Literary studies: general Books
Random House USA Inc The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry
Book SynopsisDazzling in its range, exhilarating in its immediacy and grace, a collection that gathers together, from every region of the country and from the past forty years, the poems that continue to shape our imaginations. From Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashbery and Adrienne Rich, to Robert Haas and Louise Glück, this anthology takes the full measure of our poetry's daring energies and its tender understandings.Other poets include:Sylvia PlathJames MerrillAmy clampittJorie GrahamW. S. MerwinCharles SimicAllen GinsbergFrank O'HaraAnne SextonRobert CreeleySharon OldsMary OliverRobert PinskyMark StrandDenise LevertovRichard WilburMay SwensonMichael PalmerMark DotyYusef Komunyakaa
£19.55
Random House USA Inc I Saw Ramallah
Book Synopsis
£14.45
Random House USA Inc Icelands Bell
Book Synopsis
£15.30
Random House USA Inc Doggerel Poems About Dogs Everymans Library
Book SynopsisFrom Chaucer to Billy Collins and from basset hounds to brindle bull terriers, Doggerel presents a robust brood of the most charming verse tributes ever offered to our beloved canine companions.The rich and assorted cadences of some of the most distinguished poets across the centuries ring out from these pages-from Spenser, Shakespeare, and Pope to Merrill, Merwin, and Muldoon-celebrating pooches of every pedigree and persuasion. Here is Margaret Cavendish’s barking chorus of beagles on the hunt; Elizabeth Bishop’s “Pink Dog” alongside Robyn Selman’s “My Dog is Named for Elizabeth Bishop”; Charles Baxter’s villanelle “Dog Kibble,” whose dog-narrator decides that “Life isn’t meaningless because there’s food”; and the desultory charms of Jane Kenyon’s unleashed dog, nuzzling about on a drizzly afternoon. From lazy dogs curled up by the fireplace to audacious hounds howling at
£16.00
Random House USA Inc Offshore Human Voices The Beginning of Spring
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£24.00
Tyndale House Publishers Narnia Code The C S Lewis and the Secret of the
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£15.19
Johns Hopkins University Press Lure of the Arcane
Book SynopsisAfter much investigation, Ziolkowski reinforces Umberto Eco's notion that the most powerful secret, the magnetic center of conspiracy fiction, is in fact a secret without content.Trade ReviewConspiracies, whether attributed to mystery cults, Freemasons, Socialists, or Rosicrucians, pervade literature from Euripides to Umberto Eco, as Theodore Ziolkowski shows in Lure of the Arcane. Ziolkowski has read everything, taking even a 3,000-page German novel in his stride, and summarizes and analyses his material fascinatingly for lesser mortals. Times Literary Supplement Ziolkowski is excellently placed to attempt the construction of a genre history... As such, his treatment of the literature and the array of texts included is predictably masterful, moving with ease from Greek and Roman mysteries in antiquity to the Medieval representations of the Knights Templar, through the Rosicrucian manifestoes and the German Enlightenment lodge novels, to the literary depictions of secret societies of Romantic Socialism. Nova Religio This is a literary and cultural history for the twenty-first century: fascinating in scope and focus, striking in its attention to detail, solid in its continuity, and indisputably erudite. Choice An erudite, thought-provoking argument for considering this literary engagement as a sub-genre in its own right. Times Literary Supplement The wealth of examples, the lively and indeed intimate writing style, and the delicate refusal to go too far in the analysis of paranoid fantasies all contribute to a welcome dealing with mystery, secrecy, and the arcane. Modern PhilologyTable of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction1. The Mystery Cults of Antiquity2. The Order of Knights Templar in the Middle Ages3. The Rosicrucians of the Post-Reformation4. The Lodges of the Enlightenment5. Secret Societies of Romantic Socialism6. Modern Variations7. Interlude: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion8. The Playfulness of PostmodernismConclusionNotesIndex
£999.99
Johns Hopkins University Press From Madman to Crime Fighter
Book SynopsisFrom Madman to Crime Fighter is the most comprehensive study of the image of the scientist in Western literature and film.Trade ReviewHer approach is to correlate developments in science and technology over the following seven centuries with descriptions of how scientists have been portrayed in contemporaneous literature, and more recently in fascinating read.—Times Higher EducationThis is a wonderful book, both in the sense of being a pleasure to read and being full of wonders.—SAGE BlogIn this update, Haynes has extended her purview to accommodate the growth in scholarship on science and popular culture, especially in the area of film, which has occurred in the twenty years since the publication of the first edition... Anyone wishing to design a course on science or the scientist (however he or she may define these terms) in literature, cinema or popular culture, set either in a single era or over a span of time, could easily get away with using this new volume as a one-stop shopping catalogue for primary sources.—Neeraja Sankaran, Independent Scholar, British Society for Literature and ScienceTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Evil Alchemists and Doctor Faustus2. Bacon’s New Scientists3. Foolish Virtuosi4. Newton5. Arrogant and Godless6. Inhuman Scientists7. Frankenstein and the Creature8. Victorian Scientists9. The Scientist as Adventurer10. Efficiency and Power11. The Scientist as Hero12. Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know13. The Impersonal Scientist14. Scientia Gratia Scientiae15. Robots, Androids, Cyborgs, and Clones16. Pandora’s Box17. The Scientist as Woman18. Idealism and ConscienceConclusionAppendixNotesBibliographyIndex
£36.27
Johns Hopkins University Press The Hymnal
Book SynopsisUnderstanding the culture of living with hymnbooks offers new insight into the histories of poetry, literacy, and religious devotion. It stands barely three inches high, a small brick of a book. The pages are skewed a bit, and evidence of a small handprint remains on the worn, cheap leather covers that don't quite close. The book bears the marks of considerable use. But whyand for whomwas it made? Christopher N. Phillips's The Hymnal is the first study to reconstruct the practices of reading and using hymnals, which were virtually everywhere in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Isaac Watts invented a small, words-only hymnal at the dawn of the eighteenth century. For the next two hundred years, such hymnals were their owners' constant companions at home, school, church, and in between. They were children's first books, slaves' treasured heirlooms, and sources of devotional reading for much of the English-speaking world. Hymnals helped many people learn to memorize poetry and tTrade ReviewUnlike modern hymnals, which are larger and heavier and more expensively produced, older hymnbooks were affordable and designed to be read. People dog-eared them, wrote notes in them, learned to read with them and gave them as gifts to children and relatives. These homely little volumes, Mr. Phillips rightly contends, filled an important and mostly overlooked role in forging America's Anglo-Protestant worldview and shaping America's literary sensibilities.—Barton Swaim, Wall Street Journal. . . continual thought-provoking insights transcending national boundaries.—Timothy Dudley-Smith, The Hymn Society BulletinTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments Prologue: Looking for HymnsIntroduction: A Reader’s Hymnbook Interlude 1. The Wide, Wide World of Hymns Part I. Church1. How Hymnbooks Made a People 2. How to Fight with Hymnbooks 3. Hymnbooks at Church 4. Giving Hymnbooks, and What the Hymnbook Gives 5. Devotion and the Shape of the Hymnbook Interlude 2. Philadelphia, 1844 Part II. School6. Hymnbooks and Literacy Learning 7. How Hymnbooks Made Children’s Literature 8. How Hymns Remade Schoolbooks 9. Singing as Reading; or, A Tale of Two Sacred Harps Interlude 3. Henry Ward Beecher Takes Note Part III. Home10. Did Poets Write Hymns? 11. How Poems Entered the Hymnbook 12. The Return of the Private Hymnbook 13. Emily Dickinson’s Hymnody of Privacy Epilogue: The Hymnological Decade Glossary of Bibliographic Terms Notes Index
£35.00
National Geographic Society Novel Destinations 2nd Edition
Book SynopsisThis book-lover's Baedeker to more than 500 literary locales across the United States and Europe invites readers to meaningful travel experiences.Trade Review“Novel Destinations by Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon is a journey in itself and a compendium of literary spots for the book lover in all of us. Indulge by reading about one favorite author and all the places or dip in and out to learn something new about your authors or nearby literary spots.”—Savy Verse & Wit Blog“…This second edition of Novel Destinations helps people like me...people who ache to return to the haunting Gothic South that they've never physically been to, the cathedrals of Paris that only exist in their mind's eye, and the rowdy Burns Night Supper that lingers on their tongue...revisit and relive these experiences even when the cover is closed. Divided into two parts, Novel Destinations offers more than a guidebook could ever dream to.” —All Roads Lead to the Kitchen Blog “Novel Destinations is very diverse in its subject matter, depending on your interest. It not only lists literary walks and tours but also hotels where famous literary authors stayed (and you can, too!). There’s something for everyone, including various thrills for mystery readers. I definitely plan on using Novel Destinations as a travel guide the next time I’m looking for inspiration.” —The Cactus Chronicles Blog “If you love to read and to travel (and to read while you travel!) you will feel as though the authors of Novel Destinations wrote their informative and delightful book just for you. Subtitled ‘A Travel Guide to Literary Landmarks From Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West,’ this comprehensive handbook, including 500 literary sites, is a dream come true for traveling bibliophiles” —Books on the Table Blog “As soon as I got this beautiful book (Look at that cover, its adorable) I started to peruse the places inside and the authors that make you want to go there. There are so many... Austen.. the Brontes.... sigh...Dickens. This is a wonderful coffee table book or nightstand book, where you can plan your next literary jaunt or if you are like me, dream of one you'd love to take.” —A Chick Who Reads Blog “…This is more than just a mere listing of fantastic literary vacation destinations. Each location named also has a paragraph or more dedicated to describing what is offered and why it is an important book-ish destination. I could easily plan the rest of my life's vacations just using this book as a resource because it is full of fantastic literary destinations.” —Tina Says… Blog “This truly is a mandatory volume for every bibliophile’s library, and it makes a great gift too, sure to bring a smile to book addicts everywhere. With so much great information, Novel Destinations is the perfect travel guide for anyone who has ever picked up a book. The only thing missing from this volume is a passport and luggage.” –Jathan & Heather Blog “I was glad to see that it had the name of the place, the address, a website and vital information and the blurbs were just the right length - they provided the right amount of information if you were unsure of who the author was you got a little background about the author and why this location was special to them.” –Kritters Ramblings Blog “From Dickens’ London to Joyce’s Dublin to Lee’s Alabama, I’ve traveled the world through the eyes of different characters. But Schmidt’s book delves even deeper into the worlds the authors immortalized. And since it comes from National Geographic, you know it’s going to be really good.” –Sara the Introvert Blog “I totally loved this. It's such a fun, nerdy book to page through with lots of fun facts, lots of things I didn't know, it gave me lots of ideas for future trips...and it's just an enjoyable read. Who doesn't love a good non-fiction book every now and then?!” – Stranded in Chaos Blog “Novel Destinations is for travelers who like me love to find any bookish related sites anywhere they travel. Is there a author related museum nearby? Is there a bookstore nearby? If there is, I will find it. This book makes it easier. This is the perfect book to generate new travel ideas... So if you are like me and love to daydream about your next trip, this is perfect.” – A Bookish Affair Blog “This book is amazing. I mean it. It's a travel guide for bookworms! How perfect is that? As a book lover who loves to travel and will be moving to Scotland to attend college next year, I love everything about Novel Destinations…The back of the book includes an index by locale, for finding cool sites near a specific travel destination, as well as a general index for hunting down certain sites. Honestly, what more could a bookworm want from a guide book?” – Read Till Dawn Blog “I love to travel and when I do I am always on the lookout for anything bookish to check out. Whether it’s bookstores, museums or local hangouts of authors, I scour the net before leaving…Novel Destinations is also great to sit back and browse, not just to get ideas and plan your next great adventure but for curiosity’s sake as well.” –Just One More Chapter Blog "A wonderful volume for the bookish traveler. While one could conceivably discover everything here on their own through internet sleuthing, it's fab to have this book in hand to give one a start. Personally, I'm excited for the literary lodgings chapter -- I'm a sucker for a book or author themed boutique hotel or B&B!" - Unabridged Chick Blog
£17.99
Capstone Press More Funny KnockKnock Jokes Pebble Books Joke
Book Synopsis
£18.49
Cambridge Scholars Publishing Consciousness Theatre Literature and the Arts 2011
Book SynopsisThe essays collected in this volume were initially presented at the Fourth International Conference on Consciousness, Theatre, Literature and the Arts, held at the University of Lincoln, May 28–30, 2011.
£33.74
Willis Music Company Teaching Little Fingers to Play Jazz and Rock
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£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Shakespeare in the Theatre The American
Book SynopsisPaul Menzer is Professor and the Director of the Mary Baldwin College MLitt/MFA Shakespeare and Performance graduate programTable of ContentsChapter 1: Revolutionary Nostalgia Chapter 2: A Peculiar Institution Chapter 3: Bringing History to Light Chapter 4: Ready or not Chapter 5: In Others’ Words Appendices: Timelines; Performance history; Architectural History Bibliography Notes Index
£33.22
Baylor University Press Human in Death
Book SynopsisExplores the best-selling futuristic suspense series In Death, written by romance legend Nora Roberts under the pseudonym J.D. Robb. Centering on troubled NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her billionaire tycoon husband Roarke, the novels explore vital questions about human flourishing.Trade Review...Ali's book shows the rich possibilities of analysis that crime fiction offers its readers. -- Heta Pyrhönen -- CluesIn each chapter, Ali displays a sure command of Robbâs oeuvre, of relevant popular romance scholarship, and of contemporary debates among readers. She avoids both dense academic jargon and fannish minutia, creating an accessible text for educated lay readers and a compelling one for scholars of popular romance fiction who do not share her encyclopedic knowledge of all 15,000 or so pages of the In Death books. -- Jessica Miller -- The Journal of Popular Romance Studies / Popular Romance ProjectTable of ContentsPreface Introduction: Reading in Death 1. Intimacy in Death 2. Friendship in Death 3. Vocation in Death 4. Violence in Death 5. Perfection in Death Conclusion: Ending in Death
£36.71
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc The End of Airports
Book SynopsisChristopher Schaberg is Associate Professor of English & Environment at Loyola University New Orleans, USA. He is the author of The Textual Life of Airports: Reading the Culture of Flight (2011, reprinted in paperback, 2013).Trade Review...[a] well-fuelled study of air travel’s fading profile in our digitally transported age. -- Nathan Heller * The New Yorker *Schaberg, an associate professor of English and Environment at Loyola University New Orleans, waxes philosophical as he contemplates the role airports play in today’s society. His short essays and anecdotes draw on his years as an airport employee as well as other personal experiences. In his eyes, airports have gone from magical to mundane, enjoyable to tedious, joyful to grim. And yet his stories of working at them have traces of humor and fascination, revealing the type of behind-the-scenes knowledge that always feels a little bit exotic to the uninformed. * Publishers Weekly *The romance of flying has all but gone, replaced by convenience and an oddly whorish aesthetic, involving fusion food, kitsch art, massage chairs and, at every turn, screens that play with the relation between inside and outside, here and there. Is the modern airport a venue like a shopping mall or an out-of-town chicken ranch, Christopher Schaberg wonders in The End of Airports, or a wormhole between states? … [Schaberg is] a very good writer, with a delicate eye for detail. … His previous book, The Textual Life of Airports (2011), was a work of literary analysis. This one goes deeper, its tone somewhere between elegiac and apocalyptic. …. Just as Hannah Arendt’s ‘banality of evil’ is easily overstated or misunderstood, so is Schaberg’s thoughtful sense of the banality of modern flight. But ‘end’ also means purpose and, as Schaberg knows, we will still spend countless hours waiting for transport. -- Brian Morton * Times Literary Supplement *The End of Airports is an energetic meditation, replete with ethnography and metaphor. The writing is not only illuminating, it’s also fun, allowing travelers the opportunity to glimpse behind the scenes at those parts of the airport—the tarmac, the break room, the luggage hold—where access is strictly forbidden. […] I can think of no better place to read it than at an airport, waiting to board, while the dramas within pages unfold around you. -- Anya Groner * Terrain *A strong and innovative book. Tracing speculative paths around and through airports and commercial flight, The End of Airports finds new ways to think about, among other things, drones, airport/aircraft seating, weather, jet bridges, viral stories about flight, tensions with new media expectations and technologies, and seatback pockets. A fascinating read for anyone interested in airports and airplanes, but also for readers of cultural studies, media studies, and creative nonfiction. * Kathleen C. Stewart, Professor of Anthropology, The University of Texas at Austin, USA *The golden age of air travel is over, but thanks to Schaberg the airport may become the new figure with which to think place, time, labor, leisure, organization, and communication, as well as hope, fatigue, loneliness, and desire—in other words, the most fundamental problems of life in late capitalism. In the tradition of Benjamin, Barthes, and Baudrillard, this book is theoretically incisive, intimate, pleasurable, and on time. Air travel in all of its multidimensionality, as idea and experience, but also as mood, may finally assume its rightful place in the modern psychic infrastructure. * Margret Grebowicz, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Goucher College, USA, and author of The National Park to Come *Schaberg's provocative theme implies the end of our ability to appreciate airports as bustling and forward-looking spaces....A prescient requiem for contemporary airports as abetting agents and reflectors of America’s declining cultural standards. Recommended for specialists in the fields of aviation and transportation, social and intellectual history, sociological studies, media, and libraries. * Library Journal *Christopher Schaberg’s The End of Airports is part memoir, part history, and part speculation. Schaberg’s past as a part-time airport worker intersects with his present as a frequently flying academic researcher of airport cultures, and his experience and research inform his thoughts on the future of airports in an age of drones and instant communication. […] The airport is both a terminal and a threshold, and Schaberg’s work reminds us that travel must include pauses as well as movement. -- Rebecca Mills * Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Points of Departure Part I: Work Part II Travel Bibliography Index
£20.89
University Press of New England Ghosts of the African Diaspora ReVisioning
Book SynopsisA specter haunts African diaspora literature
£76.00
University Press of New England Ghosts of the African Diaspora ReVisioning
Book SynopsisA specter haunts African diaspora literature
£43.60
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Robin Hood: The Life and Legend of An Outlaw
Book SynopsisRobin Hood is a national English icon. He is portrayed as a noble robber, who, along with his band of merry men, is said to have stolen from the rich and given to the poor. His story has been reimagined many times throughout the centuries. Readers will be introduced to some of the candidates who are thought to have been the real Robin Hood, before journeying into the fifteenth century and learning about the various rymes of Robyn Hode' that were in existence. This book then shows how Robin Hood was first cast as an earl in the sixteenth century, before discussing his portrayals as a brutish criminal in the eighteenth century. Then learn how Robin Hood became the epitome of an English gentleman in the Victorian era, before examining how he became an Americanised, populist hero fit for the silver screen during the twentieth century. Thus, this book will take readers on a journey through 800 years of English cultural and literary history by examining how the legend of Robin Hood has developed over time.
£15.38
Guernica Editions,Canada Africadian Atlantic: Essays on George Elliott
Book SynopsisThis collection features essays on Nova Scotia-born poet, playwright and literary critic George Elliott Clarke. Instrtumental in promoting the writing of writers of African descent, Clarke's work has won awards including the Governor General's Award for poetry. He is also the recipient of seven honorary doctorates.
£19.76
Guernica Editions,Canada Nino Ricci: Essays on His Works
Book SynopsisThis book of essays examines the fictional work of Nino Ricci from a variety of critical perspectives. These perspectives include ideas about literature, culture, identity, politics, and society in terms of Canada and the modern world. Each contributor examines a specific novel or several novels, focusing on the prevailing themes and literary elements used by Nino Ricci to construct his work of fiction. This critical study allows the reader to enhance one's understanding of Nino Ricci's particular style and vision. It also provides an understanding of Nino Ricci's valuable contribution to contemporary Canadian fiction and world literature. The contributors in this book are: William Anselmi, Howard A. Doughty, Brian L. Flack, Lise Hogan, Marino Tuzi, and Jim Zucchero.
£19.76
Fitzhenry & Whiteside Lucy Maud Montgomery Album
Book Synopsis
£28.35
Fulcrum Inc.,US In the Memory House (PB)
Book Synopsis
£17.09
Fulcrum Publishing Walking the Rez Road: Stories, 20th Anniversary
Book SynopsisCelebrating two decades in publication, this twentieth-anniversary edition of a timeless classic comprises forty stories and poems that feature Luke Warmwater, a Vietnam veteran who survived the war but has trouble surviving the peace.Trade Review"This 20th-anniversary edition includes the original 40 stories as well as new material: poems, a play and some of Northrup's newspaper work. The stories stand the test of time, as blackly humorous, plainspoken and earthy as they were in 1993. ... Northrup knows this life, this area, to the bone." —Star Tribune "As relevant as it was 20 years ago, this collection continues to provide an unromanticized, insider's view of a culture struggling to maintain, and even recover, its identity, heritage, and language in a rapidly changing and often openly hostile world." —Publishers Weekly
£15.15
Graywolf Press,U.S. The Outermost Dream
Book Synopsis
£999.99
Graywolf Press Dictionary Days
Book Synopsis
£13.49
Graywolf Press Simply Lasting Writers on Jane Kenyon
Book Synopsis
£14.24
Graywolf Press,U.S. If You Want To Write
Book SynopsisIn her 93 remarkable years, Brenda Ueland published six million words. She said she had two rules she followed absolutely: to tell the truth and not to do anything she didn''t want to do. Her integrity shines throughout her bestselling classic on teh process of writing - a book that has inspired thousands to discover, or rediscover, their own creativity. Carl Sandburg called it ''the best book ever written about how to write.''
£999.99
Graywolf Press,U.S. The Art of Attention A Poets Eye Art Of Art Of
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£10.99
Graywolf Press The Art Of Time In Memoir
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£10.99
Graywolf Press The Halfknown World
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£13.49
Graywolf Press Art in the Time of Fiction The As Long as It
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£11.42
Graywolf Press The Art Of Syntax Rhythm of Thought Rhythm of
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£999.99
Graywolf Press In Search of Civilization: Remaking a Tarnished
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£999.99
University of Arkansas Press Mirror to the Cage: Three Contemporary Hungarian
Book SynopsisThis volume presents the works of three distinguished contemporary Hungarian playwrights which together mirror and elucidate the calamitous history of East Central Europe from World War II to the 1970s. Genre 3:
£31.30
University of Arkansas Press Tide and Continuities: Last and First Poems,
Book SynopsisPeter Viereck's career has been an ongoing experiment in the symbiosis of poetry and history. Tide and Continuities is the embodiment and culmination of that career. It includes many new poems, never before published, and work--some with stunning revisions--from books as recent as his 1987 epic, Archer in the Marrow: The Applewood Cycles, and as early as his 1948 Pulitzer Prize–winning collection, Terror and Decorum. Tide and Continuties is the revelation of a great American poet.
£36.71
University of Arkansas Press Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Literature
Book SynopsisTaken as a whole, these essays present a chorus on the rapid evolution of modern Arabic artistic achievement and how that art relates to the traditions and histories of both the Arab and Western worlds.
£40.80
University of Arkansas Press All Things, Seen & Unseen: Poems: New and
Book SynopsisWith clarity and precise detail, Dan Masterson creates a narrative of how we live, love, and die. In blank verse and rhymed stanzas, in free verse and taut lyrics, he delivers the story of a woman trap ped in an avalanche, a husband daring himself to death in an ocean swim, or a son arranging the final affairs of his parents. There is always an edge to Masterson’s characters—they are everyday people, but we meet them on the one day when the stakes are highest.He holds a reverence for the particulars of a place, for gardens and homes, for dresser drawers and work benches, for cabins in the Adirondacks, ponds, tree houses, and ornamental stones. The leavings of loved ones—strong boxes, pajamas, rosaries—are passed on as relics that both heal and trouble. In Masterson’s world, characters learn how to lose, how to change, and even how to survive their most painful memories.Selected from thirty years of work, and including an eclectic selection of new poems, this book unfurls Masterson’s full canvas of abilities: his penchant for startling descriptions, his keen insight into our nobility and fallibility, and his skill at making us live his poems.
£17.06
University of Arkansas Press The Little Jesus of Sicily
Book SynopsisThis work—in which the author describes the day when as a child he was chosen to be Jesus for the Feast of Saint Joseph—has been characterized as a poem in prose or as a basic canticle for celebrating life. The setting is pastoral Sicily shortly before World War II, and a child from a poor family has been entrusted to be the Messiah for one momentous day. A musical band and parade of dignitaries herald his arrival as he rides into the village on a she-ass. The priest presents him with the church key, supplicants ask him for favors and miracles as he presides over a great feast, and he wishes to heal his sick playmate Nico and bring the dead back to life. The little Jesus is transformed by this magnanimous experience, and he learns that the greatest miracle is volersi bene—to love one another. In the tradition of Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince and Cervantes' Don Quixote, The Little Jesus of Sicily is an engaging, whimsical novella which works as a children's story as well as a thought-provoking adult fable. Imagination, poetry, and faith come together seamlessly as Pasqualino asks simple but fundamental questions of existence. His eloquent wisdom is matched by Rozier's deft and sensitive translation, winner of the 1996 Renato Poggioli Translation Award from the PEN American Center. Beautifully illustrated with original drawings by University of Arkansas professor of art Ken Stout, this book tells a timeless tale that honors and celebrates the humanity of all people, regardless of age, time, place, or culture. It will be enjoyed, over and over again, by all readers.
£19.90
University of Massachusetts Press Viet Nam War, the American War: Images and
Book SynopsisThis text traces the history of American stereotyping of Asians and how Euro-American ethnocentricity has limited most American authors' ability to represent fairly the Vietnamese in their stories. It seeks to reformulate the canon of writings in both countries.
£35.64
University of Massachusetts Press Reading Books: Essays on the Material Text and
Book SynopsisThis collection takes as its point of departure the proposition that one can, in fact, tell a book by its cover. The contributors examine the ways in which the material qualities of books―including typography, paper, bindings, layout , and promotional copy―as well as their editing, production, and distribution profoundly affect how they have been read and understood.The volume includes essays on the publishing history of Melville's early novels, Twain's The Innocents Abroad, the Tauchnitz edition of Hawthornes's The Marble Faun, and Jackson's Romona. Other chapters examine the reception of Dante's works in America, Houghton Mifflin's biographical series, the binding styles of Ticknor and Fields, and the packaging of literature for American high Schools., reviewing a previous edition or volume
£35.59
University of Massachusetts Press Calling from Diffusion: Hermeneutics of the
Book SynopsisBased on four Niclson Lectures delivered at Smith College, this book examines a series of ""promenade poems,"" lyrics that follow a poetic speaker moving through a landscape and responding to it. Thomas M. Greene invites the reader to consider a wide range of poets, beginning with Amy Clampitt and A. R. Ammons, continuing with Petrarch, Ronsard, Saint-Amant, Milton, Vaughan, and Marvell, and concluding with to two representative Romantics, Wordsworth and Whitman. Greene's discussions of this rich body of texts stimulate reflection at several levels. They can be read first of all simply as analyses of several memorable poems exhibiting a similar structure over a period of seven centuries. They can also be read as meditations on the workings of lyric poetry, which is always attempting to bring into sharper focus the sensibility of a speaker whose emergence depends on her naming and evoking the objects surrounding her. Thus Greene argues that the distinction of a poetic consciousness lies in its ""permeability,"" permitting a more intimate interplay between internal and external realms. His title is drawn from a line by Whitman: ""You objects that call from diffusion my meanings and give them shape!"" Finally, at yet another level, Greene's book presents a way of thinking about language which, recalling the Heideggerean theory of ""ereignis,"" suggests that only through the projective act of naming can human beings assimilate things through intuitive knowledge. An afterword, ""The Morality of Literary interpretation,"" surveys critically a range of hermeneutic theories and formulates a position that accords the literary text both autonomy and mystery.Trade ReviewGreene's distinguished works have long established him as one of the most sophisticated, penetrating, and sensitive close readers of poetry in his generation. His international reputation rests on the elegance of his thinking and the eloquence of his writing.... This book is the mature work of a master, - Arthur P. Kinney, author of Humanist Poetics
£999.99
University of Massachusetts Press St.Augustine's Bones: A Microhistory
Book SynopsisIn 1695, workers in Pavia, Italy, chanced upon a collection of bones in the crypt of the Cathedral of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro. The workers later testified that they had seen the name of St Augustine written in charcoal on the surface of the casket they had uncovered. Yet by the time of the official inquest, all traces of the writing had disappeared. Offering insights into urban literacy and conceptions of reading, this text explores the controversy that ensued over the alleged discovery of Augustine's bones. Manuscripts, broadsides, pamphlets - even whole books - were devoted to proving or disproving the authenticity of the remains. Although these works were addressed to members of the clergy, they were also intended for the general reading public in Pavia, Milan and Venice. Their dissemination helped create a temporary public sphere in which the merits of the case were examined in a spirit of free debate. A re-examination of the dispute over St Augustine's bones illuminates aspects of Catholic spirituality in Northern Italy during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It also reveals the different ways in which Catholic scholars, local religious leaders, and the papal administration sought to influence and direct local popular religious belief and practices. Although the controversy was officially resolved by the papacy in 1728, the debate over the relics of San Pietro continued into the 20th century. By combining methods developed in the burgeoning field of the history of the book with the tools of cultural analysis, Harold Stone not only recovers the stories surrounding St Augustine's bones, but also reconstructs the mental world of those who read or heard them.Trade ReviewThis is a fascinating account of a forgotten episode in European intellectual history and a good exercise in microhistory. It is learned and thorough and should have broad appeal to historians working on religious ideas in Catholic Europe and on historiography as well as those interested in the history of book. - Joseph M. Levine, Syracuse University; ""I enjoyed this wide-ranging yet sharply focused study. The writing is fluent and lively. The book should appeal to people interested in the history of saints, the Counter-Reformation, the history of historical thought, and the history of reading."" - Peter Burke, author of Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe
£29.88
University of Massachusetts Press Writing Indians: Literacy, Christianity and
Book SynopsisThis work examines often overlooked writings of Christian Indians in early America. Wyss argues that the Native Americans who converted to Christianity forged a unique identity as they negotiated their place and power between Native American tribal culture and Protestant Anglo America.
£31.70
University of Massachusetts Press Beyond the Body: The Boundaries of Medicine and
Book Synopsis
£29.95
University of Massachusetts Press Cutting and the Pedagogy of Self-disclosure
Book SynopsisThis is a candid look at a form of self-injury that is increasingly prevalent but rarely discussed. Cutting, a form of self-mutilation, is a growing problem in the United States, especially among adolescent females. It is regarded as self-destructive behavior, yet paradoxically, people who cut themselves generally do not wish to die but to find relief from unbearable psychological pain. ""Cutting and the Pedagogy of Self-Disclosure"" is the first book to explore how college students write about their experiences as cutters. The idea behind the book arose when Patricia Hatch Wallace, a high school English teacher, wrote a reader-response diary for a graduate course taught by Professor Jeffrey Berman in which she revealed for the first time that she had cut herself twenty years earlier. At Berman's suggestion, Wallace wrote her Master's thesis on cutting. Not long after she finished her thesis, two students in Berman's expository writing course revealed their own experiences as cutters. Their disclosures encouraged several students in another writing class to share their own cutting stories with classmates. Realizing that so many students were writing about the same phenomenon, Berman and Wallace decided to write a book about a subject that is rarely discussed inside or outside the classroom. In Part 1, Wallace discusses clinical and theoretical aspects of cutting and then applies these insights to several memoirs and novels, including Susanna Kaysen's ""Girl"", ""Interrupted"", Caroline Kettlewell's ""Skin Game"", and Patricia McCormick's ""Cut"". The motivation behind Wallace's research was the desire to learn more about herself, and she reads these stories through her own experience as a cutter. In Part 2, Berman focuses on the pedagogical dynamics of cutting: how undergraduate students write about cutting, how their writings affect classmates and teachers, and how students who cut themselves can educate everyone in the classroom about a problem that has personal, psychological, cultural, and educational significance.Trade ReviewIn addition to its broad appeal to educators, this book will also be of great interest to all people interested in educational issues - students, parents, and administrators. It should join Professor Berman's other books as foundational texts for those educators who wish to help students to mature in literary proficiency and their own emotional growth. - Marvin Krims, M.D., lecturer in psychiatry, Harvard Medical School ""A sensitive and, at times, gripping discussion of an issue not discussed in educational literature.... The book is personal, written with sensitivity and a great deal of hope that thinking and writing about self-destructive behaviors in educational settings allow for catharsis and self-insight."" - Deborah Britzman, author of Novel Education: Psychoanalytic Studies of Learning and Not Learning.
£33.81
University of Massachusetts Press Tracing Paradise: Two Years in Harmony with John
Book SynopsisThis is the story of a writer's intense engagement with a masterwork of Western literature. One winter morning, poet Dawn Potter sat down at her desk in Harmony, Maine, and began copying out the opening lines of John Milton's ""Paradise Lost"". Her intent was to spend half an hour with a poem she had never liked, her goal to transcribe a page or two. Maybe she would begin to appreciate the poet's art, though she had no real expectations that the exercise would change her mind about the poem. Yet what began as a whim turned rapidly into an obsession, and soon Potter was immersed in a strange and unexpected project: she found herself copying out every single word of Milton's immense, convoluted epic. ""Tracing Paradise: Two Years in Harmony with John Milton"" is her memoir of that long task. Over the course of twelve chapters, Potter explores her very personal response to Milton and ""Paradise Lost"", tracing the surprising intersections between a seventeenth-century biblical epic and the routine joys and tragedies of domestic life in contemporary rural Maine. Curious, opinionated, and eager, she engages with the canon on mutable, individual terms. Though she writes perceptively about the details and techniques of Milton's art, always her reactions are linked to her present-tense experiences as a poet, small-time farmer, family member, and citizen of a poor and beleaguered north-country town. A skilled and entertaining writer, Potter is also a wide-ranging and sophisticated reader. Yet her memoir is not a scholarly treatise: her enthusiasms and misgivings about both Milton and ""Paradise Lost"" ebb and flow with the days. ""Tracing Paradise"" reminds us that close engagement with another artist's task may itself be a form of creation. Above all, Potter's memoir celebrates one reader's difficult yet transformative love affair with Milton's glorious, irritating, inscrutable masterpiece.Trade ReviewPotter writes beautifully. Her prose is as clear as the song of a bell bird. She knows how to use detail, quotations from Milton but also domestic detail, for this is a book about living sensibly more than about Milton. It made me ponder my life as well as literature, as a good book should do but few books do.... Reading this memoir was an intellectual joy. I know a little about country things, a lot about children, and some, maybe, about the way husbands and wives tumble through life. The book is the real thing. - Samuel Pickering, author of Edinburgh Days, or Doing What I Want to Do
£27.24
University of Massachusetts Press Constituting Old Age in Early Modern English
Book SynopsisHow did Shakespeare and his contemporaries, whose works mark the last quarter century of Elizabeth I’s reign as one of the richest moments in all of English literature, regard and represent old age? Was late life seen primarily as a time of withdrawal and preparation for death, as scholars and historians have traditionally maintained? In this book, Christopher Martin examines how, contrary to received impressions, writers and thinkers of the era—working in the shadow of the kinetic, long-lived queen herself—contested such prejudicial and dismissive social attitudes. In late Tudor England, Martin argues, competing definitions of and regard for old age established a deeply conflicted frontier between external, socially “constituted” beliefs and a developing sense of an individual’s “constitution” or physical makeup, a usage that entered the language in the mid-1500s. This space was further complicated by internal divisions within the opposing camps. On one side, reverence for the elder’s authority, rooted in religious and social convention, was persistently challenged by the discontents of an ambitious younger underclass. Simultaneously, the ageing subject grounded an enduring social presence and dignity on a bodily integrity that time inevitably threatened. In a historical setting that saw both the extended reign of an aging monarch and a resulting climate of acute generational strife, this network of competition and accommodation uniquely shaped late Elizabethan literary imagination. Through fresh readings of signature works, genres, and figures, Martin redirects critical attention to this neglected aspect of early modern studies.
£33.46
