Topodynamics of Arrival

“The volume is a fascinating addition and complementation to the debate on the spatial turn and spatial practices linked to the concepts of arrival and departure, real and metaphorical pilgrimages, the construction of identities through travel and the "'topo-dynamic' human presence." (16) Travelling turns into metamorphosis with people in a state of liminality. The pilgrims/travellers journey through the chronotopes and their experiences both "re-create and re-imagine the human self" (13) and the way the Other is perceived and constructed in a dialogue between persons and topography. The essays deal with a great variety of sources and systems of signification: literature, monuments, myths and rituals in a European and even global context. [….] The individual analyses are lucid and convincing and start from different theoretical premises which are, however, all linked by the concept of the performative and transformative powers of signification processes in real and metaphorical sites, topographies and mnemotopes. The theme is convincingly deployed and makes the anthology a fascinating read and incentive for further investigations for scholars both from cultural studies and literature.” – Joachim Schwend, University of Leipzig, in: Journal for the Study of British Cultures , Vol 20.2 2013“Topodynamics of Arrival’s range is remarkable. The sub-heading of the Spatial Practices series is “An Interdisciplinary Series in Cultural History, Geography and Literature,” and interdisciplinarity is evident and alive throughout the collection. So, too, is internationality. The contributors and editors work in countries from Canada to Romania, Ireland to Croatia.John Outhwaite’s essay, about a Dutchman in Spain, provides an intriguing new perspective on the idea of Europe. Gert Hofmann’s essay is likewise fascinating, and David Buchanan’s contribution lucidly traces the function of the ‘chronotope’ from Gilgamesh to Chekhov.The collection thus provides a rich new context in which to situate Evelyn Waugh.” – Patrick Query (U.S. Military Academy), in Evelyn Waugh Studies 45.2 (2014), pp. 21-23 (Full text available: http://evelynwaughsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/EW_Studies_45.2.pdf)

• Gert Hofmann and Snježana Zorić: Introduction: Topo-dynamic of Place and BodySnježana Zorić: The Stupa of Borobudur – a Place of Inner PilgrimageMichael Shields: Coming to Oneself: Structures of Arrival in Songs Sung by Flagellant Pilgrims in Strassburg in 1349Antonija Zaradija Kiš: St Clement of Rome: The Romanic-Slavic Symbiosis of the Cult and its Tradition in the Croatian LandsJohn Outhwaite: The Literature of Pilgrimage and the Search for Community: Cees Nooteboom’s Roads to Santiago and the Imagining of National and Pan-European IdentitiesMartin Potter: Catholic Approaches to Jerusalem: Fragmentation and Continuity of Identities – Evelyn Waugh’s Helena and Muriel Spark’s The Mandelbaum GateGert Hofmann: Colonus Heterotopos. Theatre as Tragic Inversion of Ritual OrderDavid Buchanan: Reading the Other. Bakhtin and the Topography of Arrival in LiteratureIrina Dzero: From Exile to Escape: Frame Narratives of the Decameron and the HeptameronAndreas Stuhlmann: Pilgrimage, Transformation and Poetical Anthropology. Hubert Fichte’s Journeys into the Afro-American Religions in BrazilKetevan Kupatadze: Magic of the City: Travel Narratives of the Project “Año 0”Adrienne Bernhard: Topographies Real and Imagined in Sarah Orne Jewett’s A White HeronList of ContributorsIndex