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This article draws from J. M. Coetzee's linguistic work on the passive sentence to analyze his representation of torture in Waiting for the Barbarians. It argues that Coetzee's complex use of the short passive (also known as the "agentless sentence") counters the transparent connection between truth and language in the novel by creating critical gaps in the narrative that disrupt the process of interpretation. Given how the torturer in the novel, Colonel Joll, perceives "truth" as having a certain "tone," the question of how truth is represented in language becomes critical to undermining the logic of torture Joll explicates. Throughout the novel, Coetzee exploits the ambiguity created by the short passive to not only illustrate the grammatical fictions that undergird our assumptions while reading the text but also challenge the linguistic certainties of "truth" to which the torture chamber owes its existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Andrei Tarkovskii's conception of truth in Solaris (1972) and Stalker (1979) as part of his wider philosophical project concerning knowledge. The director's epistemological views form a core dimension of his life and aesthetic as he strives towards what he considers a higher, spiritual 'idea of knowing'. In his search for this idealised notion of truth, Tarkovskii uses the medium of film to address what he perceives as a profound imbalance in modern civilization between scientific rationalism and spiritual/aesthetic 'truth'. This is nowhere more prominent than in his two science fiction films, Solaris and Stalker, as he uses the genre as a battleground to discuss key debates in epistemology. Comparisons will be made with the Russian author and thinker Tarkovskii most revered, Fyodor Dostoevskii, and the Soviet-period science fiction authors whose works he adapted, Stanisław Lem and the Strugatskii brothers, in order to elucidate how the director came to cinematically represent his philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a proposal for the analysis of pragmatic presuppositions which takes into consideration the elements and relationships that allow the determination of their truth and/or convenience in the work of H. P. Lovecraft. This allows demonstrating that the pragmatic presuppositions found in the story "The Call of Cthulhu" generate a mistaken and discriminatory view which is the result of divergent interpretations of what is exotic, unknown and attractive about the topic, as well as ignorance about the culture of the countries which practice it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Synthesis Philosophica is the property of Croatian Philosophical Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A literary criticism of the book "Fall on Your Knees" by Ann-Marie MacDonald is presented. The criticism looks at major concepts from the book including theorization of trauma through magic realism, aesthetics, and performative experience. Other topics include languages of trauma, such as music or painting, the difference between fact and truth, and multiple representations of a single traumatic event.

An essay is presented which discusses Chapter 31 of the book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by True Williams, edited by John C. Gerber. It states that Tom's adventure in McDougal's cave screen plays the role of light as truth, which is one of the two significant traditional Western metaphors. It also explores Tom's interactions with the light in the labyrinthine darkness in the cave.

From where to write when our world is wounded and our literature is sick? This is the question posed by a narrator who estimates that recent Spanish narrative is diagnosed but not healthy. Reality had become one with capitalism, they said, and the following truths to redefine it do not exist. The narrator asks herself whether it is better not to try to have the truth, rather than to be it. This article explores the other that does not exist: the truth, whether it is defeated, crazy or running away. The author presupposes that literature has the precise capacity of imagining a horizon that enables us. In order to achieve it, the challenge, which we don’t know to be impossible, will dissolve into the field of the material, given that the multiple declines of the capital seem to conquer our entire horizon. [TRANSLATION]

The article focuses on the short period of time during which French Canadian artist Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau wrote most of his poems. The author focuses on different poems written between 1934 to 1938 and the notion of truth in poetry. Different abstracts of texts published in the book "Regards et jeux dans l'espace," are quoted, and it is explained that Saint-Denys Garneau made several modifications to the original ones in order to erase any autobiographical themes. After 1938, the poet decided to stop producing any kind of poetry, criticizing the lack of authenticity of this art.

A literary criticism is presented for the book "The Memory Artists,' by Jeffrey Moore. The representation of memory, or hyper-memory, in the book's main character Noel Burun, including synaesthesia, is discussed. The book's portrayal of the relationship between art and science is also discussed. An overview of the depiction of the concept of truth within "Memory Artists" is provided.

The article discusses the workshop "Lying: Putting Truth and Untruth Together" organized by the organization James Joyce Foundation on August 6-11, 2012 in Zurich, Switzerland. The workshop started with a discussion of lies and falsehood in the books "Dubliners," "A Portrait," and "Ulysses" by James Joyce. Also discussed is the nature of truth in Joyce's works.

An interview with African American poet Frank X Walker is presented. Topics discussed include Walker's poetry books "Affrilachia," as well as "Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York" and "When Winter Come: The Ascension of York" of the York series. Walker also discusses the inspiration for his poem "The Dozens," the poems that Walker has written on civil rights activist Medgar Evers, and the truth in Walker's poetry.

The article discusses the political aspects of fables in the Netherlands during the seventeenth century, focusing on the Dutch merchant brothers and republican theorists Johan de la Court and Pieter de la Court. It examines their use of political allegories and their calls for parrhesia, or the frank telling of truth. The influence of Italian satirist Traiano Boccalini and Dutch poet Joost van den Vondel is analyzed. The author examines the de la Court brothers' books "Consideratien van Staat, ofte Polityke Weegschaal" ("Considerations of State, or Political Balance") and "Sinryke Fabulen" ("Meaningful Fables"). Other topics include the fables' anti-monarchism and denunciations of hypocrisy.

I examine the radical contextualists’ two main arguments for the semantic underdeterminacy thesis, according to which all, or almost all, English sentences lack context-independent truth conditions. I show that both arguments are fallacious. The first argument, which I call the fallacy of the many understandings, mistakenly infers that a sentence S is semantically incomplete from the fact that S can be used to mean different things in different contexts. The second argument, which I call the open texture fallacy, wrongly concludes that a sentence S lacks context-independent truth conditions from the fact that there are circumstances in which the truth value of S would be indeterminate. I do however defend the claim that a certain class of sentences not containing any indexicals do lack context-independent truth conditions, and put forward an argument to that effect. But this argument, as I show, does not generalize to all sentences, and thus fails to support the semantic underdeterminacy thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the qualities of truth and deception in New York society during the 1870s as portrayed in Edith Wharton's novel "The Age of Innocence." It mentions that the people are ruled by deception, vanity and borrowed splendor in a world that is moved by the language of social performance. An overview of the literary depiction of Friedrich Nietzsche in his novel "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense," is also presented wherein he explains that most men presume that others already know though their thoughts and actions are like actors on stage.

The article focuses on the exile and achievement of the writer Ariel Dorfman. It notes that Dorfman's life has entangled with intellectual developments when he was exiled. It states that his life focuses on three critical and social changes including his move from an exile to a global civilian who appeared at the end of the Cold War. It notes that in the merge of the three social developments, he symbolizes the role of literature in the depiction of truth and trauma made by global media.

The article presents a literary criticism of fictional and metaphysical truth in the novel "Soldados de Salamina" by Javier Cercas. It considers the author's exploration of the interface between reality and fiction, discusses his paradoxical use of the referentiality of language and his appeal to metafictional resources.

Argues that the final scene and one of the opening scenes of William Shakespeare's play "The Winter's Tale" are more alike than is generally acknowledged, that the character Leontes' dilemma in facing each image involves not a choice between certitude and openness but an ethical judgment. Howard Felperin's interpretation of the play; Shakespeare's recognition of the importance of something like Lévinasian alterity; Play's insistent meditation on truth.

Deals with the various dimensions of the notions of discovery and secrecy in the play "El perro del hortelano." Various strategies used by the characters to uncover or discover the world of the other and of the self at various stages of the play; Sacrifices made in the play; Role reversal among the characters; Truth within the notions of secrecy and discovery.

Discusses the concepts of truth and fiction in the books by Tim O'Brien. Standards of evaluation of a typical Vietnam story; Examination of the autobiographical essays in 'If I Die in a Combat Zone'; Description of postmodern morality in 'The Things They Carried.'

Focuses on the use of truth as a theme in the works of George Eliot and Georg Buchner. Suggestion that Eliot may have come across Buchner's story, 'Lenz,' and recognized her own views in his train of argument; Description and analysis of plot of 'Lenz.'

Examines the representation of truth in the book 'A Death in the Desert,' by Robert Browning. Connection of the book with 'The Life of Jesus,' by Ernest Renan; Comparison between Renan and Saint John the Baptist by Browning; Use of the gospel of Saint John in the work of Browning; Representation of truth based from the theories of language.

Looks at the `Magazine for Empirical Psychology,' published in the late 18th century in Germany and edited by Karl Phillip Moritz to corroborate the notion of truth and power by Michael Foucault. How Moritz blended the issues of ethics and biopolitics, literature and science; Brief history of the magazine; Factors that led Moritz to model the organization of his magazine on medical writings of the time.

Examines the representation of truth in the play `All is True,' by William Shakespeare. Replacement of the play title into `Henry VIII'; Restoration of the play by Oxford editors; Interpretation of history, truth and romance in the play; Significance of performance weeping in embodying reciprocity and distinguishing spectatorial rivalry between actors.

Compares the characterization of the truth of poetry in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and Dante Alighieri. Impact of poetry on emotions, imaginations and senses of the readers; Intervention of the bifurcation of philosophy and theology in the works of Dante and Chaucer; Parallelism between the works of both authors.

Examines the truth told in Homer's `The Odyssey.' Description of Lubomir Dolezel's theory of authenticity in narrative; Features of the authentication rule applied to fiction; Two complicating factors which makes stories told by characters difficult to verify; Description of the inset tales in `The Odyssey'; Problems with first-person narratives compared to third-person narratives.

Opinion. Criticizes the work of poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. How Wyatt uses the word truth; Terms which appear frequently in Wyatt's poems; Reason for the criticism.

The article discusses the premises for the conclusion that one of the truth-conditions for interpretive statements about poems is that they be underwritten by meanings intended by the author. It explores the compatibility of the contradictory interpretive statements with the text of poems, truth of one of the contradictory statements, and the statement with truth as the one that applies to the poet's intended meaning.

A literary criticism of the children's fantasy book "At the Back of the North Wind" by George MacDonald is presented. It describes the character of the main protagonist Diamond who lives in doubt and uncertainties and his quest for a new life and beginning. It examines the concept of beginnings which refers to the desire to get somewhere or something and the connection of metaphysical with physical truths.

Some philosophical elements in the poems of Kabir and Rabindra Nath Tagore are discussed in this paper. Their strong belief is that the Supreme Power and Truth lie in Beauty and Beauty lies in the Divine Truth. The paper tries to bring the message and beauty of Kabir and Rabindra Nath Tagore and similarity in their poetry. The literary images and philosophy on Divine Union are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]