Literary theory Books
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Being and Event
Book SynopsisSince the book's first publication in 1988, Alain Badiou's Being and Event has established itself of one of the most important and controversial works in contemporary philosophy and its author as one of the most influential thinkers of our time. Being and Event is a comprehensive statement of Badiou's philosophical project and sees him recast the European philosophical tradition from Plato onwards, via a series of analyses of such key figures as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hegel, Rousseau, and Lacan. He thus develops the basis for a history of philosophy rivalling those of Heidegger and Deleuze in its depth.Now publishing in the Bloomsbury Revelations series to mark 25 years since the book's first publication in French, Being and Event is an essential read for anyone interested in contemporary thought.Trade Review"Badiou's approach is unique, rigorous, and interesting..." - Jill Stauffer, Theory & Event"[Badiou] develops, in the central passages of the book, his central notions of situations and events, and devotes many, often arresting pages to elucidating the mechanism by which the latter productively disrupt the former. The structure of experience is not merely open to change, pregnant with contingent revolution. This is a nice model and Badiou deploys it across a broad front." - Hugh Lawson-Tancred for The Liberal"A variety of scholars, including philosophers, mathematicians, and intellectual historians, would do well to examine this volume and seek in it threads that warrant continued examination in an era of nanotechnology and political terrorism."- Francisca Goldsmith, Library Journal, April 1, 2006 * Library Journal *"Two things are new in this much-anticipated translationof Badiou: the language and the preface. Both are instructive. TranslatorOliver Feltham stayed 'as close as possible to Badiou's syntax' but 'at theprice of losing fluidity.' Thankfully, Badiou addresses such dissonance and hislarger philosophical goals in an indispensable new preface—without which the 37weighty meditations might be lost to the layperson. Recommended..." - Publishers Weekly * Publishers Weekly *Table of ContentsNew Author's Preface Translator's Preface Introduction Book I Being: Multiple and Void. Plato/Cantor 1. The One and the Multiple: a priori conditions of any possible ontology 2. Plato 3. Theory of the Pure Multiple: paradoxes and critical decision Technical Note: the conventions of writing 4. The Void: Proper name of being 5. The Mark Æ 6. Aristotle Book II Being: Excess, State of the Situation, One/Multiple, Whole/Parts, or Î/Ì? 7. The Point of Excess 8. The State, or Metastructure, and the Typology of Being (normality, singularity, excrescence) 9. The State of the Historico-social Situation 10. Spinoza Book III Being: Nature and Infinity. Heidegger/Galileo 11. Nature: Poem or matheme? 12. The Ontological schema of Natural Multiples and the Non-existence of Nature 13. Infinity: the other, the rule and the Other 14. The Ontological Decision: 'There is some infinity in natural multiples' 15. Hegel Book IV The Event: History and Ultra-one 16. Evental Sites and Historical Situations 17. The Matheme of the Event 18. Being's Prohibition of the Event 19. MallarméBook V The Event: Intervention and Fidelity. Pascal/Choice; Hölderlin/Deduction 20. The Intervention: Illegal choice of a name for the event, logic of the two, temporal foundation 21. Pascal 22. The Form-multiple of Intervention: is there a being of choice? 23. Fidelity, Connection 24. Deduction as operator of ontological fidelity 25. HölderlinBook VI Quantity and Knowledge. The discernable (or constructible): Leibniz/Gödel 26. The concept of quantity and the impasse of ontology 27. Ontological destiny of orientation within thought 28. Constructivist thought and the knowledge of being 29. The folding of being and the sovereignty of language 30. LeibnizBook VII The Generic: indiscernible and truth. The event - P.J.Cohen 31. The Thought of the Generic and Being in Truth 32. Rousseau 33. The Matheme of the Indiscernible: P.J.Cohen's strategy 34. The existence of the indiscernible: the power of the namesBook VIII Forcing: Truth and the Subject. Beyond Lacan 35. Theory of the subject 36. Forcing: from the indiscernible to the undecidable 37. Descartes / LacanAnnexes Appendixes Notes Dictionary
£21.84
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Humanistic Narratives
Book SynopsisFollowing the narratives explored in Hominescence, Incandescent and The Bough, Michel Serres continues and concludes his ''grand story'' of humanity and humanism. This book weaves together and condenses the overriding philosophical narratives of the previous books and reflects upon Serres'' own humanist theoretical system. With characteristic breadth and imagination, in telling the story of humanity, Serres also tells us why Orpheus lost his friend Euridyce; why Eve was really tempted in the garden of Eden, the history of Fetishism and how human being learned to think. The book offers a challenge to the reader: a challenge to live in the fullness of one''s humanity.
£20.89
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Tree
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Tree explores the forms, uses, and alliances of this living object's entanglement with humanity, from antiquity to the present. Trees tower over us and yet fade into background. Their lifespan outstrips ours, and yet their wisdom remains inscrutable, treasured up in the heartwood. They serve us in many ways—as keel, lodgepole, and execution site—and yet to become human, we had to come down from their limbs. In this book Matthew Battles follows the tree's branches across art, poetry, and landscape, marking the edges of imagination with wildness and shadow. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewWhat astonishingly good writing! What a joy of a book. What a mind, this Matthew Battles. As he writes about trees, Battles could as well be describing his own wild mind: 'uncanny, possessed of depths and mystery, and feral in ways beyond my ken, . . . overspilling with dark abundance, . . . richly disruptive to one’s daily commute.' * Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Great Tide Rising: Toward Clarity and Moral Courage in a Time of Planetary Change (2016) and Piano Tide: A Novel (2016) *Battles … shows how trees--and perhaps more importantly our relationships with trees--are incredibly complicated. Even dappling--that wonderful light that comes through a tree’s leaves--is not as simple as it seems … He makes clear that trees and their data have important stories to tell. That is if we let them. * PopMatters *Table of ContentsPart One: Feral Trees The Tree of Heaven In a Dappled World A branching Heuristic Part Two: Garden and Forest In the Tree Museum From Ailanthus to Apple The Charter of the Forests Part Three: A Dark Abundance The Tree and/in History With and Without Us Notes Index
£9.49
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Wellness Syndrome
Book SynopsisNot exercising as much as you should? Counting your calories in your sleep? Feeling ashamed for not being happier? You may be a victim of the wellness syndrome.Trade Review"In their witty, caustic new book.... Carl Cederström and André Spicer dissect our contemporary infatuation with a cluster of seemingly innocuous concepts – health, happiness, mindfulness, authenticity and positivity – seeking to lay bare the pernicious, individualistic values that underlie them."—William Rees, The TLS "Carl Cederström and André Spicer's brilliantly sardonic anatomy of this 'wellness syndrome' concentrates on the ways in which the pressure to be well operates as a moralising command and obliterates political engagement.... These authors would no doubt agree that there is nothing wrong with being well or wanting to be well. But, as their deeply humane and persuasive book shows, being told to be well is a different matter entirely. A society where wellness is obligatory is a sick one."—Steven Poole, The Guardian "When I read their angry, hilarious book, The Wellness Syndrome, I felt like I was being shaken awake from a dream."—Helen Rumbelow, The Times "The Wellness Syndrome slinks like a submarine beneath the disingenuously placid surface-narratives of contemporary ideology, before torpedoing, with devastating effect, that most pernicious of all neo-liberal doctrines: positiveness."—Tom McCarthy, author of Remainder, C and Satin Island "A fascinating and timely investigation of the modern ideology of 'wellness', with its moralizing insistence that being a good member of society means meditating more, exercising more and using your smartphone to track sleep patterns, your diet and even your sex life. Carl Cederström and André Spicer vividly show how the consumer economy has co-opted health and even happiness itself- and warn that our fixation on wellness is ultimately an anxiety-inducing, isolating and joyless way to live."—Oliver Burkeman, Guardian columnist and author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking "A wonderful piece of work which exposes the wellness ideology for what it is: a stupid and dreadful fantasy of authentic self-mastery. As this timely and entertaining book shows, such fantasies must be nailed.'—Simon Critchley, The New School for Social Research "We all obscurely sense that politics has dramatically shifted. Less involved in the 'body politic' than ever, we are all far more deeply engaged with our own bodies, through medicine, meditation workshops or fitness classes. As this insightful and elegant book shows, this shift marks a dramatic change in our societies as it makes health and happiness the new markers of 'morality' or 'immorality'. Fat people and smokers are now united in their common immorality. Marshalling an impressive array of evidence, this book sheds a much-needed light on the new tyranny exerted by the cultural imperatives of health and happiness."—Eva Illouz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem "Using a comprehensive set of case studies, Carl Cederström and André Spicer diagnose contemporary capitalism's obsession with 'wellness'. The Wellness Syndrome is a mordantly witty analysis of how ideology works today. It demonstrates that the fixation on health is itself pathological – and that sickness can be liberating."—Mark Fisher, Goldsmiths University "Overall, as an anatomy of modern optimisation culture the book is sharp and laconic, as readers of the authors' excellent previous work, The Wellness Syndrome, will have expected."—The GuardianTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. The Perfect Human2. The Health Bazaar3. The Happiness Doctrine4. The Chosen Life5. Wellness, FarewellConclusionNotes
£15.19
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Waste
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Though we try to imagine otherwise, waste is every object, plus time. Whatever else an object is, it’s also waste—or was, or will be. All that is needed is time or a change of sentiment or circumstance. Waste is not merely the field of discarded objects, but the name we give to our troubled relationship with the decaying world outside ourselves. Waste focuses on those waste objects that most fundamentally shape our lives and also attempts to understand our complicated emotional and intellectual relationships to our own refuse: nuclear waste, climate debris, pop-culture rubbish, digital detritus, and more. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewFascinating, thought-provoking, and necessary, Brian Thill’s Waste is about not just our present but our future. You can’t read it and come out of the experience unchanged. * Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times-Bestselling Author of The Southern Reach trilogy *If 'waste,' as Brian Thill points out, is any object plus time, then Waste is waste plus spirited curiosity and tremendous intelligence. With a gaze full of vigor and heart, Thill looks at the fate of what we discard—from space junk to horse corpses to bird bellies split open from plastic—and illuminates invisible margins we’d often rather forget. I read the whole book in one sitting, spellbound. * Leslie Jamison, New York Times-Bestselling Author of The Empathy Exams *Waste is the finest filth around—or really the finest mediation of it I can think of: Thill looks deeply into how what we waste controls us at the level of the personal and the public—our discards become our fate and home both—and finds treasure. * Alexander Chee, author of Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night *Waste pluralizes, names a condition into which objects fall, takes us beachcombing, dumpster diving. ‘Waste is every object, plus time’… The true aim of Brian Thill’s book, however, is… that non-place to which waste is sent. We cannot afford… to believe in such a zone any longer. Of course, we never really could or did — out of sight was simply out of mind. Waste always kept coming back. -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of ContentsThe beach that speaks Trash familiars/Tabflab Pigs in space Million-year panic Ruinism Splinter, shard, and stone Where the hoard is Lake Carbamazepine Acknowledgements Illustrations Bibliography Index
£9.49
Taylor & Francis Ltd Structuralist Poetics Structuralism Linguistics
Book SynopsisA work of technical skill as well as outstanding literary merit, Structuralist Poetics was awarded the 1975 James Russell Lowell Prize of the Modern Language Association. It was during the writing of this book that Culler developed his now famous and remarkably complex theory of poetics and narrative, and while never a populariser he nonetheless makes it crystal clear within these pages.Trade Review''The brilliance, precision and clarity with which Dr Culler conducts his argument make this a book which all those concerned with the analysis of literature should read.' - A.S. Byatt'The brilliance, precision and clarity with which Dr Culler conducts his argument make this a book which all those concerned with the analysis of literature should read.' - A.S. Byatt, Times Education SupplementTable of ContentsPART I Structuralism and Linguistic Models 1 The Linguistic Foundation 2 The Development of a Method: Two Examples 3 Jakobson’s Poetic Analyses 4 Greimas and Structural Semantics 5 Linguistic Metaphors in Criticism PART II Poetics 6 Literary Competence 7 Convention and Naturalization 8 Poetics of the Lyric 9 Poetics of the Novel PART III Perspectives 10 ‘Beyond’ Structuralism: Tel Quel 11 Conclusion: Structuralism and the Qualities of Literature
£15.58
Cornell University Press Narrative Discourse Revisited
Book Synopsis
£17.84
Duke University Press The Intimacies of Four Continents
Book SynopsisReading across archives, canons, and continents, Lisa Lowe examines the relationships between Europe, Asia, and the Americas in the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth- centuries. She argues that Western liberal ideology, African slavery, Asian indentured labor, colonialism and trade must be understood as being mutually constitutive.Trade Review"This is a challenging book, which should be read by all those interested in the history of capitalism and the formation of the social sciences. ...There is much to enjoy in each of these chapters, especially, the dialectical interweaving of liberal conceptions and their negation, and the careful delineation of context and claim. Ultimately, however, the book is a dissection of liberalism and its fractured and fracturing presence in the modern world." -- John Holmwood * Theory, Culture & Society *"Lisa Lowe’s ambitious new book is a reminder of the deft footwork now required of anyone attempting to negotiate this tricky terrain. In The Intimacies of Four Continents she aligns herself with postcolonial scholars like Ann Laura Stoler, Antoinette Burton, or Nayan Shah who have each provided a distinctive take on how ‘the “intimate” sphere of sexual, reproductive, or household relations’ served as ‘a site of empire’.” -- David Glover * New Formations *"[An] important asset to anyone interested in not just themes of colonialism, labour, trade, and slavery, and of Chinese Canadian prairie history respectively, but also critical methodologies—of how to read intimately for relations between people and communities and in relation across time and space—in order to grasp the possibilities of knowing that lie among what has been assumed unknowable, erased, or forgotten." -- Stephanie Fung * Canadian Literature *"Among the many fascinating contributions of the book, I found one of the most arresting to be Lowe’s suggestion in her voluminous discursive footnotes that contemporary neoliberalism, with its emphasis on 'human capital' around the world, needs to be linked with its prehistory of racialized commodification of people. For that insight alone, Lowe’s panoramic study is more than worth reading." -- Samuel Moyn * Canadian Journal of History *"Reading The Intimacies of Four Continents will change the way we look at global (and national) histories forever." -- Etsuko Taketani * Journal of American History *"The Intimacies of Four Continents will undoubtedly remain a touchstone text for those working...and struggling against those operations that continue to pronounce colonial divisions of humanity at once globally and in their local, regional, and differential instantiations." -- Hossein Ayazi * Qui Parle *"[A] work crucial for thinking not only about the history of modernity and empire but also about our enduring and decisive enterprise as readers." -- Harrod J Suarez * MELUS *Table of Contents1. The Intimacies of Four Continents 1 2. Autobiography Out of Empire 43 3. A Fetishism of Colonial Commodities 73 4. The Ruses of Liberty 101 5. Freedoms Yet to Come 135 Acknowledgments 177 Notes 181 References 269 Index 305
£20.69
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Grave
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Grave takes a ground-level view of how burial sites have transformed over time and how they continue to change. As a cemetery tour guide, Allison C. Meier has spent more time walking among tombstones than most. Even for her, the grave has largely been invisible, an out of the way and unobtrusive marker of death. However, graves turn out to be not always so subtle, reverent, or permanent. While the indigent and unidentified have frequently been interred in mass graves, a fate brought into the public eye during the COVID-19 pandemic, the practice today is not unlike burials in the potter's fields of the colonial era. Burial is not the only option, of course, and Meier analyzes the rise of cremation, green burial, and new practices like human composting, investigating what is next for the grave and how existing spaces of death can be returned to community life.Object Lessons Trade ReviewBeautifully written and filled with empathy and insight, Grave is a rumination over the how and why of human burial, complete with a slew of little known historical tidbits pulled together from years of the author’s fascination with the topic. It should be considered essential reading for anyone interested in funerary history, especially in the United States. * Paul Koudounaris, author of Heavenly Bodies, Memento Mori, and Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses *A thorough, insightful survey of the past, present, and future of the grave, and how humanity has grappled with the many problems and possibilities it represents. With compassion and an uncommon eye for detail, Allison Meier examines how the grave has functioned as a site of social inequality for centuries, and how a mixture of new technology and a revival of older practices may enliven cemeteries as sites of renewed community meaning. * Bess Lovejoy, author of Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses (2016) *Table of Contents1. The Grave: Our House of Eternity 2. Navigating Through Necrogeography 3. The Living and the Dead 4. The Privilege of Permanence 5. An Eternal Room of Our Own 6. No Resting Place 7. To Decay or Not to Decay 8. New Ideas for the Afterlife 9. Dead Space Notes Index
£9.49
Taylor & Francis Ltd Michel Foucault
Book SynopsisIt is impossible to imagine contemporary critical theory without the work of Michel Foucault. His radical reworkings of the concepts of power, knowledge, discourse and identity have influenced the widest possible range of theories and impacted upon disciplinary fields from literary studies to anthropology. Aimed at students approaching Foucault''s texts for the first time, this volume offers:* an examination of Foucault''s contexts* a guide to his key ideas* an overview of responses to his work* practical hints on ''using Foucault''* an annotated guide to his most influential works* suggestions for further reading.Challenging not just what we think but how we think, Foucault''s work remains the subject of heated debate. Sara Mills'' Michel Foucault offers an introduction to both the ideas and the debate, fully equipping student readers for an encounter with this most influential of thinkers.Table of Contentsintroduction Why Foucault?; Part 1 Key Ideas; Chapter 1 Foucault’s intellectual and political development; Chapter 2 Power and institutions; Chapter 3 Discourse; Chapter 4 Power/Knowledge; Chapter 5 The body and sexuality; Chapter 6 Questioning the subject; Chapter 7 After Foucault;
£24.32
Cambridge University Press The Cambridge Guide to Reading Poetry
Book SynopsisAimed at students and readers of poetry at all levels, The Cambridge Guide to Reading Poetry takes a tour through a galaxy of examples, demonstrating how to come to terms with poetry's verbal, formal, emotional, and conceptual power. It shows how reading poems enhances our enjoyment and understanding of life.Trade Review'One of the advantages this book will have over competitors in the field is that its tone and approach are grounded in practical experience of introducing challenging texts to readers who are relatively inexperienced with (and not a little afraid of) poetry. Andrew Hodgson's guide manages to make reading poetry continuously exciting without sacrificing difficulty. Consistently literary, it makes the literary available rather than austerely or arcanely remote. Above, all students will listen because the advice is presented without condescension as if from a writer addressing fellow-practitioners. I will certainly be recommending this book to my first-year close readers and I am sincerely heartened by the fact that, published by Cambridge University Press, it is set to become a standard text.' Josie Billington, University of Liverpool'Any student of poetry, not just beginners, should find this book helpful and encouraging. Its tone is amiable but not condescending, its range of themes and examples is generous, and its insights are sensible, interesting and smart.' Michael Ferber, University of New HampshireDeeply thoughtful and superbly eloquent, this is the most inspiring guide to the study of poetry that I've ever encountered. It's an introduction and a masterclass at once. Like the literature it illuminates, this book has riches to offer readers of every kind. Refusing bullet points and jargon, refusing to flatten or over-simplify, Hodgson takes us seriously. Opening up conversation at every turn, he encourages us to embrace poetry in all its exhilarating complexity and to feel it changing our minds. He looks carefully under the microscope at rhyme and metre, form and voice, and – inseparably – he makes a powerfully sustained argument for the transformative presence of literature in our lives. … In sum it's as idiosyncratic, argumentative, stylish, loving and generally human as literature is and textbooks aren't.' Alexandra Harris, University of Birmingham'Hodgson's guide is lucid, learned, and just plain useful. He patiently and precisely describes the pleasures and value of reading and writing about verse. Filled with a wide selection of well-wrought exempla and some well-culled insights from poets themselves, the book beautifully describes why poetry matters and how it works. Like the best poets, Hodgson thinks and feels deeply about words.' Stephen Dobranski, Distinguished University Professor, Georgia State University'This is an incredibly useful, accessible guide for anyone interested in sharpening their appreciation of poetry. Andrew Hodgson's book manages to be engaging and friendly, even when introducing potentially intimidating topics like metre and scansion, without ever patronising the reader or reducing the complexity of the ideas raised. He also never loses sight of the fact that students need to discover their own reasons for engaging with poetry, beyond the mundane demands of university assessment. Through its series of wide-ranging and lucidly explored examples, his book inspires a further plunge into poetic history, by reminding us that poetry is a vital record of the diversity of human experience, rather than a rarefied separation from it.' Dr Sarah Parker, Loughborough University'… the book's language is accessible, lucid, and direct, rarely dipping into undefined poetic jargon. As such, The Cambridge Guide to Reading Poetry would be useful for technical communicators looking to reintroduce themselves to the act of reading poetry critically, or even those looking for a way to write a guide for difficult and diffuse subjects with clarity.' Dylan Schrader, Technical CommunicationTable of ContentsIntroduction: Reading Poetry; 1. Reading a Poem; 2. Studying a Poet; 3. Writing about Poetry; Epilogue: What Should You Read?; Glossary of Common Forms and Genres; Further Reading.
£19.10
Verso Books Raymond Chandler: The Detections of Totality
Book SynopsisRaymond Chandler, a dazzling stylist and portrayer of American life, holds a unique place in literary history, straddling both pulp fiction and modernism. With The Big Sleep, published in 1939, he left an indelible imprint on the detective novel. Fredric Jameson offers an interpretation of Chandler's work that reconstructs both the context in which it was written and the social world or totality it projects. Chandler's invariable setting, Los Angeles, appears both as a microcosm of the United States and a prefiguration of its future: a megalopolis uniquely distributed by an unpromising nature into a variety of distinct neighborhoods and private worlds. But this essentially urban and spatial work seems also to be drawn towards a vacuum, an absence that is nothing other than death. With Chandler, the thriller genre becomes metaphysical.Trade ReviewFredric Jameson is America's leading Marxist critic. A prodigiously energetic thinker whose writings sweep majestically from Sophocles to science fiction. -- Terry EagletonNot often in American writing since Henry James can there have been a mind displaying at once such tentativeness and force. The best of Jameson's work has felt mind-blowing in the way of LSD or mushrooms: here before you is the world you'd always known you were living in, but apprehended as if for the first time in the freshness of its beauty and horror. -- Benjamin Kunkel * London Review of Books *Probably the most important cultural critic writing in English today . it can truly be said that nothing cultural is alien to him. -- Colin MacCabeThe most muscular of writers. * Times Literary Supplement *Even the most anti-Marxian among us, [will] find ourselves compelled, if not to accept the book's intricate hypotheses, at least to accord them an ungrudged admiration for the brilliance of their formulation and the serene and quietly convinced tone in which they are advanced. -- John Banville * New York Review of Books *The small length of Jameson's book adds a tightness to its arguments and the style is often Chandler-esque: words are not wasted, literary observations are pin-sharp and there are some wry aperçu. Winningly, Jameson occasionally employs the genre's rhetoric, so his theorising becomes the pursuing of "lines of enquiry", a "procedure", etc. It's touches like this that make Jameson such a joy to read -- Cornelius Fitz * 3AM Magazine *
£12.00
Cornell University Press The Ethics of Narrative
Book SynopsisHayden White is widely considered to be the most influential historical theorist of the twentieth century. The Ethics of Narrative brings together nearly all of White''s uncollected essays from the last two decades of his life, revealing a lesser-known side of White: that of the public intellectual. From modern patriotism and European identity to Hannah Arendt''s writings on totalitarianism, from the idea of the historical museum and the theme of melancholy in art history to trenchant readings of Leo Tolstoy and Primo Levi, the first volume of The Ethics of Narrative shows White at his most engaging, topical, and capacious.Expertly introduced by editor Robert Doran, who lucidly explains the major themes, sources, and frames of reference of White''s thought, this volume features five previously unpublished lectures, as well as more complete versions of several published essays, thereby giving the reader unique access to White''s late thought. In addition tTrade ReviewThe Ethics of Narrative is a significant posthumous collection of Hayden White's writings. Those of us who care about White will be grateful to Doran for so conscientiously undertaking this legacy groundwork. * American Literary History *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Hayden White, History, and the Ethics of Narrative 1. The Problem with Modern Patriotism 2. Symbols and Allegories of Temporality 3. The Discourse of Europe and the Search for a European Identity 4. Catastrophe, Communal Memory, and Mythic Discourse: The Uses of Myth in the Reconstruction of Society 5. Figura and Historical Subalternation 6. The Westernization of World History 7. On Transcommunality and Models of Community 8. Anomalies of the Historical Museum or, History as Utopian Space 9. Figural Realism in Witness Literature: On Primo Levi's Se questo è un uomo 10. The Elements of Totalitarianism: On Hannah Arendt 11. The Metaphysics of Western Historiography: Cosmos, Chaos, and Sequence in Historiological Representation 12. Historicality as a Trope of Political Discourse: Rhetoric, Ethics, Politics 13. Exile and Abjection 14. The Dark Side of Art History: On Melancholy 15. Against Historical Realism: A Reading of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace
£22.79
HarperCollins Publishers Howdunit
Book SynopsisWinner of the H.R.F. Keating Award for best biographical/critical book related to crime fiction, and nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe and Macavity Awards for Best Critical/Biographical book.Ninety crime writers from the world's oldest and most famous crime writing network give tips and insights into successful crime and thriller fiction.Howdunit offers a fresh perspective on the craft of crime writing from leading exponents of the genre, past and present. The book offers invaluable advice to people interested in writing crime fiction, but it also provides a fascinating picture of the way that the best crime writers have honed their skills over the years. Its unique construction and content mean that it will appeal not only to would-be writers but also to a very wide readership of crime fans.The principal contributors are current members of the legendary Detection Club, including Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Peter James, Peter Robinson, Ann Cleeves, Andrew Taylor, Elly Griffiths, Sophie HTrade Review'Aspirant crime writers will relish the tips in Howdunit'—Barry Forshaw, Financial Times ‘A must-read for fans of crime writing and would-be authors alike.’—Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine ‘There can be few people in the country who know more about crime fiction than Martin Edwards.’—On Magazine
£13.49
Duke University Press Decolonizing Memory
Book SynopsisJill Jarvis examines the crucial role that writers and artists have played in cultivating historical memory and nurturing political resistance in Algeria, showing how literature offers the unique ability to reckon with colonial violence and to render the experiences of those marginalized by the state.Trade Review“Decolonizing Memory is a remarkable account of literature as a form of witnessing and the aesthetic as the primary register for imagining the unthinkable. Presented with elegance and a keen attention to language, the book locates Algeria at the center of the traumas of the twentieth century and demonstrates how literature could push back against the politics of silence promoted by the state. This is postcolonial scholarship at its best—theoretically sophisticated and historically grounded.” -- Simon Gikandi, Robert Schirmer Professor of English, Princeton University“Jill Jarvis's comparative study of Algeria, which engages with Arabic materials alongside the French, is very impressive. Meeting a significant demand in the field, Decolonizing Memory is a strong addition to Francophone studies, memory studies, and postcolonial studies and it will appeal to all those interested in the relationship between justice and the literary.” -- Ranjana Khanna, author of * Algeria Cuts: Women and Representation, 1830 to the Present *“By engaging with literary works that span decades and continents, Decolonizing Memory is a useful text to think with across disciplinary lines. . . . By arguing that literature occupies a special place in the analysis of colonialism, Jarvis entreats scholars in other fields to take literature seriously.” -- Meghan Tinsley * French History *“Decolonizing Memory is a promising contribution to the flourishing research being done in the field of Memory Studies, that is challenging the Western and in this case the French politics of testimony from the postcolonial point of view.” -- T. S. Kavitha * Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy *“Jarvis offers her readers a compelling theoretic work. . . . Her text marks a significant contribution to Francophone literary theory at a time when Algeria is experiencing a new chapter in its history, with both its citizens and its writers continuing the fight for justice as they hope for a brighter future.” -- Mildred Mortimer * International Journal of Middle East Studies *"Decolonizing Memory is a welcome contribution to the emerging field of postcolonial memory studies. A theoretically sophisticated intervention in debates about the representation of violence and collective trauma in colonial and postcolonial settings. . . ." -- Olivia C. Harrison * MLQ *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. The Future of Memory 1 1. Remnants of Muslims 27 2. Untranslatable Justice 63 3. Mourning Revolt 98 4. Open Elegy 141 Conclusion. Prisons without Walls 168 Notes 197 Bibliography 255 Index 267
£19.79
Duke University Press Stolen Life
Book SynopsisIn Stolen Life—the second volume in his landmark trilogy consent not to be a single being—Fred Moten engages with the work of thinkers ranging from Kant to Saidiya Hartman, undertaking an expansive exploration of blackness as it relates to black life and the collective refusal of social death.Trade Review"It's this spirit of the collective effort of study and exchange and resonance, the effort to keep the channels open and keep listening, that has made Moten (or, maybe, 'Moten/s') such a celebrated thinker. At the end of sentences like these, you want to say something like Amen." -- Jess Row * Bookforum *"At a time when both theory and criticism are frequently and convincingly attacked as exhausted forms, Moten’s trilogy has reinvented both. . . . In its mixture of theoretical complexity and disarming directness, Moten’s beautifully written trilogy offers the sheer pleasure of art." -- Lidija Haas * Vulture *"My favorite book(s) of 2018 are the three volumes of Fred Moten’s consent not to be a single being, individually titled Black and Blur, Stolen Life, and The Universal Machine. In this collection of essays stretching back fifteen years, Moten challenges the reader to imagine a radically interconnected aesthetic and political sphere that stretches from Glenn Gould to Fanon to Kant to Theaster Gates, sometimes in the space of a single sentence. This trilogy is one of the great intellectual adventures of our era." -- Jess Row * Bookforum *"2018 must go down for me as the year of Fred Moten’s trilogy: Black and Blur, Stolen Life, and The Universal Machine. You could say they’re essays about art, philosophy, blackness, and the refusal of social death, but I think of them more as a fractal universe forever inviting immersion and exploration, a living force now inhabiting my bookshelf." -- Maggie Nelson * Bookforum *"consent not to be a single being, titled after a phrase of Édouard Glissant’s, ranges across an impressive number of disciplines: black studies, performance studies, aesthetics, phenomenology, ontology, ethnomusicology, jazz history, comparative literature, critical theory, etc. Without announcing its intervention as interdisciplinary–Moten deftly renders discipline beside the point. . . . Taken together, the series amounts to a powerful argument for black study—as an analytic, an impetus, a mode, the collective shout from a radical vista, whose bellow requires nothing less than 'passionate response' (Moten 2003)." -- Mimi Howard * boundary 2 *"Whether reading his poetry or theory, listening to his lectures, Moten will change how you think about almost everything." -- Melissa Chadburn * Literary Hub *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Preface ix 1. Knowledge of Freedom 1 2. Gestural Critique of Judgment 96 3. Uplift and Criminality 115 4. The New International of Decent Feelings 140 5. Rilya Wilson, Precious Doe, Buried Angel 152 6. Black Op 155 7. The Touring Machine (Flesh Thought Inside Out) 161 8. Seeing Things 183 9. Air Shaft, Rent Party 188 10. Notes on Passage 191 11. Here, There, and Everywhere 213 12. Anassignment Letters 227 13. The Animaternalizing Call 237 14. Erotics of Fugitivity 241 Notes 269 Works Cited 297 Index 309
£20.69
Transit Books Lecture
Book Synopsis[Cappello''s] excellent new book-length essay, Lecture... at once defends the lecture and calls for holistic and creative improvements to the form.—The AtlanticIn twenty-first century America, there is so much that holds or demands our attention without requiring it. Imagine the lecture as a radical opening.Mary Cappello''s Lecture is a song for the forgotten art of the lecture. Brimming with energy and erudition, it is an attempt to restore the lecture''s capacity to wander, question, and excite. Cappello draws on examples from Virginia Woolf to Mary Ruefle, Ralph Waldo Emerson to James Baldwin, blending rigorous cultural criticism with personal history to explore the lecture in its many formsfrom the aphorism to the noteand give new life to knowledge's dramatic form.
£11.39
Fordham University Press Let Them Rot: Antigone’s Parallax
Book SynopsisA provocative, highly accessible journey to the heart of Sophocles’ Antigone elucidating why it keeps resurfacing as a central text of Western thought and Western culture. There is probably no classical text that has inspired more interpretation, critical attention, and creative response than Sophocles’ Antigone. The general perspective from which the book is written could be summarized with this simple question: What is it about the figure of Antigone that keeps haunting us? Why do all these readings and rewritings keep emerging? To what kind of always contemporary contradiction does the need, the urge to reread and reimagine Antigone—in all kinds of contexts and languages—correspond? As key anchor points of this general interrogation, three particular “obsessions” have driven the author’s thinking and writing about Antigone. First is the issue of violence. The violence in Antigone is the opposite of “graphic” as we have come to know it in movies and in the media; rather, it is sharp and piercing, it goes straight to the bone. It is the violence of language, the violence of principles, the violence of desire, the violence of subjectivity. Then there is the issue of funerary rites and their role in appeasing the specific “undeadness” that seems to be the other side of human life, its irreducible undercurrent that death alone cannot end and put to rest. This issue prompted the author to look at the relationship between language, sexuality, death, and “second death.” The third issue, which constitutes the focal point of the book, is Antigone’s statement that if it were her children or husband lying unburied out there, she would let them rot and not take it upon herself to defy the decree of the state. The author asks, how does this exclusivist, singularizing claim (she would do it only for Polyneices), which she uses to describe the “unwritten law” she follows, tally with Antigone’s universal appeal and compelling power? Attempting to answer this leads to the question of what this particular (Oedipal) family’s misfortune, of which Antigone chooses to be the guardian, shares with the general condition of humanity. Which in turn forces us to confront the seemingly self-evident question: “What is incest?” Let Them Rot is Alenka Zupančič’s absorbing and succinct guided tour of the philosophical and psychoanalytic issues arising from the Theban trilogy. Her original and surprising intervention into the broad and prominent field of study related to Sophocles’ Antigone illuminates the classical text’s ongoing relevance and invites a wide readership to become captivated by its themes.Table of ContentsPreface | vii Prologue | 1 1. Violence, Terror, and Unwritten Laws | 9 2. Death, Undeadness, and Funeral Rites | 21 3. “I’d Let Them Rot” | 50 Works Cited | 83 Index | 85
£16.14
Harvard University Press Theory of the Gimmick Aesthetic Judgment and
Book SynopsisAcclaimed critic Sianne Ngai theorizes the gimmick as an aesthetic category reflecting the fundamental laws of capitalism. Gimmicks make promises of saving labor and increasing value that we distrust but also find attractive. Exploring the use of this form, Ngai shows how its aesthetic dissatisfactions reflect deeper anxieties about capitalism.Trade ReviewA culmination of Ngai’s work as a critic…Ngai makes the case that the gimmick, whose value we regularly disparage, is of tremendous critical value. The gimmick, she contends, is the capitalist form par excellence…Ngai’s study lies somewhere between critical theory and Sontag’s best work. -- Andrew Koenig * Los Angeles Review of Books *One of the most creative humanities scholars working today…Ngai sets off on another mind-blowing exploration, this time drawing a line between our own judgements of productivity, as well as considering what entertainment is worth to us. My god, it’s so good. -- Olivia Rutigliano * Literary Hub *Theory of the Gimmick is a masterpiece—a culmination of the dazzling project begun in Sianne Ngai’s Ugly Feelings and elaborated in Our Aesthetic Categories, both celebrated books that have anchored affect theory to a strong account of tone and form. It is a major advance in aesthetic theory, and Marxist theory in particular, one that could help us all get over our Frankfurt melancholy and down to the garrulous work of actually naming the dynamics that produce art and artistic judgment under capitalism. -- Christopher Nealon, author of The Matter of CapitalThe gimmick draws out our unease about capitalism’s seductions, deflating their lofty appeals with the suddenness of a punch line. It is an aesthetic category that dunks on capitalism’s too-good-to-be-true promises by dunking on itself…It is undeniable that part of what makes Ngai’s analyses of aesthetic categories so appealing—so appealing as to even appear to raise the esteem of the object under analysis—is simply her capacity to speak about them brilliantly. -- Jane Hu * Bookforum *In its extraordinary analysis of the gimmick as a compromised expression of what Walter Benjamin or Fredric Jameson have labeled the age of “late capitalism,” Ngai’s book—much like her previous book publications—is a stellar critique and rethinking of Continental aesthetic theory. …Ngai’s work will not and must not be bypassed by future theories of aesthetics and consumer capitalism, not least in American studies. -- Dustin Breitenwischer * Amerikastudien *Ngai exposes capitalism’s tricks in her mind-blowing study of the time- and labor-saving devices we call gimmicks. -- Katrina Forrester * New Statesman *Ngai tracks the gimmick through a number of guises: stage props, wigs, stainless-steel banana slicers, temp agencies, fraudulent photographs, subprime loans, technological doodads, the novel of ideas…[She] has slowly been building a reputation as one of America’s most original and penetrating cultural theorists. -- Charlie Tyson * Chronicle of Higher Education *Ngai is a keen analyst of overlooked or denigrated categories in art and life…Moves quickly from the fantastical contraptions of Rube Goldberg to the philosophical machinery in Kant or Marx that might explain their appeal…Highly original in theme and suggestive in approach. -- Brian Dillon * 4Columns *Ngai has done so much to illuminate. -- David Trotter * London Review of Books *Ngai’s penetrating and at times humorous work feels uncommonly generous at a deeply polarized moment when emotions run high and much theory and criticism has taken on an increasingly grave, moralizing tone…Explores across a remarkably broad range of works of art, film, and literature the ‘gimmick,’ a simultaneously attractive and repulsive form that links the aesthetic to the economic. -- Matthew Rana * Kunstkritikk *It is the simplicity and vernacular quality of Sianne Ngai’s central concept that elevates this book to a classic in the making. Ngai’s most important contribution to Marxist cultural and economic theory comes from her insight that—like the judgment of the beautiful for Kant—the gimmick is a subjective category, neither cognitive nor ethical, but historical through and through. The gimmick is a way to bring together the theory of the commodity with Kant’s category of judgment. Through Ngai, we are able to vernacularize Marx and to understand the most basic but enigmatic proposition: that truth and appearance are identical in the commodity. -- Timothy Bewes, author of Reification: Or, The Anxiety of Late CapitalismBooks of this ambition and accomplishment are rare! Theory of the Gimmick continues the work of Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, and others in seriously putting together aesthetic theory and Marxist theories of capital. In an impossibly erudite, wide-ranging, and theoretically sophisticated argument, Ngai gives us a unique insight into the relationship between labor, time, and value in a capitalist economy. This book is a major event in American intellectual life. -- Jonathan Flatley, author of Affective Mapping: Melancholia and the Politics of ModernismThe whole book suggests that critique is an occasion for delight, as the explication of how the gimmicks Ngai finds everywhere from Henry James to a toy box reveal the inner workings of capital is accomplished with a joyful relentlessness. The book is a page turner. -- Theo Davis * American Literary History *[A] groundbreaking argument. * Choice *[Theory of the Gimmick] firstly offers an eminently usable theory of the gimmick, and secondly offers a series of masterful extensions of that theory in practically unrepeatable analyses of texts…where we witness, in addition to Ngai the theorist, Ngai the virtually peerless reader. -- Astrid Lorange * Sydney Review of Books *
£17.95
Duke University Press Essential Essays Volume 1
Book SynopsisFrom his arrival in Britain in the 1950s and involvement in the New Left, to founding the field of cultural studies and examining race and identity in the 1990s and early 2000s, Stuart Hall has been central to shaping many of the cultural and political debates of our time. Essential Essays—a landmark two-volume set—brings together Stuart Hall''s most influential and foundational works. Spanning the whole of his career, these volumes reflect the breadth and depth of his intellectual and political projects while demonstrating their continued vitality and importance.Volume 1: Foundations of Cultural Studies focuses on the first half of Hall''s career, when he wrestled with questions of culture, class, representation, and politics. This volume''s stand-out essays include his field-defining “Cultural Studies and Its Theoretical Legacies';the prescient “The Great Moving Right Show,” which first identified the emergent mode of authoTrade Review"Anyone whose work is informed, 'in the last instance,' by Cultural Studies will find much that is helpfully familiar in it as well as new connections, new applications, new ways of '[penetrating] the disorderly surface of things to another level of understanding,' as Hall says, invoking Marx, in the epilogue. This seems especially urgent as the ascendancy of the far Right coincides with the wholesale neoliberalization of the humanities, as Hall predicted in his 'Theoretical Legacies' lecture. It is obviously not a question of 'going back' to Hall for a truer or more 'authentic' form of Cultural Studies than that in practice today. But there is much in his legacy that illuminates the dynamics of the present, and much to put into dialogue with contemporary scholarship and practice. Morley's collection reminds us how important it is for genuine intellectual work to articulate competing and contradictory paradigms together, to work, as Hall did, from the points of contestation and conflict rather than seek solace in abstractions. This, finally, is the 'essential' in the essays assembled here." -- Liane Tanguay * American Book Review *“Along with the other volumes that Duke University Press has published, these two books of collected essays are to be welcomed. They allow us to see a fertile mind in action, engaged in and with the real world. It is a model well worth emulating.” -- Michael W. Apple * Educational Policy *“As one of the foremost intellectuals of his generation, [Hall] has made an enormous contribution to cultural and political thought, and his work has had a lasting impact in both social sciences and the humanities…. This collection is a treasure trove of Hall’s intellectual and political offerings; I recommend it highly.” -- Avtar Brah * New West Indian Guide *"I have also narrated the effort it took for me to access his work to illustrate the importance of the Selected Writings now being released by Duke University Press. It is an event of profound historical significance that a new generation will be able to begin its political and theoretical education with systematic access to Hall’s writing. . . . The two-volume Essential Essays shows the broad scope of his work." -- Asad Haider * The Point *"It was one of Hall’s unique gifts to offer analysis of the moment as it unfolded before our eyes. I am sure I am not alone in having found his talks exhilarating in ways I could never quite understand, given that the news he relayed with such energy was almost unremittingly dire. Hall offered his readings as interpretation and self-commentary, tracing his own intellectual path." -- Jacqueline Hall * New York Review of Books *Table of ContentsA Note on the Text vii Acknowledgments ix General Introduction: A Life in Essays 1 Part I. Cultural Studies: Culture, Class, and Theory Introduction 27 1. Richard Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy, and the Cultural Turn [2007] 35 2. Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms [1980] 47 3. Cultural Studies and Its Theoretical Legacies [1992] 71 Part II. Theoretical and Methodological Principles: Class, Race and Articulation 4. The Hinterland of Science: Ideology and the Sociology of Knowledge [1977] 111 5. Rethinking the "Base and Superstructure" Metaphor [1977] 143 6. Race, Articulation, and Societies Structured in Dominance [1980] 172 7. On Postmodernism and Articulation: An Interview with Stuart Hall by Larry Grossberg and Others [1986] 222 Part III. Media, Communications, Ideology, and Representation 8. Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse [originally 1973; republished 2007] 257 9. External Influences on Broadcasting: The External/Internal Dialectic in Broadcasting—Television's Double-Blind [1972] 277 10. Culture, the Media, and the "Ideological Effect" [1977] 298 Part IV. Political Formations: Power as Process 11. Notes on Deconstructing "the Popular" [1981] 347 12. Policing the Crisis: Preface to the 35th Anniversary Edition [2013] (with Chas Critcher, Tony Jefferson, John Clarke, and Brian Roberts) 362 13. The Great Moving Right Show [1979] 374 Index 393 Place of First Publication 411
£22.49
HarperCollins Publishers The Time Machine
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.In a moment I was clutched by several hands, and there was no mistaking that they were trying to haul me back . . . You can scarce imagine how nauseatingly inhuman they looked those pale chinless faces and great, lidless, pinkish-grey eyes!An English scientist regales his dinner guests with the tale of his travels to the year 802,701, where he discovers that the human race has evolved into two distinct societies. The Eloi, elegant and peaceful, yet lacking spirit, are terrorised by the sinister, light-fearing Morlocks, who live underground, surrounded by industry. And when his time machine mysteriously vanishes, the scientist must descend to the realm of the Morlocks in order to find his only hope of escape . . .H. G. Wells is considered a founding father of modern science fiction, coining the term time machine' and popularising the idea of time travel in literature.
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd Classical Literary Criticism Penguin Classics
Book SynopsisThis anthology brings together core classical texts for understanding literature. The selections from Plato illustrate the poetic philosopher's surprising exclusion of poets from his ideal republic. In his response, Poetics, Aristotle draws on the works of the great Greek playwrights to defend the value of the art. Horace's The Art of Poetry is a vivid practitioner's guide that promotes a style of poetic craftsmanship rooted in wisdom, ethical insight, and decorum. Longinus's On the Sublime explores the nature of inspiration in poetry and prose. This volume is a work of great value and interest to classicists, students, and writers.In her Introduction, Penelope Murray compares and contrasts the viewpoints of these formidable critics as well as their impact on the Western tradition. This edition also includes a new bibliography and chronology and comprehensive notes to each of the texts.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisTable of ContentsIntroduction1. Homer and the Early Greek Poets2. Aristophanes3. Gorgias and the Sophists4. Plato5. Aristotle6. The Alexandrians7. Horace8. Longinus9. EpilogueFurther ReadingLiterary ChronologyPlatoIonRepublic 2Republic 3Republic 10AristotlePoeticsHoraceThe Art of PoetryLonginusOn the SublimeNotes
£10.44
Oxford University Press Inc Toni Morrison
Book SynopsisWhen Toni Morrison declares that she can''t wait for the ultimate liberation theory to imagine its practice and do its work, she raises an issue at the heart of modern political thought: How should we understand freedom? And what does freedom mean in the shadow of racial slavery and colonialism? In this study of Toni Morrison''s writing, Lawrie Balfour explores Morrison''s reflections on the idea of freedom in her novels and nonfiction. While Morrison''s literary achievements are widely celebrated, her political thought has yet to receive the same attention. Balfour shows how Morrison''s writing illuminates the meanings of freedom and unfreedom in a democratic society founded on both the defense of liberty and the right to enslavement. Morrison''s fiction and meditations on the power of language challenge wishful notions of color-blindness and complaints that it is time to move beyond thinking and talking about race. Her attentiveness to the experiences of people no one inquired of--esTrade ReviewToni Morrison is yet another brilliant contribution to Balfour's body of work examining the political thought of black intellectuals, DuBois, and Baldwin. It makes a tremendous contribution to Political Philosophy, Political Theory, Black Studies, and American Intellectual History. Morrison scholars will find it especially important as well. * Farah Jasmine Griffin, Columbia University *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Freedom and Word-Work 1.
£24.49
Oxford University Press Intercultural Explorations and the Court of Henry
Book SynopsisSeldom has a royal court invited such intensive study as that of Henry VIII, or become so prominent in popular culture. Nonetheless, Intercultural Explorations and the Court of Henry VIII is committed to offering a fresh perspective on Tudor court culture, by using continental sources to contextualize, nuance, and challenge long-held perspectives that have been formed through the use of well-studied, Anglophone sources.Using a wide variety of textual sources, from ambassadorial correspondence, account books, household étiquettes, legal records, royal warrants, and marital contracts, to play texts and travel accounts, this study presents original research in history, literature, and cultural history.The case studies in Intercultural Explorations and the Court of Henry VIII address specific questions that challenge what we know or think we know about Tudor court culture. For example: was it good taste to bring a jester to a royal deathbed? Was John Blanke really the first black musician Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Queen's Trumpet or Second Fiddle 2: Deathbed Foolery 3: Food for thought 4: Fashion Victims 5: Leaving an Impression Conclusion
£18.99
Oxford University Press Sensationalism and the Jew in Antebellum American
Book SynopsisSensationalism and the Jew in Antebellum American Literature examines the charged but mostly overlooked presence of the sensational Jew in Antebellum literature. It demonstrates how the "Sensational Jew" is a revealing figure in antebellum culture, as well as an important antecedent to contemporary Antisemitism in the US.Trade ReviewAntisemitism has appeared in many times and places-and, as David Anthony shows in his informative, unsettling Sensationalism and the Jew in Antebellum American Literature, in many genres.... In exploring this seamy side of antebellum America, Anthony follows many critics who have examined nineteenth - century sensational culture over the past several decades. But he is the first to highlight Jewish characters. * David S. Reynolds, The New York Review of Books *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Money Laundering and the Sensational Jew 1: Region, Capitalism, and the Jew in the Post-Tom Plantation Novel 2: La Belle Juive, or "Jew"?: From Rachel Félix to The Marble Faun 3: Desire by Proxy: The Cosmopolitan Jew in Theodore Winthrop's Cecil Dreeme 4: Fagin in America Conclusion: Race, Money, and the Jew Coda: Charlottesville, "Molineux," and the Phantom Jew
£61.75
Oxford University Press Inc Bohemians A Very Short Introduction VERY SHORT
Book SynopsisThe Romantic myth of Bohemia originated in the early nineteenth century as a way of describing the new conditions faced by artists and writers when the previous system of aristocratic patronage collapsed in the wake of the Age of Revolution. Without the patron system, the artist was free to move around, to seek an audience wherever fortune beckoned. This marketing model likening the artist''s vagabond career to the gypsy life helps to explain part of the bohemian myth, but not all of it. Most bohemians have scant interest in commercial gain and are not so itinerant after all, confining their movements to down-market urban neighbourhoods where the rent is cheap and the morals are loose.This Very Short Introduction traces the myth of Bohemia through its various fictional manifestations, from Henry Murger''s novel Scenes of Bohemian Life (1851) and Giacomo Puccini''s opera La Bohème (1896) to Aki Kaurismäki''s film La vie de Bohème (1992), and Jonathan Larson''s musical Rent (1996). It goes on to examine the history of different bohemian communities, including those in the Latin Quarter of Paris, the Schwabing section of Munich, and the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York. David Weir also considers the politics of Bohemia and traces the careers of the artists Gustave Courbet and Pablo Picasso and the great chanteuses Yvette Guilbert, Fréhel, and Edith Piaf in the Montmartre neighborhood of Paris, where a rich tradition of popular culture indebted to Bohemia also developed. Weir concludes with a discussion of the legacy of Bohemia today as something outworn and dying, an exhausted tradition that somehow continues.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction Chapter 1: Fictional Bohemias Chapter 2: Historical Bohemias Chapter 3: Political Bohemias Chapter 4: Artistic Bohemias Conclusion References Further reading Index
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Studying Literature
Book SynopsisJeremy Hawthorn is Professor of British Literature, Paul Goring is Professor of British Literature and Domhnall Mitchell is Professor of American Literature. All three are at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.Trade ReviewExcellent introduction to the mechanics of degree-level study of literature - very practical. Professor M Moran, Brunel University, UK Clearly set out and there is likely to be something for everyone in most of the five sections. Writing in EducationTable of ContentsContents Introduction Introducing your companion Using the companion Cross-referencing Section 1: Guide to Studying Literature at University Introduction What type of guide is this? Is such a guide really necessary? 'Literary', 'primary', 'secondary': a note on terminology Getting organised Your degree scheme Preparing for courses Getting the most from lectures, seminars and tutorials Using the library Reading literary texts Reading and studying: general points Reading prose fiction: novels, novellas and short stories Reading drama Reading poetry Literary criticism What is literary criticism? How to find relevant criticism Using criticism Writing essays Analyzing the question Formulating and structuring an argument Applying literary theory in essays Writing Guidelines on presentation/style Plagiarism and how to avoid it Making a presentation Exams Preparation and revision Taking exams Section 2: Guide to the use of electronic resources Some introductory comments Finding primary electronic information Issues of reliability Reading in the electronic age Searching and analyzing electronic texts Finding secondary materials Searching the Internet for literary resources Evaluating online secondary sources Useful sites Documenting electronic media Revising and editing electronically Safety measures Section 3: Theories and approaches Introduction: Living with theory Moliere's Monsieur Jourdain Reinventing the wheel The theoretical 'object' Types of theory Descriptive or prescriptive? Literature-specific? Butcher or biologist? School or theory? Chosen or thrust-upon? Theory and method A note on our groupings Formalisms Russian Formalism The Prague School New Criticism The Hermeneutic tradition Hermeneutics Phenomenology Reception theory Reader-response criticism Structuralism and its progeny Structuralism Semiology/semiotics Narratology Post-structuralism Deconstruction Pragmatics and the reaction against structuralism Speech act theory Psychological and psychoanalytic theories Psychoanalytic criticism Archetypal criticism Cognitive criticism 'Isms' Marxist theory and criticism The Frankfurt School New historicism and cultural materialism Thing theory Postcolonialism Ecocriticism Feminism Queer theory Section 4: Guide to literary theorists Mikhail Bakhtin Roland Barthes Simone de Beauvoir Walter Benjamin Homi K. Bhabha Harold Bloom Bertolt Brecht Helene Cixous Jacques Derrida Terry Eagleton Umberto Eco T.S. Eliot William Empson Stanley Fish Michel Foucault Northrop Frye Henry Louis Gates, Jr Gerard Genette Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar Lucien Goldmann Stephen Jay Greenblatt E.D. Hirsch Jr bell hooks Luce Irigaray Wolfgang Iser Roman Jakobson Fredric Jameson Julia Kristeva Jacques Lacan F.R. Leavis Georg Lukacs Jean-Francois Lyotard Jerome McGann Paul de Man J. Hillis Miller Kate Millett Franco Moretti James Phelan Vladimir Propp I.A. Richards Paul Ricoeur Edward Said Ferdinand de Saussure Viktor Shklovsky Elaine Showalter Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Tzvetan Todorov Rene Wellek Raymond Williams Virginia Woolf Section 5: Glossary of literary and theoretical terms Bibliography Index
£30.39
Taylor & Francis Global Literature and the Environment
Book SynopsisGlobal Literature and the Environment analyses literatures from across the world that connect readers to the localized impacts of the climate and ecological emergencies. The book contextualizes ecological breakdown within the history of imperialist-capitalism, exploring how literature helps us to imagine and create a habitable and just world for all forms of life.The four chapters are organised according to the elements of the climate system that are at risk. Earth' examines Caribbean, American, South African, and British literatures that explore how dominant human groups have exploited soils, minerals, metals, and oil in pursuit of economic aims. Water' engages with poetic representations of, and responses to, extraction, pollution, and global warming in the fresh- and saltwaters of Nigeria and the icescapes of Alaska. Air' analyses prose and poetry that depicts atmospheric pollution caused by gas flaring in the Niger Delta and the production of pesticides in India. L
£33.24
Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Teaching Literature in Times of Crisis
Book SynopsisTeaching Literature in Times of Crisis looks at the range of different crises currently affecting students â from climate change and systemic racism, to the global pandemic. Addressing the impact on studentsâ ability and motivation to learn as well as their emotional wellbeing, this volume guides teachers toward strategies for introducing both canonical and contemporary literature in ways that demonstrate the future relevance of sophisticated and targeted literacy skills. These reading practices are invaluable for framing and critically examining the challenges associated with crisis in order to help cope with grief and as a means to impart the skills needed to deal with crisis, such as adaptability, flexibility, resilience, and resistance. Providing necessary background theory, alongside practical case studies, the book addresses: Reading practices for demonstrating how literature explores ethical issues in specific and concrete rather than abstract terms Making connections between disparate phenomena, and how literature mobilises affect in individual and collective human lives Supporting teachers in considering new, imaginative ways students can learn from literary content and form in online or remote learning environments as well as face to face Combining close and distant reading with creative and hands-on strategies, presenting the principles of a transitional pedagogy for a world in flux. This book introduces teachers to methods for reading and studying literature with the aim of strengthening and promoting resilience and resourcefulness in and out of the literature classroom and empower students as global citizens with local roles to play.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Case Study One: Discovering the Weird and the Wonderful in a Changing World 2. Case Study Two: What the Coming-of-Age Story Teaches Us about the Anthropocene 3. Case Study Three: Things to Do With the Canon in the Classroom 4. Case Study Four: Modern Again: Tell it from the Scars 5. Wider Contexts: Twenty-First-Century Skills and Competencies Bibliography
£25.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd An Introduction to Queer Literary Studies
Book SynopsisAn Introduction to Queer Literary Studies: Reading Queerly is the first introduction to queer theory written especially for students of literature. Tracking the emergence of queer theory out of gay and lesbian studies, this book pays unique attention to how queer scholars have read some of the most well-known works in the English language. Organized thematically, this book explores queer theoretical treatments of sexual identity, gender and sexual norms and normativity, negativity and utopianism, economics and neoliberalism, and AIDS activism and disability. Each chapter expounds upon foundational works in queer theory by scholars including Michel Foucault, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Lee Edelman. Each chapter also offers readings of primary texts ranging from the highly canonical, like John Milton's Paradise Lost, to more contemporary works of popular fiction, like Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot. Along the way, An Introduction to Queer Literary Studies: Reading QueerTable of ContentsPreface Introduction Chapter 1: Identity Chapter 2: Normativity Chapter 3: Negativity Chapter 4: Economy Chapter 5: DisabilityEpilogueIndex
£33.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd Critical Theory Today
Book SynopsisThis thoroughly updated fourth edition of Critical Theory Today offers an accessible introduction to contemporary critical theory, providing in-depth coverage of the most common approaches to literary analysis today, including: feminism; psychoanalysis; Marxism; reader-response theory; New Criticism; structuralism and semiotics; deconstruction; new historicism and cultural criticism; lesbian, gay, and queer theory; African American criticism; and postcolonial criticism and ecocriticism. This new edition features: A brand new chapter on ecocriticism, including sections on deep ecology, eco-Marxism, ecofeminism (including radical, Marxist, and vegetarian ecofeminisms), and postcolonial ecocriticism and environmental justice Considerable updates to the chapters on feminist theory, African American theory, postcolonial theory, and LGBTQ theories, including terminology and theoretical concepts An extended explanation of each theory, using examples Trade ReviewPraise for the Third Edition:"Lois Tyson's Critical Theory Today is an accessible introduction to many of the major schools of literary interpretation. She provides clear explanations and illuminating cross-comparisons that work very effectively in the undergraduate classroom." Elizabeth Renker, Professor of English, The Ohio State University, USA"For anyone who wants to understand contemporary cultural theory, Critical Theory Today is the undisputed starting point for that understanding. No other introduction to theory presents each theory on its own terms in the way that Lois Tyson's indispensable work does. She combines penetrating clarity with theoretical sophistication in order to create a book that everyone can learn from. The welcome new third edition provides a keyhole into what's going on right now in the rapidly changing world of contemporary theory." Todd McGowan, Associate Professor, The University of Vermont, USA"An encyclopedic and eminently readable book, one that should be an authoritative vade mecum for both undergraduates and graduates alike, plus those faculty teaching such courses and wishing a quick refresher." David Greetham, Distinguished Professor, City University of New York, Graduate Center, USATable of ContentsPreface to the fourth editionPreface for instructorsAcknowledgements1 Everything you wanted to know about critical theory but were afraid to ask 2 Psychoanalytic criticism 3 Marxist criticism4 Feminist criticism 5 New Criticism 6 Reader-response criticism 7 Structuralist criticism 8 Deconstructive criticism 9 New historical and cultural criticism 10 Lesbian, gay, and queer criticism 11 African American criticism 12 Postcolonial criticism 13 Ecocriticism14 Gaining an overview
£39.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd Literary Criticism in Antiquity
Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1934, this book contains the second volume of Atkins'' ''sketch'' of the development of ancient literary criticism. Atkins concludes his history with a look at the styles of literary criticism prevalent after the rise of the Roman Empire, and includes the responses of figures such as Cicero, Tacitus and Lucian to changes in the literature of their day. Table of Contents1. The Critical Beginnings at Rome and the Classical Reaction: Terence, Lucilius and Cicero 2. Classicism Established in Poetic Theory: Phiodemus and Horace 3. Classicism and Prose Style: Dionysius of Halicarnassus 4. The Literary Decline and Contemporary Comments: Tractatus Coslinianus, the two Senecas, Persius and Petronius 5. The Critical Revival and Theories of Style: Tacitus and Demetrius 6. The New Critical Outlook and Methods: Longinus 7. The Restatement of Classicism: Quintilian 8. Critical Cross-Currents: martial, the younger Pliny, Plutarch, Dio Chrysostom and Lucian 9. Conclusion
£28.49
Taylor & Francis Fantasy
Book SynopsisThis study argues against vague interpretations of fantasy as mere escapism and seeks to define it as a distinct kind of narrative. A general theoretical section introduces recent work on fantasy, notably Tzventan Todorov''s The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (1973). Dr Jackson, however, extends Todorov''s ideas to include aspects of psychoanalytical theory. Seeing fantasy as primarily an expression of unconscious drives, she stresses the importance of the writings of Freud and subsequent theorists when analysing recurrent themes, such as doubling or multiplying selves, mirror images, metamorphosis and bodily disintegration.^l Gothic fiction, classic Victorian fantasies, the ''fantastic realism'' of Dickens and Dostoevsky, tales by Mary Shelley, James Hogg, E.T.A. Hoffmann, George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, R.L. Stevenson, Franz Kafka, Mervyn Peake and Thomas Pynchon are among the texts covered. Through a reading of these frequently disquieting works, Dr JTrade Review`Dr Jackson has written a wide-ranging and frequently stimulating introduction to the subject of 'fantasy in modern literature.' - Times Literary SupplementTable of Contents1 INTRODUCTION, Part One: Theory, 2 THE FANTASTIC AS A MODE, The imagination in exile, The ‘real’ under scrutiny, The marvellous, mimetic and fantastic, Non-signification, Topography, themes, myths, 3 PSYCHOANALYTICAL PERSPECTIVES, The uncanny, Metamorphosis and entropy, Disintegrated bodies, Part Two: Texts 4 GOTHIC TALES AND NOVELS 5 FANTASTIC REALISM 6 VICTORIAN FANTASIES 7 FROM KAFKA’S ‘METAMORPHOSIS’ TO PYNCHON’S ‘ENTROPY’ 8 AFTERWORD: THE ‘UNSEEN’ OF CULTURE
£37.99
Taylor & Francis The Unconscious The New Critical Idiom
Book SynopsisThe unconscious is a term which is central to the understanding of psychoanalysis, and, indeed everyday life. In this introductory guide, Antony Easthope provides a witty and accessible overview of the subject showing the reality of the unconscious with a startling variety of examples.Table of ContentsSERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE, PREFACE, 1 Is there an unconscious?, 2 The unconscious in Freud and Lacan, 3 The unconscious and the ‘I’, 4 The unconscious and sexuality, 5 The unconscious and the text, 6 The unconscious and history, 7 Conclusion: giving it all away, BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEX
£25.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Jacques Lacan by Homer Sean Author ON Nov112004
Book SynopsisThis volume provides an excellent introduction to the work of Jacques Lacan, covering all of Lacan's major concepts such as the Imaginary, the Symbolic and the Real.Trade Review"Sean Homer manages to pin down the notoriously evasive writings of Jacques Lacan and make them comprehensible, helpfully signposting the journey into deeper philosophical waters." -MetapsychologyTable of ContentsPart 1 Why Lacan?; Part 2 Key Ideas; Chapter 1 The Imaginary; Chapter 2 The Symbolic; Chapter 3 The Oedipus Complex and the Meaning of the Phallus; Chapter 4 The Subject of the Unconscious; Chapter 5 The Real; Chapter 6 Sexual Difference part3 After Lacan;
£24.32
Taylor & Francis Ltd Romantic Image
Book SynopsisFor the past four decades Frank Kermode, critic and writer, has steadily established himself as one of the most brilliant minds of his generation. Questioning the public''s harsh perception of ''the artist'', Kermode at the same time gently pokes fun at artists'' own, often inflated, self-image. He identifies what has become one of the defining characteristics of the Romantic tradition - the artist in isolation and the emerging power of the imagination. Back in print after an absence of over a decade, The Romantic Image is quintessential Kermode. Enlightenment has seldom been so enjoyable!Trade Review'In this extremely important book of speculative and scholarly criticism, Mr Kermode is setting out to re-define the notion of the Romantic tradition, especially in relation to English poetry and criticism.' - Times Literary Supplement'Kermode's effortless learning, lucid intelligence and wry, self-deprecating style prove that, at its best, literary criticism itself is a lively art.' - Al AlvarezTable of ContentsPreface -- A Note on the Frontispiece -- Part I Dancer and -- The Artist in Isolation 3 -- ‘In Memory of Major Robert Gregory’ 37 -- The Image 52 -- The Dancer 59 -- The Tree111 -- Part II The Twentieth -- Arthur Symons 127 -- T. E. Hulme141 -- ‘Dissociation of Sensibility’ 164 -- Conclusion192 -- Epilogue -- Index
£16.40
Taylor & Francis Ltd Theorists of Modernist Poetry
Book SynopsisModernist poetry heralded a radical new aesthetic of experimentation, pioneering new verse forms and subjects, and changing the very notion of what it meant to be a poet. This volume examines T.S. Eliot, T.E. Hulme and Ezra Pound, three of the most influential figures of the modernist movement, and argues that we cannot dissociate their bold, inventive poetic forms from their profoundly engaged theories of social and political reform.Tracing the complex theoretical foundations of modernist poetics, Rebecca Beasley examines: the aesthetic modes and theories that formed a context for modernism the influence of contemporary philosophical movements the modernist critique of democracy the importance of the First World War modernism's programmes for social reform. This volume offers invaluable insight into the modernist movement, as well as demonstrating the deep influence of the three poets on the shape and values of the Trade Review'No one can understand the revolution that was Modernism in Anglo-America without some familiarity with the theoretical and critical writings of Eliot and Pound—and before them, T. E. Hulme ... Rebecca Beasley’s Theorists of Modernist Poetry provides newcomers to this field with an excellent introduction to the complex strains that inform the poetic theories in question and argues convincingly that, however problematic the later politics of Eliot and Pound, the legacy of their poetics remains crucial today.' – Marjorie Perloff, Stanford University'No one can understand the revolution that was Modernism in Anglo-America without some familiarity with the theoretical and critical writings of Eliot and Pound—and before them, T. E. Hulme ... Rebecca Beasley’s Theorists of Modernist Poetry provides newcomers to this field with an excellent introduction to the complex strains that inform the poetic theories in question and argues convincingly that, however problematic the later politics of Eliot and Pound, the legacy of their poetics remains crucial today.' – Marjorie Perloff, Stanford University"In addition to their experimental poetry, says Beasley (English and humanities, U. of London), the three towering figures of early 20th-century English literature are important as the primary theorists of the modernist tradition. She traces the formation of the literary values they established and disseminated through critical essays and editorial authority." -- Book News Inc., August 2008Table of ContentsWhy Eliot, Hulme and Pound? Key Ideas 1. Modes of Aestheticism: Early Influences 2. Philosophical Details: The Image and the Objective Correlative 3. Classicism and the Critique of Democracy 4. The Historical Sense 5. The Great War and the Long Poem 6. Modernism and the Ideal Society After Eliot, Hulme and Pound Further Reading
£26.96
Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) The Historical Novel
Book SynopsisThe historical novel is an enduringly popular genre that raises crucial questions about key literary concepts, fact and fiction, identity, history, reading, and writing. In this comprehensive, focused guide, Jerome de Groot offers an accessible introduction to the genre and critical debates that surround it, including: the development of the historical novel from early eighteenth-century works through to postmodern and contemporary historical fiction different genres, such as sensational or low' fiction, crime novels, literary works, counterfactual writing and related issues of audience, value, and authenticity the many functions of historical fiction, particularly the challenges it poses to accepted histories and postmodern questioning of grand narratives' the relationship of the historical novel to the wider cultural sphere with reference to historical theory, the internet, television, and film key theoretical concepts such as tTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. 'Origins': early manifestations and some definitions 2. 'Low' genre or sensational novels 3. High or Literary Fiction 4. Postmodernism and the Historical Novel 5. Challenging History History from the margins: colonial, sexual Glossary Further Reading
£24.32
Taylor & Francis Ltd Fifty Key Postmodern Thinkers
Book SynopsisPostmodernism is an important part of the cultural landscape which continues to evolve, yet the ideas and theories surrounding the subject can be diverse and difficult to understand. Fifty Postmodern Thinkers critically examines the work of fifty of the most important theorists within the postmodern movement who have defined and shaped the field, bringing together their key ideas in an accessible format. Drawing on figures from a wide range of subject areas including literature, cultural theory, philosophy, sociology and architecture those covered include: John Barth Umberto Eco Slavoj Zizek Cindy Sherman John Cage Jean-Francois Lyotard Charles Jencks Jacques Derrida Homi K. Bhabha Quentin Tarantino Each entry examines the thinkers' career, key contributions Trade ReviewA joy to read, Sim's cross-referenced critical commentary enables readers to perceive transdisciplinary conceptual constellations, chart major and minor theoretical trajectories, and orient postmodernism in relation to current real-world debates about surveillance, neoliberalism, fundamentalism, and the global financial crisis. Intelligently designed, this informative book will not induce information overload. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. -- E. D. Rasmussen, University of Stavanger in CHOICETable of ContentsIntroduction A-Z Key Thinkers Chronology Bibliography
£33.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd Trauma
Book SynopsisTrauma has become a catchword of our time and a central category in contemporary theory and criticism. In this illuminating and accessible volume, Lucy Bond and Stef Craps: provide an account of the history of the concept of trauma from the late nineteenth century to the present day examine debates around the term in their historical and cultural contexts trace the origins and growth of literary trauma theory introduce the reader to key thinkers in the field explore important issues and tensions in the study of trauma as a cultural phenomenon outline and assess recent critiques and revisions of cultural trauma research Trauma is an essential guide to a rich and vibrant area of literary and cultural inquiry. Trade Review"As an introduction to trauma theory and its applications to contemporary literary, artistic, and clinical work, the volume sets a high standard. It reminds us of the limitations of trauma studies as a dominant paradigm and exposes its controversies, while endeavoring to enlarge our understanding of this huge field. Trauma will be useful as an introduction for students who struggle with omnipresent and often confusing conceptions of trauma, but professionals and scholars could equally benefit from reading through its dense but clear summaries of a vast array of sources. I recommend the book whole-heartedly to anyone with an interest or need to gain greater familiarity with the meaning and pervasiveness of trauma at this moment of history."Lewis Kirshner, Harvard Medical School, American Imago"Overall, the work succeeds in its attempt to outline the historical trajectory of trauma studies and its application in literary analysis and other means of artistic and cultural production. Historical facts, researchers, works, studies, and terms most important to the development of the field are presented to the reader in clear and succinct language. This is certainly a work of reference and quick reference, useful for the more experienced researcher, while at the same time serving as introductory material of easy access and understanding for students new to the field. In this sense, the book fulfills its intended and announced function as a manual or guidebook, as it explores all the most relevant moments and themes for trauma studies, while also provoking reflections on the subject."Joyce Silva Fernandes, Remate de MalesTable of ContentsIntroduction: Not Even Past 1. The History of Trauma 2. Words for Wounds 3. Trauma Theories 4. The Future of Trauma Conclusion: The Limits of Trauma
£24.32
Taylor & Francis Ltd Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion
Book SynopsisThe fairy tale is arguably one of the most important cultural and social influences on children''s lives. But until the first publication of Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, little attention had been paid to the ways in which the writers and collectors of tales used traditional forms and genres in order to shape children''s lives their behavior, values, and relationship to society. As Jack Zipes convincingly shows in this classic work, fairy tales have always been a powerful discourse, capable of being used to shape or destabilize attitudes and behavior within culture. How and why did certain authors try to influence children or social images of children? How were fairy tales shaped by the changes in European society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? Zipes examines famous writers of fairy tales such as Charles Perrault, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and L.Frank Baum and considers the extraordinary impact of Walt Disney on the genreTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Preface to the Second Edition 1.Fairy-Tale Discourse: Towards a Social History of the Genre 2.The Origins of the Fairy-Tale in Italy: Straparola and Basile 3.Setting Standards for Civilization through Fairy Tales: Charles Perrault and the Subversive Role of Women Writers 4.Who’s Afraid of the Brother’s Grimm? Socialization and Politicization Through Fairy Tales 5.Hans Christian Andersen and the Discourse of the Dominated 6.Inverting and Subverting the World With Hope: The Fairy Talees of George MacDonald, Oscar Wilde, and L.Frank Baum 7.The Battle over Fairy-Tale Discourse: Family, Friction and Socialization in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany 8.The Liberating Potential of the Fantastic in Contemporary Fairy Tales for Children 9.Walt Disney’s Civilizing Mission: From Revolution to Restoration Notes Bibliography Index
£18.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd Mimesis
Book SynopsisA topic that has become increasingly central to the study of art, performance and literature, the term mimesis has long been used to refer to the relationship between an image and its real' original. However, recent theorists have extended the concept, highlighting new perspectives on key concerns, such as the nature of identity.Matt Potolsky presents a clear introduction to this potentially daunting concept, examining: the foundations of mimetic theory in ancient philosophy, from Plato to Aristotle three key versions of mimesis: imitatio or rhetorical imitation, theatre and theatricality, and artistic realism the position of mimesis in modern theories of identity and culture, through theorists such as Freud, Lacan, Girard and Baudrillard the possible future of mimetic theory in the concept of memes', which connects evolutionary biology and theories of cultural reproduction. A multidisciplinary study of a term rapidly returTable of ContentsIntroduction: Approaching Mimesis Part 1: Foundations 1. Plato's Republic The Invention of the Image. Poetry and Censorship: Books Two and Three. Mirrors and Forms: Book Ten. Poetry and the City 2. Aristotle’s Poetics Second Nature. Tragedy, Plot, and Reason. The Tragic Effect Part 2: Three Versions of Mimesis 3. Imitatio: Rhetorical Imitation Mimesis as a Cultural Practice. Roman Echoes. Ancients and Moderns. Genius, Originality, and the Anxiety of Influence 4. Theatre and Theatricality Spectacle and Spectator. Theatrum Mundi. Acting, Naturally. 'The Never Ending Show'. 5. Realism The Grapes of Zeuxis. Reflection and Convention. Realism and Sincerity. Pygmalion's Folly: Anti-Realism. Part 3: Mimesis in Modern Theory 6. Mimesis and Identity Psychic Mimesis. Identification: Freud. The Mirror Stage: Lacan. Performing Race and Gender. 7. Mimesis and Culture Sympathetic Magic. Mimicry and the Mimetic Faculty. Mimetic Desire: Girard Simulacra and Hyperreality. Conclusion: Memetics
£24.32
Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Freud
Book SynopsisIn this fully updated second edition, the author clearly introduces and assesses all of Freud''s thought, focusing on those areas of philosophy on which Freud is acknowledged to have had a lasting impact. These include the philosophy of mind, free will and determinism, rationality, the nature of the self and subjectivity, and ethics and religion. He also considers some of the deeper issues and problems Freud engaged with, brilliantly illustrating their philosophical significance: human sexuality, the unconscious, dreams, and the theory of transference. The author''s approach emphasizes the philosophical significance of Freud's fundamental rule to say whatever comes to mind without censorship or inhibition. This binds psychoanalysis to the philosophical exploration of self-consciousness and truthfulness, as well as opening new paths of inquiry for moral psychology and ethics.The second edition includes a new Introduction and Conclusion. The text is revisedTrade Review"Probably the best philosophical introduction into the central ideas and concepts of Freud’s theories and practice." - The Guardian Praise for the first edition:"Jonathan Lear is one of the most subtle and original thinkers in psychoanalysis. So a book by him simply called Freud should attract everyone is at all psychoanalytically minded. They will not be disappointed. This is simply the best introduction to Freud I know." - Marcia Cavell, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis"This book will be viewed by philosophers interested in psychoanalysis as a major contribution. It will also be read and intensively discussed by many professors of literature and of intellectual history who lecture on Freud." - Richard Rorty"If I were to answer the question: who, among contemporary psychoanalysts, is best qualified to write an introduction to Freud as a philosopher, my choice would be: Jonathan Lear." - Slavoj Žižek, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia"Jonathan Lear succeeds brilliantly in revealing Freud’s philosophical significance … a philosophically ambitious, passionate and exciting book." - Sebastian Gardner, University College London, UK"Lear does very well to explain a fundamental modification in Freud's clinical work…this is definitely worthwhile for anyone wanting a serious briefing on the undoubted accomplishment on classical Freudian psychoanalysis." -Joseph Schwartz, New Humanist"This is a lucid exegesis of Freud's conception of the mind, and a satisfying demonstration of its enduring value. Freud's loudest detractors often seem simply incapable of understanding him; they will no longer have that excuse." - Mark Solms, University of Cape Town, South Africa, and International Neuro-Psychoanalysis Centre, London, UK"First rate - Lear captures the wider philosophical importance of Freud: how he makes us rethink our conceptions of ourselves as human beings, and the implications of this for morality and religion. A superb volume, and a terrific addition to the series." - John Cottingham, University of Reading, UKTable of Contents1. Interpreting the unconscious 2. Sex, Eros and life 3. The interpretation of dreams 4. Transference 5. Principles of mental functioning 6. The structure of the psyche and the birth of object-relations 7. Morality and religion Conclusion: Freud’s Legacy.
£24.69
Taylor & Francis Discourse
Book SynopsisHumans are social animals and are constantly interacting with each other through conversation, written communication, symbols and other expressions . Discourse: The Basics is an accessible and engaging introduction to the analysis of those interactions and the many forms and meanings they can take. The book draws on a range of international case studies and examples from literature, political speech, advertising and newspaper articles to address key questions such as: What is discourse? Why are there different approaches to understanding discourse? How are individual interactions connected with the larger discourses that frame our ways of thinking and behaving? How can discourse be analysed and researched? Discourse: The Basics includes subject summaries, a glossary of key terms and suggestions for further reading. It will be of particulTrade Review"Discourse: The Basics is an accessible and authoritative exploration of what 'discourse' is and how 'discourse' works that draws on a range of illustrative case studies to enrich understanding for students and teachers. A must read for undergraduates and of relevance to researchers and a wider readership."Mark Vicars, Victoria University, Australia"A concise and engaging introduction to discourse analysis, providing a fascinating overview of approaches to conceptualising and investigating language. The account assumes no prior knowledge and is easy to navigate, making this a valuable resource for students across disciplines at undergraduate or postgraduate level. Key concepts are fully explained and richly illustrated drawing on examples from everyday experience that give a deceptively light touch to complex material. Crystal clear writing makes this a very satisfying and enjoyable read."Georgina Glenny, Oxford Brookes University, UKTable of ContentsForeword Defining Discourse Discourse and Context: a practical exercise Language, Thought and Discourse Language, Society and Discourse Discourse and Metaphor Discourse and Rhetoric Discourse and Interactivity Discourse and Narrative Discourse and Identity Collecting and Representing Discourse ReferencesGlossaryIndex
£24.32
Cambridge University Press Cannibalism and the Colonial World
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£84.00
National Trust 100 Books from the Libraries of the National
Book SynopsisYvonne Lewis is Assistant National Curator for Libraries at the National Trust. She specialises in library history and architecture, the reading experience, practical book-production techniques and book ownership from the medieval to modern periods, with particular expertise in the 16th to 18th centuries. She has published and lectured on various aspects of library history and provenance and is a council member of the Bibliographical Society. Tim Pye is National Curator for Libraries at the National Trust. He is interested in all aspects of the history of books, specialising in 18th-century British book ownership and literature. He writes and gives talks on the history of book collecting and has curated major exhibitions on the Gothic and William Shakespeare. He has previously worked at the British Library, Cambridge University Library and Lambeth Palace Library. Nicola Thwaite is Assistant National Curator for Libraries at the National Trust. She hTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. 100 BOOKS3. Glossary of terms 4. Gazetteer of National Trust Libraries 5. Index 6. Acknowledgements7. Picture credits
£9.50
Edinburgh University Press About Time
Book SynopsisWhy have theorists approached narrative primarily as a form of retrospect? Mark Currie argues that anticipation and other forms of projection into the future are vital for an understanding of narrative and its effects in the world.Table of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction About About Time; Chapter One: The Present; Chapter Two: Prolepsis; Chapter Three: Temporality and Self-Distance; Chapter Four: Inner and Outer Time; Chapter Five: Backwards Time; Chapter Six: Fictional Knowledge; Chapter Seven: Tense Times; Bibliography; Index.
£22.79
Johns Hopkins University Press Virginia Woolf
Book SynopsisIt will be a welcome addition to the library of any scholar of modernism and can easily be adapted for courses on Woolf and modern literature.Trade ReviewA thoughtfully designed and very teachable volume... Both a treasure-trove of pedagogical resources and a refreshing reminder of the continuity of scholarship. Woolf Studies Annual 2010 This anthology allows us to browse through a range of twenty articles from five decades of scholarship, revisiting familiar pieces and considering for the first time work which even the most dedicated follower of Woolf studies might well have missed. Virginia Woolf Bulletin 2010 For those readers experiencing, in the words of one of the essayists collected here, 'the vertigo of reading Woolf for the first time' this ensemble of pieces from Modern Fiction Studies may have a steadying effect. At the same time, it may introduce them to another kind of instructive dizziness, namely that induced by the busy whirl of Woolf criticism... It is good to remind ourselves of the literary-aesthetic, and literary-critical, reasons for which Woolf has been found important-a purpose well served by Maren Linett's collection. Modern Language Review 2010
£58.05