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Book SynopsisShakespeare's merry wives are Mistress Ford and Mistress Page of the town of Windsor. The two pull-down tricks on Mistress Ford's desirous spouse and a meeting knight, Sir John Falstaff. Happy spouses, desirous husbands, and ruthless knights were normal in a sort of play called citizen comedy or city comedy. In such plays, subjects, courteous fellows, or knights utilize social prevalence to tempt residents' wives. The Windsor spouses, however, don't follow that example. All things considered, Falstaff's proposal of himself as darling rouses their torture of him. Falstaff answers with the very etymological office that Shakespeare gives him in the set of experiences plays in which he shows up, making him the legend of the play for some crowds.

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Book SynopsisChristopher Schaberg is Dorothy Harrell Brown Distinguished Professor of English at Loyola University, New Orleans, USA. He is the author of 7 books, including The Textual Life of Airports (2013), The Work of Literature in an Age of Post-Truth (2018), and Pedagogy of the Depressed (2022). He is series co-editor (with Ian Bogost) of Bloomsbury's Object Lessons series.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.For a time I believed that mankind had been swept out of existence, and that I stood there alone, the last man left alive.When a strange, meteor-like object lands in the heart of England, the inhabitants of Earth find themselves victims of a terrible attack. A ruthless race of Martians, armed with heat rays and poisonous smoke, is intent on destroying everything that stands in its way. As the unnamed hero struggles to find his way across decimated wastelands, the fate of the planet hangs in the balance . . .H. G. Wells was a pioneer of modern science fiction. First serialised in the UK in 1897, The War of the Worlds is one of the earliest stories to depict conflict with an extraterrestrial race, and has influenced countless adaptations and sequels.Trade Review‘groundbreaking … a true classic that has pointed the way not just for science-fiction writers, but for how we as a civilisation might think of ourselves’ Guardian ‘[Wells’ work is] astonishingly rich in human and historical interest … he foresaw the invention of, among other things, television, tanks, aerial warfare and the atom bomb’ David Lodge ‘I personally consider the greatest of English living writers [to be] H. G. Wells’ Upton Sinclair

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Book SynopsisWhen, in 2000, the National Theatre published its poll of the hundred best plays of the 20th century, David Hare had written five of them. Yet he was born in 1947 into an anonymous suburban street in Hastings. It is a world he believes to be as completely vanished as Victorian England.Now in his first panoramic work of memoir, ending as Margaret Thatcher comes to power in 1979, David Hare describes his childhood, his Anglo-Catholic education and his painful apprenticeship to the trade of dramatist. He sets the progress of his own life against the history of a time in which faith in hierarchy, deference, religion, the empire and finally politics all withered away. Only belief in private virtue remains.In his customarily dazzling prose and with great warmth and humour, David Hare explores how so radical a shift could have occurred, and how it is reflected in his own lifelong engagement with two disparate art forms - film and theatre. In The Blue Touch Paper David Hare describes a life of trial and error: both how he became a writer and the high price he and those around him paid for that decision.

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Book SynopsisMother Courage and Her Children is widely regarded as Brecht's best work, a theatrical landmark and one of the most powerful anti-war plays in history. This bilingual edition allows students to compare the original German text with a translation by one of the world's leading playwrights, Tony Kushner.

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Book Synopsis''You cannot find peace by avoiding life'' Virginia WoolfAn intimate portrait of Virginia, the best-known and most influential Bloomsbury author of them all - ''All you need to know about the modernist, feminist icon'' TIME OUT''A gem'' SUNDAY TIMES''As a short introduction to Virginia Woolf this deceptively brief book could hardly be bettered and achieves high status instantly as a significant work of reference in its own right'' THE TIMESVirginia Woolf was undoubtedly one of the literary giants of the twentieth century. She was a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group, and her writings were works of astonishing originality. Nigel Nicolson is the son of Vita Sackville-West, who was Virginia Woolf''s most intimate friend, and for a short time her lover. He spent many days in her company and he has threaded his recollections of her throughout this unique narrative of her life.Trade ReviewAll you need to know about the modernist, feminist icon ... If only all literary lives were as succinct * TIME OUT *From his unique position, Nigel Nicolson is able to combine intimacy with scholarship ... an excellent introduction to her life and work * MAIL ON SUNDAY *This lucid portrait is a gem * SUNDAY TIMES *As a short introduction to Virginia Woolf this deceptively brief book could hardly be bettered and achieves high status instantly as a significant work of reference in its own right * THE TIMES *This little book is not only a delight to read but also of lasting importance * SPECTATOR *Nothing beats the excitement of feeling that you're in the presence of someone who once walked with giants ... Nigel Nicolson's recollections of the woman whom he regarded "like a favourite aunt" are to be recommended * DAILY TELEGRAPH *This is an unusual (and unusually charming) biography ... It is a quality of wide-eyed observation that gives this book its charm. Woolf comes alive in it ... vivid vignettes are the essence of Nicolson's book ... Nicolson's personal recollections run like a silver thread through this biography. But he tells the whole story of Woolf's life with authority - affectionately but not uncritically. He is especially good at describing the trance-like states which went to the writing of Woolf's best novels * SCOTSMAN *Nicolson writes with authority on the Bloomsbury Group ... [he] gives a thorough and illuminating account of the Woolfs' publishing business, the Hogarth Press, and makes a persuasive case for Woolf's "excellence as a traveller" ... Broadly appreciative and admirably concise * FINANCIAL TIMES *

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Book SynopsisThe pen is mightier than the sword, but whose pen is the mightiest of them all? Who was more prolific, Charlotte Brontë or Fyodor Dostoyevsky? Who created more memorable characters, Jane Austen or William Shakespeare? Whose life was more eventful, Cervantes or Byron? Pit 32 of the greatest writers of all time against each other with these illustrated cards.

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Book SynopsisThe enduring appeal of Jane Austen’s fiction is captured in this pocket-sized collection of quotations taken from her celebrated works. The novels of Jane Austen are famed for their ability to perfectly convey the nuances of social interactions in the Regency period. Perhaps what makes the books still so popular is just how recognisable the social situations and character types of two hundred years ago are today. Well-known for her humour, Jane Austen’s Universal Truths is a collection of some of Austen’s most choice and wry observations. Featuring witticisms on love and marriage, the battle of the sexes, town and country and moral duty, and dipping into all of Jane Austen’s six published novels, this collection will delight fans and is the perfect breakdown to introduce a classic author to a new audience. The universal truths are accompanied by illustrations from celebrated artist Polly Fern.

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Book SynopsisWael B. Hallaq takes critique of Orientalism as a point of departure for rethinking the modern project. A remarkably ambitious attempt to overturn the foundations of a wide range of academic disciplines, Restating Orientalism exposes the depth of academia’s lethal complicity in modern forms of capitalism, colonialism, and hegemonic power.Trade ReviewGoing beyond the questions of representations of the Orient, Hallaq's work expands the scope of the critical discussion on Orientalism to reexamine the epistemological foundations of modern historical social sciences. -- Sudipta Kaviraj, Columbia UniversityIt is becoming increasingly evident among decolonial thinkers that colonial management (with or without colonies, with or without settlers) is a question of controlling and managing knowledge, and that power differential is implicit in agents, institutions, and languages of epistemic governance. Wael B. Hallaq brilliantly drives us, through a meticulous reading of Edward Said’s Orientalism, to the awareness that domination is grounded on epistemic sovereignty and that liberation is unthinkable without epistemic freedom. -- Walter Mignolo, author of On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, PraxisThis book is a brilliant interrogation of Said's famous concept, highlighting the extent which the issue of Orientalism is not simply one of problematic European authors, but instead goes to the heart of how the modern project itself constitutes subjects, knowledge, and power. In this way, Hallaq argues that confronting Orientalism means confronting the forms of violences that have marked modernity and been justified and reproduced across the academic disciplines. This provocative work raises profound and challenging questions about academia and about the contemporary self. It is essential reading and will be debated by scholars for years to come. -- Aziz Rana, author of The Two Faces of American FreedomIf anyone is going to provide a nuanced and well thought-out critique, it would surely be Professor Hallaq. Restating Orientalism is a labour of love and Professor Hallaq is clearly very fond of Edward Said and his intellectual insights. -- Usman Butt * TheNewArab *Hallaq’s Restating Orientalism has much to recommend it. It is a welcome and much-needed addition to the project of decolonizing the Western academy currently underway across the humanities and social sciences. As such, his book should appeal to a broad audience indeed. -- Evgenia Ilieva * Perspectives on Politics *The most far-reaching and detailed, but sympathetic, critique of Orientalism in the entire field. -- Bryan S. Turner * International Journal of Middle East Studies *His challenge to humanities scholars focused on the non-West is clear. * Journal of Religion *Table of ContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Putting Orientalism in Its Place2. Knowledge, Power, and Colonial Sovereignty3. The Subversive Author4. Epistemic Sovereignty and Structural Genocide5. Refashioning Orientalism, Refashioning the SubjectNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive anthology of Chinese poetry since 12th century BC.Trade Review"This magnificent collection has the effect of a complete library rather than of an anthology of poetry... A lyric quality comes through into our own language ... Every page is alive with striking and wonderful things, immediately accessible." Publishers Weekly "Sunflower Splendor is the largest and, on the whole, best anthology of translated Chinese poems to have appeared in a Western language." The New York Times Book Review "This remarkably fine anthology should remain standard for a long time." Library Journal " ... excellent translations by divers hands. Open to any page and listen to the still, sad music ... " Washington Post Bookworld

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the Otto Gründler Book Prize, The Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University""Winner of the Beatrice White Prize, The English Association, University of Leicester""Winner of the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize, The British Academy""Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize, The Wolfson Foundation""Longlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown, Historical Writers’ Association""Finalist for the PROSE Award in Biography and Autobiography, Association of American Publishers""One of The Times' Best Literary Non-Fiction Books of 2019""One of the Times Literary Supplement's Books of the Year 2019""One of the Sunday Times' Best Literary Books of 2019""A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year""One of New Statesman's Books of the Year 2020""[Turner has] read his work so intelligently, that even those who thought they knew it all already will find themselves looking at Chaucer with completely fresh eyes. She evokes the times, the politics, the personalities of his contemporaries and, above all, she gets inside this most ironical and brilliant of poets. . . . The book was so richly enjoyable that, once I had finished, I started to read all over again. It is an absolute triumph."---A. N. Wilson, Times Literary Supplement"A quite exceptional biography that with imaginative insight and stylish wit, sets one of the most significant figures in English literary history firmly in a European context." * Wolfson History Prize judges *""It’s very wide-ranging scholarship, but it’s written in a witty, engaging style and it’s very, very accessible. . . . [A] deeply researched and highly readable life.""---Richard J. Evans, Five Books"[Chaucer’s] life in its European context. Fresh glimpses of the great man are everywhere: perhaps most strikingly an account of the instagrammable teenaged Chaucer posing as aristocratic eye candy in a skimpy outfit called a 'paltok', which failed to cover his backside. Oddsbodkins!"---James Marriott, The Times"A European Life feels to me like a radical new take on a man we thought we knew, but whose sophisticated business, military and political career took him criss-crossing the continent."---Andrew Marr, Start the Week, BBC Radio 4"A hugely illuminating book. This is one of those studies that academics like to call 'magisterial', but non-specialists will find much to enjoy here too. Turner's writing is never less than perspicacious, and often slyly humorous. . . . What A European Life does particularly well is to situate Chaucer in the largeness and complexity of his world."---Tim Smith-Laing, The Telegraph (five star review)"Turner charts an uncannily tangible route through Chaucer’s life, binding his ideas and poems to precise locations, often enlivening it with consummate detail. . . . Chaucer: A European Life serves as a compass that allows readers to traverse Chaucer’s London and Europe. At the same time, reading Turner’s book makes us aware of how much our own lives are shaped by the rooms we inhabit and the places we visit. . . . Chaucer: A European Life introduces the 21st century to Chaucer and Chaucer to the 21st century"---Sebastian Sobecki, Literary Review"In this fine biography, Marion Turner gives us new images of the poet. Turner’s biography takes us from birth to death, but focuses on the spaces through which Chaucer moved, in reality and in poetic imagination. This is a clever move, and Turner’s technique means that the poet’s works can be woven organically into an account of his life. The book is elegantly written, accessible to the general reader as well as the scholarly specialist. In suggesting further questions and presenting an array of new images, Turner’s book gives us back an image of Chaucer more melancholy and mercurial than the cosy figure we thought we knew."---Mark Williams, The Times"[A] wholly beguiling, original, vividly written appreciation of the hugely innovative author and his rich cultural and political European background. A parable for our time?"---Robert Fox, Evening Standard"Magnificently scholarly."---Sam Leith, The Spectator"Marion Turner’s exciting new biography explores in breathtaking detail the spaces and places that shaped the imaginative world of this great Anglo-European poet . . . . this momentous biography gives readers a new perspective on the personal authorial journey that culminated in The Canterbury Tales. Turner has produced a stylishly written and carefully crafted book, at times humorous and always lucid, lively, and engaging."---Clare Egan, BBC History Magazine"[Turner pays] carefully nuanced attention to the significance of the places visited, to the mixture of cultures they accommodated, and to the range of experiences they offered to a traveller from London. . . . [Turner’s] processes of expansion, and of interweaving the life with the works, make for enjoyable and consistently informative reading. . . . Although the book’s European emphasis and concluding gestures to the here and now insist on its timeliness, its real focus is on understanding Chaucer’s world through the variety of that world’s records and its remains, and through the imaginative reflection of it in Chaucer’s works."---Julia Boffey, Times Literary Supplement"Marion Turner has had the inspired idea of organising her biography by the places [Chaucer] occupied . . . . So many places, so many points of view. Chaucer's modernity consists in his adoption of many perspectives. This biography provides a wonderful illumination of his art." * Country Life Magazine *"It feels as though new light is genuinely being shed on Chaucer’s life, combining documentary material with sure-footed interpretations of his works, what we know of the people and places he encountered, and social and economic history . . . . The result is a three-dimensional picture of Chaucer from the outside in."---Laura Ashe, History Today"Marion Turner has done a magnificent job. . . . I do not expect to see this biography superseded."---Paul Dean, New Criterion"A meticulously researched, well-styled academic study showing Chaucer as the ‘consummate networker.’" * Kirkus *"This meaty new biography is likely to be the best book on the subject for decades to come."---Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review"In Marion Turner’s capacious biography – the first since Derek Pearsall’s in 1992 and the first ever by a woman – Chaucer is Bakhtinian and plural, a man of many voices. Much like his Canterbury pilgrims, he is always en route but never arriving. . . . Fittingly, she ends by rejecting the image of Chaucer as the ‘father of English poetry’ and finds his legacy instead in the suppressed and marginalised voices that he licensed to speak."---Barbara Newman, London Review of Books"A rich, thought-provoking and readable work of scholarship. . . . [Turner] has forged a new kind of biography. . . . Her work promises to be definitive for some time to come."---Mary Wellesley, Times Higher Education"[A] great swirl of a biography, one more capacious and more ranging than any of its predecessors. . . . [Chaucer: A European Life] proclaims a hope to bring this canonical medieval poet to life before a broad, modern audience."---Joe Stadolnik, Los Angeles Review of Books"What wonders Turner can work with a word! . . . . I find it difficult to stop quoting Turner, since she puts the life she is following into such intricate yet accessible prose. You need to stick with this long biography to fully absorb the point toward which she is headed. In other words, it becomes a journey just like the many trips Chaucer took for himself and others."---Carl Rollyson, University Bookman"Chaucer has not lacked for biographies, but Marion Turner’s is of a rare ambition and competence . . . [A] very substantial book . . . sustained by a confident erudition and a powerful and controlled narrative flow."---John V. Fleming, First Things"[I]n Marion Turner's brilliant 'Chaucer: A European Life,' you will learn not only about the life of the man behind 'The Canterbury Tales,' you will learn about the bustling, fast-changing world in which he lived and traveled . . . if you are interested in history, poetry or the man who invented iambic pentameter, it's fascinating."---Laurie Hertzel, Minneapolis Star Tribune"Turner's study is itself like a medieval book. It loves exhaustive detail; it loves a careful architectural design; and it is not afraid of exhausting its readers. It's a biography full of rich detail . . . securely grounded in the material and cultural world, instead of the conventional focus on the singular voice of a solitary poetic genius."---Stephanie Trigg, Sydney Morning Herald"Marion Turner's splendid new biography of the poet . . . is wonderfully evocative. [A] magisterial intellectual biography."---Bruce Whiteman, Hudson Review"[Turner's] expansive book is written with an unusual mix of erudition, clarity, and wit: it will be required reading for specialists, an invaluable resource for students, and a rich introduction to Chaucer’s world for the general reader. . . .[Turner's] generous and humane vision is deeply appealing, and offered with a warmth that is hard to resist—a welcome invitation to all of us to broaden our horizons."---Philip Knox, Review of English Studies"Chaucer’s first female biographer provides a fresh, modern perspective, memorably showing us the great poet as a young man dressed by his employer in a skimpy garment designed to emphasise the genitals and buttocks. A richly textured account and an essential addition to Chaucerian scholarship."---Claire Lowdon, Sunday Times"Marion Turner carves out a space for another biography by locating the facts of Chaucer’s professional and writing life within the context of English and European history and material culture…This is a strong biography, well suited to the needs and interests of our own Chaucerian moment."---Lynn Staley, Studies in the Age of Chaucer"[Turner] enchantingly weaves Chaucer’s life and poetry between the local spaces of households, gardens, and inns, as well as the international spaces of French castles under siege, Italian libraries, and Mediterranean marketplaces. . . .[this book] is crucial and rewarding for any current or future student of medieval literature—and luckily for us, Turner’s style both educates and delights."---Leah Pope Parker, Journal of British Studies"[Turner’s] enormous contribution to our comprehension of Chaucer's moves and maneuvers within his culture will alter scholarly contexts."---John L. Murphy, PopMatters"[A] new and brilliant biography. . . . This is a book of the first importance not only for students of Chaucer but for anyone seriously interested in the ways in which history, poetry, life and art generally came about and developed in late medieval Europe." * Heythrop Journal *"Chaucer scholarship has always been awaiting a biography this rich…Among the very many contributions Turner’s biography makes to Chaucer scholarship is to reverse the general presumption that has always animated studies of this kind; rather than write about Chaucer because he was a historically significant poet, Turner shows us what, in history, made this poet matter."---Christopher Canno, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies"A vivid reconstruction of Chaucer’s 14th-century world and a revelatory exploration of his poems."---Thomas Penn, History Today"Chaucer: A European Life is a masterful appreciation of the first great poet of the living English language—a biography of Geoffrey Chaucer wrapped around a thoughtful study of what Chaucer wrote and what he read . . . A strength of this book is that Turner looks beyond the portraits that Chaucer so emphatically sketched to emphasize the vitality with which he imbued his characters. . . . The genius of the book lies in its valuing of difference qua difference, and its refusal either to collapse those differences or to prioritize saint’s life over folktale, man over woman, knight over miller, marquis over peasant girl, moral truth over poetic line, idea over rhetoric."---The Key Reporter, Allen D. Boyer"A masterpiece."---Simon Winder, New Statesman"This is an invigorating and refreshing book that is by no means a standard biography. . . . this book is an extraordinary achievement. Its erudition and enthusiasm are matched by an enviable eloquence, and it will remain a focus of admiration, reference and discussion for many years to come."---Peter Brown, Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen"Marion Turner does a spectacular job."---Baroness Bennet, The House Magazine

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Book SynopsisIn the late 19th and early 20th centuries, unique tales inspired by traditional literary forms appeared frequently in socialist-leaning British periodicals. Acclaimed critic and author Rosen collects more than 40 of the best and most enduring examples of these stories in one beautiful volume.Trade Review"As plain-language, kid-friendly introductions to socialist politics, [the Workers’ Tales stories] are at once intriguing historical artifacts and, in a few cases, striking allegories that remain pertinent now, even on the other side of the Atlantic."---J.C. Pan, The Atlantic"A thought-provoking anthology. . . . These tales . . . are fascinating to read, both to see how they fit into the fairy tale genre and to see which messages still ring true today."---Catherine Ramsdell, PopMatters"[Workers’ Tales] entries remain powerful in their ethical simplicity—conveying with force the moral urgency of the socialist critique and its continued relevance to the problem of societies that remain systemically unequal."---Luke Savage, Jacobin"[An] important collection."---Jon Klaemint Hofgaard, Peace News"Throughout, the tales in this collection exemplify themes and ideas related to work and the class system. . . . [A] beautiful volume." * Arab News *"[A] timely yet time-honored evocation of the enduring issues of inequality, injustice, and exploitation."---Simon Poole, Journal of Folklore Research"[T]his book will make you think, and it will make you want to share it with your friends so you can discuss it."---Tahlia Merrill Kirk, Once Upon a Blog"[An] excellent and charming anthology. . . . This is a fascinating introduction to a relatively unexplored area, and allthe more welcome for it."---Paul Cowdell, Folklore"These tales provide considerable insight into the life course, relationships, job experiences, and housing conditions of many people in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British working class."---Stephen H. Norwood, European Legacy

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Book SynopsisIn her dedication Safia Elhillo writes, “The January Children are the generation born in Sudan under British occupation, where children were assigned birth years by height, all given the birth date January 1.” What follows is a deeply personal collection of poems that describe the experience of navigating the postcolonial world as a stranger in one's own land.Trade Review"A taut debut collection of heartfelt poems."—Publishers Weekly"Safia Elhillo's triumph is not that she sings about novel love and heartbreak, but that she does so in an unforgettable voice."—Irene Mathieu, Muzzle"Safia Elhillo’s The January Children offers the reader a galaxy of Sudanese voices engaging individual and collective memory in a manner that not only introduces readers to the nuances that animate that ancient land of layered diversity, which lends this collection a collage-like quality that is as sublime in its coherence as it is revelatory in its execution."—Post No Ills Magazine“The first sound of what will be a remarkable noise in African poetry. Safia Elhillo has already laid out in this collection a complex foundation for a rich and complex body of work. What is unmistakable is her authority as a poet—she writes with great control and economy, but also with a vulnerability that is deeply engaging. Above all, her poems are filled with delight—a quality of humor that is never trite but always honest and insightful.”—from the foreword by Kwame DawesTable of ContentsForeword by Kwame Dawes Acknowledgments asmarani makes prayer vocabulary Sudan Today. Nairobi: University of Africa, 1971. Print. to make use of water [did our mothers invent loneliness or . . . ] while being escorted from the abdelhalim hafez concert application for the position of abdelhalim hafez’s girl abdelhalim hafez asks for references talking with an accent about home origin stories a brief history of silence the last time marvin gaye was heard in the sudan first interview for the position of abdelhalim hafez’s girl the lovers talking with an accent about home first adornment callback interview for the position of abdelhalim hafez’s girl bride price old wives’ tales date night with abdelhalim hafez first quarantine with abdelhalim hafez self-portrait with dirty hair watching arab idol with abdelhalim hafez self-portrait with the question of race second date abdelhalim hafez wants to see other people red moon night self-portrait with yellow dress others alternate ending [& what is a country but the drawing . . . .] late-night phone call with abdelhalim hafez republic of the sudan / ministry of interior / passport & immigration general directorate / alien from sudanese origin passcard talking with an accent about home talking with an accent about home (second take) second quarantine with abdelhalim hafez portrait with asylum talking to boys about abdelhalim hafez at parties biopic containing lies about abdelhalim hafez asmarani does psychogeography why abdelhalim self-portrait with lake nasser abdelhalim hafez asks who the sudanese are the part i keep forgetting talking with an accent about home (reprise) third quarantine with abdelhalim hafez final interview for the position of abdelhalim hafez’s girl self-portrait as abdelhalim hafez’s girl portrait with abdelhalim hafez with the question of race lovers’ quarrel with abdelhalim hafez portrait of abdelhalim hafez as orpheus glossary everything i know about abdelhalim hafez notes

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Book SynopsisThis book is a rehabilitation sensibility. It defines what we call sensibility or sensible life by defining the ontological status of images. It shows that images have an intermediate ontological status and exist in an autonomous sphere. It also explores our interactions with images in dream, fashion and language.Trade Review"La vita sensibile (2011) is Emanuele Coccia's first book to be translated into English. Rendered as Sensible Life: a micro-ontology of the image, it comes with an insightful prologue by Kevin Attell, and it belongs to the excellent "Commonalities" series edited by Timothy Campbell...Sensible Life is not a book about the ontology of the image in the pictorial or phenomenological sense, but an investigation into the metaxy of existence and being in the world." -- -Gerardo Munoz Infrapolitical Deconstruction Initiative "What Emanuele Coccia has done in Sensible Life is to create a path through which I might imagine myself-and all of us-richly obliged in the nature of the image, open to encounters that are not only of the material world, encounters that resonate as a whole that exists between the material, dematerial, psychological, and sociological spaces of things. Through Sensible Life, I partake in both the world I am in and the world I can see, whether in my mind, in my dreams, or on a glass slide. I want to do more with the layers of the world, more with the possibility of things manifested in my work." -- -Theaster GatesTable of ContentsI. Sensible Life II. Man and Animal III. Intentional Species Part I. Physics of the Sensible IV. The World of the Sensible V. Intermediaries VI. Mirrors VII. The Place of the Images VIII. The Image in the Mirror IX. Micro-ontology X. Transparency XI. The Multiplication of the Real XII. The Primacy of the Sensible XIII. Natural Theater XIV. The Unity of the World Part II. Anthropology of the Sensible XV. "Vita Activa XVI. Transforming Spirit into Sensation XVII. Medial Existence XVIII. Intentional Projections XIX. Becoming What One Sees XX. Losing Oneself in Images XXI. Dream XXII. The "Intrabody" XXIII. Being Constantly Elsewhere XXIV. Seeds XXV. Influences XXVI. On the Surface of the Skin XXVII. Metaphysics of Clothing XXVIII. Fashion XXIX. Making the World Our Skin XXX. The Body of Clothing XXXI. "Ethos" XXXII. Living in Images Notes

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Book SynopsisExplores Florida's colonial past, focusing particularly on interactions between maroons who escaped enslavement, and on Albery Whitman's The Rape of Florida, which also links Black people and Native Americans. Contributors consider film, folklore, and music, and key Black writers.Trade ReviewConvening a range of scholars of Florida’s African American literary and cultural history, Black Hibiscus offers a unique engagement with contemporary scholarship marked by clarity of vision and conceptual verve." - Keith Cartwright, professor of English at University of North Florida"Through interviews, first-person accounts, and traditional academic essays, Black Hibiscus disrupts typical racial and cultural narratives about Florida and shows the centrality of the Black experience to the state." - Julie Buckner Armstrong, author of Mary Turner and the Memory of Lynching

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Book SynopsisProvides the first in-depth study of the earliest attempts to make the sacred words of the Bible available to English readers, clerical and lay, in prose writing."This is a hugely valuable study - deeply informative about an important tradition of biblical translation from the early medieval period, bringing together material that has previously been considered in isolation, and drawing out a big-picture account of the ebb and flow of biblical translations into the vernacular. Will be a useful point of reference for any interested reader and includes surprises and delights for even the most specialist readers." Professor Jonathan Wilcox, University of IowaThe story of the English Bible begins not with the King James Version or Wycliffe but in the Old English period. Between the ninth and eleventh centuries, a remarkably diverse corpus of biblical translations, paraphrases, adaptations and summaries were produced in Old English. Yet while Old English biblical verse has been extensively studied, the much larger corpus of vernacular biblical prose remains neglected by historians of the Bible and medievalists. This book provides the first in-depth study of the genre. Dispelling the notion that access to the Bible was restricted to the Latinate clergy in the early medieval period, it demonstrates how Old English biblical prose made key elements of Scripture available and meaningful to laypeople. Through case studies of the Prose Psalms, Mosaic Prologue to the Domboc, Wessex Gospels, Heptateuch and Treatise on the Old and New Testaments, as well as many other works, it highlights the crucial contributions of well-known figures such as King Alfred and Ælfric of Eynsham while also showcasing the work of anonymous authors who translated, adapted and interpreted the Bible, sometimes in creative and surprising ways. Cumulatively, these case studies show how vernacular biblical prose played a central role in the emergence of English national identity before the Norman Conquest.This book is available as Open Access under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-ND.

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Book SynopsisInherited through the line of the berserker Angantýr and his war-loving daughter Hervor, the ever-lethal, shining sword Tyrfing and its changes of hands frame the uncanny story of The Saga of Hervor and Heiđrek. A second heroic saga, Hrólf Kraki and His Champions, recounts the daring deeds of the members and entourage of the ancient Danish house of Skjoldung. Passed down orally in pre-Christian Norse times, transmitted in writing in medieval Iceland, and here wielded by the hand of Jackson Crawford, the tales told in this volume retain their sharp edges and flashes of glory that never fail to slay.Trade Review"Hervarar saga and Hrólfs saga kraka are among the best of the Icelandic mythical heroic sagas and are both highpoints of medieval literature. Jackson Crawford’s new translation is eminently readable and with its accompanying Introduction and notes will serve as an excellent introduction to this fascinating material." —M. J. Driscoll, Professor of Old Norse Philology, University of Copenhagen"Jackson Crawford’s devoted readership will welcome this new translation of two lesser-known sagas, which in every way lives up to the standards his previous translations from Old Norse have set. These vivid 'sagas of ancient times,' or fornaldar sǫgur, will be of particular interest to teachers and students of Beowulf." —Martin Chase, Professor Emeritus of English, Fordham University"The two sagas of the title, Hervor and Heidrek and Hrolf Kraki and His Champions, need little comment here: while perhaps not well-known among sagas of the mythical type, they feature all the characteristics that make sagas entertaining and engaging reading, and also afford the reader a glimpse into the complexities of medieval family life, political rivalries, and the overall landscape of a still largely pre-Christian society. The quality of the translation, which successfully captures the poetry of the prose and the alliteration of its verse, is a testament to Dr. Crawford’s careful crafting of the original Old Norse into highly readable English, with the meticulous attention and skill evident in all his translations. Of at least equal interest to the reader, however, is Dr. Crawford’s Introduction to the texts. Without entering deeply into literary interpretation or analysis, Dr. Crawford provides a commentary the breadth and scope of which truly attests to his vast and comprehensive knowledge of not only the language and original texts, but also of the culture, history, values, and unique character of medieval Norse society. The Introduction identifies parallel texts and additional source materials, and includes a helpful list of resources for further reading; the notes on the language provide adequate explanation so as to be accessible to readers with no background in Old Norse, and the pronunciation guide is a useful addition. Overall, the Introduction is thorough in its information, covering a wide range of topics from observations about representations of women in the sagas to a commentary on poetic meter and stanzaic structure. While the sagas can be read and enjoyed without the benefit of reading the Introduction, the background and insight the reader gains through it serves to enrich the experience of reading the sagas, and is a valuable resource as an introduction to Old Norse sagas in general. With its fine balance of an informative Introduction and two exceptional saga translations, Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes: Hervor and Heidrek and Hrolf Kraki and His Champions is a publication that will appeal to both the novice and the experienced reader of Old Norse sagas." —Vicki J. Grove, Teaching Professor of Distinction, Russian and Nordic Programs, University of Colorado Boulder"[T]his accessible and affordable edition with its useful front and back matter offers a great introduction to the world of the fornaldarsögur. It is my hope that other, similarly accessible publications will follow."—Rebecca Merkelbach, University of Tübingen, in The Medieval Review "Jackson Crawford's works present Norse literature in a way that is engaging, approachable, and worth rereading multiple times . . . I highly recommend.” —Phillip Fitzsimmons, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, in Mythlore

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Book SynopsisQueer Cambridge recounts the untold story of a gay community living, for many decades, at the very heart of the British Establishment. Making effective use of chiefly forgotten archival sources ? including personal diaries and letters ? the author reveals a network that was in equal parts tolerant and acerbic, and within which the queer Fellows of Cambridge University explored bold new forms of camaraderie and relationship. Goldhill examines too the huge influence that these individuals had on British culture, in its arts, politics, music, theatre and self-understanding. During difficult decades when homosexuality was unlawful, gay academics ? who included celebrated literary and scientific figures like E. M. Forster, M. R. James, Rupert Brooke and Alan Turing ? lived, loved, and grew old together, bringing new generations into their midst. Their remarkable stories add up not just to an alternative history of male homosexuality in Britain, but to an alternative history of Cambridge itself.

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Book SynopsisWhen an essay is due and dreaded exams loom, this book offers students what they need to succeed. It provides chapter-by-chapter analysis, explanations of key themes, motifs and symbols, a review quiz, and essay topics. It is suitable for late-night studying and paper writing.

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Book SynopsisTable of Contents Part 1: Introducing Hamlet Part 2: Studying Hamlet Part 3: Characters and Themes Part 4: Structure, Form and Language Part 5: Contexts and Critical Debates Part 6: Grade Booster Essential Study Tools

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Book Synopsis“One of Woolf's most beloved novels, To the Lighthouse, finally gets a Norton Critical Edition. In Margaret Homans, To the Lighthouse has an ideal editor, for Homans brings her deep knowledge of the Victorian world Woolf portrays, her long admiration forTrade Review"Margaret Homans’ vision of To the Lighthouse is replete. A magnificent array of contexts complements the annotated text, including familial and literary sources for the novel; a chronology of its composition and reception; early reviews; and scholarly interpretations addressing gender, empire, and the role of the artist. The introduction considers the novel’s debt to philosophy, its structure and style, its revelation of the social changes wrought by World War I, and the effect of its Scottish setting. Having studied Woolf with Margaret Homans as an undergraduate, I am delighted that her thoughtful teaching is now widely available in this wonderful classroom edition." -- Emily Kopley, McGill University

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Book SynopsisTrade Reviewa real treasure. ... RLS at his most serious and playful. * Daily Telegraph Arts and Books section, 19 July 1997 *Table of ContentsThe Beach of Falesa; The Bottle Imp; The Isle of Voices; The Ebb-Tide; A Trio and Quartette; The Cart-Horses and the Saddle-Horse; Something In It.

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Book SynopsisWhat is narrative? How does it work and how does it shape our lives? H. Porter Abbott emphasizes that narrative is found not just in literature, film, and theatre, but everywhere in the ordinary course of people''s lives. This widely used introduction, now revised and expanded in its third edition, is informed throughout by recent developments in the field and includes one new chapter. The glossary and bibliography have been expanded, and new sections explore unnatural narrative, retrograde narrative, reader-resistant narratives, intermedial narrative, narrativity, and multiple interpretation. With its lucid exposition of concepts, and suggestions for further reading, this book is not only an excellent introduction for courses focused on narrative but also an invaluable resource for students and scholars across a wide range of fields, including literature and drama, film and media, society and politics, journalism, autobiography, history, and still others throughout the arts, humanities, and social sciences.Trade ReviewPraise for the second edition: 'This second edition of H. Porter Abbott's very widely used (and highly regarded) Introduction is even stronger than the first edition. The new edition includes two additional chapters, one on 'Narrative and Truth' and the other on 'Narrative Worlds,' which incorporate recent research by a range of scholars exploring the relevant issues, and, furthermore, the author has painstakingly reworked the entire volume to ensure accuracy, comprehensiveness, and clarity in its treatment of major trends in the study of narrative … What was true of the first edition is even more true of the second: this Introduction is not only an appropriate text for classes focusing on narrative - including advanced undergraduate and graduate classes in such (sub)disciplines as literary theory, film theory, communication studies, discourse analysis, women's and gender studies, history, comparative media studies, and critical legal theory - but also an invaluable resource for specialists.' David Herman, editor of The Cambridge Companion to NarrativePraise for the first edition: 'Abbott brilliantly zeroes in on the architecture of narrative with an exactness and bent for orderly exposition that utterly redeems his subject.' The Chronicle of Higher EducationPraise for the first edition: 'Anyone seeking a lucidly written guide to the study of narrative technique should turn immediately to H. Porter Abbott's Cambridge Introduction to Narrative.' Literature/Film QuarterlyPraise for the first edition: 'Directness, accessibility, and coherence distinguish this brief but comprehensive study of narrative … Most highly recommended.' ChoicePraise for the first edition: 'A lucid, practical, wide-ranging, and often original introduction to narrative, which will be extremely useful in undergraduate and graduate courses on literary theory and criticism. This is not a dry textbook, however; the reader is made aware of a real voice and of a fascination with the role of narrative across many areas of culture and beyond.' Derek Attridge, University of YorkTable of Contents1. Narrative and life; 2. Defining narrative; 3. The borders of narrative; 4. The rhetoric of narrative; 5. Closure; 6. Narration; 7. Interpreting narrative; 8. Three ways to interpret narrative; 9. Adaptation across media; 10. Character and Self in narrative; 11. Narrative and truth; 12. Narrative worlds; 13. Narrative contestation; 14. Narrative negotiation: conflict revisited; 15. Narrative negotiation: closure revisited.

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Book SynopsisPresents annotations to Joyce's classic that can inform any reading of "Ulysses". This volume includes annotations that gloss place names, define slang terms, give capsule histories of institutions and political and cultural movements and figures, supply bits of local and Irish legend and lore, and explain religious nomenclature and practices.Trade ReviewRecommended Text * James Joyce Centre, Dublin *"This sturdy, handsomely produced reference book is here to stay; we will use it, fill in its margins, rely on it, find fault with it. . . . Ulysses Annotated will be one of the most handy and most important critical tools we have, simply by virtue of its existence and availability. The Revised and Expanded Edition has been substantially enlarged and greatly improved. Many Joyceans have contributed to it; . . . No serious reader of Ulysses can neglect it." * James Joyce Quarterly *"Truly useful in its explanation of puns, jokes, foreign phrases, and a myriad of other items including many helpful glosses on terms belonging to the vernacular of Dublin. . . . Gifford's achievement remains a humbling one." * Modern Fiction Studies *Table of ContentsPREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (I974) THE NOTES AND THEIR USE INTRODUCTION NOTES FOR JOYCE'S Ulysses CONTENTS PART I. The Telemachiad EPISODE I. Telemachus EPISODE 2. Nestor EPISODE 3· Proteus PART II. The Wanderings of Ulysses EPISODE 4· Calypso EPISODE 5· Lotus-Eaters EPISODE 6. Hades EPISODE 7· Aeolus EPISODE 8. Lestrygonians EPISODE 9· Scylla and Charybdis EPISODE IO. The Wandering Rocks EPISODE II. Sirens EPISODE 12. Cyclops EPISODE I3. Nausicaa EPISODE I4. Oxen of the Sun EPISODE IS. Circe PART III. The Homecoming EPISODE I6. Eumaeus EPISODE I7. Ithaca EPISODE I8. Penelope APPENDIX: Rhetorical Figures in Aeolus INDEX

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Book SynopsisPatricia Meyer Spacks guides readers to a deeper appreciation of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood as they experience love, romance, and heartbreak. Sense and Sensibility: An Annotated Edition includes numerous color reproductions that vividly recreate Jane Austen’s world. This will be an especially welcome addition to the library of any Janeite.Trade ReviewIf you haven’t yet seen the Harvard University Press’s annotated Jane Austen series, prepare yourself for a major treat. This year Sense and Sensibility joins the other novels—Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Emma, and Northanger Abbey… The books are gorgeous. Notes and commentary in the broad margins enlighten and enrich the text and offer historic context without interfering with the narrative flow. Illustrations are plentiful and include everything from an old engraving of the Theatre Royal in London’s Drury Lane to a still from the Hugh Grant–Emma Thompson film version of the novel. Jane Austen lovers worldwide will cherish these books. * Christian Science Monitor *This series of annotated, illustrated classics from Harvard Press has become a lovely annual tradition. Over the years, the press has published annotated editions of The Wind in the Willows [and] The Picture of Dorian Gray (both annotated and uncensored!), and many others. Each one has been carefully and beautifully edited. The editors know what we like, though, and they have done more Jane Austen than they have anyone else; Sense and Sensibility: An Annotated Edition is the press’s fifth Austen book and is a worthy addition. It’s gorgeous to look at, with moire endpapers, illustrations from various editions of the book (as well as photographs of objects of the time, and paintings of contemporary well-known people), and, of course, the intelligent and abundant annotations, by scholar Patricia Meyer Spacks. -- Laurie Hertzel * Star Tribune *[Spacks] is particularly astute at contextualizing 19th century thought and ideas for a contemporary audience… For people returning to the novel, Spacks’ notes are quite illuminating, mostly serious, but occasionally fun… Spacks’ introduction and annotations indicate a person who has spent a considerable amount of time with the Dashwoods and their assorted friends and foes. This handsome edition is all the richer for it. -- Subashini Navaratnam * PopMatters *This annotated edition of Sense and Sensibility is a beautiful book, printed on acid-free, cream vellum paper with generous margins and woven bindings. It is an intelligent and enlightening literary companion, and an essential addition to any serious collection of Jane Austen’s works. -- Anna Creer * Sydney Morning Herald *The illustrations, literary commentary and definitions should be useful and interesting to any student of Jane Austen’s novels. -- Kathleen Elder * Austenprose *Harvard’s series of annotated Jane Austen works continues with this superb edition of Sense and Sensibility. What a boon to the student of Austen… Sense and Sensibility is my favorite Austen novel: this edition increased my enjoyment and understanding many times over. -- Joceline Bury * Jane Austen’s Regency World *With wit and wonderful attention to subtleties, and to often moving effect, Spacks guides the reader to a wider appreciation of this early Austen novel. -- Deidre Lynch, University of Toronto

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Book SynopsisFirst published in Taiwan in 1995, The Membranes is a classic of queer speculative fiction in Chinese. Chi Ta-wei weaves dystopian tropes—heirloom animals, radiation-proof combat drones, sinister surveillance technologies—into a sensitive portrait of one young woman’s quest for self-understanding.Trade ReviewNamed a Reviewer's Choice Best Book of 2021 * Tor.com *A Books of the Year 2021 selection * The White Review *Chosen as a Best Translated Book of 2021 * Words Without Borders *Books are all time-capsules, of course, but Chi’s novel offers an exquisite dual experience—because while The Membranes is a modern classic, it hasn’t lost an ounce of its provocative significance. As a gently incisive puzzle-box it works to pry at the readers’ own emotions about the nature of stories and how we’re made of them; as a novel of queer attachment, it explores how we attempt to connect to one another through endless membranes—and often fail to do so. * Tor.com *There’s something very timely about [The Membranes'] play with gender fluidity and the social construction of identity. There’s also something timeless about Chi’s future, because of how it bends and defies time itself. The novel is about how identity is a story we tell ourselves through time — or back through time. And that story, for Chi, is queer . . . English readers who finish it now, 25 years after it was first published, may regret finding it so late, and missing out on all the stories and selves we could have been, even as it seems like it’s been here the whole time. * Los Angeles Times *This rather astonishing science fiction novel is a powerful story about consciousness and connection with other people. It cuts right to the heart of our current moment by way of metaphor, but in a manner that is entirely Chi’s, and thus a new thing for English-language readers. What a surprising and exciting addition to science fiction and world literature. -- Kim Stanley Robinson, author of Red MarsWhat a breath of retro-fresh air! This wicked-smart cyberpunk throwback from the early days of networked digital culture presciently foregrounds issues of gender, embodiment, identity, and technology that have become all the more relevant over the quarter-century since its original publication. -- Susan Stryker, executive editor of TSQ: Transgender Studies QuarterlyReaders will notice prescient echoes of modern life in Chi’s depictions of all-absorbing media consumption and loneliness in the midst of hyper-connection . . . [T]his captivating novel is rich and rewarding. * Publishers Weekly *A fascinating new book. * MIT Technology Review *A mind-blowing book . . . I have NEVER read anything like it. * Literary Infatuation *The Membranes speaks as much to hard-core sci-fi fans seeking an exhilarating read as to regular readers who desire a moment of introspection. -- Stella Jiayue Zhu * Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing Book Review Network *The Membranes is a welcome addition to the small but growing ranks of international science fiction available in English translation, and is an excellent early example of climate fiction. * Booklist *A plunging submersible disguised as a novel—filled with incisive, inventive peculiarities. * Du Mois Archival Institute, 2021 Reading List Selection *It is almost unfathomable that, in 1995, Chi could have imagined a world so full of the terrors that technological rises inevitably bring, but he does and mostly to devastating effect. Chi’s project is large, as is his vision . . . it imagines the future like the best of our dystopian meditations. * South China Morning Post Magazine *Mind-blowing . . . This 1995 Taiwanese sci-fi with casual queer characters is a short read, but it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. Way after finishing the story, the questions it posed still linger, surely to haunt me for a long time to come. * Hsinju’s Lit Log *Chi is an excellent novelist and Momo’s story, with the unanswered questions, her mental state and the climate change issues and consequences, all help make this a first-class novel. * The Modern Novel *One of the most profound LGBTQ books of our time. * Books & Bao *An exploration of the contact zones between human and non-human consciousness, corporality, and identity. Reading it feels like peeling off the skin of a fruit, except that when it seems you are getting to the juicy flesh, it turns out to be only another veil—a membrane—and you’ve got to keep going. * Cha: An Asian Literary Journal *Effectively a modern fable, The Membranes creates a punk, dystopian novella set in the near future. It is ideal for anyone who wishes to immerse themselves in a queer future which interrogates the very nature of authentic humanism. * Saoirse Edits *The Membranes is a fascinating and beautifully conceived novel, deceptively simple and alluringly deep, smoothly mediated by the membrane of Heinrich’s excellent translation. -- Astrid Møller-Olsen * Xiaoshuo Blog *[The Membranes] lives up to its reputation as a classic of the genre . . . Compact enough to be read in an afternoon, the novella contains a plot so expansive that it will preoccupy the mind far longer. * Asian Review of Books *A slim, intelligent novella that ambitiously projects a militarised and corporate new world order in the rubble of environmental collapse, Chi’s brand of world-building is equally invested in envisioning new global formations as it is in attesting to emerging sexual subjectivities. It bristles with the emancipatory energy that characterises the novels coming out of post-martial-law Taiwan . . . Beneath its troubling view of a world plunged into crisis, there is still a hint of humanism in the novel’s belief that if selfhood is not an eternal truth but a queer fiction, then we must keep reading, writing, translating, pirating, photocopying, citing, and sharing ourselves into existence. * Asymptote *Whether as time capsule or prophecy, this novel holds up. -- Adam Wescott * Politics & Prose Staff Picks *Originally published in Chinese in 1995, this sci-fi novel is still able to sweep you off your feet . . . Boundaries are softened in this narrative in more than one sense and even 25 years after its debut in Taiwan, this classic of queer speculative fiction still gives us plenty of food for thought. * 24stories *The Membranes is an exceptionally well-conceived and turned science fiction story. Deceptively simple-looking on the surface, it is a truly impressive piece of work. * Complete Review *[This book] is so deliciously weird . . . The plot twist at the end is one of the best I’ve read. * Biblio Obscura *The Membranes rewards repeated reading, growing increasingly poignant as it builds toward its startling – and haunting – conclusion. * ABC News (Australia) *It’s the astonishing intimacy of Chi’s Wachowski-worthy plot twist (and for those who go on to read the book, note that The Membranes predates any Keanu Reeves-helmed cyberpunk by at least three years) that has me still mulling over this book. It’s not a twist that relies on shock and bombast. Chi’s modus here relies on gentleness, on familial love against all odds. Ari Larissa Heinrich does an excellent job translating these complicated plot elements into English, obscuring the truth while making us think we have everything plainly. -- Spencer Ruchti * Du Mois Monthly Newsletter *[I]t’s only when you see later on how all these ideas, old and new, gender-concerned and not, merge together, that the sheer power of this piece comes to the fore. The rug-pulling has been so subtle no seismometer would ever have sensed it, but by the end we’re upended by it all in quite dramatic fashion. * NB Magazine *In Ari Larissa Heinrich’s adept translation, the prose of this Taiwanese 1995 novella arrives direct and declarative, like the semi-confessional writing that internet users committed to sites like LiveJournal around that time. It’s short, propulsive, and deceptively approachable . . . The queer liberation we can read in The Membranes is that we each contain the freedom to define ourselves, using scraps of experience, story, and fantasy in and around us. Recognizing how malleable we are, we can reimagine ourselves as needed. It can be terrifying and vulnerable to let one’s certainties crumble, but in a world that limits or rejects you, it’s the only way to survive. * The World of Chinese *The world of The Membranes is one where consequential new freedoms cohabitate with climate destruction, hyper-corporatization, and militarization, encouraging the reader to dream big while staying vigilant. * Necessary Fiction *A classic that appeared far ahead of the current new wave science fiction in the Sinophone world, The Membranes remains a unique alterity in terms of genre-crossing and gender reflexivity. Chi’s beautiful, mesmerizing, provocative narrative creates a splendid labyrinth of metaphors and significances that leads to a revelation about the (post)human changeability in a matrix of monotonous inhumanity. -- Mingwei Song, coeditor of The Reincarnated Giant: An Anthology of Twenty-First-Century Chinese Science FictionAn extraordinary novella . . . at last available in English in a brilliant translation by Ari Larissa Heinrich. At just 134 pages, its scope is dazzling. Now, from the vantage point of the future, its playful and unsettling insights into digital saturation, the traps of consciousness and labor, and the fugitive fabulations of identity and the self, have only grown more profound. -- Chris Littlewood * The Paris Review Daily *The Membranes presents a future where possibility is not defined only by technologies and economics, where gender is fluid, families are chosen, and the narratives we construct for ourselves are part of what makes us human. -- Ruth Joffre * The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide *Trust me on this — if you have even the tiniest interest in storytelling, you want to read The Membranes. -- Deepanjana Pal * Dear Reader *A pitch-perfect meditation on medical advances, transplantation, advanced technology, loneliness, memory, and love. -- Rachel Cordasco * Strange Horizons *Chi’s rendering of certain surveillance and communications technologies is strikingly accurate. The novel offers a fin de siècle vision of a bleak future, while distilling kaleidoscopic influences into the textured intimacy of a mother-daughter tale that alternately reads as a quest for one’s origins. -- Mike Fu * Public Books *The Membranes (膜) is more than original. It’s extraordinary. -- Bradley Winterton * Taipei Times *The Membranes is not the novel that will teach readers how to deal with climate change. But it does, in its intimate way, show readers how we might live with it . . . [The book] is a climate novel not because it contends with catastrophe, but because it shows that everydayness has a way of proceeding alongside disaster. -- Ariel Chu * The Rumpus *An amazing, wild experience . . . It completely made me rethink the human experience and my grasp on reality. -- Chloe Gong * Viva Magazine NZ *It offers an original, entertaining, and fast-paced vision, translated from Chinese with perfect pitch, and can be pleasantly devoured in a single sitting. -- Josh Stenberg * Australian Book Review *The Membranes is a treasure in that it offers readers something new in each subsequent reading, and it is certain to increase in relevance as we move into our own future. -- Eleanor Keisman * Litro Magazine *The reading experience is like peeling back thin layers of truth, as each chapter reveals the darker and twisted realities that Momo inhabits. Like nesting dolls, or a dream inside a dream, each layer takes hold onto a sublimated anxiety of our collective consciousness. This book is a diamond, it’s a double edged sword, and it’s a bubble ripe to pop. -- Iris Tobin of A Room of One’s Own Bookstore * Literary Hub *An excellent, moving novel. -- Scott Manley Hadley * Triumph of the Now *Table of ContentsThe MembranesPromiscuous Literacy: Taipei Punk and the Queer Future of The Membranes, by Ari Larissa HeinrichAcknowledgments

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