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As there is lack of research on how drugs are presented in crime literature, we read nearly 25,000 pages of crime literature written between 1890 and 2023 to provide an overview on the pharmacological content in this genre. Correct presentation of pharmacological information decreased over time. Misconceptions about certain substances, especially narcotics and anesthetics appear in many of the analyzed examples. Also, in comparison with crime TV series, books are inferior in providing the reader with additional information and pharmacological plausibility. This especially applies for the newer books which contained less additional information than the older ones. In contrast, some books educate their readers. Newer books show a greater variety of substances also introducing recently developed drugs or new ways of application. On the contrary, older books stick to a small selection of well-known substances during that time, especially metals like arsenic and toxins like strychnine. Gender involvement in poisoning is not realistically presented in the novels. Male victims are overrepresented compared to reality. Also, the etiology is commonly presented incorrectly. Poisoning by accident or for suicidal purposes are rarely presented in the novels, despite their significance in reality. Overall, crime novels educate but also misinform their readers. We discuss the consequences of our findings for the individual reader and public health.

This article focuses on the possible outcomes that may unfold when personal narratives have been intentionally applied on stage to generate a tension between the ideas of reality and fiction in performance. The article uses theoretical references that conceptualize the notion of the ‘Real’ – from the social context of the 1960s to the present – and follows the thoughts of philosophers like Debord, Baudrillard and Rosset with the aim to consider theater and performance as artistic fields that have the potential to interrogate totalizing statements about the truth in today’s world.  

Poisoning occurs frequently in TV crime series but, to the best of our knowledge, has not yet been analyzed scientifically. This study examines the plausibility of poisoning cases in Germany’s most popular crime series, Tatort (crime scene), from 1974 to 2022. In the TV series, the increasing rate of poisoning in Germany as well as the increasing variety of substances leading to poisoning over the years are depicted. Largely in line with reality, similar substance categories and routes of administration are presented. However, poisoning outcomes in Tatort differ from reality: over 50% of the victims die in Tatort , whereas in reality, more than 80% survive. In > 95% of the episodes, the mechanism of action of a poison is not explained, omitting an important opportunity for raising public awareness. The TV series also deviates from reality in terms of the etiology of poisonings: External poison delivery is largely overrepresented, while the high rate of accidental poisonings in real life is underrepresented. Almost no accidental poisonings occur in Tatort , although this is the most frequent type of poisoning in real life. In Tatort , men are overrepresented as offenders and victims of poisoning compared to reality. Thus, the crime series does not convey the message that anyone can be a potential victim of poisoning and that particularly vulnerable groups need proper education and the best possible protection. This paper discusses the conflict between detailed, plausible episodes with cases of poisoning and the potential for imitation that they may cause.

Given the great importance of literary journalism has been gaining in the West, this work performs a scan of the main circumstances which allowed the emergence of it; then it resorts to one of the greatest representatives of this field to state its essential characteristics. Based on the book Portraits and meetings (2003) of Gay Talese, the key components of literary journalism are exemplified.

More than a decade of neuroimaging research has established that anterior and posterior cortical midline regions are consistently recruited during self-referential thinking. These regions are engaged under conditions of directed cognition, such as during explicit self-reference tasks, as well as during spontaneous cognition, such as under conditions of rest. One of the many issues that remain to be clarified regarding the relationship between self-referential thinking and cortical midline activity is the functional specificity of these regions with regard to the nature of self-representation and processing. The functional profile associated with the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is the focus of the current article. What is specifically explored is the idea that personal relevance or personal significance is a central factor that impacts how brain activity is modulated within this cortical midline region. The proactive, imaginative, and predictive nature of function in the mPFC is examined by evaluating studies of spontaneously directed cognition, which is triggered by stimulus-associated personal relevance.

This article focuses on the possible outcomes that may unfold when personal narratives have been intentionally applied on stage to generate a tension between the ideas of reality and fiction in performance. The article uses theoretical references that conceptualize the notion of the ‘Real’ - from the social context of the 1960s to the present - and follows the thoughts of philosophers like Debord, Baudrillard and Rosset with the aim to consider theater and performance as artistic fields that have the potential to interrogate totalizing statements about the truth in today’s world. Resumo: Este artigo dedica atenção aos possíveis desdobramentos do uso de narrativas pessoais em cena, quando tomadas no intuito de provocar tensão entre realidade e ficção no instante do acontecimento cênico. Utilizando como referência formulações que ponderam acerca da concepção do real - do contexto social dos anos 1960 aos dias de hoje -, a partir do pensamento de filósofos como Debord, Baudrillard e Rosset, busca-se refletir sobre o teatro e a performance como campos artísticos capazes de interrogar a afirmação totalizante sobre a verdade no mundo atual. Résumé: Cet article porte une attention aux possibles conséquences de l’utilisation de récits personnels dans la scène, lorsqu’ils sont pris afin de provoquer une tension entre la réalité et la fiction au moment de l’événement scénique. Utilisant comme références les formulations qui examinent la conception du réel - du contexte social de 1960 à nos jours -, bien que la pensée de philosophes tels que Debord, Baudrillard et Rosset, ce texte réfléchit sur le théâtre et la performance comme domaines artistiques capables d’interroger l’affirmation totalisant sur la vérité dans le monde actuel.

A giant adolescent puppet becomes self-aware in a dystopian world of love and treachery.

This paper aims to analyze the (post)communism era in Romania, as it is portrayed in the novels of Petru Cimpoeșu, Dan Lungu and Patrick McGuinness. The study wants to highlight three different perspectives on the communist regime, depending on the vision of each writer: the existential shades of gray, in the case of Cimpoesu’s novels, the nostalgia of Dan Lungu’s characters, but also the perception of the foreign eye on the totalitarian reality in our country, as for Patrick McGuinness. The paper also emphasizes the reasons why the literary theme of communism still arouses such great interest in contemporary literature and the importance of reading such works through the filter of the present.

The raw material of Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest was extracted from the 1989 Revolution in Romania and chiselled to the essence. The play bridges reality and fiction through a cross-cultural perspective, which implies documentation, collaborative work and emotional detachment. The British playwright used innovative devices and adapted pictorial techniques to turn the Romanian Revolution into a work of art, to preserve what she considered particular and also connect the event to several of the cultural symbols Romania is associated with.

What is the source of memory? How is a memory constituted? Could memory conserve itself and be perpetuated? If yes, how? What is the role of language and the relationship between memory and writing? Anne Élaine Cliche’s novel, published in 1998, unfolds between Montreal, New York and Jerusalem and even if the core of the story is situated in contemporary times, the recall of the Jesuit Relations refers to missionary adventures of the seventeenth century. The analysis of the novel insists on its phenomenological and philosophical aspects, in Kundera’s manner. While the first part of the novel places emphasis on the constitution and the preservation of memory through body, voice and transposition into language, in the second part, the questioning of memory concerns its truthfulness and the interaction between memory constituted in narrative and reality, between an individual act and a collective memory