Language: reference and general Books

Book Synopsis?The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter.? (Mark Twain)What?s the difference between: Nectar and ambrosia? Bough and branch? Astonished and surprised? Sensual and sensuous? Beside and besides? Many people use these words interchangeably but there are actually subtle and interesting differences in meaning and usage. Now from the author of Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge comes a fun and fascinating word reference book for word lovers, students, and trivia collectors alike. Readers will relish learning about these distinctions in this entertaining homage to a gift we use every day?words.

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Book SynopsisFletcher reveals how early modern science and English poetry were in many ways elements of one process: discovering the secrets of motion. Beginning with the achievement of Galileo, the book identifies the problem of motion as the central cultural issue of the time, pursued through the poetry, from Marlowe and Shakespeare to Ben Jonson and Milton.Trade ReviewThis meditation on the relation of literature and science in the late sixteenth and earlier seventeenth centuries is certainly in a class by itself. More than any other living literary critic, Fletcher brings a perspective on the world of letters that we might call Olympian. -- John Rogers, Professor of English, Yale UniversityA radically new kind of exploration, Time, Space, and Motion in the Age of Shakespeare is a profoundly original work by a major scholar, with considerable potential resonance for a wide range of contemporary discourse on such matters as science and poetry, imagination and belief. -- John Hollander, Sterling Professor of English Emeritus, Yale UniversityThe openness and clarity of Fletcher’s argument invites one to think of it not as another literary study but rather as an essay within an American tradition of public intellectual engagement. While Time, Space, and Motion in the Age of Shakespeare illuminates multiple intersections of thought and experience in the early modern period, it also manifests a lifetime of thinking about the challenges of contemporary civilization and the ways in which literature resonates with science. -- Kenneth Knoespel, McEver Professor in the Liberal Arts, Georgia Institute of TechnologyAngus Fletcher is an Orphic seer, a curious universal scholar of Renaissance vintage, a fusion of the best traits of Northrop Frye and Kenneth Burke, his true peers… His new book on Shakespeare, Marlowe, Donne, Milton, and so much more is a marvelous demonstration that cosmology, rhetoric, and psychology are not three entities but one. Here they fuse together with the magus Fletcher performing his superb critical alchemy. -- Harold Bloom, author of The Western CanonWhen was the last time you couldn't put down a book of literary criticism or didn't want it to end? Ever? In Time, Space, and Motion in the Age of Shakespeare, Angus Fletcher, a magically gifted teacher in whose presence we hear what thinking feels like, has given us not only a brilliant study of the early modern period but a handbook for our time as well...Quietly astounding observations punctuate his volume...Here is the critic as wizard, making us see what we have always seen but never seen before. -- Joan Richardson * Bookforum *Reading [Time, Space, and Motion in the Age of Shakespeare] is a bit like sharing a late-night conversation with a particularly brilliant, eloquent, digressive, athletically persuasive, and universally read colleague...Fletcher covers an astonishing amount of territory in this demanding, and rewarding, book. -- William N. West * Comparative Drama *Fletcher convincingly demonstrates what he calls ‘the predominant conceptual, scientific, metaphysical and hence philosophic power of the idea of motion for the poets of the early modern age’ …As a former student of Professor Fletcher at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, I have the advantage of imagining his voice and gestures, of remembering the kind of dumbfounding observations he would toss off seemingly out of nowhere as we students struggled to keep up with his incredible ability to think polysemantically. -- Anthony DiMatteo * College Literature *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Galileo's Metaphor 2. The Theme of Motion 3. On Drama, Poetry, and Movement 4. Marlowe Invents the Deadline 5. The Defense of the Interim 6. Structure of an Epitaph 7. Donne's Apocryphal Wit 8. Milton and the Moons of Jupiter Conclusion Notes Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA brilliant book. -- Vineeth Mathoor MetapsychologyTable of ContentsPart I. Chomsky 1. The Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden?, by Noam Chomsky 2. The Great Soul of Power: Said Memorial Lecture, by Noam Chomsky Part II. Introductions 3. Chomsky, France, Reason, Power, by Jean Bricmont and Julie Franck 4. An Interview with Noam Chomsky, by Jean Bricmont Part III. Linguistic Theory and Language Processes 5. The Varying Aims of Linguistic Theory, by Cedric Boeckx and Norbert Hornstein 6. Language, Thought, and Reality After Chomsky, by Gennaro Chierchia 7. Generative Syntax in the Brain, by Yosef Grodzinsky Part IV. Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of Mind 8. Learning Organs, by Charles R. Gallistel 9. Innateness, Choice, and Language, by Elizabeth Spelke 10. The Scope and Limits of Chomsky's Naturalism, by Pierre Jacob Part V. Chomsky and the Intelligentsia 11. Conspiracy: When Journalists (and Their Favorites) Misrepresent the Critical Analysis of the Media, by Serge Halimi and Arnaud Rindel 12. Noam Chomsky and the University, by Pierre Guerlain 13. The Practice of Intellectual Self-Defense in the University, by Normand Baillargeon 14. Chomsky, Faurisson, and Vidal-Naquet, by Jean Bricmont 15. Chomsky and Bourdieu: A Missed Encounter, by Frederic Delorca Part VI. Politics: Theory and Practice 16. Chomsky in France: The Resistance to Pragmatic Anti-Authoritarianism, by Larry Portis 17. Testimony, by Susan George 18. Truth, Balance, and Freedom, by Akeel Bilgrami List of Contributors

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA brilliant book. -- Vineeth Mathoor MetapsychologyTable of ContentsPart I. Chomsky 1. The Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden?, by Noam Chomsky 2. The Great Soul of Power: Said Memorial Lecture, by Noam Chomsky Part II. Introductions 3. Chomsky, France, Reason, Power, by Jean Bricmont and Julie Franck 4. An Interview with Noam Chomsky, by Jean Bricmont Part III. Linguistic Theory and Language Processes 5. The Varying Aims of Linguistic Theory, by Cedric Boeckx and Norbert Hornstein 6. Language, Thought, and Reality After Chomsky, by Gennaro Chierchia 7. Generative Syntax in the Brain, by Yosef Grodzinsky Part IV. Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of Mind 8. Learning Organs, by Charles R. Gallistel 9. Innateness, Choice, and Language, by Elizabeth Spelke 10. The Scope and Limits of Chomsky's Naturalism, by Pierre Jacob Part V. Chomsky and the Intelligentsia 11. Conspiracy: When Journalists (and Their Favorites) Misrepresent the Critical Analysis of the Media, by Serge Halimi and Arnaud Rindel 12. Noam Chomsky and the University, by Pierre Guerlain 13. The Practice of Intellectual Self-Defense in the University, by Normand Baillargeon 14. Chomsky, Faurisson, and Vidal-Naquet, by Jean Bricmont 15. Chomsky and Bourdieu: A Missed Encounter, by Frederic Delorca Part VI. Politics: Theory and Practice 16. Chomsky in France: The Resistance to Pragmatic Anti-Authoritarianism, by Larry Portis 17. Testimony, by Susan George 18. Truth, Balance, and Freedom, by Akeel Bilgrami List of Contributors

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewProse of the World is an enormously compelling and vivid study. It shows convincingly that the experience of colonial banality was a principal engine of literary modernism. Bringing a transnational perspective to the history of twentieth-century Anglophone fiction, Majumdar provincializes modernism by putting its aesthetic celebration of the ordinary into conversation with the geopolitics of crushing boredom. The result is an ambitious, timely, and eloquent account of the relationship between early-twentieth-century fiction and the contemporary global novel in English. -- Rebecca L. Walkowitz, Rutgers University, author of Cosmopolitan Style: Modernism Beyond the Nation This well-informed, searching study throws new light on the literary consequences of empire. Its insightful account of the experience of boredom and banality on the political and cultural periphery, and of writers' responses to this experience, will be valued by all those interested in the global transformations of modernism and the relation between artistic creativity and colonial hegemony. -- Derek Attridge, University of York There are many impressive things in this book: it provides us with a powerful rethinking of the vexed relationship between empire and modernism, an unprecedented probing of the internal logic of the modernist movement, and a smart meditation on the role of the ordinary and banal in the making of the language of modernism. -- Simon Gikandi, Princeton University Thorough and challenging, this study offers the reader... a new way of thinking about late-colonial modernist fiction's deployment of the banal... [and] offers a powerful if indirect commentary on the considerable failings of postcolonial modernity. Times Literary Supplement Highly recommended. Choice A timely contribution to global modernist and contemporary Anglophone literary studies... Provocative... [Prose of the World] will serve as a reference point for future discussions of modernist and contemporary literature. Contemporary Literature An ambitious and original study that is indispensable reading for any scholars of modernism and postcolonial studies. -- Adam Barrows The Comparatist This book provides a brilliant engagement with the topic from a previously largely ignored angle as it gives centre stage to the motifs of banality and its emotional corollary boredom by appraising a number of thoughtfully chosen texts Anthropological Notebooks A beautiful meditation on the relevance of the uneventful for modernist and postcolonial writing. Novel: A Forum on Fiction Prose of the World reminds us that while the everyday is always banal, it is not always boring. -- Priyasha Mukhopadhyay Interventions Saikat Majumdar's Prose of the World is an erudite, wide-ranging, and innovative study of Anglophone world literature that opens up an array of fundamental theoretical and methodological questions in literary studies. -- Pranav Jani James Joyce Quarterly Works such as these reenergize and alter our engagement with global literature. -- Celiese Lypka ARIELTable of ContentsIntroduction: Poetics of the Prosaic 1. James Joyce and the Banality of Refusal 2. Katherine Mansfield and the Fragility of Pakeha Boredom 3. The Dailiness of Trauma and Liberation in Zoe Wicomb 4. Amit Chaudhuri and the Materiality of the Mundane Epilogue: The Uneventful Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisVineland is hardly anyone’s favorite Thomas Pynchon novel. However, for Peter Coviello, the oft-overlooked book opens up new ways of thinking about Pynchon’s writing and about how we read and how we live in the rough currents of history.Trade ReviewA New York Times 'New & Noteworthy' pick * New York Times *Here is a mash note, a fan’s riff, a sizzling study of Pynchon’s most misapprehended book, as well as a persuasive argument for its prescience and relevance. Coviello writes with a generous spirit and vibrant clarity about the aesthetic and political stakes of Vineland, and of the novel in general, and traces with elegance and insight the ways Pynchon’s engagement with the central tensions of these last few American centuries shaped his narrative. But Vineland Reread is also a primer on how one can be both judicious and joyful in the act of criticism; rigorous on the one hand, but brave enough to double down on your affections, too. It shows us how to love a work of art honestly, communally. We need readers and thinkers like Peter Coviello now more than ever. -- Sam Lipsyte, author of HarkI don’t even particularly like Thomas Pynchon! But I could read Peter Coviello rereading Vineland for days, not least because I, too, return at regular intervals to a small set of novels to keep myself “attached to life,” in Coviello’s phrase. Chronicling that species of attachment, Vineland Reread traces Coviello’s readerly imagination of the past and future of the United States via Pynchon’s “novel-length calibration, keyed to unresigned comedy, of acute political grief.” The result is an account of literary experience that is as ethically and politically urgent as it is sparkling, vital, and fun to read. -- Gloria Fisk, author of Orhan Pamuk and the Good of World LiteratureWith his latest work, it becomes clear that Peter Coviello has achieved something rare: a literary analysis that both historicizes its object and overcomes an alienation between the subject and the object itself. Coviello—nearly alone among contemporary literary critics—joins in the project of his objects, making of them something more wonderful than they would be without his attention. We should be so lucky to be read by him. -- Jordy Rosenberg, author of Confessions of the FoxVineland Reread is a delight. Peter Coviello tells a sweet and joyous story about how to read and reread a treasured book, about how reading is an act that makes meaning, and about how that meaning anchors our lives. This is the rare work that will please everyone––scholars of Pynchon, readers of Vineland, adoring fans, and hardened skeptics––with gorgeous sentences that sparkle generously as they both describe and perform the best of what criticism is and can be. -- Jordan Alexander Stein, author of When Novels Were BooksThere’s no smarter or more generous guide than Peter Coviello to the experience of loving and living together with books and music. In this deft small volume, Coviello’s tender gregarious mind returns to Vineland, Thomas Pynchon’s awkward middle child of a novel. He finds there exemplary lessons in how even our first, bad readings help people build a sustaining social world. And he explains why such intimate sodalities coexist with the deep “political grief” caused by society’s submission to carceral capitalism. -- Matthew Hart, author of Extraterritorial: A Political Geography of Contemporary Fiction[A] penetrating and nuanced work of literary criticism. . . Coviello’s astute and passionate analysis is a pleasure to read. * Publishers Weekly *Coviello makes a convincing case for [Vineland]’s prescience, its subtlety, its loss-haunted history of America, and — above all, and most powerfully in this smart, funny, inventive passionate book — its syntactic joys. -- Steve Mentz * The Bookfish *The richness of Coviello's understanding of Vineland, the product of an intense engagement with the book across decades, along with his lively and extremely readable style, entirely drew me in. . . Embracing the wilful dissonance of the joyous and grief-stricken it identifies in Vineland, Coviello's Vineland Reread is itself by turns funny and moving. -- Joanna Freer * Textual Practice *Coviello openly embraces his directive to experiment with the boundaries of literary criticism . . . Combining [a] fresh voice with a few new points in apology for Vineland certainly provides ample tools for anyone who finds themselves in the position of wanting to justify the ongoing importance of Pynchon’s fourth novel. -- Michael O’Bryan * Orbit: A Journal of American Literature *In focusing on repeated readings that draw out more and more nuanced arguments as the book and its rereader grow older together, I found myself increasingly curious about Vineland, a book that had never found its way into my “to read” stack before . . . In Coviello’s hands, the “Rereadings” format offers a series of arguments not only about the book in question, but for it. -- Sarah Chihaya * American Literary History *Table of ContentsPrologue: Whatever’s FairPart I1. The Great Southcoast Plaza Eyeshadow Raid (’94)2. They Woke, the Thanatoids Awoke (’02)Part II3. Scabland Garrison State (’08)4. Secret Retributions (’19– ...)AcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisVineland is hardly anyone's favorite Thomas Pynchon novel. However, for Peter Coviello, the oft-overlooked book opens up new ways of thinking about Pynchon's writing and about how we read and how we live in the rough currents of history.Trade ReviewA New York Times 'New & Noteworthy' pick * New York Times *Here is a mash note, a fan’s riff, a sizzling study of Pynchon’s most misapprehended book, as well as a persuasive argument for its prescience and relevance. Coviello writes with a generous spirit and vibrant clarity about the aesthetic and political stakes of Vineland, and of the novel in general, and traces with elegance and insight the ways Pynchon’s engagement with the central tensions of these last few American centuries shaped his narrative. But Vineland Reread is also a primer on how one can be both judicious and joyful in the act of criticism; rigorous on the one hand, but brave enough to double down on your affections, too. It shows us how to love a work of art honestly, communally. We need readers and thinkers like Peter Coviello now more than ever. -- Sam Lipsyte, author of HarkI don’t even particularly like Thomas Pynchon! But I could read Peter Coviello rereading Vineland for days, not least because I, too, return at regular intervals to a small set of novels to keep myself “attached to life,” in Coviello’s phrase. Chronicling that species of attachment, Vineland Reread traces Coviello’s readerly imagination of the past and future of the United States via Pynchon’s “novel-length calibration, keyed to unresigned comedy, of acute political grief.” The result is an account of literary experience that is as ethically and politically urgent as it is sparkling, vital, and fun to read. -- Gloria Fisk, author of Orhan Pamuk and the Good of World LiteratureWith his latest work, it becomes clear that Peter Coviello has achieved something rare: a literary analysis that both historicizes its object and overcomes an alienation between the subject and the object itself. Coviello—nearly alone among contemporary literary critics—joins in the project of his objects, making of them something more wonderful than they would be without his attention. We should be so lucky to be read by him. -- Jordy Rosenberg, author of Confessions of the FoxVineland Reread is a delight. Peter Coviello tells a sweet and joyous story about how to read and reread a treasured book, about how reading is an act that makes meaning, and about how that meaning anchors our lives. This is the rare work that will please everyone––scholars of Pynchon, readers of Vineland, adoring fans, and hardened skeptics––with gorgeous sentences that sparkle generously as they both describe and perform the best of what criticism is and can be. -- Jordan Alexander Stein, author of When Novels Were BooksThere’s no smarter or more generous guide than Peter Coviello to the experience of loving and living together with books and music. In this deft small volume, Coviello’s tender gregarious mind returns to Vineland, Thomas Pynchon’s awkward middle child of a novel. He finds there exemplary lessons in how even our first, bad readings help people build a sustaining social world. And he explains why such intimate sodalities coexist with the deep “political grief” caused by society’s submission to carceral capitalism. -- Matthew Hart, author of Extraterritorial: A Political Geography of Contemporary Fiction[A] penetrating and nuanced work of literary criticism. . . Coviello’s astute and passionate analysis is a pleasure to read. * Publishers Weekly *Coviello makes a convincing case for [Vineland]’s prescience, its subtlety, its loss-haunted history of America, and — above all, and most powerfully in this smart, funny, inventive passionate book — its syntactic joys. -- Steve Mentz * The Bookfish *The richness of Coviello's understanding of Vineland, the product of an intense engagement with the book across decades, along with his lively and extremely readable style, entirely drew me in. . . Embracing the wilful dissonance of the joyous and grief-stricken it identifies in Vineland, Coviello's Vineland Reread is itself by turns funny and moving. -- Joanna Freer * Textual Practice *Coviello openly embraces his directive to experiment with the boundaries of literary criticism . . . Combining [a] fresh voice with a few new points in apology for Vineland certainly provides ample tools for anyone who finds themselves in the position of wanting to justify the ongoing importance of Pynchon’s fourth novel. -- Michael O’Bryan * Orbit: A Journal of American Literature *In focusing on repeated readings that draw out more and more nuanced arguments as the book and its rereader grow older together, I found myself increasingly curious about Vineland, a book that had never found its way into my “to read” stack before . . . In Coviello’s hands, the “Rereadings” format offers a series of arguments not only about the book in question, but for it. -- Sarah Chihaya * American Literary History *Table of ContentsPrologue: Whatever’s FairPart I1. The Great Southcoast Plaza Eyeshadow Raid (’94)2. They Woke, the Thanatoids Awoke (’02)Part II3. Scabland Garrison State (’08)4. Secret Retributions (’19– ...)AcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisThis volume brings together leading experts from a variety of fields to critically evaluate the extent to which global norms on freedom of expression and information have been established and which actors and institutions have contributed to their diffusion.Trade ReviewWill freedom of expression survive the twenty-first century? Bollinger and Callamard offer an essential primer on how the interpretation, violation, and defense of this core human right continue to evolve. In each essay, top experts address specific challenges and opportunities. This volume is required reading for anybody working to defend and protect free speech in today’s digitally networked world. -- Rebecca MacKinnon, author of Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet FreedomThis collection establishes a rigorous idea of global norms of freedom of expression. Headed by Lee C. Bollinger and Agnès Callamard, it is a rallying cry for continued attention to global norms of freedom of expression and a celebration of the global project of freedom of expression at Columbia. -- Monroe Price, author of Free Expression, Globalism, and the New Strategic CommunicationAt this existential moment when freedom of expression is under attack globally and the law weaponized to silence independent journalism, we need an authoritative public record of how free speech is protected as a universal human right and to be reminded of its many defenders globally. That’s what this volume provides: a sweeping, rigorous, and balanced compendium of the nature and extent of these protections and their key actors, grounded clearly in diverse viewpoints—a vibrant reminder that freedom of speech is ours to defend or lose. -- Maria A. Ressa, CEO and executive editor, RapplerRegardless of Frontiers explores the extent to which the global norms, values, and systems around free expression are under duress. And it is a timely reminder of the major implications, set against the background of how the free flow of information is facilitated in practice. -- Jonathan Peters, University of Georgia, press freedom correspondent for the Columbia Journalism ReviewU.S. teachers and researchers who are beginning to explore international communication law more closely and those who have been doing so for a while will learn a great deal from this book, including the ways that “soft power,” often undervalued in U.S. law, has considerable influence internationally. * Journalism and Mass Communication Educator *Table of ContentsPreface: The Idea of Global Norms of Freedom of Speech and Press, by Lee C. BollingerIntroduction: Regardless of Frontiers? Global Freedom of Expression Norms for a Troubled World, by Agnès CallamardFreedom of Expression and Three Concepts of the Global, by Frederick SchauerPart I: A Global Threshold1. Global Norms on Media Regulation: The Devil Is in the Detail, by Toby Mendel2. The Right of Access to Information Held by Public Authorities: Emergence as a Global Norm, by Sandra Coliver3. The Protection of Political Expression, by Nani Jansen Reventlow and Jonathan McCully4. International, Regional, and National Approaches to the Protection of Reputation and Freedom of Expression, by Peter Noorlander5. Is There a Global Norm for the Protection of Journalists’ Sources?, by Richard DanburyPart II: Intergovernmental Institutions and International Actors as Norm Entrepreneurs 6. The Norm Entrepreneurship of the United Nations, by Tarlach McGonagle and Emmanuel Vargas Penagos7. On “Balancing” and “Social Watchdogs”: The European Court of Human Rights as a Norm Entrepreneur for Freedom of Expression, by Jan Oster8. The Role of the Inter-American Human Rights System in the Emergence and Development of Global Norms on Freedom of Expression, by Catalina Botero-Marino9. The African Human Rights System: A New Actor of Normative Integration, by Catherine Anite10. Globalizing the Battle Against Impunity, by Joel Simon and Elisabeth WitchelPart III: Conflicts, Competition, Antiglobalization11. Norms in Conflict: The Restraints on the Emergence of a Global Free Speech Norm, by Agnès Callamard and Sejal Parmar12. Making Choices: Social Media Platforms and Freedom of Expression Norms, by Chinmayi Arun13. China, Information Technology, and Global Freedom of Expression: A Story of Sovereignty and Global Capitalism, by Séverine Arsène14. The Rise of Global Counternorms, by Alexander CooleyPart IV: Interactive Global Jurisprudence15. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, by Hawley Johnson16. Handyside v. the United Kingdom, by Amalie Bang17. Claude Reyes et al. v. Chile: A Global Trailblazer, by Sofía Jaramillo-Otoya18. Lohé Issa Konaté v. Burkina Faso: A Tipping Point for Decriminalization of Defamation in Africa, by Hawley Johnson19. Fast, Far, and Deep: The Journey of the Right to Be Forgotten, by Bach AvezdjanovList of ContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisIn the first comprehensive study of the birth of Japanese commercial publishing, Laura Moretti investigates the vibrant world of vernacular popular literature. She marshals new data on the magnitude of the seventeenth-century publishing business and highlights the diversity and porosity of its publishing genres.Trade ReviewMoretti’s volume is an excellent introduction to and survey of cheap print in seventeenth‐century Japan. It also offers a series of fascinating parallels and contrasts for the anglophone scholar of European book history. It is intensively researched, clearly written and clearly argued. Its dialogue is both with scholars of Japanese culture and with scholars working on cheap print more broadly. For the scholar of book history and of popular culture whose emphasis is predominantly European, this is an invaluable work. * Renaissance Studies *In this exemplary study, Laura Moretti challenges the conventional wisdom in her choice of texts (outside the literary canon), in her treatment of genres (as ‘porous’), and in her approach (comparative). Her book should appeal to students of comparative literature as well as to specialists on Japan. -- Peter Burke, author of Popular Culture in Early Modern EuropeThe world of popular literature is often dismissed by scholarship, but it is precisely within the mundane that we are able to catch a glimpse of the authentic. Only by taking didactic prose seriously can we discover how the intellectual elite’s ideas percolate down and influence the everyman. Moretti has put the study of early modern Japanese literature on an entirely new footing. -- Richard Bowring, author of In Search of the Way: Thought and Religion in Early-Modern JapanLaura Moretti is an intensely learned guide through a forest of underappreciated popular prose books. She shows how didactic texts shaped the lives and fantasies of Japanese across class lines during the early decades of print, forever changing our view of publishers, audiences, and their multiple literacies. -- Linda Chance, author of Ōoku: The Secret World of the Shogun's WomenDrawing on sources from etiquette manuals to literary works—and, tellingly, books that are both at once—Pleasure in Profit offers a nuanced portrait of popular publishing in seventeenth-century Japan, highlighting simultaneously its particularity and its echoes of European contexts. I can’t imagine a more lucid, approachable, and grounded treatment of the topic. -- Michael Emmerich, author of The Tale of Genji: Translation, Canonization, and World LiteraturePleasure in Profit is refreshingly ambitious in its framing, and Moretti skillfully treads the fine line between a meticulous academic work, and a book that can hold appeal to a wider audience. Among the detailed analysis there is for the modern reader—like the 17th-century Edo conduct-book reader—an opportunity for escapism: Moretti’s work transports a reader elsewhere and allows them, even briefly, to glimpse the world through another’s eyes. * Asian Review of Books *Moretti dismantles the age-old, simplistic contrast between what is entertaining or aesthetic versus what is instructive or didactic when she concludes that books that were issued for monetary gain provided their readers with the pleasures of other kinds of profit, such as the self-confidence and even joy that can come from learning new and useful things. This book is impressive in both scope and sophistication. Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews *What Moretti has given us is a magnificent guidebook through the maze of popular publications of the 17th century . . . Pleasure in Profit is a major work that not only successfully challenges traditional scholarship on this period but also offers both new information and new approaches to understanding early modern Japanese culture. * The Seventeenth Century *Highly sophisticated, thoroughly researched, and extremely well written . . . Moretti’s work pushes the boundaries of the early modern literary canon and challenges us to expand our notions of what it means to study and teach Japanese literature. * Monumenta Nipponica *Pleasure in Profit is a must-read for students of Japanese literature and of great relevance to specialists in early modern Japanese history and religion. * The Journal of Japanese Studies *This story compels us to reconsider what we know about the first century of popular literature in Japan and how we define literature in general. Much anticipated, Pleasure in Profit is poised to shake things up and inspire new directions for research on Edo-period literature and beyond. * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *[Moretti] has given us (to risk a pun) a totally novel reassessment of early Edo prose. And, it must be added, with numerous, sometimes quite long and always beautiful translated episodes, the modern reader does not just learn history better but can find pleasure and profit in these forgotten books, just as someone in the seventeenth century did. * Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote to ReadersIntroduction: Reclaiming the Great Unread1. The Culture of the Written Word2. The Publishing Business3. Negotiating the Way4. Civility Matters5. Say It in a Skillful Letter6. A Commitment to the Present7. The Triumph of PluralityEpilogue: WayfindingNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisIn the first comprehensive study of the birth of Japanese commercial publishing, Laura Moretti investigates the vibrant world of vernacular popular literature. She marshals new data on the magnitude of the seventeenth-century publishing business and highlights the diversity and porosity of its publishing genres.Trade ReviewMoretti’s volume is an excellent introduction to and survey of cheap print in seventeenth‐century Japan. It also offers a series of fascinating parallels and contrasts for the anglophone scholar of European book history. It is intensively researched, clearly written and clearly argued. Its dialogue is both with scholars of Japanese culture and with scholars working on cheap print more broadly. For the scholar of book history and of popular culture whose emphasis is predominantly European, this is an invaluable work. * Renaissance Studies *In this exemplary study, Laura Moretti challenges the conventional wisdom in her choice of texts (outside the literary canon), in her treatment of genres (as ‘porous’), and in her approach (comparative). Her book should appeal to students of comparative literature as well as to specialists on Japan. -- Peter Burke, author of Popular Culture in Early Modern EuropeThe world of popular literature is often dismissed by scholarship, but it is precisely within the mundane that we are able to catch a glimpse of the authentic. Only by taking didactic prose seriously can we discover how the intellectual elite’s ideas percolate down and influence the everyman. Moretti has put the study of early modern Japanese literature on an entirely new footing. -- Richard Bowring, author of In Search of the Way: Thought and Religion in Early-Modern JapanLaura Moretti is an intensely learned guide through a forest of underappreciated popular prose books. She shows how didactic texts shaped the lives and fantasies of Japanese across class lines during the early decades of print, forever changing our view of publishers, audiences, and their multiple literacies. -- Linda Chance, author of Ōoku: The Secret World of the Shogun's WomenDrawing on sources from etiquette manuals to literary works—and, tellingly, books that are both at once—Pleasure in Profit offers a nuanced portrait of popular publishing in seventeenth-century Japan, highlighting simultaneously its particularity and its echoes of European contexts. I can’t imagine a more lucid, approachable, and grounded treatment of the topic. -- Michael Emmerich, author of The Tale of Genji: Translation, Canonization, and World LiteraturePleasure in Profit is refreshingly ambitious in its framing, and Moretti skillfully treads the fine line between a meticulous academic work, and a book that can hold appeal to a wider audience. Among the detailed analysis there is for the modern reader—like the 17th-century Edo conduct-book reader—an opportunity for escapism: Moretti’s work transports a reader elsewhere and allows them, even briefly, to glimpse the world through another’s eyes. * Asian Review of Books *Moretti dismantles the age-old, simplistic contrast between what is entertaining or aesthetic versus what is instructive or didactic when she concludes that books that were issued for monetary gain provided their readers with the pleasures of other kinds of profit, such as the self-confidence and even joy that can come from learning new and useful things. This book is impressive in both scope and sophistication. Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews *What Moretti has given us is a magnificent guidebook through the maze of popular publications of the 17th century . . . Pleasure in Profit is a major work that not only successfully challenges traditional scholarship on this period but also offers both new information and new approaches to understanding early modern Japanese culture. * The Seventeenth Century *Highly sophisticated, thoroughly researched, and extremely well written . . . Moretti’s work pushes the boundaries of the early modern literary canon and challenges us to expand our notions of what it means to study and teach Japanese literature. * Monumenta Nipponica *Pleasure in Profit is a must-read for students of Japanese literature and of great relevance to specialists in early modern Japanese history and religion. * The Journal of Japanese Studies *This story compels us to reconsider what we know about the first century of popular literature in Japan and how we define literature in general. Much anticipated, Pleasure in Profit is poised to shake things up and inspire new directions for research on Edo-period literature and beyond. * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *[Moretti] has given us (to risk a pun) a totally novel reassessment of early Edo prose. And, it must be added, with numerous, sometimes quite long and always beautiful translated episodes, the modern reader does not just learn history better but can find pleasure and profit in these forgotten books, just as someone in the seventeenth century did. * Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote to ReadersIntroduction: Reclaiming the Great Unread1. The Culture of the Written Word2. The Publishing Business3. Negotiating the Way4. Civility Matters5. Say It in a Skillful Letter6. A Commitment to the Present7. The Triumph of PluralityEpilogue: WayfindingNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisEric Hayot argues that it is time to make a positive case for what the humanities are and what they can become. Humanist Reason lays out a new vision that moves beyond traditional disciplines to demonstrate what the humanities can tell us about our world.Trade ReviewEric Hayot writes so beautifully, and with such breathless command of a central epistemological dilemma, that the book’s excitement reaches well beyond the confines of German philosophy. Witty, thrilling, and even moving in the depth of its commitment, this short book is about nothing less than rethinking the university. -- William Germano, coauthor of Syllabus: The Remarkable, Unremarkable Document That Changes EverythingIn Humanist Reason, Eric Hayot brings a distinctive mix of chutzpah and erudition to bear on what have seemed to be intractable debates about the role of the humanities in public life, the organization of academic disciplines, and the future of higher education. With clarity of purpose, bravery, and admirable pragmatism, he calls not only for new thinking—but also for new action. -- Rebecca L. Walkowitz, author of Born Translated: The Contemporary Novel in an Age of World LiteratureThe history of the humanities is a catalogue of grand moral claims and ethical exhortations. The humanities shape souls, form democratic citizens, reveal a common humanity. They are said to do whatever they are needed to do for any given group at any given time. With pithy prose, careful argument, and obvious excitement, Hayot casts these mythological accounts aside in order to draw our attention on the practice of humanist reason. By focusing on what humanist scholars do and not what they or their self-appointed spokespeople say they do, he reminds us that whatever consolations and succor the humanities might afford, humanities scholarship is a distinct form of reason that helps us know, understand, and care for this world and the people and objects that constitute it. This book is not another anxious apology or resentful jeremiad about the decline of the humanities. This is a confident and liberating gift that shows us how and why to practice humanist reason now. -- Chad Wellmon, coauthor of Permanent Crisis: The Humanities in a Disenchanted AgeHumanist Reason proves that it is possible to launch a full-blown defense of the humanities that is centered not around discrete humanistic results or skills, but around what they contribute to the way in which we view and construct knowledge altogether. * 3 Quarks Daily *Students presently earning degrees in humanities and interdisciplinary studies will benefit from the situational awareness this text brings to the seemingly endless debates regarding the role of the humanities. But the book will be most useful to chairs, deans, and university leadership defending the liberal arts in the trenches. For them, Hayot’s innovative reorganization of undergraduate courses of study and his 'nine articles of humanist reason' will be excellent grist for the mill. * Choice Reviews *Hayot writes with the lucidity that matches his commitment to rational debate. He bravely threads the needle where others might stay vague. * Public Books *Challenges us to think anew about what it might mean to engage in a practice overtly identified as humanist reason. * German Quarterly *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Rise of Idiographism: Or the Origins of Humanist Metadiscourse2. The Future OF Singularity: Sentimental Value After Kant3. Articles of Reason: How Humanists Really (Ought to?) Think4. Classrooms, Universities, MethodsNotesWorks CitedIndex

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Book SynopsisTop Graduate Zhang Xie is the first extant play in the Chinese southern dramatic tradition and a milestone in the history of Chinese literature. Dating from the early fifteenth century, but possibly composed earlier, it relates the story of a talented scholar who sets off for the capital to take the imperial exams.Trade ReviewRegina S. Llamas brings a lifetime of research and a flair for literary nuance to the translation of Top Graduate Zhang Xie to let the reader experience why this play made for great theater. Her rendition beautifully captures the riotous fun of the original, and her introduction is a tour de force in its own right. -- Patricia Sieber, author of Theaters of Desire: Authors, Readers, and the Reproduction of Early Chinese Song-Drama, 1300-2000 The manuscript copy of Zhang Xie zhuangyuan is our only surviving complete example of a full-length southern play preceding the fifteenth century. It is a marvelous comedy, parodying all the conventions it employs. This sparkling translation by Llamas includes an extensive introduction that provides a detailed and critical discussion of the play and its genre. -- Wilt L. Idema, author of The Resurrected Skeleton: From Zhuangzi to Lu XunHaving a complete English translation of Top Graduate Zhang Xie gives students and comparatists a far more comprehensive view of this performance form than ever before. Llamas’s introduction and notes authoritatively situate the play historically, culturally, and in terms of textual creation and transmission. This is an excellent addition to the Translations from the Asian Classics series. -- Robert E. Hegel, cotranslator of A Couple of Soles: A Comic Play from Seventeenth-Century ChinaTop Graduate Zhang Xie leaves the audience in stitches (or, as the Chinese would rather say, unstitched), while experts cherish it as a key to early Chinese theater lost in oblivion. Llamas brings these two worlds together with her vivid translation and erudite scholarship on the centennial of the play’s rediscovery. -- Ling Hon Lam, author of The Spatiality of Emotion in Early Modern China: From Dreamscapes to TheatricalityRegina S. Llamas' translation reads well, and Top Graduate Zhang Xie is a consistently entertaining play . . . This edition — with its lengthy, thorough Introduction — is a fine introduction to Chinese drama for those new to it. * Complete Review *Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction by Regina S. LlamasTop Graduate Zhang XieAppendix I. Dramatis PersonaeAppendix II. Synopsis of ActsAppendix III. Roles in ActsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisTop Graduate Zhang Xie is the first extant play in the Chinese southern dramatic tradition and a milestone in the history of Chinese literature. Dating from the early fifteenth century, but possibly composed earlier, it relates the story of a talented scholar who sets off for the capital to take the imperial exams.Trade ReviewRegina S. Llamas brings a lifetime of research and a flair for literary nuance to the translation of Top Graduate Zhang Xie to let the reader experience why this play made for great theater. Her rendition beautifully captures the riotous fun of the original, and her introduction is a tour de force in its own right. -- Patricia Sieber, author of Theaters of Desire: Authors, Readers, and the Reproduction of Early Chinese Song-Drama, 1300-2000 The manuscript copy of Zhang Xie zhuangyuan is our only surviving complete example of a full-length southern play preceding the fifteenth century. It is a marvelous comedy, parodying all the conventions it employs. This sparkling translation by Llamas includes an extensive introduction that provides a detailed and critical discussion of the play and its genre. -- Wilt L. Idema, author of The Resurrected Skeleton: From Zhuangzi to Lu XunHaving a complete English translation of Top Graduate Zhang Xie gives students and comparatists a far more comprehensive view of this performance form than ever before. Llamas’s introduction and notes authoritatively situate the play historically, culturally, and in terms of textual creation and transmission. This is an excellent addition to the Translations from the Asian Classics series. -- Robert E. Hegel, cotranslator of A Couple of Soles: A Comic Play from Seventeenth-Century ChinaTop Graduate Zhang Xie leaves the audience in stitches (or, as the Chinese would rather say, unstitched), while experts cherish it as a key to early Chinese theater lost in oblivion. Llamas brings these two worlds together with her vivid translation and erudite scholarship on the centennial of the play’s rediscovery. -- Ling Hon Lam, author of The Spatiality of Emotion in Early Modern China: From Dreamscapes to TheatricalityRegina S. Llamas' translation reads well, and Top Graduate Zhang Xie is a consistently entertaining play . . . This edition — with its lengthy, thorough Introduction — is a fine introduction to Chinese drama for those new to it. * Complete Review *Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction by Regina S. LlamasTop Graduate Zhang XieAppendix I. Dramatis PersonaeAppendix II. Synopsis of ActsAppendix III. Roles in ActsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisIn the early eighteenth century, the noblewoman Ōgimachi Machiko composed a memoir of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, the powerful samurai she had served as a concubine for twenty years. Elegant, poetic, and revealing, In the Shelter of the Pine is the most significant work of literature by a woman of Japan’s early modern era.Trade ReviewG. G. Rowley’s elegant translation captures the graceful rhythms of Machiko’s prose, enabling us to step inside this unimaginably different era and see Machiko’s world through her own eyes. -- Lesley Downer * Times Literary Supplement *A graceful translation of an eighteenth-century classic, In the Shelter of the Pine introduces readers to a world in which little girls grind their fathers’ ink, concubines write elegant prose, and an ambitious man—the author’s husband—defies social convention to rise in the world. -- Amy Beth Stanley, author of Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World[In the Shelter of the Pine] is a work following a long tradition of Japanese women adding colour and detail to the often dull male official histories. Machiko speaks to us across three centuries, telling of the events of official history and the oft overlooked details of private lives. Given the way she does so, I’m sure many readers out there will be interested in hearing what she has to say. * Tony's Reading List *Overall, this is a treasure-trove of information about life and politics in 17-18th century Japan....This translation is extremely well executed in terms of the beauty and precision of the language, clarity and flow of thoughts, and materials added to explain what it all signifies. * Pennsylvania Literary Journal *This is an enormously important work, wonderfully translated and annotated. Not only is it one of the few lengthy memoirs written by a woman during the Tokugawa period, it offers the reader insight into daily life, sociopolitical networks, and the symbolic and practical manifestations of power during the reign of the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. -- Marcia Yonemoto, author of The Problem of Women in Early Modern JapanG. G. Rowley’s sparkling translation of Ōgimachi Machiko’s memoir reveals Machiko’s experience as a woman of great learning, sensitivity, and taste whose study of the Japanese classics thoroughly informed her writing. Despite her use of a classical idiom, one has the strong sense that she is writing of her own place in the scheme of Edo period society. The book will be a must-read for all students of Edo history, government, and literature. -- Steven Carter, author of How to Read a Japanese PoemWritten by a noblewoman in Edo and elegantly translated by G. G. Rowley, this unique memoir illustrates how shogun Tsunayoshi and his attendant Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu brought noblewomen from Kyoto into their households and used them as conduits for courtly cultural capital that they employed for diplomatic and political ends. -- Anne Walthall, editor of Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World HistoryBeautifully and sensitively translated . . . In the Shelter of the Pine gives us a portrait of a highly-refined, structured and rather formal world, brought to life for us by a learned and delightful guide, who navigates that world with ease and charm. -- John Butler * Asian Review of Books *For its combination of detailed narration and literary complexity, In the Shelter of the Pine is valuable both as a source of information on the lives of Japanese elites in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, as well as being a work of literature that will be of interest to students of narrative historiography, memoirs, and women’s writing in Japanese and in world history. The translation represents the fruits of many years of careful research into a highly complex text and historical period, yet wears its erudition lightly and will be accessible to undergraduate students as well as to seasoned researchers. -- Rebekah Clements * Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies *An enjoyable, fascinating record of power relations and gender dynamics in a daimyo household as seen through the eyes of a woman. -- Laura Nenzi * H-Japan *Those interested in issues of self-representation and the generic conventions of memoir writing will welcome this translation as a rich resource for comparison. -- Bettina Gramlich-Oka * Japan Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction, by G. G. RowleyPrincipal Characters1. Musashi Moor: From Ages Past Through the Winter of 16902. In Traveler’s Garb: 1691, Spring to Summer3. Ages Past: Summer 1691 Through Spring 16924. The Truth of the Buddha’s Law: Summer 1692 Through Spring 16945. A Thousand Springs: Summer 1694 to Spring 16966. The End of the Year: 1696, Spring Through Winter7. Spring Pond: 1697, Spring Through Winter8. Lamp of the Buddha’s Law: 1698, Spring to Autumn9. From the Shores of Japanese Poetry: Autumn 1698 to Autumn 170010. Chinese Robe: Autumn 1700 Through the Fourth Month of 170111. Visitors Awaiting Flowers: 1701, Summer to Winter12. Towering Pine: Winter 1701 to Spring 170213. Villa Amid Mountain Cherries: 1702, Spring to Summer14. Noble Oak: 1702, Summer Through Autumn15. Hills and Streams: Winter 1702 to Spring 170316. Autumn Clouds: 1703, Spring to Autumn17. Moon of Old: 1703, Autumn to Winter18. A Tree Deep in the Mountains: 1703, Eleventh Month Through 1704, Third Month19. A Bond with the Blossoms: 1704, Spring to Winter20. Celebratory Cane: Winter 1704 Through Spring 170521. Mountain of Dreams: Summer 170522. Records of Enlightenment: 1705, Autumn Through Winter23. The Grand Courtier: 1706, Second and Third Months24. Garden of the Six Styles: 1706, Summer Through Winter25. House for a Thousand Ages: 1707, Spring to Autumn26. Two Pines: Autumn 1707 Through Summer 170827. Binding Sash: 1708, Autumn Through Winter28. Blessed Dew: 1709, New Year Through the Second Month29. Path of the Kindling Cutter: Spring 1709 Through the Eighteenth of the Sixth Month30. Moon and FlowersGlossaryAbbreviationsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisHow choosing a language created a peopleTrade ReviewAwarded the Frank Moore Cross Award, presented by the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), 2010. Finalist in Scholarship category of the 2009 National Jewish Book Awards. "An important monograph that synthesizes much previous work yet arrives at an original and provocative understanding of the influence of the development of the Hebrew script and its associated scribal culture on the formation of biblical literature."--H-Judaic"Illuminating the enduring stakes of biblical writing, Sanders demonstrates how Hebrew assumed and promoted a sourse of power previously unknown in written literature: 'the people' as the protagonist of religion and politics."--Shofar"Revolutions in scholarship do not usually begin with new discoveries, but with new ways of looking at long-known facts. Whether this is still possible in biblical studies is the question. . . . But the realization is dawning that Seth Sanders has done something special."--Nederlands Dagblad"Sanders's analysis of West Semitic epigraphic sources moves significantly beyond philological analysis (without leaving it behind) to engage philosophy, political and social theory, and religious studies more broadly. . . . His ability to scour the epigraphic record for evidence of social history and to set his findings in such a broad intellectual framework is a major contribution. . . . This book will remain extremely valuable for the way it conceptualizes the creation of biblical literature in new ways and in light of largely unmined data."--Journal of Religion"A thought-provoking social history of writing, combining philology, anthropology, and political theory. Sanders's overarching claim is that the rise of written vernacular forms in the Iron Age Levant--ultimately, the Bible itself--signals a new mode of political communication, one that introduced a new actor into history, namely, the people. . . . Sanders's central thesis is compelling and important."--Shofar"Nearly every page of this book contains gems of epigraphic interpretation: from an illuminating study of the Ugaritic ritual of national unity in relation to the biblical scapegoat ritual to elucidating treatments of the bureaucratically useless Gezer calendar and the politically significant morphology of the letter yod."--Journal of the American Oriental Society"An absolutely innovative way of reading the use of ancient Hebrew for generating political identity and for understanding the Hebrew Bible itself. It is refreshing to see such profound insight and analyses come out of material that has otherwise not received substantial recognition of its cultural and political importance."--Mark S. Smith, author of God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World"Sanders takes familiar, long-studied material and makes new knowledge. He treats biblical Hebrew as a political phenomenon, exploring how language and especially its written form were employed in the creation of an imagined community--a nation--in the course of ancient Israel's history."--Eva von Dassow, author of State and Society in the Late Bronze Age: Alalah under the Mittani EmpireTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Preface xi Acknowlegments xv Abbreviations xvii Introduction 1 1. Modernity's Ghosts: The Bible as Political Communication 13 2. What Was the Alphabet For? 36 3. Empires and Alphabets in Late Bronze Age Canaan 76 4. The Invention of Hebrew in Iron Age Israel 103 Conclusion 157 Notes 173 Bibliography 225 Index 251

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The best book I've read on women in broadcasting... It details the incredible struggle women have faced in what some consider a leadership industry." -- Larry King, USA Today. "Marlene Sanders got there first. No woman has had to struggle harder to crack the all-white, all-male olympus of network television, which regarded women first as interlopers and then as ornaments. There are still no women holding positions of real power at the top levels of network broadcasting, but that women are finally recognized as first-rate professionals is due in no small part to the path-breaking courage of Marlene Sanders. Her book is a stirring story of a gallant fight that is yet to be won." -- Bill Moyers

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Book SynopsisHow choosing a language created a peopleTrade ReviewAwarded the Frank Moore Cross Award, presented by the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), 2010. Finalist in Scholarship category of the 2009 National Jewish Book Awards. "An important monograph that synthesizes much previous work yet arrives at an original and provocative understanding of the influence of the development of the Hebrew script and its associated scribal culture on the formation of biblical literature."--H-Judaic"Illuminating the enduring stakes of biblical writing, Sanders demonstrates how Hebrew assumed and promoted a sourse of power previously unknown in written literature: 'the people' as the protagonist of religion and politics."--Shofar"Revolutions in scholarship do not usually begin with new discoveries, but with new ways of looking at long-known facts. Whether this is still possible in biblical studies is the question. . . . But the realization is dawning that Seth Sanders has done something special."--Nederlands Dagblad"Sanders's analysis of West Semitic epigraphic sources moves significantly beyond philological analysis (without leaving it behind) to engage philosophy, political and social theory, and religious studies more broadly. . . . His ability to scour the epigraphic record for evidence of social history and to set his findings in such a broad intellectual framework is a major contribution. . . . This book will remain extremely valuable for the way it conceptualizes the creation of biblical literature in new ways and in light of largely unmined data."--Journal of Religion"A thought-provoking social history of writing, combining philology, anthropology, and political theory. Sanders's overarching claim is that the rise of written vernacular forms in the Iron Age Levant--ultimately, the Bible itself--signals a new mode of political communication, one that introduced a new actor into history, namely, the people. . . . Sanders's central thesis is compelling and important."--Shofar"Nearly every page of this book contains gems of epigraphic interpretation: from an illuminating study of the Ugaritic ritual of national unity in relation to the biblical scapegoat ritual to elucidating treatments of the bureaucratically useless Gezer calendar and the politically significant morphology of the letter yod."--Journal of the American Oriental Society"An absolutely innovative way of reading the use of ancient Hebrew for generating political identity and for understanding the Hebrew Bible itself. It is refreshing to see such profound insight and analyses come out of material that has otherwise not received substantial recognition of its cultural and political importance."--Mark S. Smith, author of God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World"Sanders takes familiar, long-studied material and makes new knowledge. He treats biblical Hebrew as a political phenomenon, exploring how language and especially its written form were employed in the creation of an imagined community--a nation--in the course of ancient Israel's history."--Eva von Dassow, author of State and Society in the Late Bronze Age: Alalah under the Mittani EmpireTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Preface xi Acknowlegments xv Abbreviations xvii Introduction 1 1. Modernity's Ghosts: The Bible as Political Communication 13 2. What Was the Alphabet For? 36 3. Empires and Alphabets in Late Bronze Age Canaan 76 4. The Invention of Hebrew in Iron Age Israel 103 Conclusion 157 Notes 173 Bibliography 225 Index 251

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewBest Edited Collection Award, Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), 2015-2016. "A vivid picture of the vital, essential, and fundamental role that infrastructure plays in the mediation of our world. . . . With an all-star lineup of media scholars engaging with cutting-edge technology from a range of intellectual approaches, Signal Traffic doesn't just offer an important and timely contribution to the study of media, but also makes a powerful argument for the central role that issues of distribution play in the circuit of culture; it leaves the reader with a strong sense that media scholarship can no longer ignore the material infrastructures at the heart of our media systems." --Information Society"This highly original and thought-provoking volume does a good job of pointing out the remaining gaps in the field and makes a strong case for considering distribution from technological, economic, and political standpoints." --European Journal of Communication"Finally, a definitive collection on infrastructure studies. Moving from compression to geopolitics to platforms, this book crystalizes what's at stake in moving media studies away from focusing on what appears on our screen towards how content travels and, through this movement, is shaped and re-shaped in profound ways."--Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, author of Control and Freedom: Power and Paranoia in the Age of Fiber Optics"The first and only collection of its kind I know. This book is going to be a big deal, both nationally and internationally." --Vicki A. Mayer, author of Below the Line: Producers and Production Studies in the New Television Economy"In an age when we are led to believe that information and communication are virtual rather than material, Signal Traffic provides a much-needed corrective, reminding us that behind the pixels and mp3s lie extensive and complex infrastructures that shape how we inhabit the emerging media environment. This book revives the tradition of critical attention to material infrastructure in media and communication studies, and not a moment too soon."--Darin Barney, author of The Network Society

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Book SynopsisWhat Is a Book? is an introduction to the study of books produced during the period of the hand press, dating from around 1450 through 1800.Trade Review"Joseph Dane's What Is a Book? is a remarkable introduction to the study of books as physical objects. It is at once impressively learned and endearingly personal, displaying the fundamental characteristics of all of Dane's work: careful observation, rigorous thinking, and clear and energetic writing. Dane demonstrates what a book is, how it was made, and, perhaps most importantly, how its materiality gives witness to various histories that complicate and enrich our sense of what books mean and why they matter." —David Scott Kastan, Yale University"Joseph A. Dane is one of our most brilliant and prolific scholars of the early book, and this volume culminates a lifetime of research. For the general reader, it will offer a compelling survey of book history and book making. For the specialist, it will offer insights into the techniques of printers and the lives of collectors. For anyone concerned with how we read the past, and for anyone fascinated by the book as typographical artifact, What Is a Book? will be deeply valued. As Dane himself says in his introduction, 'never close a book without knowing more than you did before opening it.' I never close a book of his without knowing more than when I opened it, and this one is no exception." —Seth Lerer, University of California at San Diego"Written with wit and acuity, Joseph A. Dane's What Is a Book? extends his project of teaching aspects of book history to the specialist and nonspecialist reader alike. Both will be stimulated and provoked by what Dane writes, and will also enjoy his arguments and admire the breadth and depth of his knowledge." —Henry Woudhuysen, University College London“. . . contributes to the scholarly field by providing a concise narrative introduction to a field which is inundated by works with similar goals. Used in conjunction with other texts, it certainly will provide a preliminary engagement with somewhat technical language and issues surrounding the field of bibliography.” —Comitatus“Dane turns to typography, illustrations, bindings, and other page-surface specific aspects of the book, which could have been written only by a person who had spent a lifetime examining books and investigating the methods for transferring ink to paper. He is especially good (and personable) on the provenance of books and the way owners leave marks on them.” —SHARP News“. . . an introduction to the material aspect of Western printed books from the fifteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Though this is a well-worked topic, Dane offers a contribution that exhibits several exceptional strengths. . . . Readers also will be pleased with Dane’s discussion of books in digital format and will welcome the extensive bibliography. The subject matter may be old, but the treatment is very up-to-date.” —Choice“Dane writes with a clarity that will make this book useful to beginning students, yet with a wealth of examples that can instruct the most experienced scholar. At each stage the book is peppered with warnings about common errors and misconceptions that make it lively reading indeed.” —Sixteenth Century Journal

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Book SynopsisSahaptin, or Ichishkiin Sinwit is a Plateau Penutian language spoken in south-central Washington and northern Oregon. This dictionary documents the dialect of Sahaptin that is spoken by the Yakama people. It contains three sections: a Sahaptin-English section; an English-Sahaptin section; and, a section listing roots used in the Sahaptin words.Trade Review"This useful, beautiful, and important contribution to the maintenance and documentation of the Sahaptin language should be of great use to those interested in anthropology, history, and linguistics in general. Useful to anyone, of any age or education level, with an interest in the language or culture of the Yakama people. Highly recommended." * Choice *

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Book SynopsisIincludes over 9,000 entries, a grammatical sketch, and numerous indexes, along with a wealth of cultural informationTrade Review". . . this dictionary represents a seminal contribution to pedagogy and to future scholarly studies of the language. The compiler's achievement embodies the best results of linguistic documentation in the modern context of language revitalization. Highly recommended." * Choice *"Timothy Montler’s Klallam Dictionary is much more than a listing of words in Klallam and English. It is a beautiful, solid volume of information that has potential to be useful to a wide range of people…. from historians and language learners and teachers to linguists." -- Suzanne Urbanczyk * BC Studies *"Klallam people from all over the Peninsula and beyond turned out for a recent signing ceremony for the dictionary in Port Angeles. Some cradled the book like a baby. Many already had decided where such an important book would be kept in their home. . ." * Lynda Mapes *"The new Klallam Dictionary— celebrated at the gathering of Klallam people from Elwha, Jamestown, and Port Gamble— holds the future of the language. And it holds a lot of history." -- Richard Walker * North Kitsap Herald *Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Contributing Native-Speaking Elders A Brief Introduction to the Klallam Language The Klallam Sounds The Klallam Word The Klallam Sentence About the Dictionary Organization of Entries Example Entry List of Abbreviations References Klallam-English Dictionary English-Klallam Index Klallam Affix Index Prefixes Suffixes Lexical Suffixes Klallam Root Index

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Book SynopsisKlallam is the language of the Lower Elwha Klallam, Port Gamble S'Klallam, and Jamestown S'Klallam Tribes. It is spoken on the north shore of Washington's Olympic Peninsula from the Strait of Juan de Fuca inland into the mountains, Vancouver Island's Becher Bay, and other small adjacent islands. An endangered language, Klallam is being revived through the Klallam Language Program. Together with the comprehensive Klallam Dictionary, this pedagogically oriented reference grammar thoroughly documents the Klallam language, providing a resource to linguistic scholars as well as to the Klallam people that will ensure their language survives. A multi-decade collaboration between linguist Timothy Montler and elders, educators, and tribal councils, the grammar progressively covers all the major grammatical constructions and processes of word formation. The Klallam Grammar significantly enriches our understanding of the Klallam language and culture.Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments A Historical Timeline of Work on the Klallam Language Introduction Part 1: The Klallam Alphabet and Sounds Part 2: Basics Part 3: Klallam Grammar Conclusion Appendixes A-M Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe complete diaries that Ivan Maisky, Soviet ambassador to London, kept between 1932 and 1943Trade Review“Gabriel Gorodetsky’s edition [of the diaries] — abridged and unabridged — is a work for the ages.”—Niall Ferguson, The New York Times Book Review, “By the Book” column“This three-volume work reprints Gorodetsky’s introduction and conclusion, with occasional revisions, and adds useful historiographical or contextual endnotes and a bibliography”– Michael Jabara Carley, The Slavonic and East European Review“[A] gripping read...Not only do they take the reader through the momentous and fateful years between 1932 and 1943 when Ivan Maisky was Ambassador to the British Court St James’s, but they demand our attention with a new perspective on the whole period.”—Anne Deighton, H-Diplo Roundtable [Journal]

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Book SynopsisA WORKBOOK to Help You Learn the Essentials of Biblical Greek So You Can Study the New Testament More DeeplyThe Greek for the Rest of Us Workbook is a companion to Greek for the Rest of Us, Third Edition (sold separately) by William D. Mounce. This workbook provides exercises to help readers practice and review, so they learn the essentials of biblical Greek more effectively and can study the New Testament more deeply.Greek for the Rest of Us, Third Edition is crash-course on Greek for the rest of us that acquaints the reader with the essentials of the language so they can study the New Testament more deeply. Readers will gain a sound knowledge of the fundamentals of Greek and learn how to use tools that will add muscle to their Bible studies.Readers using the Greek for the Rest of Us Workbook in conjunction with Greek for the Rest of Us, Third Edition will learn to:Read and pronounce Gree

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Book SynopsisThis book is the individual guidebook used to support the six ''Pip and Bunny'' storybooks.The Pip and Bunny' picture books have been carefully written and illustrated to support language and emotional development through reading. By inspiring conversation and fueling the young reader's imagination the books promote emotional and social literacy.Designed for use within the Early Years setting or at home, each story explores different areas of social and emotional development. The accompanying guide has been created to help the parent or practitioner use the books effectively and includes: Talking Points' relating to the child's own world What's the Word?' picture pages to be photocopied, downloaded or printed Detailed suggestions as to how to link with other EYFS areas of learning The full set is designed to be used in both individual and group settings, and at various stages of a child's dTable of Contents1. Aims and Learning Outcomes. 2. Target Readers and Users. 3.Using the Handbook: -Rationale -Main focus, summary and text of each book -Four ways to present the material. 4. Six book titles and sequence for reading. 5. Acknowledgements 6. References 7. Resources/additional ideas and stories for each book

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Book SynopsisThe Routledge Advanced Persian Course: Farsi Shirin Ast 3 aims to help students of higher-level proficiency continue elevating their proficiency level to achieve near-native level. Key features include: Authentic texts on a variety of topics related to Iranâs history, geography, arts, literature, culture, religions, society, and people. Each lesson includes a prominent poet and their most representative poem familiarizing students with the Persian literary canon, while indirectly learning the higher order registers used in the language of poetry. Lessons end with a Persian proverb and the story behind it, so that students will not only master the language but also the culture of the language and reach a near-native level of linguistic and cultural proficiency. The proverbs and some of the classical poetry are written in the calligraphy form to make students get used to reading handwritten texts resembling calligraphy. Audio files are provided so that learners who are studying on their own can have access to correct pronunciations. This textbook continues the series from The Routledge Intermediate Course in Persian and is ideal for Advanced or B2-C1 level students of Persian.Table of ContentsLesson 1: Text: Football Poet: Nima Yushij | Lesson 2: Text: Darius the Great Poet: Forugh Farrokhzad | Lesson 3: Text: Marriage in Tribal Societies Poet: Fereydoon Moshiri | Lesson 4: Text: Marlik Hill Poet: Sohrab Sepehri | Lesson 5: Text: Tehran Poet: Simin Behbahani | Lesson 6: Text: Shirin and Farhad Poet: Nader Naderpour | Lesson 7: Text: Roads and Road Building Poet: Ahmad Shamlu | Lesson 8: Text: The Railroad Poet: Shahriar | Lesson 9: Text: Famines of Iran Poet: Rudaki | Lesson 10: Text: Natural Heritage of Iran Poet: Ferdowsi | Lesson 11: Text: The Bazaar Poet: Khayyam | Lesson 12: Text: Nakhl Gardani Poet: Attar | Lesson 13: Text: Encyclopedia Writing in Modern Iran Poet: Nezami Ganjavi | Lesson 14: Text: Seamanship in Ancient Iran Poet: Sa‘di | Lesson 15: Text: The Persian Gulf and the New Life of Islam Poet: Rumi | Lesson 16: Text: The History of Iranian Cinema Poet: Hafez | Lesson 17: Text: The Zoroastrians of Iran Poet: ‘Ubeid Zakani | Lesson 18: Text: Ferdowsi’s Book of Kings Poet: Sana’i | Lesson 19: Text: Iranians’ Clothing Poet: Jami | Lesson 20: Text: Symbolism in Persepolis Poet: Hatef Esfahani | Lesson 21: Text: Nouruz Poet: Amir Khosrow Dehlavi | Lesson 22: Text: Iran’s Ancient History Poet: Iraj Mirza | Lesson 23: Text: The Iranian Calendar and the History of Iran’s Ancient Festivals Poet: Feiz Kashani

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Book SynopsisA profound, eloquent meditation on the history of writing, from Mesopotamia to multimedia.Trade Review"This fascinating exploration of the evolution of writing shows how, despite radical technological changes, the practice maintains its atavistic mystery... And the history of the written word, as this book makes clear, reveals the evolution of the human mind." -- W. Ralph Eubanks - Wall Street Journal "[E]xhilarating... Battles is a gifted stylist, and his history of writing is both a paean to the powers of language and an extended demonstration of his own prowess. Nearly every page features an example of beautiful writing about writing." -- Nick Romeo - Christian Science Monitor "An illuminating look at the origins and impact of writing ... richly detailed... Battles deftly excavates layers of human history from a wide range of sources... A fascinating exploration stylishly and gracefully told." -- Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review "Incredibly ambitious ... intriguing ... thoroughly researched and thought provoking." -- Library Journal "Dazzling." -- Publishers Weekly, Starred review "Anyone who can write a history of writing in fewer than 200 pages is either foolish or brilliant. Matthew Battles is brilliant. This is not an encyclopedic chronology but an extended essay that skips gracefully across the centuries, stopping wherever the most interesting stories lie." -- Anne Fadiman, author of Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader "From traces in clay to photon traces on the screens that surround us today, seeing roots and bones in the shapes of letters, Matthew Battles explores the deep origins and hidden structures of our written world. Scholarly and poetic, Palimpsest is a beautiful and engaging read for anyone who loves to write." -- Ethan Zuckerman, author of Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection "To call this book a profound meditation on what it means to be human would be to tell the truth but leave out all the fun. At once elegant and mischievous, Palimpsest is a great intellectual adventure that travels around the world on its way from the emergence of cuneiform to the future of cyberspace. It will charm and provoke any reader who has ever put pen to paper or typed into a text box, whether to attempt literature or scrawl today's to-do list." -- Elise Blackwell, author of Hunger and The Lower Quarter "Traveling through centuries and across continents, Battles finds unexpected connections and echoes that resonate with our own day. Surely this is what life in Borges's endless library must be." -- Martin Puchner, professor of drama and of English and comparative literature, Harvard University "The written word changed literally everything, allowing for history, the law, and civilization itself. But rarely is it appreciated for its own sake and its own beauty. Matthew Battles has written an essential text on the essence of writing. Whether it turns out to be an ode or an elegy, we have yet to see." -- Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThis text is a reference and learning guide for all who use or need spoken Italian for business. Over 40 situations are presented which include: basic phone calls; leaving messages; making presentations; comparing, enquiring, booking; and selling techniques.

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Book SynopsisThe Dictionary of World Philosophy covers the diverse and challenging terminology, concepts, schools and traditions of the vast field of world philosophy. Providing an extremely comprehensive resource and an essential point of reference in a complex and expanding field of study the Dictionary covers all major subfields of the discipline.Key features:* Cross-references are used to highlight interconnections and the cross-cultural diffusion and adaptation of terms which has taken place over time* The user is led from specific terms to master entries which provide valuable historical and cultural context* Each master entry is followed by at least two suggestions for further reading on the subject, creating a substantial bibliography of world philosophy* References extend beyond philosophy to related areas such as cognitive science, computer science, language and physicsSubdisciplines covered include:* aesthetics * ethics * sociopolitical philosophy * the philosophy of law * epistemology * logic * the philosophy of science * the philosophy of mind * the philosophy of culture and history * metaphysics * the philosophy of religionEntries are drawn from West Africa, Arabic, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Jewish, Korean, Latin American, Maori and Native American philosophy including the important and so far largely neglected instance of Pre-Hispanic thought: Nahua philosophy.Trade Review'A welcome addition to all reference collections needing global perspective on philosophical terms and concepts.' - Choice [July 2001]'This is an ambitious and very rewarding reference book...' - Reference Reviews'...a highly accessible work...appropriate for both the scholar and the layperson.' - Steven R. Edscorn, RUSA (Reference User Services Association) Quarterly June 2002'A welcome addition to all reference collections needing global perspective on philosophical terms and concepts.'- Choice, July 2001'This is an ambitious and very rewarding reference book.'-Reference ReviewsTable of ContentsEntries include:abazimu, abortion, Advaita, afrocentricity, age of the world, artificial life, baskets of knowledge, bhakti,body, brotherhood, chain of being, Chinese legalism, creation, cybernetics, darshana, death, dravya, empathy, euthanasia, love, madrash, memory, Mohism, mysticism, naturalism, paradox, passion, philosophy of education, speculative grammar, paranormal, Aouism, theurgy, truth, virtue, Zen

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Book SynopsisThese CDs provide 120 minutes of audio material to be used in conjunction with the Routledge Intensive Russian Course. Recorded by native speakers, they include dialogues, exercises and a variety of texts to help students using the course to improve their listening comprehension and pronunciation skills.

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