JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE STUDIES

FOREWORD

Ilze Kačāne — 2022-06-22

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The Perception of Time in the Virtual Space: A Cultural-Philosophical Analysis

Bina Nir — 2022-06-22

In this article, we will present the key conceptions of time in Western
culture, while observing changes in the perception of time in the
context of virtual space. Among other things, we will examine the
change in the Newtonian space-time concept. The Newtonian
conception views a permanent system of space and time. Being in
virtual space transforms us, it would seem, to the cultural conception
of time presented by Einstein, which does not view time as an
absolute measure, but rather as changing according to the speed of
our movement. The faster we move, time speed reduces. It is not
the objective of this article to probe the depths of physics, but to try
and understand the cultural shifts in the perception of time in terms
of existing physics models.
Moreover, we will explore the cultural return to ìmystical timeî
in terms of the ìdivine gazeî ñ today, in virtual space, a new point
of view enables us to observe existence from an external point of
view. Changes also include the obstruction of the linear sequence
of time due to the simultaneity of past, present and future in the
Augmented Virtual Reality. In this article, we will attempt to under-
stand experiencing virtual reality in terms of hallucination time, and
will conclude with the virtual promise of eternal life ñ being in eternal
time, which exists in the virtual space.

Virtual Reality in World and Latvian Science Fiction

Bārbala Simsone — 2022-06-22

The objective of this article is to examine the depiction of virtual
reality and the pertinent storytelling characteristics in science fiction
written by foreign and Latvian authors. In world science fiction, the
idea of virtual reality and computer-generated worlds as a particular
segment of reality appeared as early as after World War II, yet it
was after the evolution of a specific sci-fi subgenre, known as cyber-
punk, that it became especially popular. The novel ìNeuromancerî
by William Gibson (1984) is considered as the defining oeuvre of
this type of science fiction. Writers did, however, continue to study
virtual reality not only using the peculiar noir aesthetics pertaining
to cyberpunk, but also in works of a lighter character. Nowadays
the concept of virtual reality appears in YA [young adult ñ ed.]
literature dealing with topics related to computer gaming as well as
part of another popular science fiction branch, the dystopia. This
article looks into several acclaimed YA novels published in the recent
years and containing both computer-game related and dystopian
elements.
Until now, in the not-so-wide array of Latvian science fiction
the idea of virtual reality has received little attention, but this article
inspects the science fiction works written over the last five to six
years (2010ñ2016), in which virtual reality is assigned a comparatively
significant role, thus reflecting current global trends. This article
examines the different aspects of virtual reality explored in the works
of Latvian sci-fi writers and seeks and analyses the parallels of the
said works with the aforementioned universal tendencies ñ especially
regarding the dystopian traits.

Religious Poetry of Literary Origin in the Manuscript Tradition of the Russian Old Believers

Tatiana Filosofova — 2022-06-22

The current research focuses on a little-known area of studies, didactic
poetry by the Russian Old Believers that originated from the medieval
Russian literary tradition. In particular, it aims to bring to light and
examine two previously unknown and unpublished religious poems
of a literary origin: ìWhy We Need to Endure so Much Sadness and
Trouble (An Anecdotal Story about Pakhom and Stepanida)î and
ìA Poem About a Desperate Sinnerî. Both texts were discovered in
manuscripts (by the Russian Old Believers) that are held in the
Drevlekhranilishche IRLI (Pushkinskii Dom, St Petersburg, Russia).
The research employs the comparative method to establish the origin
of these two poems and examine the adaptation techniques of some
popular didactic plots by the Old Believer men of letters. It examines,
compares and contrasts plots, motives and charactersí interpretations
in the above named poems with selected stories from ìThe Great
Mirrorî, popular reading of the 17thñ18th centuries. The poem ìAn
Anecdotal Story about Pakhom and Stepanidaî is additionally
examined in comparison with the folk tale, ìThe Little Mouseî and
the fable ìAbout Those Who Condemn Other Peopleî by the Russian
poet V. Maikov. The current work also aims to use these newly
discovered poems as examples of some lesser studied groups of
texts that were known to the Russian Old Believers.

Translation at the Crossroad of Rhetorical Trope: Translating Metaphor in the Light of Relevance Theory

Samuel Babatunde Moruwawon — 2022-06-22

This present study discusses the translation of metaphor as a stylistic
element in the light of Relevance theory. The data of the study consists
of three assorted metaphors that have been used in French and their
English translations. These texts have been taken from some published
(Achebe ìThings Fall Apartî (1958)) and unpublished literary material.
The study focuses on the identification and analysis, from the per-
spective of relevance theory, of the metaphorical expressions used
in the texts and explains the translation procedures resorted to by
the translators in dealing with such expression. The study also adopts
the operational framework of metaphor translation procedures based
on the Source Text and Target Text approach developed by Vinay
and Darbelnet (1995) and Showqi (2014). Although no single theory
of translation is able to analyse the phenomenon of metaphor in
translation, the article relies on Relevance theory in order to develop
a view on the translatability of metaphors in literary texts. The
metaphors analysed in this study reveal the thinking pattern of people
in the society. It equally provides a step in the right direction to
understanding the phenomenon of metaphor translation in the light
of relevance theory. We do not propose that our theory is the only
answer to all the challenges of translation. Despite the usefulness of
the theory, the translatorís competence and knowledge are equally
necessary to faithfully render metaphorical expressions from one
language into another.

Detecting Tabloidization of Online Media in Latvia

Raivis Vilūns — 2022-06-22

The turmoil of presidential election campaign of 2016 echoed around
the world. The coverage of it spread far and wide. Even local and
regional media started to follow the campaign that Americans
themselves describe as divisive and unprecedented. Most likely it
happened thanks to the personality of Republican Party candidate
Donald J. Trump, a businessman and a television star. His personality,
populist campaign and many scandals that followed him caught
the attention of the world media. The scandalous news that came
out of the campaign in the last few months became an interesting
media tabloidization study ground. This paper talks about detecting
and describing the key elements of tabloidization. Although Latvian
online news sites have been running for almost two decades, there
has not been an in-depth research on tabloidization of online media.
Therefore, methods which could be used to identify the tabloidization
of media content have not been developed yet. By using content
analysis this study tries to set a base for further research on online
media tabloidization and draws the attention to Latvian commercial
news portals ñ TVNET, Delfi, Apollo and public media website Lsm.lv
and the news they produced and republished concerning US presi-
dential campaign in 2016. Findings show two major aspects ñ firstly,
even though there is quite a lot of information about the campaign
published on those media sites, this information is mostly republished
from news agencies, secondly, the study has revealed that there are
some indicators of tabloidization to be found in the Latvian news
websites.