everywhere in the world and that is why we decided to observe English in Prešov’s linguistic landscape as a part of our assignment within the Research Methods Seminar taken in Spring 20151. The linguistic landscape is understood as “the language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings combines to form the linguistic landscape of a give territory, region, or urban agglomeration” (Landry and Bourhis, 1997, p.25). We focused on the language use with a special regard to English because “English is the most prominent language in the linguistic landscape in the non-English-speaking European cities that are discussed here, after the national language and possibly an indigenous minority language. In advertising the English language has become a symbol of globalization” (Edelman, p. 2). The main purpose is to identify the presence, functions and features of English in Prešov’s linguistic landscape and the discourses it constructs. Our research used both quantitative and qualitative data sampling strategies. In the quantitative data collection we employed one of the most important methods – observation – using the techniques of the content and semiotic analysis of the visual mode (signs), and in the analysis of our qualitative data we used the method of elicitation. This second method contained semi-structured interview which was conveyed in the audial mode.

We completed a dataset of 120 photos, which contained signs with a written inscription displayed in shop-windows visible from the main street in Prešov called the Hlavná ulica street. From the language on signs, conclusions can be drawn “regarding, among other factors, the social layering of the community, the relative status of the various societal segments, and the dominant cultural ideals of the community” (Reh, 2004, p. 38). We were observing 63 signs from the left side and 57 signs from the right side of the street. In this analysis we evaluated their content and tried to find patterns in the advertisement style, structure of the sign and commercial language. In most of the photos we could observe Slovak-English bilingualism. All selected samples were divided into 4 main groups. The left side of the street consists of the categories of advertisement & shops, heritage & translation, food & refreshment, and restrictions & instructions. Similarly, the right side of the street is divided into advertisement & shops, food & refreshment, heritage & translation, and clubs. These groups were made according to what they offered to people. Each sample has as its main function, either symbolic or instrumental. The symbolic function connotes trendiness, prestige, progress, modernity, globalization, worldliness. Conversely, the instrumental use communicates messages encoding particular propositional content and implying specific illocutionary force (Jenkins, 2009). The symbolic use is more common than the instrumental one because most of the signs represent the typical Western culture and the signs that belong to the commercial discourse dominate because of globalization. According to the quantitative analysis, both sides of the street included 50 photos which were symbolic, 13 photos were instrumental on the left side and 7 were instrumental on the right side in terms of sign. Local business establishments try not only to navigate customers but also to gain their trust or attention, and generally speaking, make the signs more memorable and interesting. The majority of businesses is local and dominates over corporate ones; however there is still presence of both Slovak and English language in both cases.

As the examples are directed at people, we have to consider them as front stage signs. The front stage is understood as a centrifugal distribution and centripetal convergence of discourses in time and space (Scollon, 2003). People are manipulated by the performers which are always present on the Hlavná ulica street, so it cannot become the backstage. Some front stage examples in the pictures taken on the right side of the Hlavná ulica street are in the shop windows and they are closed for public use, especially when there are advertisements of some companies or travel agencies. The Symbolic Use of English

As an example of the symbolic use, we present this photo (Figure 1), the advertisement is in the Slovak language but the background is almost identical to the Canadian flag. This is also quite strange because the advertisement offers courses for all world languages, yet the background suggests that the main language of interest may be English, or possibly French, which is also frequently used in Canada.

Figure 1

Canada is also a country from the English-speaking ´centre´ which carries all these values, though less ostensibly. The webpage is in English, which suggests the role of English as the most prominent language of international commerce, or ´lingua franca´. The choice of the background is interesting because it symbolizes a world language or world languages, but it was probably chosen because of the character of the flags of the USA and UK, which wouldn’t allow them to be used as a background because of all the stripes and stars that are present in those flags. The Instrumental Use of English

Here, in the Figure 2, we can see a more practical use of the English language. Čierny orol represents a landmark which means potential interest for tourists, non-Slovak speakers. Because of its dominant position, English is used and provides information for tourists interested in the history of this place.

Figure 2

Considering its linguistic features, English is largely used in company names which are usually made of one or two words, in some cases even more. Some of these are purely in English – by both vocabulary and spelling standards. For instance, on the right side of the street we can find Second hand London, TOUR, princess, opti frame – of course these are supplemented by a Slovak description so Slovak speakers can understand what these companies offer. But in some cases we can find even descriptions in the English language, such as LA BELLA – home décor & gifts, MEN´S FASHION BUNDU BEAR, CRIBS LADY FASHION. A lot of companies use capital letters throughout, but there is quite a big portion of shop names beginning only with capital letters and some of them do not use capital letters at all. When talking about punctuation we can observe a lack of punctuation in almost all cases – dots are used mainly in webpage addresses and in Slovak abbreviations or acronyms (titles, companies), also after numerals in Slovak (2. poschodie) and addresses. In one case, the ampersand (&), which is typical for the English language, was used in Slovak description: HODINKY & ŠPERKY. This is quite an interesting example of combining the Slovak language with the English punctuation style, since ampersand is not very common in Slovak inscriptions with English punctuation.

In terms of categories, the Advertisement & Shops category is quite rich regarding the symbolic and instrumental usage of language. The concrete number of samples is 41 on the left side and 42 on the right side, which is the highest number from all four categories. The samples combine plain text with symbols that are not categorized as text but in context they are making sense with the combination of letters. Obviously, they require some basic contextual insight and knowledge but in the end they are a fine example of Western-ness, Western culture and, of course, globalization. Words like service, shop, style, copy, print, fitness, sport, bike, night, party and many more are globally established words which are used to connect the cultural phenomena of every nation and society. These words are doing it quite well regarding their instrumental use as a tool of encoding particular communication between various cultures and nations.

Figure 3 Figure 4

For instance, in PLAYHOUSE (Figure 3) it can be clearly seen that the letters “A“ and “O“ are substituted with geometrical symbols. The triangle is for A and the circle is for O, which marks and emphasizes the hidden notion and assumption that this whole namesign bears. The pedestrians or bystanders will assume that this bar has some predisposition to be a gamer’s lounge in addition to its bar and coffee service to customers. Of course, these assumptions come from the knowledge of references that are based on the “Western world”. To better understand the connection, we

provide a picture (Figure 4) of a dualshock gamepad of Play Station 4 so that one can compare the pictures and fully understand the reference.

We had the opportunity to see that almost every name of a brand or slogan is typographically different from each other. They use a vast amount of font design, word spacing, capitalisation, or they completely omit punctuation. The typography is quite crucial because these words and slogans carry some contextual meaning through their design and thus create assumptions in the readers’ minds. When speaking about the international standards we can say that they are visible in a small number of these examples and even though they are slightly changed on the morphological level, with the addition of some affixes whether they are suffixes, infixes or prefixes. And because of that we can also experience code switching which is common in these samples. The Slovak-English transition is clearly visible and we can assume that it can be a sign of the prestige of Western culture, or maybe it commemorates its qualities that can be compared with those of Western standards in a specific culture which in this case is the Slovak culture.

As for the Heritage & Translation group we can say that the selected samples are translated specifically into English, and because English is the worldwide language it would be unsuitable not to translate it into English at all. It is ours as well as the conventional assumption created by the world that tourists should understand some of those translations. The concrete number of these signs on the main street is only 8 on the left and 5 on the right side. Regarding the typography of these translations (Figure 5) it can be concluded that they should remain plain, simple, without any confusing symbols or marks, and without any artistic deviations that could defile or dishonour the cultural value of the heritage. One thing that we should mention is the material or medium on which these translations are imprinted. In comparison with other samples which consist of advertisements, shop names, or brand names, these translations are made with the symbol of the town and may also contain the symbol of state, and are placed on a medium which is a material that endures mechanical or chemical damage, whether it is weather, corrosion or vandalism.

Figure 5 Figure 6

The translation of cultural heritage is something that should be taken seriously and it should be taken up with responsibility and respect to the given culture and nation. The English language is a Lingua Franca in a sense of translational purposes. We can see these translations around the globe whether it is Slovakia, China, Japan, the whole Europe or Africa and Asia. It doesn’t matter in what country you are or what language is spoken in that country, you can always find translations of cultural and national heritage in the English language. It is because English is

also a tourist language, and everyone assumes that it would and should be in English and it always is.

Furthermore, the Food & Refreshment category (Figure 6) is almost as rich as the Advertisement and Shop category regarding the symbolic and instrumental usage of language. The concrete number of these signs is 10 on the left and 7 on the right side. From all of the samples in this group we found some typical examples of the symbolic use in language. They combine text which is rather very creative to evoke the aesthetic feel for the consumers and it may obviously strengthen the need to visit the particular place. A few signs combine text with symbols, such as flower, that aren’t categorized as a text but in context they make sense. Most of the signs of this category represent typical Western culture, for example pizza, pub, pasta, steak, grill, café, wine, hotel, restaurant, smoothie, book and coffee and many others.

Thanks to globalization those signs are understood everywhere and by everyone. They very often use font design and word spacing which is larger than usual. Capitalisation plays a big role because almost all signs are written in capital letters; however, they completely omit punctuation. Only three signs are written by hand with a chalk and are located just on the left side of the street. The most crucial fact of these signs is in the word borrowing, code switching and mixing. The most common cases of word borrowing is between English-Slovak but also between Italian- Slovak, as words like espresso, libresso, latte, cappuccino were borrowed from Italian to English and other different languages, in our case the Slovak language, and are now a part of any world’s language.

The Restrictions & Instructions group is found only on the left side of the street. We can say that the selected samples are word-by-word translations from one language to another, which clearly depicts globalisation again. The concrete number of these signs on the main street is only 4, and a typical example is an instruction on the screen of ATM (Figure 7).

Figure 7 Some samples are translated specifically into English, and because English is a world language, it is important that those signs keep the Western standards. Tourists or anyone from abroad take these signs for granted. Regarding the typology or material, the signs are simple, plain and are glued to the windows of the banks.

Restrictions are always a part of corporate buildings like banks or some private buildings and corporations that have their own security measures and set of rules. These specific sings that are shown in the picture above (Figure 8) also have a textual form which is also translated into English. This textual form is in this case redundant because the pictures are easy to understand, thus their function is already met in their visual form so the text isn’t necessary. Every person living in a civilised world, irrespective of their nationality, should make their own assumption and understand them. Figure 8 18

The last category, Clubs (Figure 9, Figure 10) consists of 3 samples which are located only on the right side of the street. These clubs or bars represent places that combine fun like gaming machines, live poker playing or dancing with service of alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks. People can easily assume that these mentioned things will be there because of a simple addition of “bar” or “club” in their names.

Figure 9 Figure 10

English language is all around us. People often pass billboards, signs and advertisements without realizing it. Our observations show that the use of English is quite frequent even in Slovakia. Each observed sign depicted globalisation and the influence of the Western culture to certain extent. Word borrowing, code-switching and mixing of English and Slovak was quite crucial. Naturally, most of the signs were attached to the buildings and the majority of these signs belong to the Advertisement & Shops category. Regarding the domestication of English words in Slovakia, there are many English words stated mainly in the names of places but very few use English for those who don’t speak Slovak. Although according to the globalization and the raise of using English in Slovak spot names, it’s only a matter of time when changes will happen.

Note: 1The students who participated in the project are (alphabetical order): Dagmara Eštoková, Simona Görögová, Matej Hrušo, Marianna Kováčová, Simona Králová, Marek Krehlik, Michal Magda, Miroslava Matiová, Emília Murínová, Jana Nagyová, Marcel Német, Mário Patlevič, Peter Riňák, Július Sancho Salazár

By Marcel Nemet, Miroslava Matiová, Peter Riňák, Július Sancho Salazár 1AAAM References: Edelman, L. The linguistic landscape of Kalverstraat. Available at: http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/l.j.edelman/bestanden/The%20linguistic%20landscape%20of % 20Kalverstraat.pdf Jenkins, J. (2009). World Englishes. A resource book for students. Routledge. Landry, R. and Bourhis, R. Y. (1997). Linguistic Landscape and Ethnolinguistic Vitality: An Empirical Study, Journal of Language and Social Psychology 16 (1): 23-49. Reh, M. (2004). Multilingual writing: a reader-oriented typology - with examples from Lira Municipality (Uganda), International Journal of the Sociology of Language 170, 1-41. Scollon, R. and Scollon, S.W. (2003). Discourses in Place. Language in the material world. Routledge.

Students’ creative

WOrks

2013

My Future. My Fears and My Hopes.

Always when I think about the future, maybe paradoxically, I go back in time. I ponder on my former dreams, I ponder on how I used to see the world and what possibilities and different paths it had for me. Don’t get me wrong, I still see many of them. But the beauty about being a child is having an unpolluted mind, being innocent and not aware of all the evil things that might possibly change one’s future image of the world.

When I was a child, I used to climb trees, run around all day long, steal cherries from our neighbors’ garden, build houses in the woods, play ball games and hide and seek. I dreamt of having a family one day, I dreamt of building a house with slides and seesaws where I could play with my own children. But when I look at it now, would my children want to slide at all? Would they like to play hide and seek?

In this essay I wanted to talk about human relationships, technologies and family life. Somehow I discovered that these topics are so closely related I can’t separate them. Albert Einstein once said: “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots”. I am supposed to talk about my hopes and fears. So as for my fears, this is one of them.

Just look around yourself these days. Friends getting together in a restaurant, sitting together, eating together. Talking… on their smart phones with completely different people than those they are currently with. Are we even able to enjoy each other’s company? Can we still talk to each other face to face? Can we even express our emotions otherwise than through emoticons? It might sound crazy that these small, pretty helpful devices can influence us so much that we forget how to treat each other.

There are question rising in my mind when I think about the future this way: How does technology influence our interaction? How will technology influence human relationships in the future? Can technology change them completely?

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, people these days communicate mostly via smartphones. They talk less and less face to face. But there is the point where we should realize that the less we talk, the less we learn about each other. And sadly, the less we learn about each other, the weaker our relations are. Many people claim that chatting through a smartphone is a way of communication too. Is it true? Of course it is. But is it the same as talking face to face? Of course it isn’t.

You can’t replace the feeling when somebody smiles at you with a smiley emoticon. You can’t really form an opinion about someone if you don’t see their immediate reaction, not the reaction they give you after several minutes time they can use online. You can’t see their gestures, their facial expressions. Or are we satisfied with an animated replacement of a human face? If we start to be satisfied with an animation, I dare say we are doomed.

My biggest fear about human relationships is that the time will come when we are no longer able to build stable, deep and most of all REAL relationships based on real feelings and emotions, on mutual acquaintance and experiences beyond Facebook.

I hope though, the Facebook generation together with us, common users, can soon recognize that there is nothing like laughing outside with friends, holding someone’s hand or to giving a real kiss instead of a smiley. I hope there is hope for me too, that one day there will come someone whose values are placed far away from statuses and facebook friendships, that there eventually will be someone who would like to have a family, to build a house with slides and seesaws where we could play with our own children. I hope there is hope for these children that they will not only live online but that they will be creative enough to make a house out of a tree, to make a sword out of a wooden stick, to be whatever they wish to be without the need to share it on their facebook page. I hope they’ll read fairy tales and have adventures of their own. Real adventures with real friends. Real relationships with real humans.

This is what I wish for my family, for my future one as well as for my present one. I hope we still have days when we just sit in our garden, drink coffee in the Saturday afternoon, talk with each other, laughing. I hope we find time for each other and I wish we never choose machines over people.

There is much more, though, we can do. Not only about our friends or family but for each and every stranger on the street. I miss the moments when I found a helpless stranger who got lost and couldn’t find the proper address. Not because I’d particularly enjoy their helplessness but because it was an opportunity to be there for someone even in these small things like showing the right address. Today I meet strangers with GPS applications who no longer need my help. Another fear of mine. I am afraid we will no longer need help from each other. How do we build a relationship, or how do we build a strong family bond if we are neither able to help nor accept help from people?

Technology is a wonderful phenomenon. In many ways it is really helpful and I personally can’t imagine my life without it. It makes so many things easier. But as for all things that sound too good, we should also be careful about it. It is the year 2014. How is it going to look e.g. in 2034? We have smartphones now which can make a video, take a picture, we can call, we can text, we can be online, we can find places, forecast weather and many other things.

So if the progress goes as fast as now, what is it going to look like in 2034?

I am afraid I am not creative enough to imagine all the things that could possibly be invented. Even if I tried, I fear my suggestions would fall flat. As for technologies, I hope there will be tools and devices that can help; that will be used not misused. I hope there will be means invented to cure not to kill, to create not to destroy. I hope that we have learned from the past that two wrongs do not make a right. That values are precious. That we should never choose machines over people. This is what I hope for.

And what am I afraid of? Well, I do think I have made it quite clear. I am afraid children will lose their creativity. I am afraid they will no longer know such wonderful things as we did- how bathing in a river feels, how it feels to shred your trousers while chasing your friends, how the air in your hair feels when you swing, how mom’s scolding feels when you come home too late or too dirty. How it feels to spend the whole holidays with your friends outside, how it feels to fall in love with that handsome boy from first grade who poked you last time (not virtually).

I am afraid that people will start to accept that they no longer need to use their own mind because they have smartphones to think for them. I am afraid we will forget about the very essence of being a human: to feel and to think. We need both. Let’s not let technology control us, let’s not destroy the beauty of relationships and experiences through a cheap replacement by chat and emoticons. Let’s use our brains instead of hard-disks. Let’s not have smart phones and stupid people. By Anonymous

CONVERSATION WHICH HAS ENRICHED MY LIFE When trying to figure out what kind of conversation would have the power to enrich one’s life, I set to recall some of the most important ones, the ones which I deemed life changing or those which I led with a person of great significance to me. What I didn’t realize at the time was that an enriching conversation doesn’t necessarily have to be life changing. Sometimes, it’s the shortest chat with a friend you haven’t seen in a long time; it could be a conversation with a stranger on the street. The importance of a conversation lies in what you gain from it.

A week or so ago, I found myself in a cafeteria with two of my friends. We intended to stay for only a short couple of minutes while drinking coffee, but we ended up chatting for an hour. What is interesting is that it really was only a meaningless chat about loads of random topics: mutual friends, alcohol, work and school, dancing (a hobby, we have in common), and many more. The conversation flew so smoothly and naturally that when we decided to leave, we were surprised not only about the amount of time we had spent there but also about the zen-like mood that encompassed us.

What was so enriching about this conversation? What I observed in me and both of my friends was the starvation for a real, face to face conversation, no matter how meaningless. The moment after we finished speaking was filled with a blissful contentment of a satisfied need in all of us. In this time of social media, people start to reduce themselves to sending messages – loads of text, most of it with many grammatical mistakes and abbreviations, and emoticons to indicate the emotion of a message.

A human being is a social creature and no matter how many texts or emails we exchange daily, a monitor and a keyboard will never sate our craving for human contact. My conversation with friends confirmed this and I was glad to find out that my social skills haven’t deteriorated yet and I am still capable of having a nice face to face conversation.

By Michaela Korčáková, 3AIPb

Chloé Jobert: On Presov

Essay

I have to admit that I was a bit anxious before coming to Presov, I didn’t know how it was going to be like at all as I had had never been to Slovakia before and I was about to spend ten months of my life in this unknown town on my own. But every people I met who went to Presov told me that it was the best experience of their life and I really did not know what to think about it. What surprised me the most the very first minutes I arrived was the mentality of the people in Presov, every single person I met was really welcoming and patient with me. They tried to answer my questions despite the fact that I didn’t speak any word of Slovak. They helped me finding the university, the dorm; they showed me some shops were I could buy food and during the first week helped me with all the papers I had to fill. Now that I have been here for a few months I can really enjoy living in Presov. The town is beautiful and really charming. The city center is not that big but, there are some small parks, a theatre and a church. There are also shops and it is really pleasant to walk around this colorful town. There are a lot of pubs and cafés, which is nice if you want to go out with new friends. Moreover, the prices are affordable so you can go there often as it is not expensive compared to France. I also really like the university which is not too wide. The teachers are closer to the students than in France. It is really nice to study here because we are in small groups and there are also many activities that you can practice during your spare time as swimming, aerobics, choir, basketball, or a Slovak course for foreign students. Coming from a big capital city, I was afraid I would be bored because I would miss going to museums, parks, shopping centers or cinemas, but there are actually so many things to do in Presov that I am always busy doing something. Now that my time here comes to an end, I am realizing how much I learned from this Erasmus experience in Presov. I met so many great people that I will never forget and I made a lot of friends that I hope I will stay in contact with and that I will surely miss a lot. This is a place that I will definitely recommend to my friends to spend an exchange year or even holidays. And I know that my Erasmus experience would have been completely different if I had spent it in another place and I am really lucky I did not.

By Chloé Jobert

Steppenwolf Made Me Think... About Thinking

I love reading and I have read too many great books to be able to decide about the one that has the greatest impact on my life and thinking or appealed to me the most artistically. In fact, most of the books I consider my favorite are a combination of all of those factors. I used to read to look for answers, but my reading experience has taught me that no good book gives away answers for free. The better the book, the more questions it raises, the more aspects it makes you consider, the more ideas it makes you think about. One of the first books that made me realize all of this was Hermann Hesse’s novel Steppenwolf.

I have to say, I enjoy everything about this book. The mysterious and dreamy atmosphere, the lone character feeling alienated from everyone else because he feels people lack in the very basics of life by respecting everything that is offered to them without asking any questions, the ‘madmen only’ Magic Theatre, the symbolism makes Steppenwolf a unique book for me, in which I found many impulses to think about the world, life and individual. In a way, I actually might have thought about some of the aspects before I read the book, however, the reading ‘approved’ these thoughts and also gave me a new insight and ‘chances’ to see further beyond my initial thoughts.

Harry Haller, the main protagonist of the novel, is a middle-aged man, living in a guest house who considers himself intellectual, enjoys reading and writing and finds himself miles away from everyone else around him. He does not maintain any social acquaintances nor does he wish to. He believes that people do not like to question anything and live according to dogmatic rules of thinking and behaving. When he reads the Treatise of the Steppenwolf handed to him by a stranger in the street, he identifies this ‘beast’ living inside him and decides to live in an internal isolation, among people, but outside their social circles. However, he meets Hermine and her group of friends that create an alternative universe for Harry. When he is finally allowed an entrance to the Magic Theatre, he finds out that not many of the things he thought about life and the world around him and for which he considered himself a steppenwolf (or the Steppenwolf) are actually legitimate and true. Or, at least, they showed up precisely to be not what he thought they were.

Steppenwolf as well as all of my other favorite books have many common characteristics, one of them being the fact that I can never be done interpreting them. Every single time I am ‘

bound’ to think about them, there is a completely new idea that emerges or something that raised a question last time I was thinking about the book, suddenly becomes clear(er). In moments like these, I realize over and over again why I love reading so much, how important it is for me and how content the whole process of figuring out and thinking can make me feel. For me, reading is the single most rewarding intellectual activity because, although it does not provide you with any definite answers, it teaches you how to find pleasure in raising questions. And that is, as I see it, a crucial thing to learn for life.

By Soňa Rešovská, 3AAAb

Should Cigarettes Be Banned in All Pubs and Restaurants in Slovakia?

The smoking ban has been a hot topic in debates all over the world. Not many people are willing to give up cigarettes, but new laws and regulations have encouraged some of them to quit. Nevertheless, smoking is addictive to 1 billion people. About 25% of people in Slovakia are active smokers. The numbers of adult smokers are going down; however, the numbers of smoking teenagers are rising.

Nowadays, smoking is already restricted in pubs and restaurants. Smokers and non-smokers have to be divided by a solid wall. That is why some owners have chosen to make their restaurants smoke-free rather than invest money in reconstruction. Those, who stopped smoking, did it mostly for financial or health reasons. I believe that a complete ban in pubs will reduce the number of smokers even further. It has been proved effective in countries like Ireland, Great Britain and Italy, which have already introduced the ban.

As somebody who favours the ban, I see many advantages that it can bring. I consider smoking indoors very impolite and think it should be banned not only in pubs and restaurants but also in all public buildings. The cigarette smell clings to the furniture for a long time and drifts everywhere, so you cannot enjoy your meal. Smoking in public places affects non-smokers, especially children and forces the employees of a restaurant to become passive smokers. It is no longer a prestigious activity; the attitude towards smoking has changed over decades. This unhealthy habit leads to cancer, respiratory diseases, heart problems, and is the number one cause of preventative death in the European Union.

Most people who are against the ban are either smokers or pub owners. Smokers do not want the government to interfere with their habit. They demand to be able to smoke wherever they like. Pub owners might fear going bankrupt because of fewer customers. If the pubs close down, the unemployment rate will go up. People from the tobacco industry will not be happy if the sales of cigarettes drop. It might also have an impact on the national economy.

There are various reasons why people smoke, e.g., it helps them think or relax. What they have in common, is that they started smoking as teenagers while socialising with their peers. We should focus on preventing youngsters from smoking. It is important to talk to them about the risks. More check-ups and higher fines for those who sell cigarettes to minors are necessary. I think Slovakia has good legislation, but the laws should be enforced. Therefore, this ban would be a step in the right direction.

By Alena Kľučarová, 3 AJJB

Symbolism and Imagery in The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Plath’s year in The Bell Jar

“Sylvia went furthest in the sense that her secret was most dangerous for her. She desperately needed to reveal it” (2006, p. 57). These are the words which belonged to Plath’s husband, poet and literary critic Ted Hughes. While reading Plath’s semi-autobiography The Bell Jar, it seems that this statement tends to be true. In the essay on Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes also reveals that “her poems and the novel are closely related which might be the result of her simultaneous writing” (1994, p. 4). To be precise, Sylvia had finished her writing of The Bell Jar in 1961, but it was not published until 1963. In the meantime, the poetry collection named Ariel had been written. The evident parallel between her poetry and the novel can be seen in her confessional attitudes towards literature. In most cases, her poetry seems to mirror life experiences she went through. Obviously, she did the same thing in her novel. Her personal ‘confession’ was realized through various kinds of artistic devices, such as imagery and symbolism which helps us to describe the situation or the impression more precisely. As this article focuses on the symbolism and imagery in The Bell Jar, I would like to present three remarkable symbols and images which appear in the novel and represent Plath’s life and her work in broader terms. These symbols introduce disturbing issues associated with the post- war American society such as the crisis of identity, gender roles and self-captivity producing mental illnesses. Plath’s words enable us as readers to perceive this era and its tension especially in relation to women. In spite of the fact that this novel is neither historical nor social, it offers a faithfully presented overview of the 1950s (in other words the Eisenhower era) which emphasizes its aesthetic value in the 20th century American literature. At the very beginning of the novel the symbol which foreshadows subsequent circumstances appears. The first chapter is introduced by the electrocution of the Rosenbergs. From the historical point of view, we are able to detect that the Rosenbergs were executed in 1953, for they were accused of espionage connected with passing secret information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Esther Greenwood (first person narrator and the main character in the story) goes on with the description of the act of electrocution. This description is evidently connected with Esther’s traumatic times when she was forced to receive electroshock therapy during her stay in a psychiatric hospital. This event, however, is uncovered in the second part of the novel. Nevertheless, electrocution of the Rosenbergs functions here as the symbol which 29

represents Esther’s own ‘electrocution’. Esther is certainly preoccupied by the idea of electrocution. Paradoxically, she denies the connection between her and this electrocution, even though she seems to analyse it too much: The idea of being electrocuted makes me sick, and that’s all there was to read about in the papers – goggle-eyed headlines staring up at me on every street corner and at the fusty, peanut-smelling mouth of every subway. It had nothing to do with me, but I couldn’t help wondering what it would be like, being burned alive all along your nerves. I thought it must be the worst thing in the world (Plath, 1966, p. 1). Besides the symbol of the electrocution, it is important to mention the image Plath produces in the phrase “fusty, peanut-smelling mouth of every subway” (1966, p. 1). The image associated with a ‘peanut’ does not appear in Plath’s work for the first time. It can be also seen in the poem Lady Lazarus. Plath mentions “the peanut-crunching crowd” which “shoves in to see” after her suicide attempt (1981, p. 245). In fact, ‘the peanut-crunching crowd’ in the poem refers to mass culture which emerged in the 1950s’ American society. Plath criticizes the rise of consumerism. This rise was emphasized by the power of advertising in the 1950s. Certainly, the phrase ‘fusty, peanut-smelling mouth of every subway’ evidently demonstrates that the place like subway is closely associated with consumerism and mass culture. Another significant symbol in the novel is that of the fig-tree with various branches:

I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig-tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor [...] I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig-tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet (Plath, 1966, p. 73).

The symbol of fig-tree here depicts life itself with different branches representing the variety of offers life can bring. Esther faces the offers, but she is unable to decide which one is the right one. Each branch has its own ‘fat purple fig’ showing wonderful future. The adjectives ‘fat’ and ‘purple’ are obviously very important, because readers can imagine something which is rich, well nourished and it is purple which may represent something colourful and nice to look at. Esther is ‘starving to death’, because each branch offers everything she is interested in (or should be interested in – marriage) but she cannot make a decision and she is allowed to choose only one well nourished ‘fat’ fig that could nourish her as well. Her frustration is

emphasized by the passing time. As she is unable to choose the right fig for her, these figs ‘wrinkle, go black, and one by one they plop to the ground at her feet’. The image of a black and wrinkled fig functions here as an obvious contrast to ‘fat and purple’ one. According to Linda Wagner, Esther “believed firmly that there was no way, in the American culture of the 1950s that a talented woman could successfully combine a professional career with homemaking” (1986, p. 59). With respect to this, it is important to mention the role of Mrs. Willard. “In The Bell Jar Mrs. Willard becomes the voice of society’s wisdom about women. It is she who describes a woman’s being the place that a man, imaged as an arrow, shoots off from” (Wagner, 2003, p. 37). The image of an arrow clearly emphasizes the fact that it is the man that matters. Only the man can change the future and his woman should prepare a suitable ground for his success. It was believed that “cultivating the private space of the home made the greatest possible contribution to the US’s success in the sphere of Cold War” (Nelson, 2006, p. 29). The last symbol that needs to be analysed is the symbol of the bell jar. In order to understand the meaning of the symbol, we shall imagine the bell jar as a bell made of glass which functions as a vacuum. When someone or something happens to be under the bell jar he or she is able to see everything, but cannot change or influence anything what is going on out of the bell jar. In other words, the bell jar represents state of captivity. Esther refers to the bell jar explicitly during her stay in a psychiatric hospital. This time it is the second hospital, the private one, to which she comes on behalf of Philomena Guinea. Mrs. Guinea is a wealthy novelist and a benefactor funding Esther’s scholarship. The problem is that Esther feels trapped in the imaginary bell jar:

I knew I should be grateful to Mrs. Guinea, only I couldn’t feel a thing. If Mrs. Guinea had given me a ticket to Europe, or a round-the-world cruise, it wouldn’t have made one scrap of difference to me, because wherever I sat – on the deck of a ship or at a street café in Paris or Bangkok – I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air (Plath, 1966, p. 178).

Esther reveals that the bell jar goes everywhere with her and the problem is not the place, but her own thoughts that are represented by the ‘sour air’ in which she stews. She seems to sit under the bell jar too long, so the air is sour and she cannot breathe. Esther is able to describe how the person trapped in the bell jar perceives the world. “To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream. A bad dream” (1966, p. 227). The world itself may be the 1950s’ American 31

society, its ideology and strictly given gender roles that produced lack of social freedom and people stewed under the bell jar. Anne Stevenson, the author of Plath’s biography, claims that “Plath became a spokeswoman for the angry, the disillusioned, the bewildered generations of the 1960s and 1970s’, for ‘many people, especially women, discovered in her work a shocking revelation in their own psyches” (1989, p. 11). However, The Bell Jar reveals that Plath undoubtedly spoke for the generations of the 1950s as well. As Plath’s works are closely associated with her life, it is a difficult task to analyse them objectively. Plath’s only novel The Bell Jar as her semi-autobiographical work is the best example. In order to avoid these associations, Plath decided to publish her work under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. As my analysis on symbolism and imagery in The Bell Jar shows, Plath managed to write a successful and aesthetically valued piece of work. This novel can be viewed in many contexts, but the very essence of its existence and “strength lies in its creativity, capacity to transform and to aestheticize” (Gill, 2008, p. 81). Sylvia Plath successfully presented everything what she had offered in her poems before – a clear wit, sharp irony, cynicism and bitterness of fate which accompanied her throughout the whole life.

By Nikola Butkovičová References: GILL, Jo, 2008. The Cambridge Introduction to Sylvia Plath. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-68695 HUGHES, Ted, 1994. On Sylvia Plath. In: Raritan. Vol. 14, No. 2, Fall, pp. 1-10. ISSN 0275-1607 NELSON, Deborah, 2006. Plath, History and Politics. In: The Cambridge Companion to Sylvia Plath. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 29 ISBN 978-0-521-60685-1 PLATH, Sylvia, 1966. The Bell Jar. London: Faber and Faber Limited. ISBN 978-0-571-08178-3 PLATH, Sylvia, 1981. The Collected Poems. New York: Harper & Row Publishers. ISBN 0-06-013369-4 SAGAR, Keith, 2006. From Prospero to Orpheus. In: The Laughter of Foxes: A Study of Ted Hughes. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, p. 57. ISBN 1-84631-011-3 STEVENSON, Anne, 1989. Bitter Fame: A Life of Sylvia Plath. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-45374-7

Poetry Lost in the Dark Tides of Sophisticated Society

Poetry lost in the dark tides of sophisticated society, like a swan of peace drowned in the nightmare of anxiety, from among the fake seekers, the very few real ones arise; suddenly a silent thunder rolls, towards the clear sky’s surprise.

A song absent in the cold, dead voices of sleeping mankind, all life needs is love and laughter and the song is both combined, not faith but grace; wisdom is true, not knowledge and power, for the God and mind are both dead, only heart can flower.

A peace destroyed by the sharp claws of frightening fear, each of us is the very freedom itself; let’s make it clear, it’s just that everyone is running from their responsibilities, right into the sweet chains of cunning, hypnotic captivities.

A dream so often ruined by the horrid ugliness of violent strife, is always upheld and kept by the beatitude of a calm, simple life, from birth to death; we just wander lost in the ambitious flame, always forgetful that the very journey of life is its profoundest aim.

The truth is hidden behind countless thoughts of an insane mind, this whole ruckus creates chaos and makes the whole world blind, just like a clear, blue sky is covered by thunderclouds full of rain, to see the truth, all we know must be dropped, it will always remain.

By Matej Hrušo, 1AAAM

Becoming Her

snow white feather sometimes hot

a drop of blood and at times cold

cold´s the weather telling you

but her wings are not that you see beauty

they´re spread widely but not the tears

in a graceful manner butterfly is in the mirror

her silence telling but not the years

what words could never I´d spent waiting

time stops in a pupae

her neck lowers not being ugly

her head is crowned yet not the beauty

with thousand flowers but nothing lasts forever

her eyes hiding it´s the darkest before dawn

small fragile world you´ll survive the cold weather

in spring come back as a swan

By Klaudia Lehončáková (1AjDeB)

Wash my face, Detox Regeneration is the bliss. č By Mário Patlevi , 1AAAM Alcohol must go off, This detox feels like rotten kiss.

Sun comes up, What it is that we do it for? And I’m waking up. All the time a mess. The routine is about to start, Out of the place, out of the face, I reach for a cup. Totally worth it I guess.

My eyes are still hazy, The night was dark and our, Im pure walking zombie, Demons were unleashed. I come closer to the toilet, There was that need time to pee in one two three. Like fire that needs to be extinguished.

Going back again, Before I’ll be sober I felt for the bed, I have to suffer some pain. She drowned me like a dark sea, Welcome her with words, here Im playing dead. ‘Hello my dear’ here comes the rain.

No no no, Coffee hit the spot, I have to move out. Feel better than ever. Stand up to the day My stomach is a ticking bomb, Or there will be a fade-out. Oh my god, I will not drink again ever.

I rise above the bed, It hurts like the past! My brain is booting, I remember better, Oh there is the kitchen, It even is the past! But I don’t remember a thing. Why do I even bother?

Last night was crazy, I let it be till it passes, Alcohol is pretty dumb, Everything is fine, We were drunken sailors, Just a wasted day of my life, And I was the biggest scum. I must come up with a line.

My brain has cheesy holes, Envy my life style, I feel like there is an empty space, because I’m young and wild. Memories are gone Why should I behave But I still have a drunken face. Like a child?

Basic instructions, Here it is, the final stand Here, fill the cup. I survived another day. Water it till the top, Sober, fresh and new, Coffee time, that’s what’s up! I feel alive screaming yaaay.

Sitting on a Wooden Bench by Matej Hrušo, 1 AAAM

Sitting on a wooden bench near the river, with closed eyes, just feeling the moment, enjoying the cheerful laugh of breeze, a tender voice of life whispering peace.

Serene voice of river heading to the sea, without any worry, with deep trust, gracefully flowing over the obstacles, never hesitating to move forward.

The branches of trees casting the shadow, protecting against the heat of the sun, waving in harmony with the moving air, singing a duet, which heals the soul.

Suddenly the eyes open and behold the scenery, The cycle of life and death is like breath, like yin and yang, stalks of the grass dance in the rhythm of wind, one can’t exist without the other, like a couple of lovers, unspeakable sight, the nature in its pure beauty, celebrating life with their very existence, planting the seed, offering a stunning view, taking the breath away, now it’s upon the seed to grow into a magnificent tree.

For a few moments, the time stops with breath, Overcome the fear of the unknown, loneliness and guilt, the very bliss itself, but the life always goes on, to find its own way through the darkness, towards the light, when air enters the body, happiness is born, no one can help, the other seeds are still growing too, with the exhale, the joy grows and overflows. and the trees can only show the way, nothing else.

The breath, just like a stranger, enters and leaves, So be brave young seed, never wobble, nor fear, bringing adventure, leaving memories and wisdom, always wonder, go with courage into the unknown, standing firm like earth, flowing smoothly like water, seek what is there, watch and find out who you are, burning with passion like fire, floating gently like air. don’t let the weed strangle your spirit and growth.

There, on that bench, everything is perfect by itself, that moment of silence is beyond anything, it is divine, when the thoughts start to break the silence, remain calm, simply allow, accept and watch, they will cease in time.

In this pure consciousness, in pure awareness lies the very soul,

deepest mysteries are hidden in this very moment, here and now, nowhere else you can find the truth, for there exists nothing else, only the eternity of the present moment, the greatest present of all.