Academic literature on the topic 'Festive and Occasional Preachings'

The standard view is that Shakespeare depicts alcoholic consumption as good in moderation, but bad when used to excess. Although he illustrates in Falstaff and others alcohol’s debilitating effects, Shakespeare also treats occasional drunkenness at festive events—christenings, wakes, church ales—as benign and even salutary. Such occasions are part and parcel of the pre-Reformation tolerance of social drunkenness (as opposed to moderate imbibing), what I call good Christian drinking. The REED documents attest to the church’s accommodation of drinking at parish festivities, particularly at ales. I argue that Shakespeare’s plays permit and even encourage social drunkenness as a lubricant for fellowship—especially if the drinking is done in the company of fellow believers. Engaging this serious Reformation controversy with comic levity, Shakespeare shows a taste that is remarkably latitudinarian concerning the religious tolerance of social drunkenness.

This research reveals the basic principles of the mourning decorations created for the burial of Peter the Great, and traces their fate in the Russian imperial sorrowful processions throughout the XVIII century. Decorative arrangement of state ceremonies is viewed in the context of the panegyric culture of that time. Ceremonial decoration was of temporary (occasional) nature and have been scarcely preserved; other than certain artifacts. The research is based on examination of a wide variety of written and graphic sources that allow reconstructing the image of funeral processions of that time. It is demonstrated that that in preparation for the funerals of Peter the Great, were developed certain patterns of mourning decoration preserved throughout the entire XVIII century. The principles of decorative arrangement of Russian imperial sorrowful processions were based on the European examples, and in many ways by inviting the foreign inventors and masters. The system of creation of mourning ensembles (as well as festive) obeyed the general laws inherent to the court ceremonial culture of Modern Age. The artistic solution of memorial halls and hearses corresponded to the stylistic evolution of art. The author introduces new materials and previously unknown facts into the scientific discourse, as well as clarifies the questions of terminology.

Life in the eighteenth century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was signified by active interference of the Russian Empire in the politics of the state. Imperial army was continuously summoned to reinforce Russian interests and to support internal feuds of the Commonwealth. Lithuanian and Polish society was forced to reconcile with the presence of foreign army in the country, whereas Russian officers sought to utilize their presence in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in enhancing useful personal relationships and for the purposes of propaganda. The article explores the relationship between the society of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Russian officers in daily life, how both sides built this coexistence, and how it was changing depending on circumstances. Analysis of sources on everyday life of Vilnius showed that daily life of its citizens was burdened by the obligation of housing and feeding the army, although in ordinarily they tried not to confront this menacing power. People wanted to earn favour of the Russian army leadership and be relieved of this duty through gifts, salutations and other signs of respect. On the other side, Russian officers depended not only on their power, they also tried to form good relationships with the high society and communities, e. g. officers visited monasteries and pass greetings during church celebrations. A pretext to assemble the nobility was a celebration dedicated to honour the rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia. Russian officers also demonstrated signs of respect to the loyal high standing officials of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They also tried to earn favour of the wider public through events of mass entertainment, e. g. the carnivals were made open to the citizens from various strata. The public could be rallied to watch show exercises of the Russian army, which was a spectacle for the curious citizens from lower social strata, and for the higher level citizens it was an opportunity to strengthen ties that could ensure their future privileges. Multiple festivities organized by the Russian officers were implemented with propaganda objectives in mind. Through such spectacular and luxury events they tried to demonstrate power and their decorations usually repeated motifs of the glorification of the Court of Catherine II. Celebrations, their decorations, occasional literature were some of the tools aimed at supporting the patronage of Russia. Existing sources on everyday life do not permit speaking about the moral side of the relationship with the Russian officers. Most likely, the start of the Four-Year Sejm, when the aim to strengthen the statehood was expressed in clearer terms, collaboration with the foreign power was not considered treason and condemned. Keywords: Vilnius, Russian army, everyday life, festivities, spectacles.

The article deals with the first poetry book by S. Tretyakov “Iron Pause” (“Zheleznaya pauza”) published in Vladivostok in 1919 but prepared for publication earlier in Moscow – in 1915–1917. “Iron Pause” (“Zheleznaya pauza”) belongs to rare and little investigated books for which the approach used in the article with respect to poetics is topical. The author analyzed the key texts of the first and second parts of the books: “The Match Box” (“Spichechnaya korobka”), “You in Darkness Read, Like a Cat” (“Vy v temnote chitaete, kak koshka”), “Carpet” (“Kover”), “Allegro Trills” (“Treli allegro”), “Impudent People” (“Nakhaly”). All these poems are interconnected not only by common motifs, but also by verbal construction; they are characterized by intensive word dynamics and geometry, numerous metonymic substitutions, high-level sematic concentration and complicated rhythmic and phonetic patterns. Special attention in the article is paid to the undertones of the enigmatic poem “Impudent People” (“Nakhaly”) depicting some scenes of aggression, violence, “brutality” under the semblance of a festive event with fireworks. The poem’s underlying idea displays traces of works by V. Khlebnikov (“The Star Alphabet”), by V. Mayakovsly (“The War and the World” poem) and by poets belonging to the Vladivostok creative group “Tvorchestvo”. Lyrical plots of the poems assembled in the book “Iron Pause” (“Zheleznaya pauza”) are not original; they are traditional for avant-garde poetry and in a broader sense – for modernist poetry. However, Tretyakov vitalizes traditional lexical repertory of modernist poetry giving it occasional meaning and using all lexical units to achieve complex phonics and rhythmic structure. Except that the article offers the implications review of the key poems of “Iron Pause” (“Zheleznaya pauza”), “Impudent People” (“Nakhaly”), just like the entire book “Iron Pause” (“Zheleznaya pauza”), is read by the article author in presence of the Far-Eastern publicism and criticisim from newspapers and magazines published at the turn of 1920s by various Far-Eastern political and literary entities. The article bibliography includes rare 1918–1922 editions of the Far East: newspapers “Echo” («Ekho»), “Vladivo-Nippo”, “Far Eastern Review” (“Dalnevostochnoe obozrenie”), “Manchurian Life” (“Manzhurskaya zhisn’”), journals “Creation” (“Tvorchestvo”), “Biruch”, “Lel’”, “Yun’”, “Week” (“Nedelya”), etc.

Individually Published Czech Festive and Occasional Preachings of the End of the 17th and the First Two Thirds of the 18th Century Miloš Sládek The thesis concentrates on the area of festive and occasional homiletics in Bohemia after the Battle of White Mountain. Since the end of the 17th century, homiletics had represented the Czech leading literary genre with extraordinary influence on the masses. This influence was even strenghtened when printed preachings gradually became popular reading. The main focus of the thesis is on the questions of preparation of preaching, problematics of preaching handbooks, relationship of a preacher and his listeners, as well as the area of Classicist and conceptual preaching. The Baroque concept is described in connections with the aspect of growing author's self-esteem at that time. Editions of chosen sixteen preachings with introductions are added to demonstrate (or relativise) the conclusions of the first part of the thesis. Festive preaching in Bohemia was essentially influenced by legends, German Catholic preaching and myths and folk-tales. Emphasis on Christian morality is typical for Sunday preaching, however, it also appears in festive preachings. The influence of festive and occasional preaching of the end of the 17th and the first half of the 18th century on...