Intertexts 

Abstract: Such is Christopher Marlowe’s calculus of Helen’s beauty in Dr Faustus, a scale by which to measure a face that Homer can only compare to divinity. Helen’s extraordinary beauty motivates an equally extraordinary effort to reclaim it once she has been abducted by Paris. A reader of Homer’s Catalogue of Ships as literal-minded as Thucydides might quantify this beauty precisely in terms of the scale of this effort, deriving the formula 1 face = 1,000 ships.2 For Marlowe and the tradition on which he draws, “a thousand” is less a precise quantity than a hyperbolic figure that suggests a number past counting, matching the immeasurable height of towers without tops.3 The hyperbolic language of what seems at first to be a scale thus indicates the ultimate incommensurability of the beauty of Helen’s god-like face, a “peareless” beauty that earlier in the same scene prompts a failure of descriptive language (scene 12, lines 16-20):

Abstract: This article seeks to explore the impact of fatherlessness on gender development through the analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s early short stories. Existing psychological research pertaining to the role of the father highlights an apparent link between his absence and the child’s sexual, emotional, cognitive, and social functioning. With the help of external assistance such as peer support, a small percentage of children are able to show resilience against the stereotypical effects of fatherlessness (Masten, Best, and Garmezy 425-44). Internal (subjective) coping mechanisms against the loss or lack of the father also play a significant role in this process. I shall identify such strategies in three of Hemingway’s prominent short stories (‘The End of Something’, ‘The ThreeDay Blow’, and ‘Cross-Country Snow’). These tales are specifically engineered towards the representation of how the trauma of fatherlessness correlates to the engendering of silencing, repression, and abjection. Such independently developed defence methods are key elements in the author’s portrayal of homosexual men who experience paternal absence in their childhood and adolescence.1 Hemingway creates images of a young male’s world with a gap at its centre. The incomplete father relationship, the physical and/or emotional absence of the father produces a residual “father hunger” in the subject. James L. Schaller describes the emotional signs of such deficiency as the experience of being confused about one’s identity, lacking confidence in one’s femininity or masculinity, being rarely satisfied with what one has, becoming insecure or angry easily, acting differently (childlike or grandiose) in the father’s presence, having an urge to please others (especially father-type people), running to things or people to nurse oneself in a compulsive way, being afraid to get too close to someone, possessing fear of being abandoned, living in diffused fearfulness, and feeling like an orphan sometimes (16). In Hemingway’s text, yearning for the father also manifests itself in the subject’s unconscious longing for affirmation. The central protagonist, Nick Adams, displays specific features in his desire-induced behavior: he vehemently conceals his weaknesses; he is on a constant, restless quest to prove his human worth; and he seeks out the company of other men to parade his own manliness. Dennis Balcom argues that sons from father-absent homes are heavily influenced by their loss. Fatherlessness damages their self-esteem and impairs their ability to build lasting heterosexual relationships. They experience intimacy issues, anxiety about the

Abstract: is article examines corporeality and the ubiquitous maid persona in Japan, paying particular attention to the phenomenon of “animalizing” her body in comic book simulacra, and the subsequent reification of this hybrid form inside maid cafés. In his discussion of the otaku2 subculture where he argues that the “grand narratives” of Japanese society have degenerated due to consumerism, critical theorist Azuma Hiroki draws heavily on the work of French philosopher Alexandre Kojève (Otaku 25–38). Azuma describes “animalization” as the process of humans rejecting their intersubjective desires and embracing the animal “need,” which can be satisfied independently and is not contingent on the “other” (87). In a capitalist society this translates to the consumer need being fulfilled instantaneously, in a mechanical fashion, and devoid of high levels of social interaction. is communication deficiency is exemplified by fast food restaurants and sex workers accommodating the needs of everyday meals and sexual partners respectively, which, prior to the advent of the consumer society, were undertakings laden with inconvenient social exchanges. My use of the word “animalization” in this paper is far less metaphoric and allegorical than this construal, and refers to the addition of typically mammalian appendages to the body of the maid (such as tails and furry ears) to create a quasi-animal character. As we shall see, this type of animalization is discordant with Kojève’s theory, and is in fact greatly dependent on the “other,” particularly when it comes to the domain of the maid café and the interaction that takes place between patrons and quasi-animal maids inside them. I argue that animalizing the body of the maid in these establishments is an attempt to elicit both moe (“pseudo-romance,” pronounced “mo-ay”) and kawaii (“cuteness”). I also suggest that the principal objective of these responses is to mediate momentary escapism and to promote ease of communication between maid and customer. Aer providing a historical overview of the maid persona in Japan and considering the unadulterated human form of her body in erotic comic books, I introduce animal cosplay, moe, and kawaii, before discussing the body vis-à-vis the maid café. It should be noted that despite the maid character’s being a salient icon of Japanese popular culture, she has been largely ignored by scholarly circles both at home and abroad. While the reasons for this neglect are not conclusive, the current state of affairs