Showing papers in "Linguae &. Rivista di Lingue e Culture Moderne in 2012"

The First Medical Practitioners in English Drama: Medical Knowledge and Quackery in “The Play of the Sacrament” and in John Heywood’s “The Foure PP”

Abstract: Mayster Brendiche of Braban in the anonymous Play of the Sacrament and the Poticary in John Heywood’s The Foure PP are the first medical practitioners in English drama. The article studies both characters in the light of early modern medical science in order to stress the relationship between medicine on stage and the state of scientific knowledge in English coeval society. After discussing issues raised by recent criticism, especially about The Play of the Sacrament as being transcribed in the early Reformation, the article examines the two characters according to contemporary medical literature which enlists the characteristics of the good physician and of the seemly apothecary. It results that in the two plays neither character complies with the conduct lines of their respective professions, since the plays present them as negative and despicable quacks, in spite – or rather just because – of their verbose behaviour. Well before the spread of quackery in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, then, early English drama had already exposed and satirized the typical quack.

Le interferenze dell’inglese nella lingua italiana tra ‘protezionismo’ e ‘descrittivismo’ linguistico: il caso del lessico della crisi

Abstract: The issue of the interference of English in modern Italian has always been of interest to researchers in Italy. This paper outlines how this interference has affected the Italian language over the last two decades. To this purpose, it has been deemed interesting to quote and contrast the views of two eminent Italian scholars involved in the long-lasting debate between linguistic ‘protectionism’ and ‘descriptivism’ – i.e. Arrigo Castellani and Tullio De Mauro. The most widespread English loanwords of the economic crisis found in the three major Italian newspapers from 1 September 2011 to 1 March 2012 have been taken into account and it has been verified whether they are present in three wellknown Italian monolingual dictionaries. It will also be shown that most of these loanwords have been adequately integrated into the Italian language in both written and oral texts.

Italian Crime Fiction: A Barbarian Perspective

Abstract: This article proposes a means of analysing the differences between Detective Fiction and Crime Fiction, in terms of multi genre content, concentrating especially on the development of Italian works in these fields. It also provides a shortened case study, analysing The Hound of the Baskervilles in this way.

“‘Ghosts in the looking-glass of our minds’: i detective dell’occulto”

Abstract: Although Sherlock Holmes has been considered as the prototype of the scientific detective, Doyle’s curiosity notoriously embraced paranormal phenomena such as spiritualism, clairvoyance and even the existence of fairies… Far from being atypical, this attitude is revealing of the tension between the natural and the supernatural that marked the decades straddling across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when the advancement of science was regarded by many as conducive to a better understanding of what had been previously consigned to superstition. Given this climate of syncretism, it does not come as a surprise that those years saw the development of a hybrid subgenre in which ‘psychic detectives’ investigate cases often involving supernatural agencies. This article discusses four collections of stories of psychic detection published at the turn of the century, together with their reception in the Golden Age period, finally hinting at the renewed popularity psychic detectives have recently attained thanks to tv series such as Medium (2005-11) and Ghost Whisperer (2005-10).

La perizia grafica e documentale nel caso Lindbergh

Abstract: Graphology experts operate in two main areas: verification of the authenticity of a piece of writing in cases of imitations or counterfeits, and the search for the identity of the writer in the case of anonymous letters. Letters have an expressive power relating to the author, as the author unwittingly expresses a complete set “fugitive gestures”. Such individual habitual slips are of particular value as they escape conscious control. In an investigation it is a essential to go from testimony to proof , and scientific research therefore aims at finding something , rather than someone . These somethings are of demonstrative objective value, and are called “silent witnesses”. In the case of the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder in America in 1932, the 14 ransom letters sent by the kidnapper turned out to be the main indictment for the prime suspect, Bruno Richard Hauptmann: the comparison between his handwriting and that of the anonymous letters represented a reliable clue to the kidnapper’s identity, thus showing graphology expertise to be a valid investigative technique.

Dal criminal profiling all'autopsia psicologica della vittima

Abstract: Investigative psychology as a field of research, study and application of forensic psychology has come into being in our country in the last fifteen years. In particular, act 397 on defensive investigations in 2000, has, at the stage of preliminary investigation, expanded the possibilities for action and cooperation with the judicial authorities and with the defense. It is therefore necessary to test and spread tools and techniques to improve investigative strategies as well as techniques to interrogate witnesses, people informed of the facts, suspects, and the victim’s family and people close to him or her. This article aims to explain that psychological autopsy of the victim is more effective as a tool centered on the offender-victim relationship, rather than on the method of criminal profiling which centers on the personality of the offender.