Issue 11 (2020/2)

Freeside Editorial Introduction

Stories connect people across societies: they weave their magic strands through time and space and bring to life eternal themes of the human condition. It is no surprise then that using stories as a focus can stimulate academic explorations in many ways. The articles of this issue of Freeside are drawn together by the common theme of stories through life and space. The theme is, however, approached from different perspectives and varying degrees of intensity.

 Four papers and a book review look at diverse stories in literature, ranging from Shakespeare's Macbeth, through an Irish tale (Óengus’ Dream) and Oscar Wilde’s fairy tale The Fisherman and His Soul, a poem called A Midwinter Prayer by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Faulkner’s novel Absalom, Absalom!, and the book review introduces us to Doreen Finn’s novel Night Swimming.

 The literary focus continues with an article on the translation of politeness strategies in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.  Translation crosses a gap between languages and cultures, and this is further explored in the first article involving university students, whose knowledge of English and American cultural stories was probed. Students and university education are at the centre of the review of the book TED Talks Storytelling and its use in a course on presentation skills. The article on accents of English investigates the way in which speakers with one accent perceive speakers with the other accent. Languages differ across space but also across time, as the article on diachronic changes in absolute infinitive constructions in English illustrates. People, too, change across time and the article on Hungarian seniors investigates health ageing. Finally, the change in one person, Novak Djokovic, that correlates with his switch between using English and Serbian in interviews concentrates on how conceptual metaphor theory can help us to identify this.

With a selection like this, we trust that any reader will find at least one article, but perhaps several, of interest.

Contents:

• It Takes Two to Tangle: A Look at Syntactic Changes and Rhetoric Value of The Absolute Infinitive Construction in English Article – Viktória Albert
• Once Upon a Time in the Realm of Notions: the Conceptualisation of Novak Djokovic-Inspired Personality Shifts Article – Nenad Blaženović Emir Muhić
• A Journey through Time and Space in Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s “A Midwinter Prayer” Article – Fekete-Nagy Fanni
• CONSIDERING LIMINALITY AS A PASSAGE TO THE OTHERWORLD IN THE EARLY IRISH TALE AISLINGE ÓENGUSO AND OSCAR WILDE’S THE FISHERMAN AND HIS SOUL Article – Eszter György
• The Story of the Role and Fate of Hecate and the Three Witches in Macbeth Article – Ian Jedlica
• Translation of Politeness Strategies in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility Article – Henrietta László
• Houses and the Fate of Families: A Comparison of “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe and Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner Article – Eszter Enikő Mohácsi
• British and American Cultural Stories in Hungary Article – Bálint Szele
• “AMERICAN VS. ENGLISH” US AMERICAN AND BRITISH ENGLISH SPEAKERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD PHONOLOGICAL AND LEXICAL FEATURES IN ACCENT TAG VIDEOS Article – Judit Szitó
• Perspectives and Challenges of European Ageing Article – Martin Zsarnoczky
• A Story of Two Cultures in Doreen Finn’s Night Swimming (2019) Book review – Krisztina Kodó
• Reflections on choosing a prescribed book for a university business presentation skills course: why TED Talks Storytelling: 23 Storytelling Techniques from the Best TED Talks by Akash Karia fits the need Book review – Borka Richter