Obituary Kamil Banák

A r t i c l e s

Sorby, Karol, Jr.: Arab Nationalism after the Young Turk Revolution (1908–1914), p.4
Sorby, Karol R.: The Free Officers´ Movement and the 1958 Revolution in Iraq, p.22
Magdolen, Dušan: The Development of the Sign of the Ancient Egyptian Goddess Seshat down to the End of the Old Kingdom: Analysis and Interpretation, p.45
Ye Rong: From Obscure Poets to the Sacrificed Lamb of the Kingdom of Contemporary Chinese Poetry, p.56.
Celnarová, Xénia: New Trends in Turkish Literature in the Last Decades of the 20th Century, p.66
Rácová, Anna – Horecký, Ján: The Directive Illocutionary Act in the Slovak Carpathian Romani, p.74

R e v i e w A r t i c l e s

Drozdíková, Jarmila: Progressive Muslims, p.83

B o o k R e v i e w s

LI Qiancheng: Fictions of Enlightenment. Journey to the West, Tower of Myriad Mirrors, and Dream of the Red Chamber. By Radovan Škultéty, p. 96
Tachikawa, M. - Hino, S. - Deodhar, L.: Puja and Samskara. By Anna Rácová , p.98
El-Ayoubi, Hashem – Fischer, W – Langer, M.: Syntax der arabischen Schriftsprache der Gegenwart. By Ladislav Drozdík, p.100
Oliverius, J.: Kapitoly z frazeologie a idiomatiky moderní spisovné arabštiny. By Ladislav Drozdík, p.105
Ondráš, F.: Egyptská hovorová arabština. By Ladislav Drozdík, p.106
Gori, A.: Studi sulla letteratura agiografica islamica somala in lingua araba. By Ladislav Drozdík, p.110
Oliver, R. – Atmore, A.: Medieval Africa, 1250–1800. By Viera Pawliková-Vilhanová, p.110

ABSTRACTS

Arab Nationalism After the Young Turk Revolution (1908 – 1914)

Karol SORBY, Jr.
Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

The rise of the Young Turks brought a false sense of hope amongst the reformers in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire which was soon to be dashed by the Turkification policy of the Young Turks. As a result of the policies of the Young Turks the emphasis in the question of reform changed from one of reform within the Empire to one of Arab autonomy. The emerging semi-secret Arab societies pressed for a truly representative central government in which all peoples would have equal status and for a large measure of autonomy for the Arab provinces. Any hopes that the Arabs had were destroyed by the pursuance of a policy of Turkish nationalism with its pro-Muslim aspects and the aim of imposing the Turkish language on the whole Empire.

The Free Officers’ Movement and the 1958 Revolution in Iraq

Karol R. SORBY
Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

The ruling elite of the old regime in Iraq had been too much preoccupied with the problem of achieving independence from foreign control to pay attention to social reforms. After formal independence, the rulers argued that reforms required the capital and technical know-how which Iraq lacked. The new generation soon discovered that even when the capital became available, social conditions were not likely to improve in a way that would enable them to play their role in public affairs. Such devices as strikes and street demonstrations were quickly suppressed by the means at the disposal of those who controlled the state. Nothing short of a violent uprising in which the army participated would bring about a change in rulers, and this was accomplished by the Revolution of 1958. The military coup that finally overthrew the monarchy and inaugurated a new era in Iraqi history succeeded more because of luck and audacity than as a result of a long planning or extensive organization. The coup was unquestionably a reflection of deep-seated discontent among officers and among civilian politicians with the regime’s foreign policy and its slowness to reform.

The Development of the Sign of the Ancient Egyptian Goddess Seshat down to the Old Kingdom: Analysis and Interpretation

Dušan MAGDOLEN
Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

In general, the ancient Egyptian deities are distinguished by their names and symbols. In spite of the decipherment of hieroglyphs by J.-F. Champollion in the 1820s and the number of published studies, some of the hieroglyphs and symbols still remain an enigma. The sign of the goddess named Seshat can undoubtedly be included in this category. This paper based on the study of the preserved records presents an attempt to understand the meaning of the hieroglyphic sign and symbol of Seshat, the ancient Egyptian goddess of writing, reckoning and building. The study is divided into three parts. Part One consists of the iconographic records coming approximately from the beginning of the 3rd millenium B.C. down to the end of the Old Kingdom in the 22nd century B.C. This part contains the main information about the sign of Seshat known from the wall reliefs, such as provenance, date, and basic description of each sign etc. Part Two of the study, which will follow in the next volume of the AAS journal, will contain the epigraphic records from the same period including the sign of Seshat with the same characteristics as mentioned above. Part Three intended to be published next year in the first volume of this journal is going to be the final part of the study and will bring the analysis and interpretation of the sign of the goddess Seshat in the context of its development in the Old Kingdom Period.

From Obscure Poets to the Sacrificed Lamb of the Kingdom of Contemporary Chinese Poetry

Ye Rong
Foreign Languages Institute of Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China

The aim of this study is to point out the impact of the biblical themes on the poetry of Hai Zi (1964-1989), one of the most productive and influential poets of the Chinese literature of the time after the Cultural Revolution. He was a mythopoeic poet and his poetry presents a good paradigm of Sino-Western and Sino-Hebrew interliterary process in China of the 1980s.

New Trends in Turkish Literature in the last decades of the 20th Century

Xénia Celnarová
Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

The aim of this article is to briefly describe the new conceptions and issues of contemporary Turkish literature from the middle of the 1980s to the end of the century. A new social, political and cultural environment, which was created in this time in Turkey, was radically different to that of previous decades. The outcome has been a transition from nationalism to a more liberal understanding of the state and society by most Turkish intellectuals.

The Directive Illocutionary Act in the Slovak Carpathian Romani

Anna Rácová
Institute of Oriental and African Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava. Slovakia

Ján Horecký
Linguistic Institute of Ludovit Stur, Slovak Academy of Sciences.
now retired

The directive illocutionary act is a characteristic type of the operational illocutory act. It demands an addressee to whom its content, that is, the order, command or request is directed. This content may be formulated by various means: grammatical (imperative) and lexical (specific performants, particles, conjunctions). Secondarily, depending on an actual communicative situation, the content of the directive illocutionary act may be formulated also by modal verb, modal particles and interrogative, indicative and conditional sentences.