Semiotics / semiology Books
Taylor & Francis Inc The Self as a Sign the World and the Other
Book SynopsisOstentation of the Subject is a practice that is asserting itself ever more in today''s world. Consequently, criticism by philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists has been to little effect, considering that they are not immune to such practices themselves. The question of subjectivity concerns the close and the distant, the self and the other, the other from self and the other of self. It is thus connected to the question of the sign. It calls for a semiotic approach because the self is itself a sign; its very own relation with itself is a relation among signs. This book commits to developing a critique of subjectivity in terms of the material that the self is made of, that is, the material of signs.Susan Petrilli highlights the scholarship of Charles Peirce, Mikhail Bakhtin, Roland Barthes, Mary Boole, Jacques Derrida, Michael Foucault, Emmanuel Levinas, Claude Levi-Strauss, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Charles Morris, Thomas SebeokTable of Contents1: The Sign “Self ” and Its Interpretations; 2: A Terminological and Conceptual Intermezzo; 3: The Inner-Outer Illusion; 4: The Self as Opening to the Other; 5: Self, Other, and Values; 6: The Self in Language and Communication; 7: Critique of Identity: For an Extracommunitarian Self; 8: Self, Freedom, and the Word’s Otherness
£121.50
Peter Lang Publishing Inc Wordly Wise
Book SynopsisIn Wordly Wise: The Semiotics of Discourse in Dante's Commedia, Raffaele De Benedictis proposes a new critical method in the study of the Divine Comedy and Dante's minor works. It systematically and comprehensively addresses the discursive aspect of Dante's works and focuses mainly on the reader, who, along with the author and the text, contributes to the making of discursive paths and discourse-generating functions through the act of reading. This work allows the reader to become acquainted with how meaning is generated and whether it is granted legitimacy in the text. Also, in a system of signification, sign function and sign production are not limited to the properties of the mind but are the result of working interactively with the properties of discourse, which provide directionality for the reader's enunciation(s) in action.Trade Review«This absolutely original research [...] employs so many of my semiotic concepts that I am afraid that my final judgments could be biased. I must in any case admit that De Benedictis’s enquiry on Dante represents, as far as I know, the first complete attempt to analyze the whole of Dante’s poetical achievements and theoretical views by using intensively the instruments provided by a text semiotics. I have particularly appreciated the unexpected meeting between Peirce and Dante. I think that this book can open a further fruitful discussion on the inexhaustible, endless Dantesque heritage. This is an open enquiry about the most open of all open works.» (Umberto Eco, University of Bologna) «Perhaps more rigorously than many previous studies, Raffaele De Benedictis’ book succeeds in capturing the novelty of Dante’s discourse. Basing himself on seminal theories of allegory as a discourse that overlaps with hermeneutics and calls into question the role of the reader, De Benedictis, in this splendid work that combines scholarship and a sense of complexity of literary texts, has written an excellent, exciting study of medieval semiotics.» (Giuseppe Mazzotta, Yale University) «Raffaele De Benedictis chooses to interpret and understand Dante’s work by submitting it to the filter of the semiotics of discourse. Heuristic and hermeneutic effects of the contemporary semiotic approach appear here so fully. It is not the semiotics of discourse that imposes rules and structures on Dante’s work, but the reverse occurs: artwork appears in all its innovative strength and in the creative power with which it imposes its law on the analysis grid. This is a great analysis, where the reader, installed at the heart of the work, witnesses the implementation of all cognitive and emotive requests addressed to him/her.» (Jacques Fontanille, University of Limoges, Institut Universitaire de France)
£63.90
State University Press of New York (SUNY) World of Fragile Things
Book SynopsisPsychoanalytic perspective on what Western philosophers from Socrates to Foucault have called "the art of living."How are our lives meaningful? What is the relationship of loss to creativity? How can we best engage and overcome our suffering? From Socrates to Foucault, Western philosophers have sought to define "the art of living"-the complex craft of human existence that elicits our thoughtful participation, and the idea that even though death escapes our control, life is not something that simply happens to us in a passive manner but is instead a process that invites our active and lively engagement. A World of Fragile Things offers a distinctly psychoanalytic perspective on "the art of living," one that focuses on ongoing and ever-evolving processes of self-fashioning rather than defining a fixed and unitary sense of self. With a compelling blend of philosophical insight and psychoanalytic acumen, Mari Ruti asks experts and readers alike to probe the complexities of human existence, offering a contemporary outlook on some of the most enduring questions of Western thought.
£65.04
State University Press of New York (SUNY) A World of Fragile Things Psychoanalysis and the
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£30.91
State University of New York Press In His Voice
Book SynopsisA creative study of Maurice Blanchot''s theory of literary voice.In His Voice considers the idea of the neuter in Maurice Blanchot''s work, and seeks to work out through an exercise of literary impersonation, or ventriloquism, how and why Blanchot relied on this form. Neither active nor passive, the neuter expresses a kind of third voice beyond the command of the author, one that speaks paradoxically of what lies outside of speaking but nonetheless exerts an irrepressible influence on thought. The neuter is exilic, messianic, and fragmentary. Since it cannot be directly accounted for, Blanchot uses a number of indirect approaches-notably, myth-to announce the key elements of his view. Orpheus, Odysseus, and principally Narcissus figure his conception and elaborate the operation of giving voice. Through a distillation of Blanchot''s narrative and critical texts-focusing on the late works, The Step Not Beyond, and The Writing of the Disaster-and through an emphasis on performance, In His Voice enacts the event of writing in search of how author''s inscriptive reality appears in the world.
£65.04
State University of New York Press Dead Reckoning Transatlantic Passages on Europe
Book SynopsisA poet and essayist attempt to find their bearings in a civilization lost at sea. Dead reckoning is the nautical term for calculating a ship's position using the distance and direction traveled rather than instruments or astronomical observation. For those still recovering from the atrocities of the twentieth century, however, the term has an even grimmer meaning: toting up the butcher's bill of war and genocide. As its title suggests, Dead Reckoning is an attempt to find our bearings in a civilization lost at sea. Conducted in the shadow of the centennial of the First World War, this dialogue between Romanian American poet Andrei Guruianu and Italian American essayist Anthony Di Renzo asks whether Western culture will successfully navigate the difficult waters of the new millennium or shipwreck itself on the mistakes of the past two centuries. Using historical and contemporary examples, they explore such topics as the limitations of memory, the transience of existence, the futility of history, and the difficulties of making art and meaning in the twenty-first century.
£13.83
State University of New York Press Continental Theory Buffalo
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£22.96
State University of New York Press Continental Theory Buffalo
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£65.04
State University of New York Press Literature and Skepticism
Book SynopsisExamines the skeptical foundations of literature in order to reassess the status of fiction.Literature and Skepticism links the skeptic attitude to the conditions of possibility in (modern) literature-in particular, the narrative form and the essay. Pablo Oyarzun proposes that narrative and the essay document the relationship between literature and skepticism in different but complementary and, at the same time, complicit ways. As the narrative performance reaches the structural limit of the literary-understood as the domain of fiction-a sort of para-discursive reflection critically accompanies this performance, discussing it, ironizing it, feigning to disbelieve it, or overtly belying it. Yet the narrative doubtfully takes distance from itself, surrendering all right to a final truth at the very moment at which truth emerges, essayistic, to the surface. The authors considered-Montaigne, Swift, Lichtenberg, Kleist, Kafka, and Borges-are eminent representatives of one and the other form, and all of the works analyzed are cases of a complex interplay between narrative and essay.
£65.04
State University of New York Press Literature and Skepticism
Book SynopsisExamines the skeptical foundations of literature in order to reassess the status of fiction.Literature and Skepticism links the skeptic attitude to the conditions of possibility in (modern) literature-in particular, the narrative form and the essay. Pablo Oyarzun proposes that narrative and the essay document the relationship between literature and skepticism in different but complementary and, at the same time, complicit ways. As the narrative performance reaches the structural limit of the literary-understood as the domain of fiction-a sort of para-discursive reflection critically accompanies this performance, discussing it, ironizing it, feigning to disbelieve it, or overtly belying it. Yet the narrative doubtfully takes distance from itself, surrendering all right to a final truth at the very moment at which truth emerges, essayistic, to the surface. The authors considered-Montaigne, Swift, Lichtenberg, Kleist, Kafka, and Borges-are eminent representatives of one and the other form, and all of the works analyzed are cases of a complex interplay between narrative and essay.
£22.96
State University of New York Press Unworkable
Book SynopsisExplores the slow but inevitable implosion of our civilization by considering the correlation between capital, work, and ideology.Unworkable discusses the ongoing implosion of our globalized world from three distinct angles: the capitalist elimination of labor through technological automation, the dissolution of our shared social narratives, and the subtle imposition of an increasingly pervasive ideological order. Aiming to root out the lost cause of this implosion, Fabio Vighi returns to Marx by way of Hegel, Lacan, Gorz, Baudrillard, and other thinkers who, in different ways, have reflected on the complex dialectical structure of modernity and its hidden conditions of possibility. Capitalism, Vighi argues, fundamentally redefined the meaning of work and prevented the emergence of alternative forms of life. In our own time, the delusions of work and the values that propel life under capitalism have become, in Vighi''s analysis, unworkable. And yet, even as we become an increasingly "workless" society, we continue to abide by the same laws of productivity and profit.
£65.04
State University of New York Press Between Celan and Heidegger
Book SynopsisProbing reassessment of the relation between Celan''s poetry and Heidegger''s thought.The relevance of Martin Heidegger''s thinking to Paul Celan''s poetry is well known. Between Celan and Heidegger proposes that, while the relation between them is undeniable, it is also marked by irreducible discord. Pablo Oyarzun begins with a deconstruction of Celan''s Todtnauberg, written after the poet visited Heidegger in his Schwarzwald cabin. The poem stands as a milestone, not only in the complex relationship between the two men but also in the state of poetry and philosophy in late modernity, in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Discussion then turns to The Meridian, Celan''s acceptance speech for the prestigious Büchner Prize for German language literature. Other issues are insistently addressed-place, art, language, pain, existence, and the Heideggerian notion of dialogue-as Oyarzun revisits several essential poems from Celan''s oeuvre. A rare translation of Oyarzun''s work into English, Between Celan and Heidegger affirms the uniqueness of Celan''s poetry in confrontation both with Heidegger''s discourse on Dichtung (a poetic saying centered in the idea of gathering) and with Western philosophical notions of art, techne, mimesis, poiesis, language, and thinking more broadly.
£65.04
State University of New York Press The Other Synaesthesia
Book SynopsisReconsiders the figure of synaesthesia, understood as the combination of the senses and of the arts, in philosophy and literature.This book investigates synaesthesia in philosophy and literature, from Aristotle to Charles Baudelaire to Jean-Luc Nancy and beyond. Its central claim is that while synaesthesia is generally read as a figure of transcendence and unity, there is another effect of synaesthesia, one that articulates differences and displaces essence. This other synaesthesia opens up within or alongside the more familiar sense of synaesthesia as synthesis, pointing to an alternative understanding of the senses and of the arts as "interbelonging" in a kind of rhythmic relation rather than parts of a totalizing aesthetic whole. In so doing, The Other Synaesthesia contests the suggestion that neurological synaesthesia is the foundation for the aesthetics of synaesthesia. Topics include Nancy''s conception of community; the correspondence between Franz Liszt and George Sand; Baudelaire''s poetics; Richard Wagner''s theory of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art; decadence and symbolism; and Heidegger''s critique of the correspondence theory of truth.
£20.99
State University of New York Press The Other Synaesthesia
Book SynopsisReconsiders the figure of synaesthesia, understood as the combination of the senses and of the arts, in philosophy and literature.This book investigates synaesthesia in philosophy and literature, from Aristotle to Charles Baudelaire to Jean-Luc Nancy and beyond. Its central claim is that while synaesthesia is generally read as a figure of transcendence and unity, there is another effect of synaesthesia, one that articulates differences and displaces essence. This other synaesthesia opens up within or alongside the more familiar sense of synaesthesia as synthesis, pointing to an alternative understanding of the senses and of the arts as "interbelonging" in a kind of rhythmic relation rather than parts of a totalizing aesthetic whole. In so doing, The Other Synaesthesia contests the suggestion that neurological synaesthesia is the foundation for the aesthetics of synaesthesia. Topics include Nancy''s conception of community; the correspondence between Franz Liszt and George Sand; Baudelaire''s poetics; Richard Wagner''s theory of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art; decadence and symbolism; and Heidegger''s critique of the correspondence theory of truth.
£65.04
State University of New York Press Psychoanalysis
Book SynopsisAssesses the contributions of six major psychoanalytic thinkers in the light of current academic and clinical trends in psychoanalysis.Psychoanalysis: An Interdisciplinary Retrospective offers in-depth discussions of and conversations with six psychoanalytic writers: Christopher Bollas, Nancy Chodorow, Sander L. Gilman, Adam Phillips, and Allen and Joan Wheelis. All are genuinely interdisciplinary in their work, bridging multiple cultural and professional positions, but all are deeply rooted in the humanities. They are all also highly controversial, challenging and critiquing conventional psychoanalytic wisdom while also devoting themselves to expanding psychoanalytic knowledge. Drawing on interviews as well as his own readings, Jeffrey Berman examines the continuities and discontinuities in each writer''s work while also exploring the interrelationships between psychoanalysis and the humanities. The book ultimately offers a portrait of psychoanalysis as a work in progress, a plurality of visions that might more aptly be termed psychoanalyses.
£65.04
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) Semiotics of Religion
Book SynopsisRobert A. Yelle is Assistant Professor at the Department of History and the Helen Hardin Honors Program, University of Memphis, USA.Trade ReviewA deep and engaging book sure to pique the interests of researchers in both semiotics and religion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty. -- J. L. Best, St. Thomas University * CHOICE *As Robert Yelle compellingly argues in his compact, meaty monograph, a semiotic approach to religion (magic, ritual, myth) requires attention to both semiotic form and semiotic ideology - the poetics of rhyme and repetition, but equally the underlying nominalist ideology that naming invokes the ghost ... [T]he cogent ways in which he pulls together countless familiar piecemeal insights and well-known cases and debates in the anthropology of religion make his book worthwhile reading for linguistic anthropologists ... In sum, this groundbreaking interdisciplinary work provides a compelling argument for the tools of our trade by someone firmly situated in a different discipline. * Linguistic Anthropology *This important work takes up the almost forgotten task of advancing the study of religion to a place of deeper comprehension in which the tasks of comparison and broad categorical analysis are possible. The means of advance, as the title indicates, is semiotics ... [T]his [is a] carefully plotted argument, making Semiotics of Religion a highly recommended work of theory and method. * Religious Studies Review *In [Yelle's] book he suggests a more radical reorientation for the study of religious phenomena that shifts focus from attempts to uncover the underlying cosmology of religious and magical rituals - that is, the particular ‘semantic or symbolic’ meaning of such practices - to an approach that gives closer attention to the semiotics of ritual repetition and form ... Yelle’s willingness ... to take religious discourse on its own terms as well as his explanations of the complex language ideologies at work in South Asian religious ritual and practice provide a valuable contribution to both the study of language and the study of religion. * Language in Society *Students of semiotics, semiotic anthropology, cultural anthropology, religious studies, anthropology of religion, and especially semiotics of religion, have long waited for a publication of this kind ... [This book] revitaliz[es] the domain of semiotics, and in particular that of the semiotics of religion, with new themes, insights, sensibility and, last but not least, a new style ... Another merit of Yelle’s book, perhaps the greatest one, is to demonstrate with lucidity and efficacy that the semiotic ideologies that underpin religious traditions did not vanish in the era of supposed secularization but mutated, instead, into often neglected aspects of secular, modern, and even post-modern semiotic ideologies. * Religion [from a review symposium in 44:1] *[B]road in scope and ambitious. ... According to Yelle’s compelling argument, religions develop their own poetics that promote the use of signs and languages as non-arbitrary and motivated entities; as such, religious uses are related to poetry and performance, rather than history or philosophy. ... Yelle’s book is a landmark in semiotics and religious studies, and will be the basis of many research developments for several years. * Religion [from a review symposium in 44:1) *[Yelle's] extremely interesting engagement with ritual language with regard to magic in particular provides a different reading of magic, one that takes for granted its rationality and takes seriously its discursive poetics as an aspect of its efficacy and not an aspect of its being ‘science gone wrong.’ In this kind of approach, Yelle provides a fresh and insightful reading of magic, something quite unique in the study of systems of belief and practice. * Religion [from a review symposium in 44:1) *Robert A. Yelle’s Semiotics of Religion lays important groundwork for a revival of semiotics in the study of religion. In an admirably clear and straightforward manner, he examines a number of semiotic ideologies and their implications for ritual actions and historical interpretation. ... Yelle’s account of Protestant literalism, with its entailments especially in the sphere of law, is remarkably clear and to the point. Despite an inordinately large corpus of material to grapple with, Yelle succeeds admirably in articulating the implications of ‘plain speech’ – and the rejection of ‘vain repetitions’ – within the 16th- and 17th-century moment. * Religion [from a review symposium in 44:1] *This book is vast in scope, deep in implications, and admirably clear and forthright in exposition.The study of religion has needed a work of this kind, which brings together several research traditions and pushes the resulting synthesis in new directions. The result is an agenda-setting project of huge ambition. -- Webb Keane, University of Michigan, USASemiotics of Religion displays sensational semiotic sensitivity in analyzing the practical poetics of performance - the 'pragmatics' of performativity - of various expressions of the religious life.From this perspective and with great erudition, Yelle then engages the four-hundred-year-long European Enlightenment drive both stipulatively and interpretatively to 'semanticize' religious practice - as also language itself - in an ideological project of containment that has been central to institutionalizing 'disenchanted modernity.' In this enchanting book Yelle demonstrates a more inclusive semiotics of religion. -- Michael Silverstein, Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago, USATable of Contents1. Introduction \ 2. Distinctive Features of Religious Symbolism and Language \ 3. Natural and Artificial Languages \ 4. The Semiotics of Ritual Form \ 5. The Attack on Semiotic Form \ 6. Protestant Literalism and Print Culture \ 7. Signs of Salvation \ Bibliography \ Index
£39.89
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc A Buddhist Theory of Semiotics
Book SynopsisOne of the first attempts ever to present in a systematic way a non-western semiotic system. This book looks at Japanese esoteric Buddhism and is based around original texts, informed by explicit and rigorous semiotic categories. It is a unique introduction to important aspects of the thought and rituals of the Japanese Shingon tradition. Semiotic concerns are deeply ingrained in the Buddhist intellectual and religious discourse, beginning with the idea that the world is not what it appears to be, which calls for a more accurate understanding of the self and reality. This in turn results in sustained discussions on the status of language and representations, and on the possibility and methods to know reality beyond delusion; such peculiar knowledge is explicitly defined as enlightenment. Thus, for Buddhism, semiotics is directly relevant to salvation; this is a key point that is often ignored even by Buddhologists. This book discusses in depth the main elements of Buddhist semioticTrade ReviewSumming up, the main strength of this book is its success in offering a new analytical apparatus to clarify the semiotic structures that underlie the transmissions and practices of Shingon lineages, so often dismissed out of hand as rand and irrational. Rambelli manages admirably to avoid two pitfalls: he neither stays too close to the original texts, losing the analytical edge that makes this enterprise valuable, nor does he stray away from them that he ends up constructing a semiotic abstraction that forces alien concepts onto Shingon doctrine. -- Mark Teeuwen, Oslo University, Norway * Monumenta Nipponica 69:2 *Table of ContentsPreface: Semiotics and Buddhism 1. The Episteme of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism 2. Semiotics and Ontology: A Pansemiotic Universe 3. Mantra and Siddham: Esoteric Linguistics and Grammatology 4. The Semantic System of Esoteric Buddhism 5. Mandala and the Representation of Reality 6. Semiotic Soteriology 7. Conclusion: Buddhist Semiurgy Bibliography Index
£40.84
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc The Visual Language of Comics
Book SynopsisDrawings and sequential images are an integral part of human expression dating back at least as far as cave paintings, and in contemporary society appear most prominently in comics. Despite this fundamental part of human identity, little work has explored the comprehension and cognitive underpinnings of visual narrativesuntil now. This work presents a provocative theory: that drawings and sequential images are structured the same as language. Building on contemporary theories from linguistics and cognitive psychology, it argues that comics are written in a visual language of sequential images that combines with text. Like spoken and signed languages, visual narratives use a lexicon of systematic patterns stored in memory, strategies for combining these patterns into meaningful units, and a hierarchic grammar governing the combination of sequential images into coherent expressions. Filled with examples and illustrations, this book details each of these levels of structure, explaiTrade Review[Neil Cohn’s] theory, presented in The Visual Language of Comics, is provocative … If he is right, the hidden logic of cartoon panels could provide new vistas on art, language and creative development. -- David Robson * The Observer *[Cohn's] work exhibits a dogged quest for rigour that gives this book an authoritative tone. [ . . . ] Perhaps the biggest question the book asks is one that demands consideration by any current or future researcher: 'why should the brain create several unique and diverse ways to handle different behaviours when it can efficiently make use of various general underlying structures'? Those with the desire to answer . . . will find this book a thoughtful and useful companion to their studies. -- Anthony Farthing, City University London, UK * The Comics Grid *The most unified and accessible explanation of the theory [of visual "language"] this far. * Scandinavian Journal of Comic Art *Cohn's book represents a major break away from previous discussions of linguistic structures in other media ... He manages to combine a sophisticated theory model with much needed empirical experiments ... This is an innovative approach for comic book research, connecting systematic linguistics and cognitive studies in new ways that are a valuable extension of previous discussions. -- Janina Wildfeuer * Closure (Bloomsbury Translation) *Cohn writes succinctly, using language familiar to discourse analysts ... [and] draws on the work of others as well as his own original research. -- Marilyn Lewis, University of Auckland, New Zealand * Discourse Studies *Neil Cohn thinks about the comics medium and visual literacy on very deep and enlightening levels. In The Visual Language of Comics, Cohn shares his research and insights on how the mind works when processing sequential visuals. It's fascinating reading for anyone interested in visual communication. -- Carl Potts, Former Executive Editor, Marvel Comics and Author of 'The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling'Neil Cohn is diving deeper into comics and the brain than anyone I know now. -- Scott McCloud, author 'Understanding Comics'Neil Cohn's The Visual Language of Comics is a smart, carefully organized, and exceptionally well-argued work of comics scholarship. I suspect it will become one of a very small number of truly crucial texts in the burgeoning field of comics studies. The book provides an original yet persuasive account of the relationship of comics and language and introduces key terms and conceptual distinctions that are likely to become part of the common sense of comics analysis and criticism. It also explores the ways in which comics have been used as tools of communication and self-expression across a variety of cultural contexts. Over the past decade Neil Cohn has published a number of important research articles on comics that make use of his training in linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience. The Visual Language of Comics builds on this interdisciplinary scholarship but it also offers new insights and opens up new avenues of inquiry. Recommended for anyone with an interest in comics, language, and what Richard Gregory calls "the eye-brain system." -- Kent Worcester, Professor of Political Science, Marymount Manhattan College, USABeing able to tell stories with images is an important and perhaps unique human ability. Neil Cohn has done us all a favor, by analyzing how we can use a visual language theory to analyze comics and other forms of graphic communication; to think deeply about language and the mind. His years of deep thinking, and research, show in this new and provocative book -- Frederik L. Schodt is an award-winning writer and translator, whose books on Japanese manga helped trigger their current popularity abroadIn this pioneering book, Neil Cohn opens up a whole new domain of cognitive science: the study of how we derive meaning from sequential images.While borrowing much of his approach from theoretical linguistics and psycholinguistics, Cohn is careful to let the character of the phenomena speak for themselves, appealing to a rich and fascinating selection of examples from a wide range of graphic traditions.His results illuminate the parallels and sharpen the differences among different human cognitive systems. -- Ray Jackendoff, Seth Merrin Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University, USAThis book offers more than the title implies, transcending The Visual Language of Comics to reveal the structural, rule governed system that constitutes the visual language used in many forms of contemporary communication. One of the most interesting aspects of Cohn's work is his exploration of the lexicon and grammar of visual language as employed in "dialects" that vary across cultures. Cohn's arguments are rigorous, but clearly, even entertainingly, supported with scores of visual examples and explanations. -- Randy Duncan, Professor of Communication & Theatre Arts, Henderson State University, USA andAfter reading this book you’ll never look at comics the same way, and your view of language will be broadened as well. Neil Cohn is a linguist, a cognitive psychologist, and a graphic artist. In this pathbreaking book he brings his diverse skills together to explore and reveal underlying structures of visual language. Careful study of visual narrative in several cultures shows that comics are beautifully patterned and generative, comparable to language and music. Cohn elaborates what he calls the “visual-graphic modality of language,” pointing to a wealth of research possibilities in cognitive neurology, psycholinguistics, and cultural anthropology. -- Dan I. Slobin, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, USANeil Cohn introduces a new and rigorous set of tools for discussing comics and visual narrative that will influence practitioners as well as academics. His arguments confirm many intuitions of cartoonists about the way comics work while at the same time deflating numerous others. I believe it will significantly enrich the discourse in this still-developing area of study. -- Matt Madden, author of 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style and co-author with Jessica Abel of the textbooks Drawing Words & Writing Pictures and Mastering ComicsCombining expertise in psychology and linguistics with skills in draftsmanship, Cohn explores the analogies between comics and verbal language with exciting results. By unveiling patterns in all stylistic dimensions of comics’ visuals, this book is not just indispensable reading for comics scholars, but also constitutes a major contribution to the discipline of visual studies more generally. -- Charles Forceville, Associate Professor, Department of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, The NetherlandsVery useful to introduce students to the core elements of comics and to show them how meaning is conveyed by pictorial elements. * Jutta Rymarczyk, Heidelberg University of Education, Germany *Very coherent good level of theory and terminology. * Patricia Kennon, Maynooth University *Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introducing Visual Language SECTION 1: STRUCTURE OF VISUAL LANGUAGE Chapter 2. The Visual Lexicon, Part 1: Visual morphology Chapter 3. The Visual Lexicon, Part 2: Panels and Constructions Chapter 4. Visual Language Grammar: Narrative Structure Chapter 5. Navigation of External Compositional Structure Chapter 6. Cognition of Visual Language SECTION 2: VISUAL LANGUAGE ACROSS THE WORLD Chapter 7. American Visual Language Chapter 8. Japanese Visual Language Chapter 9. Central Australian Visual Language Chapter 10. The Principle of Equivalence
£31.49
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) Saussure A Guide For The Perplexed Guides for the
Book SynopsisFerdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) is generally considered one of the main founders of modern linguistics and semiotics. This title introduces the reader to the ways in which Saussure developed his revolutionary insights on language and demystifies his complex theories.Trade ReviewThe current volume, by someone who is not just a competent semiotician but a giant of contemporary semiotics, explains and assesses Saussure's bequest to sign study. Paul Bouissac's Saussure: A Guide for the Perplexed prints the bigger picture, not just the legend, and helps to open up a whole new era in the analysis of the cultural sign. -- Paul Cobley, Reader in Communications London Metropolitan University, UKTable of Contents1. Saussure's last lectures: a perplexed man; 2. Saussure's student years: insights and accomplishments; 3. Saussure in Berlin and Paris: What did it mean to be a linguist in 1880?; 4. Saussure the maverick: thinking outside the box; 5. S. like synchrony, structure, sign and semiology; 6. Diachrony: Saussure and the problem of time; 7. The Course in General Linguistics: Saussure's conceptual legacy; 8. From Saussure to Saussurism and back: the unfinished task; Appendix 1: Saussurean scholarship; Appendix 2: Quotes from Saussure.
£23.74
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Language of Fashion
Book SynopsisRoland Barthes was one of the most widely influential thinkers of the 20th Century and his immensely popular and readable writings have covered topics ranging from wrestling to photography. The semiotic power of fashion and clothing were of perennial interest to Barthes and The Language of Fashion - now available in the Bloomsbury Revelations series - collects some of his most important writings on these topics. Barthes'' essays here range from the history of clothing to the cultural importance of Coco Chanel, from Hippy style in Morocco to the figure of the dandy, from colour in fashion to the power of jewellery. Barthes'' acute analysis and constant questioning make this book an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the cultural power of fashion.Trade ReviewNo one can claim that translating Barthes is easy. Nor is it easy to assemble, as Stafford and Carter have done, such a chronologically revealing series of essays, to footnote their French sources and explain the citations in them so fully, to provide a glossary of writers to help explain the evolution of Barthes's thought, and to frame the whole with a theoretically acute history of twentieth-century social theory, dress history, and his assessment by friends and foes. The Language of Fashion is paradoxically (as Barthes would say) reader-friendly but also respectful of the difficulties of his thought, an excellent advanced introduction to his writing on la mode. -- Ann Rosalind Jones * H-France Review *Table of ContentsPreface \ I. Clothing History \ 1. History and Sociology of Clothing: Some Methodological Observations \ 2. Language andClothing \ 3. Towards a Sociology of Dress \ II. Systems and Structures \ 4. 'Blue is In Fashion This Year': A Note on Research into Signifying Units in Fashion Clothing \ 5. From Gemstones to Jewellery \ 6. Dandyism and Fashion \ 7. [An Early Preface to] The Fashion System \ 8. Fashion, a Strategy of Desire: Round-table Discussion with Roland Barthes, Jean Duvignaud and Henri Lefebvre \ 9. Fashion and the Social Sciences(interview) \ 10. On The Fashion System \ III.Fashion Debates and Interpretations \ 11. The Contest Between Chanel andCourreges, Refereed by a Philosopher \ 12. A Case of Cultural Criticism \ 13.Showing How Rhetoric Works \ Afterword: Clothes, Fashion and System in the Writings of Roland Barthes: 'Something Out of Nothing', Andy Stafford \ Editor's Note and Acknowledgements \ Bibliography \Glossary of Names \ Index.
£18.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Course in General Linguistics
Book SynopsisFerdinand de Saussure is commonly regarded as one of the fathers of 20th Century Linguistics. His lectures, posthumously published as the Course in General Linguistics ushered in the structuralist mode which marked a key turning point in modern thought. Philosophers such as Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes, psychoanalysts such as Jacques Lacan, the anthropologist ClaudeLevi-Strauss and linguists such as Noam Chomsky all found an important influence for their work in the pages of Saussure''s text. Published 100 years after Saussure''s death, this new edition of Roy Harris''s authoritative translation is now available in the Bloomsbury Revelations series with a substantial new introduction exploring Saussure''s contemporary influence and importance.Table of ContentsIntroduction to the Bloomsbury Revelations Edition Preface to the First Edition Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the Third Edition Editor's Introduction, Roy Harris Introduction 1. A Brief Survey of the History of Linguistics 2. Data and Aims of Linguistics: Connexions with Related Sciences 3. The Object of Study 4. Linguistics of Language Structure and Linguistics of Speech 5. Internal and External Elements of a Language 6. Representation of a Language by Writing 7. Physiological Phonetics Appendix: Principles of Physiological Phonetics 1. Sound Types 2. Sounds in Spoken Sequences Part One: General Principles 1. Nature of the Linguistic Sign 2. Invariability and Variability of the Sign 3. Static Linguistics and Evolutionary Linguistics Part Two: Synchronic Linguistics 1. General Observations 2. Concrete Entities of a Language 3. Identities, Realities, Values 4. Linguistic Value 5. Syntagmatic Relations and Associative Relations 6. The Language Mechanism 7. Grammar and Its Subdivisions 8. Abstract Entities in Grammar Part Three: Diachronic Linguistics 1. General Observations 2. Sound Changes 3. Grammatical Consequences of Phonetic Evolution 4. Analogy 5. Analogy and Evolution 6. Popular Etymology 7. Agglutination 8. Diachronic Units,Identities and Realities Appendices Part Four: Geographical Linguistics 1. On the Diversity of Languages 2. Geographical Diversity: Its Complexity 3. Causes of Geographical Diversity 4. Propagation of Linguistic Waves Part Five: Questions of Retrospective Linguistics Conclusion 1. The Two Perspectives of Diachronic Linguistics 2. Earliest Languages and Prototypes 3. Reconstructions 4. Linguistic Evidence in Anthropology and Prehistory 5. Language Families and Linguistic Types Index
£21.84
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) The The Semiotics of Clowns and Clowning
Book SynopsisPaul Bouissac is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto (Victoria College), Canada. He is a world renowned figure in semiotics and a pioneer of circus studies. He runs the SemiotiX Bulletin [www.semioticon.com/semiotix] which has a global readership.Trade ReviewOne of the major contributions of the book is that, after reading it, watching clown performances can never be the same: the author guides us through the semiotics of clowning in such detail that every move and feature of clown acts will be overloaded with meaning(s) for the readers ... [A] reader-friendly book and an invaluable ethnographic approach to an area of study that has been most neglected by (humour and other) scholars ... particularly interesting for humour researchers, especially those who investigate clown performances in or, mostly nowadays, outside circuses. * European Journal of Humour Research *An important addition to literature on clowns and laughter, and an ambitious attempt to address in transcendent terms the negotiation of meaning at the heart of clown-generated laughter ... Valuable insights into practice abound ... Bouissac’s knowledge of and sensitivity to a breadth of cultural contexts allows for fascinating and relevant examinations of time-honored clown routines ... Indeed his book finds its full value in a sustained reflection from a perspective we don’t usually encounter: the sign-rich soil beneath our social interaction and the precise manner of its playful overturning by the classic circus clown. * Humor *In this book, Paul Bouissac, pioneer and master of the scientific approach to circus arts, demonstrates in a complete and brilliant way, by semiotic, anthropological and cognitive approaches, how the clowning art is a multimodal and complex act of communication, which produces laughter and sense through cognitive and cultural constructions shared by artists and spectators. THE definitive reference to understand clowning! -- Philippe Goudard, Professor of Performing Arts, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier, FranceBouissac brings his customary rigour and a true respect and love for the art of clowning to the task of discussing what clowns actually do and what it might mean. The full force of semiotic analysis bears generous fruit as Bouissac bases any theoretical analysis or deductions upon actual detailed descriptions of clowns in action. A hugely valuable contribution to the growing field of clown studies and an antidote to the lazy off-the-shelf popular mythologizing about clowning which passes for commentary in many quarters. -- Jon Davison, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Faces of the Clown Appearance and identity The making of a face Kinds and scales of facial transformations in clowns The crafting of a clown’s make-up The face of dominance Interpreting the face of a clown The modern face of the clown When clowns go post-modern 2. The Costumes of the Clowns The clowns’ trunks Splendor and sophistication of the whiteface The auguste’s misfits and tatters Sociosemiotics and biosemiotics of clown costumes Clowns in drag: cross-dressing and transvestism 3. The Clown’s Workshop The semiotics of artifacts A visit to Charlie Cairoli’s workshop When clowns play magic Clowns as craftsmen and engineers The clown’s barnyard 4. The Semiotics of Gags What is a gag? Gags in context Rob Torres: a solo clown act in New York The semiotic anatomy of gags The physics of gags 5. The Game of the Rules The language of clowning The straight, the tight, and the loose Identity: one in two, two in one 6. Clown and Trickster Master of tricks Too good to be true Transgression and consequences Master of fire The trickster and his avatars Understanding tricksters and clowns Peering in the cultural past: a reasoned speculation 7. Clowns and Gender Play: Politics and Economy of Sex Beyond sex and gender Images of desire An odd couple A “normal” couple A bird tale Gender play 8. Clowns, Death, and Laughter Death at the circus Death of the auguste Realm of the macabre: ghosts, corpses, and skeletons Clowns and death in the arts: laughter at the edge 9. Profaning the Sacred The avatars of Clown A grand narrative and its fractal performances The sacred and the profane Putting things inside out and upside down 10. Clowns without Borders Mapping clowns on the world Clowns without borders? Clowning beyond the cultural fences Clowning in Java The gentrification of clowns Clowns with a mission Conclusion: Contribution to the Theory of Laughter What is laughter? The meaning of laughter Senseless laughing Laughter as addiction: a hypothesis and an agenda References
£133.00
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) The Semiotics of Clowns and Clowning
Book SynopsisPaul Bouissac is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto (Victoria College), Canada. He is a world renowned figure in semiotics and a pioneer of circus studies. He runs the SemiotiX Bulletin [www.semioticon.com/semiotix] which has a global readership.Trade ReviewOne of the major contributions of the book is that, after reading it, watching clown performances can never be the same: the author guides us through the semiotics of clowning in such detail that every move and feature of clown acts will be overloaded with meaning(s) for the readers ... [A] reader-friendly book and an invaluable ethnographic approach to an area of study that has been most neglected by (humour and other) scholars ... particularly interesting for humour researchers, especially those who investigate clown performances in or, mostly nowadays, outside circuses. * European Journal of Humour Research *An important addition to literature on clowns and laughter, and an ambitious attempt to address in transcendent terms the negotiation of meaning at the heart of clown-generated laughter ... Valuable insights into practice abound ... Bouissac’s knowledge of and sensitivity to a breadth of cultural contexts allows for fascinating and relevant examinations of time-honored clown routines ... Indeed his book finds its full value in a sustained reflection from a perspective we don’t usually encounter: the sign-rich soil beneath our social interaction and the precise manner of its playful overturning by the classic circus clown. * Humor *In this book, Paul Bouissac, pioneer and master of the scientific approach to circus arts, demonstrates in a complete and brilliant way, by semiotic, anthropological and cognitive approaches, how the clowning art is a multimodal and complex act of communication, which produces laughter and sense through cognitive and cultural constructions shared by artists and spectators. THE definitive reference to understand clowning! -- Philippe Goudard, Professor of Performing Arts, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier, FranceBouissac brings his customary rigour and a true respect and love for the art of clowning to the task of discussing what clowns actually do and what it might mean. The full force of semiotic analysis bears generous fruit as Bouissac bases any theoretical analysis or deductions upon actual detailed descriptions of clowns in action. A hugely valuable contribution to the growing field of clown studies and an antidote to the lazy off-the-shelf popular mythologizing about clowning which passes for commentary in many quarters. -- Jon Davison, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Faces of the Clown Appearance and identity The making of a face Kinds and scales of facial transformations in clowns The crafting of a clown’s make-up The face of dominance Interpreting the face of a clown The modern face of the clown When clowns go post-modern 2. The Costumes of the Clowns The clowns’ trunks Splendor and sophistication of the whiteface The auguste’s misfits and tatters Sociosemiotics and biosemiotics of clown costumes Clowns in drag: cross-dressing and transvestism 3. The Clown’s Workshop The semiotics of artifacts A visit to Charlie Cairoli’s workshop When clowns play magic Clowns as craftsmen and engineers The clown’s barnyard 4. The Semiotics of Gags What is a gag? Gags in context Rob Torres: a solo clown act in New York The semiotic anatomy of gags The physics of gags 5. The Game of the Rules The language of clowning The straight, the tight, and the loose Identity: one in two, two in one 6. Clown and Trickster Master of tricks Too good to be true Transgression and consequences Master of fire The trickster and his avatars Understanding tricksters and clowns Peering in the cultural past: a reasoned speculation 7. Clowns and Gender Play: Politics and Economy of Sex Beyond sex and gender Images of desire An odd couple A “normal” couple A bird tale Gender play 8. Clowns, Death, and Laughter Death at the circus Death of the auguste Realm of the macabre: ghosts, corpses, and skeletons Clowns and death in the arts: laughter at the edge 9. Profaning the Sacred The avatars of Clown A grand narrative and its fractal performances The sacred and the profane Putting things inside out and upside down 10. Clowns without Borders Mapping clowns on the world Clowns without borders? Clowning beyond the cultural fences Clowning in Java The gentrification of clowns Clowns with a mission Conclusion: Contribution to the Theory of Laughter What is laughter? The meaning of laughter Senseless laughing Laughter as addiction: a hypothesis and an agenda References
£37.99
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) The Language of War Monuments
Book SynopsisDavid Machin, Department of Media and Communication Studies, Örebro Unversity, Sweden. His books include Global Media Discourse (2007), Introduction to Multimodal Analysis (2007) Analysing Popular Music (2010) and The Language of Crime and Deviance (2012). He is co-editor of the journal Social Semiotics. Gill Abousnnouga works in the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University, UK. She has published numerous papers in international peer reviewed journals on war memorials using a multimodal approach.Trade ReviewFew studies in multimodality have a social critical edge. Few studies in critical discourse analysis tackle multimodal discourse. This book shows how to bridge the gap. -- Theo van Leeuwen, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, AustraliaThanks to Abousnnouga and Machin, we can no longer keep our eyes wide shut. Their sophisticated yet accessible theoretical framework brings war memorials to life for us like no other study. And like all good books about war should, it makes a timely and indisputable case against it. Highly recommended. -- Adam Jaworski, Professor of Language and Communication, The University of Hong Kong, Hong KongI can't speak highly enough of this book. The Language of War Monuments is a rare thing in that it represents a true advance in semiotic and discourse analysis. Abousnnouga and Machin demonstrate the theoretical rigour and analytic vitality of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis and - most importantly - offer a thorough empirical examination of commemorative war monuments, the ways they cover over or ignore appalling effects of war, and so the ways they function to legitimise war discourses. Packed with contextual and comparative detail throughout, Abousnnouga and Machin's systematic analysis simultaneously demystifies the features and materials of war memorials (and whose interests they support) and offers a toolbox we can apply when examining the semiotics of material objects more generally. Readers will not be able to view war memorials in the same way ever again. -- John Richardson, Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies, Loughborough University, UKTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. Researching Monuments 3. A Social Semiotic Approach to Three Dimensional Objects 4. The Social Goings on Behind Monuments 5. The Iconography of the War Monument 6. Form and Materials 7. Roles and Actions: the Case of Women 8. Word, Image and Materiality: The Role of the Inscription Conclusion Bibliography Index
£37.99
Edinburgh University Press Language and Meaning in the Age of Modernism
Book SynopsisThis book explores the influential currents in the philosophy of language and linguistics of the first half of the twentieth century, from the perspective of the English scholar C. K. Ogden (1889 1957). It reveals links between early analytic philosophy, semiotics and linguistics in a crucial period of their respective histories.
£81.00
McFarland & Co Inc Reverse Symbolism Dictionary
Book Synopsis The only dictionary of its kind, this greatly expanded second edition lists objects, concepts, traits and situations ancient and modern and gives their appropriate symbols. A companion to Symbolism: A Comprehensive Dictionary (2012), this volume presents symbols and their referents in reverse association (but is not simply a reconfiguring of information). Examples: a symbol for hell is descending stairs; an attribute of Saint Benedict is a raven; joy after sorrow is signified by the gemstone amber. Ethnic, literary, artistic, religious, heraldic, numerological, folkloric, occult and psychological usages are included.
£61.19
University of Toronto Press The Quest for Meaning
Book SynopsisThe go-to introductory guide to semiotic theory and practice, this second edition features a new chapter on semiotics in the digital age and sheds light on how we grasp for meaning in the modern world.Table of ContentsPreface 1. What Is Semiotics? 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Historical Sketch 1.3 The Science of Meaning 1.4 Two Fundamental Models of the Sign 1.5 The Current Practice of Semiotics 1.6 Semiotics in the Global Village 1.7 Further Reading 2. Signs 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Defining the Sign 2.3 Symptoms and Signals 2.4 Icons 2.5 Indexes 2.6 Symbols 2.7 Names 2.8 Body, Mind, and Culture 2.9 Further Reading 3. Structure 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Structure 3.3 Associative Structure 3.4 Structural Economy 3.5 Post-Structuralism 3.6 Modeling 3.7 Further Reading 4. Codes 4.1 Introduction 4.2 What Is a Code? 4.3 Opposition and Markedness 4.4 Types of Codes 4.5 Codes and Perception 4.6 Further Reading 5. Texts 5.1 Introduction 5.2 What Is a Text? 5.3 Narrative Texts 5.4 Visual Texts 5.5 Digital Texts 5.7 Texts, Mind, and Culture 5.8 Further Reading 6. Representation 6.1 Introduction 6.2 What Is Representation? 6.3 Representation and Myth 6.4 Online Knowledge Representation 6.5 Representation and Reality 6.5 Further Reading 7. Semiotics in the Internet Era 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Simulacrum 7.3 Memes 7.4 Emojis 7.5 The Global Brain 7.6 Posthumanism 7.7 Further Reading 8. Applications 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Clothing 8.3 Food 8.4 Visual Rhetoric 8.5 The Quest for Meaning 8.6 Further Reading Glossary of Technical Terms Index
£49.30
University of Toronto Press The Quest for Meaning
Book SynopsisDating back to antiquity, semiotics is both a technique and a science that aims to understand the nature of meaning. An academic discipline in its own right, semiotics uses signs, such as words and symbols, to think, communicate, reflect, transmit, and preserve knowledge. Since the initial publication of The Quest for Meaning in 2007, the world has changed dramatically with the advent of online culture, new technologies, and new ways of making signs and symbols. Updated to reflect these many changes, the second edition includes a comprehensive chapter on the use of semiotics in the Internet age. Written in a student-friendly style, featuring examples from everyday life, the book explains what semiotics is all about and why it is so important for gaining insights into our elusive and mysterious human nature.Table of ContentsPreface 1. What Is Semiotics? 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Historical Sketch 1.3 The Science of Meaning 1.4 Two Fundamental Models of the Sign 1.5 The Current Practice of Semiotics 1.6 Semiotics in the Global Village 1.7 Further Reading 2. Signs 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Defining the Sign 2.3 Symptoms and Signals 2.4 Icons 2.5 Indexes 2.6 Symbols 2.7 Names 2.8 Body, Mind, and Culture 2.9 Further Reading 3. Structure 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Structure 3.3 Associative Structure 3.4 Structural Economy 3.5 Post-Structuralism 3.6 Modeling 3.7 Further Reading 4. Codes 4.1 Introduction 4.2 What Is a Code? 4.3 Opposition and Markedness 4.4 Types of Codes 4.5 Codes and Perception 4.6 Further Reading 5. Texts 5.1 Introduction 5.2 What Is a Text? 5.3 Narrative Texts 5.4 Visual Texts 5.5 Digital Texts 5.7 Texts, Mind, and Culture 5.8 Further Reading 6. Representation 6.1 Introduction 6.2 What Is Representation? 6.3 Representation and Myth 6.4 Online Knowledge Representation 6.5 Representation and Reality 6.5 Further Reading 7. Semiotics in the Internet Era 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Simulacrum 7.3 Memes 7.4 Emojis 7.5 The Global Brain 7.6 Posthumanism 7.7 Further Reading 8. Applications 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Clothing 8.3 Food 8.4 Visual Rhetoric 8.5 The Quest for Meaning 8.6 Further Reading Glossary of Technical Terms Index
£23.39
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Recipe
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Recipe reveals the surprising lessons that recipes teach, in addition to the obvious instructions on how to prepare a dish or perform a process. These include lessons in hospitality, friendship, community, family and ethnic heritage, tradition, nutrition, precision and order, invention and improvisation, feasting and famine, survival and seduction and love. A recipe is a signature, as individual as the cook's fingerprint; a passport to travel the world without leaving the kitchen; a lifeline for people in hunger and in want; and always a means to expand one's worldview, if not waistline.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewFascinating. . . . [Bloom] explains how recipes unite us, contain lessons about hospitality, and can be a signature as individual as fingerprints. * Globe and Mail *Lynn Bloom’s Recipe celebrates the complications and contradictions, the serious and play, the bounty and scarcity, represented by the simple instructions that put food on the table. This book, like the object itself, 'exists as much in the imagination' as on the plate, a satisfying examination of the marvelous 'process and promise' of the humble recipe. * Karen Babine, author of All the Wild Hungers: A Season of Cooking and Cancer and Water and What We Know: Following the Roots of a Northern Life *A really great read. * Randomly Yours, Alex *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Secret Life of Recipes 1. “First, Turn and Face the Stove.” The Recipe as an Instruction Guide 2. “You say toma¯to, I say tomahto”: The Recipe as Conversation 3. A Taste of Home: The Recipe for Comfort Cooking in Tough Times 4. Joys of Cooking—and Eating: The Great American Thanksgiving Celebration Recipe 5. “Please, sir, I want some more.” The Recipe as a Manifestation of Power, Politics Poverty, and Punishment 6. Play With Your Food, the Recipe as Jazz Lagniappe: The Best Blueberry Pie Index
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc OK
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. OK as a word accepts proposals, describes the world as satisfactory (but not good), provides conversational momentum, or even agrees (or disagrees). OK as an object, however, tells a story of how technology writes itself into language, permanently altering communication. OK is a young word, less than 200 years old. It began as an acronym for all correct when the steam-powered printing press pushed newspapers into the mainstream. Today it is spoken and written by nearly everyone in the world. Drawing on linguistics, history, and new media studies, Michelle McSweeney traces OK from its birth in the Penny Presses through telephone lines, grammar books, and television signals into the digital age. Nearly ubiquitous and often overlooked, OK illustrates the never-ending dance between language, technology, and culture, and offers lessons for our own techno-historical moment. ObjecTrade Review[A] slim and lucid addition to the Object Lessons series. . . . McSweeney traces the word's evolution through the present, illuminating the ways in which its meaning developed over time. * The Millions *More than just OK. . . . A quick and fascinating read. . . . Short, but mentally nutritious. * The DreamCage *A concise yet wide-ranging tour though the history of how technology has influenced the way we talk with each other. * Gretchen McCulloch, linguist and author of Because Internet *OK is more than just okay—it's the handiest and most up-to-date account of this mysterious yet deathless little expression available. Witness the history of something we say all day every day that's actually new enough that it would have left Thomas Jefferson scratching his head. * John McWhorter, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Columbia University, USA, author of Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter Then, Now and Forever and host of the podcast Lexicon Valley *Table of Contents1. Ok (Introduction) 2. Oll Korrect (Origins) 3. Ok? (Alternative Origins) Grains of Truth An Exotic Loanword Food 4. Olde Kinderhook (Branding) Ok Products 5. Okay (Literature) 6. Oh-kay (Telephone) A Modern Ok 7. Ok! (Television) Culture, Technology, and War 8. K (the Internet) Bulletin Board Systems 9. Kk (Social Media) English 10. [OK emoji] (Gesture) 11. O.k. Ok, Ok, Lol (Conclusion) Bibliography Index
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Glitter
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Glitter reveals the complexity of an object often dismissed as frivolous. Nicole Seymour describes how glitter's consumption and status have shifted across centuriesfrom ancient cosmetic to queer activist tool, environmental pollutant to biodegradable accessoryalong with its composition, which has variously included insects, glass, rocks, salt, sugar, plastic, and cellulose. Through a variety of examples, from glitterbombing to glitter beer, Seymour shows how this substance reflects the entanglements of consumerism, emotion, environmentalism, and gender/sexual identity. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewHard facts, philosophical musings, and trivia galore commingle in this madcap toss of shimmery delight. * Passport Magazine *Nicole Seymour peers beyond the surface of glitter and finds a material that is irreverent and political, sticky and elusive, that shapes communities as it challenges preconceptions. Glitter shines with new ways of thinking. * David Farrier, Professor of Literature and the Environment, University of Edinburgh, UK *Glitter is an original, nuanced and thorough analysis that examines glitter’s significance beyond its usual connotations of frivolousness at best and environmental disaster at worst. As vibrant as the substance itself, Seymour’s thoughtful exploration situates glitter in current cultural and political contexts without dulling its shine. Positively dazzling! * Hillary Belzer, Founder and Curator, The Makeup Museum *Table of ContentsDiary Entry: Glitter in Quarantine 1. The Great Glitter Backlash Glitter Bar: A Makeover Takeover! 2. “Feel the Rainbow!”: Glitter as Tactic Poetry Reading: CAConrad 3. “Too Much Bling”: Glitter in Children’s Entertainment Interview: Machine Dazzle 4. Recrafting Glitter: The Sustainable Turn Taste Test: Glitter Beer 5. Conclusion: Facing the Plasticene Index
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Trench Coat
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.We think we know the trench coat, but where does it come from and where will it take us? From its origins in the trenches of WW1, this military outerwear came to project the inner-being of detectives, writers, reporters, rebels, artists and intellectuals. The coat outfitted imaginative leaps into the unknown. Trench Coat tells the story of seductive entanglements with technology, time, law, politics, trust and trespass. Readers follow the rise of a sartorial archetype through media, design, literature, cinema and fashion. Today, as a staple in stories of future life-worlds, the trench coat warns of disturbances to come.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewTrench Coat maps the extraordinary lives of this seemingly simple garment, which emerged from early industrialized warfare to become the screen for a multitude of projected dreams, fears and desires across the 20th century to the present. Jane Tynan’s material and cultural history charts the evolution of a coat that is practical yet cryptic, hyper-visible but concealing, possessed of vitality whilst also a form of camouflage. * Rachel Woodward, Professor of Human Geography, Newcastle University, UK *Jane Tynan’s Trench Coat is a delight – richly informative and written in prose as stylish as the object it describes. Uncovering the ‘dark and dangerous energy’ behind this icon of modernity, Tynan vividly captures the trench coat’s perennial appeal. * Catherine Spooner, Professor of Literature and Culture, Lancaster University, UK, and author of Fashioning Gothic Bodies *Really interesting. . . . There's so many iconic moments that this analysis helps us peer more closely into. * New Books Network *Another engaging, thought-provoking paperback in Bloomsbury's excellent 'Object Lessons' series. * The Irish Scene *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Substance 2. War 3. Mobility 4. Insurgency 5. Reportage 6. Heroes or Villains 7. Outsiders 8. Style Conclusion Postscript Notes Index
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Wine
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.While wine drunk millennia ago was the humble beverage of the people, today the drink is inextricable with power, sophistication, and often wealth. Bottles sell for half a million dollars. Point systems tell us which wines are considered the best. Wine professionals give us the language to describe what we taste.Agricultural product and cultural commodity, drink of ritual and drink of addiction, purveyor of pleasure, pain, and memory - wine has never been contained in a single glass. Drawing from science, religion, literature, and memoir, Wine meditates on the power structures bound up with making and drinking this ancient, intoxicating beverage.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewA beautifully written, soulful narrative that goes straight into the heart and soul of the complexities, joys, and wisdom of wine. * Alice Feiring, author of To Fall in Love, Drink This: A Wine Writer's Memoir *Meg Bernhard’s Wine is a beautiful gem of a book, thankfully free of what we find in so much wine writing. This wine book is anything but typical. Bernhard covers a lot of ground in a short number of pages with her unique mix of memoir, travel writing, natural history, sensory science, and reporting on the social issues surrounding wine. But the beating heart of this book is Bernhard’s experiences working at Spanish wineries and in the vineyards of Castilla-La Mancha and Catalonia, which she memorably brings to life. * Jason Wilson, author of Godforsaken Grapes and creator of the newsletter “Everyday Drinking” *Table of ContentsPreface 1. Winter 2. Spring 3. Summer 4. Fall Epilogue Acknowledgements Works Consulted Glossary Works Cited Index
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Stroller
Book SynopsisAmanda Parrish Morgan is a Writing Instructor at Fairfield University and a Westport Writers' Workshop Instructor. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Guernica, The Millions, The Rumpus, The American Scholar, Women's Running, JSTOR Daily, Ploughshares, and N+1, among other places.Trade ReviewFor Morgan, strollers aren't just tools we use, or products we buy; they're dense symbols, with no single or settled meaning, of our relationships to parenting. * New Yorker *Designed objects tell stories, and the stroller is no different - except perhaps that it's a typology that has received little sustained critical framing until this text. A compelling writer, Amanda Parrish Morgan deftly weaves together conversations around aspiration, accessibility, and aesthetics as they relate to this accouterment of modern parenthood and posits the stroller as a complex and sometimes confounding topic worthy of our attention and inquiry. This is an immensely readable volume, and we’re proud to have it on our bookshelves. * Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick, authors of Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births *Part object history, part capitalist critique, a consistently acute and deeply felt depiction of the pleasures, traps, thrills, and dangers of early parenthood, Amanda Parrish Morgan's Stroller compellingly depicts the history and taxonomy of this most weighty and unruly device, ally, and antagonist. * Lynn Steger Strong, author of Want *Table of Contents1. Child-Friendly and Child-Centric 2. Carry the Baby 3. The Pram in the Hall 4. Prams of Good and Evil 5. The Years of Magical Worrying 6. Get Your Body Back 7. Strolling 8. A Taxonomy of Stroller as Metaphor Index
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Scream
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. When you are born, the first thing you do is scream. Be it a response to fear, anger, sadness, or happiness, the scream is a declaration of being alive. The metal vocalist cupping the microphone blares out a deafeningly harsh scream. The drill instructor screams out commands to their soldiers. And then there's the bloodcurdling screams we know from horror films. A scream has many meanings, but it is an instinctive and reflexive action that, at its core, reveals raw emotion. Investigating popular and alternative cultures, art, and science, Michael J. Seidlinger tracks the resonance of the scream across media and literature and in his own voice. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewA comprehensive and deeply personal trip through the cultural history of the scream. From Slipknot to Edvard Munch to John Carpenter and back into his own body, Michael Seidlinger reminds us all why we scream. As a singer, this one really hit home! * Geoff Rickly, singer of Thursday *Michael J. Seidlinger dissects the emotional complexity of the scream and—using examples from history, pop culture, and his own life—analyzes the way it highjacks the rational mind. Scream is an unforgettable ode to auditory extremes. * Jim Ruland, author of Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records *Table of ContentsVoice (Prologue) 1. A Scream in the Night 2. Stand and Deliver 3. Speak Up, Shout Out 4. Howl at the Wall 5. A Rollercoaster of Emotions 6. “OMG I’m Screaming” The Body (Epilogue) Index
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Pencil
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.A cylinder of baked graphite and clay in a wood case, the pencil creates as it is being destroyed. To love a pencil is to use it, to sharpen it, and to essentially destroy it. Pencils were used to sketch civilization's greatest works of art. Pencils were there marking the choices in the earliest democratic elections. Even when used haphazardly to mark out where a saw's blade should make a cut, a pencil is creating. Pencil offers a deep look at this common, almost ubiquitous, object. Pencils are a simple device that are deceptively difficult to manufacture. At a time when many use cellphones as banking branches and instructors reach students online throughout the world, pencil use has not waned, with tens of millions being made and used annually. Carol Beggy sketches out how the lowly pencil is still a mighty useful tool. Object Lessons is pTrade ReviewA fascinating voyage of discovery demonstrating why, in an age of electronic everything, the pencil still grips us. * Daniel Rosenberg, Professor of History, University of Oregon, USA, and author of Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline *This tribute to the lowly pencil is a celebration of the life of the mind and hand. Born in the sixteenth century, this familiar writing instrument lives on in our digital age as a tool of thought, indispensable for some, an object of nostalgia for others, collectible or disposable, a bond of community or a companion in solitude. Carol Beggy captures the presence of pencils in our lives with enthusiasm and wit. Her book is an object lesson in how to see and appreciate the humblest elements of existence and not to take anything for granted. * Robert A. Gross, author of The Transcendentalists and Their World (2021) *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Variations on a Theme 2. Making Their Mark 3. Tools of the Trade 4. People and Their Pencils 5. To Boldly Go 6. Collectors Versus Users 7. Pencils in the Wild 8. A Thoreau Job 9. Pencils Up 10. #FindYourPeople Afterword Notes Acknowledgments Selected Bibliography and Suggested Further Reading Index
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Barcode
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Barcodes are about as ordinary as an object can be. Billions of them are scanned each day and they impact everything from how we shop to how we travel to how the global economy is managed. But few people likely give them more than a second thought. In a way, the barcode's ordinariness is the ultimate symbol of its success. However, behind the mundanity of the barcode lies an important history. Barcodes bridged the gap between physical objects and digital databases and paved the way for the contemporary Internet of Things, the idea to connect all devices to the web. They were highly controversial at points, protested by consumer groups and labor unions, and used as a symbol of dystopian capitalism and surveillance in science fiction and art installations. This book tells the story of the barcode's complicated history and examines how an object so crucial to so many parts of ourTrade ReviewJordan Frith’s engaging storytelling and analysis makes Barcode a page-turner. He transforms the technical into the human, bringing lively cultural, political, and social analysis to something most of us overlook every day. But beware: After reading this book, you’ll want to talk about barcodes all the time. * Torie Bosch, Editor, First Opinion, STAT *Table of Contents1. The little black lines that changed the world 2. How we almost ended up with a bullseye barcode 3. An early bridge between the digital and the physical 4. Consumer protests, labor rights, and automation 5. President Bush and the barcode 6. Barcodes and the Bible 7. The cultural imaginary of the barcode 8. The long and winding road of the QR Code 9. Barcodes and fifty years of misplaced eulogies Notes Index
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Space Rover
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.In 1971, the first lunar rover arrived on the moon. The design became an icon of American ingenuity and the adventurous spirit and vision many equated with the space race.Fifty years later, that vision feels like a nostalgic fantasy, but the lunar rover's legacy paved the way for Mars rovers like Sojourner, Curiosity, and Perseverance. Other rovers have made accessible the world's deepest caves and most remote tundra, extending our exploratory range without risking lives. Still others have been utilized for search and rescue missions or in clean up operations after disasters such as Chernobyl. For all these achievements, rovers embody not just our potential, but our limits. Examining rovers as they wander our terrestrial and celestial boundaries, we might better comprehend our place, and fate, in this universe. Object Lessons is published in p
£9.49
Dalkey Archive Press Non-Memoirs
Book SynopsisOne afternoon in December 1992, in Tartu, Estonia, Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman reluctantly sat down to dictate his memoirs to Elena Pogosian, his assistant, over a pot of tea. It was to be the first of twelve dictation sessions during which the initial draft of Non-Memoirs was created. The sessions were spread out over that winter and into the spring of 1993--the last spring of Lotman's life. The result of the process is this book - a book of memories and recollections of a good part of 20th century, divided into seven sections. The five shorter sections concern themselves with a single anecdote or theme (lice on the front, an encounter with a hare, a "totally Bulgakovian" episode, a visit from the KGB, Tartu School politics); the two longer sections provide the narrative backbone of the memoirs, tending to treat the passage of time, rather than a single event (school and frontline life, the end of the war and postwar university life).Trade Review... Lotman, in my view, is a critic who started from a structuralist approach... but who does not remain bound by it. -- Umberto Eco
£9.49
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Love and Death in Goethe: `One and Double'
Book SynopsisExplores the central theme of Romantic poetry in the works of the most important German Romantic poet of all. Goethe, in association with his younger Romantic compatriots the Schlegels, Novalis, Fichte, and Schelling, struggled with the subject-object dichotomy, and tried to bridge the gap between self and other, consciousness and nature.His theory and practice prefigured the Romantics' determination to display and interrogate the linguistic and cultural structures informing their own thinking and modes of representation--what Goethe calls one's "Vorstellungsart." His work exploits, subverts, and supplants inherited conventions and signs, demonstrating with virtuosic irony that literature is a system of texts, pre-texts, and pre-established but dynamic conceptual models. Love and Deathin Goethe:"One and Double" explores Goethe's use, in a wide range of his poetry and prose, of the theme of Liebestod (love and death) and related embodiments of the paradox of unity in duality. Ellis Dye also examinesGoethe's use of other themes related to love and death--the femme fatale, the vagina dentata, Frau Welt, the Lorelei, venereal disease, the Lustmord--and considers issues of selfhood and individuation as wellas the possibility that the love-death theme contains an implicit gender bias toward the existential fact of personal separateness. Poems, plays, and novels are dealt with, nevertheless, as works of art, not only as illustrationsof an idea or as points of intersection in a system of rhetorical conventions, and are examined for intellectual cohesiveness, elegance, and integrity of design as well as special meanings and effects. Love and Death in Goethe:"One and Double" explores the meaning of the central theme of Romantic poetry in the works of the most important Romantic poet of all. Students of literary culture, both the lay reader and the Goethe specialist, will be enlightened by its approach and find pleasure and instruction in its revelations. Robert Ellis Dye is Professor of German at Macalester College.Trade ReviewIn this impressive study one encounters a densely woven tapestry of argument from a scholar of literature and philosophy...Dye offers valuable commentary on the perspectives of major Goethe scholars and makes lively reference to contemporaneous popular culture. Essential. * CHOICE *Solid scholarship and well-made books, not short-lived provocation is what we have come to expect from the series 'Studies in German literature, linguistics, and culture' by Camden House. This volume is an important contribution to the study of Goethe as an essential part of and even pioneer of European Romanticism. * GERMAN QUARTERLY *By showing the parallels between Goethe's worldview and Romantic irony, [Dye] is able to firmly connect the dots between Goethe and his younger Romantic contemporaries. Scholars will find this innovative approach to Goethe both refreshing and insightful. * GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW *Ellis Dye has ... made an extremely important contribution to contemporary Goethe studies, drawing upon a vast array of Goethe's works, and offering interpretations that are often bold and compelling. * SPRACHKUNST *Table of ContentsIntroduction Issues: Some Implications of the Link between Love and Death Incorporating Tradition Frau Welt. Veneral Disease. Femmes Fatales Die Leiden des jungen Werthers Stella: Eine Schauspiel für Liebende Intrusions of the Supernatural Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre: Identity and Difference Poetic Ambiguity: "Selige Sehnsucht" Die Wahlverwandtschaften: Romantic Metafiction Love and Death in Faust Truth, Paradox, Irony Virtuosity Works Cited Index
£89.25
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Freud's Theory and Its Use in Literary and
Book SynopsisA genuinely accessible introduction to Freud's theory and its application to literary and cultural studies. Few figures have had as much influence on Western thought as Sigmund Freud. His ideas permeate our culture to such a degree that an understanding of them is indispensable. Yet many otherwise well-informed students in the humanities labor under misconceptions about Freudian theory. There are countless introductions to Freudian psychoanalysis but, surprisingly, none that combine a genuinely accessible account of Freud's ideas with an introduction to their use in literary and cultural studies, as this book does. Written specifically for use by advanced undergraduate and graduate students in courses dealing with literary and cultural criticism, it is also of interest to the general reader. The first part of the book explains Freud's key ideas and refutes many popular misconceptions, using examples throughout. The assumption underlying this account is that Freud offers not simply a model of the mind, but an analysis of the relation between the individual and society. The second part addresses the implications of Freudian psychoanalysis for the study of literature and culture, again using plentiful examples. Existing books focus either onFreudian psychoanalysis in general or on psychoanalytic literary or cultural criticism; the latter tend to be abstract and theoretical in nature. None of them are suitable for readers who are interested in psychoanalysis as a tool for literary and cultural criticism but have no firm knowledge of Freud's ideas. Freud's Theory and Its Use in Literary and Cultural Studies fills this gap. Henk de Berg is Professor of German at the Universityof Sheffield, UK.Trade ReviewThis is as good an introductory text as one can possibly hope for. - -- Peter Gay[Henk de Berg] pairs a brief, clear introduction to Freud and a demonstration of how thinking about Freud can enrich literary and cultural studies. His Freud is one of the most convincing assessments of that oft-maligned thinker in years... The book reconstructs a Freud of deep human sympathies, wide reading, and wide-ranging importance... Well researched and including a brief bibliography.... Highly recommended. * CHOICE *[The book] is clearly and forcefully written, keeps technical language to a minimum, brings in numerous real-life examples ... and firmly opposes many of the current cliches about Freud and psychoanalysis. * AMERICAN IMAGO *[de Berg's] narrative map for psychoanalysis has just the right navigational markers. * GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW *...clear, lively, unpedantic... It serves its purpose well. * GERMAN QUARTERLY *[A] new standard work that provides an introduction to the bases of Freudian literary interpretation.... * GERMANISTIK *[A]n incisive, clearly structured yet never simplified introduction to Freud....Throughout, this is a critical guide in the very best sense and an invaluable text for teachers of cultural studies to recommend to students new to Freud or sceptical of his theories. * FORUM OF MODERN LANGUAGE STUDIES *[T]his introduction to Freud succeeds brilliantly in presenting complex ideas lucidly. * MODERN AUSTRIAN LITERATURE *
£23.74
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Heimat: A Critical Theory of the German Idea of Homeland
Book SynopsisA new analysis of one of the most loaded terms in the German language: Heimat, or Homeland. The idea of Heimat (home, homeland, native region) has been as important to German self-perceptions over the last two hundred years as the shifting notion of the German nation. While the idea of Heimat has been long neglected in English studies of German culture--among other reasons because the word Heimat has no exact equivalent in English--this book offers us the first cross-disciplinary and comprehensive analysis, in English or German, of this all-pervasive German idea. Blickle shows how the idea of Heimat interpenetrates German notions of modernity, identity, gender, nature, and innocence. Blickle reminds us of such commonplace expressions of Heimat sentimentality as Biedermeier landscapes of Alpine meadows and castles on the Rhine, but also finds the Heimat preoccupation in Hegel, Nietzsche, and Freud. Always aware of the many literary representations of Heimat (for instance in Schiller, Hölderlin, Heine, Kafka, and Thomas Mann), Blickle does not argue for the fundamental innocence of Heimat. Instead he shows again and again how the idealization of a home ground leads to borders of exclusion. Peter Blickle is associate professor of German at Western Michigan University.Trade ReviewThis volume will be a must for scholars working on Heimat and a welcome addition to any library. * MICHIGAN ACADEMICIAN *For anyone interested in German notions of Heimat, Blickle's study, an impressive scholarly accomplishment, is indispensable reading. * GERMAN QUARTERLY *Blickle has rendered an important service in providing a lucid and provocative study on a topic that has elicited profuse commentary in recent years. * MONATSHEFTE *
£28.99
Boydell & Brewer Ltd A Companion to Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon
Book SynopsisNew, carefully focused essays providing a thorough examination of Hemingway's groundbreaking non-fictional work. Published in 1932, Death in the Afternoon reveals its author at the height of his intellectual and stylistic powers. By that time, Hemingway had already won critical and popular acclaim for his short stories and novels of the late twenties. A mature and self-confident artist, he now risked his career by switching from fiction to nonfiction, from American characters to Spanish bullfighters, from exotic and romantic settings to the tough world of theSpanish bullring, a world that might seem frightening and even repellant to those who do not understand it. Hemingway's nonfiction has been denied the attention that his novels and short stories have enjoyed, a state of affairs this Companion seeks to remedy, breaking new ground by applying theoretical and critical approaches to a work of nonfiction. It does so in original essays that offer a thorough, balanced examination of a complex, boundary-breaking, and hitherto neglected text. The volume is broken into sections dealing with: the composition, reception, and sources of Death in the Afternoon; cultural translation, cultural criticism, semiotics, and paratextual matters; and the issues of art, authorship, audience, and the literary legacy of Death in the Afternoon. The contributors to the volume, four men and seven women, lay to rest the stereotype of Hemingway as a macho writer whom women do not read; and their nationalities (British, Spanish, American, and Israeli) indicate that Death in the Afternoon, even as it focuses on a particular national art, discusses matters of universal concern. Contributors: Miriam B. Mandel, Robert W. Trogdon, Lisa Tyler, Linda Wagner-Martin, Peter Messent, Beatriz Penas Ibáñez, Anthony Brand, Nancy Bredendick, Hilary Justice, Amy Vondrak, and Keneth Kinnamon. MiriamB. Mandel teaches in the English Department of Tel Aviv University.Trade ReviewMandel and her scholarly companions traverse a vast territory in this, the most extensive exploration to date of Hemingway's longest and most complex work of non-fiction. * THE HEMINGWAY REVIEW *
£29.69
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Deploying Orientalism in Culture and History:
Book SynopsisFocuses on the cultural, philosophical, political, and scholarly uses of "orientalism" in the German-speaking and Central and Eastern European worlds from the late eighteenth century to the present day. The concept and study of orientalism in Western culture gained a changed understanding from Edward Said's now iconic 1978 book Orientalism. However, recent debate has moved beyond Said's definition of the phenomenon, highlighting the multiple forms of orientalism within the "West," the manifold presence of the "East" in the Western world, indeed the epistemological fragility of the ideas of "Occident" and "Orient" as such. This volume focuses on the deployment -- here the cultural, philosophical, political, and scholarly uses -- of "orientalism" in the German-speaking and Central and Eastern European worlds from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Its interdisciplinary approach combines distinguished contributions by Indian scholars, who approach the topic of orientalism through the prism of German studies as practiced in Asia, with representative chapters by senior German, Austrian,and English-speaking scholars working at the intersection of German and oriental studies. Contributors: Anil Bhatti, Michael Dusche, Johannes Feichtinger, Johann Heiss, James Hodkinson, Kerstin Jobst, Jon Keune, Todd Kontje, Margit Köves, Sarah Lemmen, Shaswati Mazumdar, Jyoti Sabarwal, Ulrike Stamm, John Walker. James Hodkinson is Associate Professor in German Studies at Warwick University. John Walker is Senior Lecturer in EuropeanCultures and Languages at Birkbeck College, University of London. Shaswati Mazumdar is Professor in German at the University of Delhi. Johannes Feichtinger is a Researcher at the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.Trade ReviewThis book expands and deepens our understanding of European orientalist discourses by not only examining the relatively neglected field of Germanophone orientalism, but also by looking further East to encompass the utterly overlooked orientalisms of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Russia. This collection is required reading for anyone interested in orientalism, travel writing, and the cultural history of Central and Eastern Europe. -Robert Lemon, University of Oklahoma, author of Imperial Messages: Orientalism as Self-Critique in the Habsburg Fin-de-Siècle -- Robert Lemon, University of Oklahoma, author of Imperial Messages: Orientalism as Self-Critique in the Habsburg Fin-de-SiècleTable of ContentsPreface Introduction (Re)translating the West: Humboldt, Habermas, and Intercultural Dialogue Friedrich Schlegel's Writings on India: Reimagining Germany as Europe's True Oriental Self Germany's Local Orientalisms Tales from the Oriental Borderlands: On the Making and Uses of Colonial Algiers in Germanophone Travel Writing from the Maghreb around 1840 The Jew, the Turk, and the Indian: Figurations of the Oriental in the German-Speaking World M. C. Sprengel's Writings on India: A Disenchanted and Forgotten Orientalism of the Late Eighteenth Century Occident and Orient in Narratives of Exile: The Case of Willy Haas's Indian Exile Writings Distant Neighbors: Uses of Orientalism in the Late Nineteenth-Century Austro-Hungarian Empire Modes of Orientalism in Hungarian Letters and Learning of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Where the Orient Ends? Orientalism and Its Function for Imperial Rule in the Russian Empire Noncolonial Orientalism? Czech Travel Writing on Africa and Asia around 1918 Oriental Sexuality and Its Uses in Nineteenth-Century Travelogues Notes on the Contributors Index
£87.30
Autonomedia And: Phenomenology of the End
Book SynopsisThe changes taking place in our aesthetic and emotional sensibility: a deep mutation in the psychosphere, caused by semio-capitalism.Franco “Bifo” Berardi''s newest book analyzes the contemporary changes taking place in our aesthetic and emotional sensibility—changes the author claims are the result of semio-capitalism''s capturing of the inner resources of the subjective process: our experience of time, our sensibility, the way we relate to each other, and our ability to imagine a future. Precarization and fractalization of labor have provoked a deep mutation in the psychosphere, and this can be seen in the rise of psychopathologies such as post-traumatic stress disorder, autism, panic, and attention deficit disorder. Sketching out an aesthetic genealogy of capitalist globalization, Berardi shows how we have arrived at a point of such complexity in the semiotic flows of capital that we can no longer process its excessive currents of information. A swarm effect now rules: it has become impossible to say “no.” Social behavior is trapped in inescapable patterns of interaction coded by techno-linguistic machines, smartphones, screens of every size, and all of these sensory and emotional devices end up destroying our organism''s sensibility by submitting it to the stress of competition and acceleration.Arguing for disentanglement rather than resistance, Berardi concludes by evoking the myth of La Malinche, the daughter of a noble Aztec family. It is a tale of a translator and traitor who betrayed her own people, yet what the myth portends is the rebirth of the world from the collapse of the old.
£15.29
Academic Studies Press Goncharov in the Twenty-First Century
Book SynopsisGoncharov in the Twenty-First Century brings together a range of international scholars for a reexamination of Ivan Goncharov’s life and work through a twenty-first century critical lens. Contributions to the volume highlight Goncharov’s service career, the complex and understudied manifestation of Realism in his work, the diverse philosophical threads that shape his novels, and the often colliding contexts of writer and imperial bureaucrat in the 1858 travel text Frigate Pallada. Chapters engage with approaches from post-colonial and queer studies, theories of genre and the novel, desire, laughter, technology, and mobility and travel.Trade Review“The Ivan Goncharov that emerges from the pages of this collection is one of the most modern of nineteenth-century Russian writers. … Goncharov for the Twenty-First Century offers a wealth of new ways to think about his literary legacy. … The overall result is an exciting, wide-ranging, and valuable collection.” — Vadim Shneyder, The Russian Review“The editors of this attractive volume stress their desire to distance the study of Ivan Goncharov from a ‘conventional psychological, Freudian approach’ (p. xiv), while escaping the ‘unquestioned dominance of Oblomov’ (ibid.) in the author’s oeuvre. Laudable yet complicated aims. … Goncharov in the Twenty-First Century is to be praised for its ambition and its work of contextualization and expansion. It rouses readers of Goncharov from the comfortable divan of tradition on which, in our dressing-gown-clad idleness, we might prefer to subside.”— James Womack, University of Cambridge, Modern Language Review (Vol. 118, No. 1)“Goncharov in the Twenty-First Century is a much-needed reassessment of this classic Russian writer and our understanding of his place in the canon. Bringing together work by Russian and Western scholars, it allows us to see Goncharov through a variety of contemporary theoretical lenses (such as queer theory and postcolonial studies) while also shedding new light on the writer’s historical moment and how it shaped his career (for example in the interplay between Goncharov’s art and his work as a state servitor and censor). The volume promises to open up significant avenues of research for a new generation of international scholarship on this key figure.”—Anne Lounsbery, Department Chair, Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies, New York University“This volume brings together an international group of outstanding scholars to explore the work of Ivan Goncharov from a wide range of contemporary methodological perspectives. Genre criticism, post-colonial and queer theory, theories of fictionality, literary-institutional and philosophical approaches—all are brilliantly represented in their application to the work of one of the most intriguing literary figures of the age of Russian realism. Goncharov appears to us here not only as a novelist, but as a civil servant, a censor, an author of a travelogue, a memoirist, and a literary critic. The book gives us Goncharov as an author who continues to provoke methodological questions and to open new areas of critical exploration.”—Ilya Kliger, Associate Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies, New York University“The go-to volume in English for new approaches to Goncharov, this important book significantly reevaluates his life, work, and thought. These ten articles reframe the classic Oblomov, unify Goncharov’s novelistic trilogy, bring into focus The Precipice and The Frigate Pallada, and probe his career as public servant and censor. Goncharov emerges with surprising force here as a thinker engaged with the challenges of modernity and reflecting on historical and cultural legacies of the past. We learn how varieties of reserve, resistance and desire shape his artistic and existential choices as he negotiates contemporary social, professional and literary pressures, and how both his professional and literary careers were mangled in the jaws of the 1860s. While Goncharov’s contemporaries often poorly understood the significance of his work and saw it as outmoded, this volume identifies multiple currents in it that pull deeply towards the future and illuminates Goncharov as a quiet prophet of unconventionality.”—Sara Dickinson, Associate Professor of Russian Literature and Culture, University of Genoa“Ingrid Kleespies offers an outstanding analysis of the use and themes of various forms of optics in Goncharov’s representation of London. Her insightful reading is situated in important and recent scholarship as it considers the effect of the mechanical or mechanized gaze on Goncharov’s understanding of realism, modernism, and empire. Lyudmila Parts contributes an intriguing study on the use of laughter in colonial discourse and the construction of empire. Focusing on “micro encounters” in Frigate, Parts parses types of laughter and how they might objectify, dehumanize, or establish social power structures…Goncharov in the Twenty-First Century offers many fine chapters that provide new information and insight to reacquaint readers with an author many think they know well.”—Amy Singleton Adams, Slavic ReviewTable of ContentsTable of ContentsContributorsNote on Transliteration and Translation AcknowledgementsIntroduction Ingrid Kleespies and Lyudmila PartsPart One. The Life of ServiceWriter and Chinovnik: The Case of I. A. GoncharovSergei Gus′kovWriter or Censor: I. A. Goncharov’s Service in the Departments of Censorship, and the Evolution of Professional Ethics for Censors and Writers in Russia, in the 1850s and 1860sKirill Zubkov Part Two. The Challenges of Philosophy“Oblomovskii Platon”: Platonic Subtexts in OblomovVladimir IvantsovHegel’s Philosophy of History as the Unifying Thread of Goncharov’s TrilogyVictoria JuharyanLonging, Replacement, and Anti-Economy in Goncharov’s OblomovSonja KoroliovPart Three. The Challenges of Realism: Traditions and Transgressions“Shadows, Dead People, and Specters”: Gothic Aesthetics in Ivan Goncharov’s The PrecipiceValeria SobolThe Queer Nihilist—Queer Time, Social Refusal, and Heteronormativity in Goncharov's The PrecipiceAni Kokobobo and Devin McFaddenPart Four. Author and Imperialist Abroad: Frigate Pallada“I Avoided the Factual Side . . .”: Fiction and Document in Frigate PalladaAleksei BalakinA Russian Observer Catches the London Eye: Envisioning Imperial Modernity in Goncharov’s Frigate PalladaIngrid KleespiesWho are You Laughing at? Identity, Laughter, and Colonial Discourse in Goncharov’s Frigate PalladaLyudmila PartsWorks CitedIndex
£70.19
Equinox Publishing Ltd Body Talk and Cultural Identity in the African
Book SynopsisThe body is a site bearing multiple signs of cultural inscriptions. People's postures, use of space, dress codes, speech particularities, facial expressions, tone qualities, gaze, and gestures are codes that send messages to observers. These messages differ across cultures and times. Some of these non-verbal messages are taken to be conscious or subconscious projection of a sense of personal or collective identity. The various forms of "body talk" may flag personal distinction, style, uniqueness or politics, in which case, the body and its presentations become stances of the self. Different from this, body talk may exhibit a society's or culture's standardized norms of valuation with respect to what conforms or deviates from expectations.The subject of this anthology is non-verbal communication signals with contributing studies from societies and cultures of Africa and African Diapora. The goals are to document popular gestures, explore their meanings, and understand how they frame interactions and colour perception.The anthology is also aimed at offering interdisciplinary perspectives on the problematics of non-verbal communication by making sense of the various ways that different cultures speak without "voice", and to examine how people and groups make their presence felt as social, cultural and political actors. Some of the contributions include case studies, descriptive codification, theoretical analyses and performative studies. The issues highlighted range from film and literature studies, gender studies, history, religion, popular cultural, and extends to the virtual space. Other studies provide a linguistic treatment of non-verbal communication and use it as means of explicating perception and stereotyping.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Body Talks, Non-verbal communication in some African Societies and Institutions Augustine Agwuele Part One: Body Talk in Arts and Literature 1. What Traditional Dances Tell Us about African Cultural Identity in Puerto Rico and Trinidad" Ann Albuyeh, University of Puerto Rico 2. Fela's Clenched Fists: The Double Black Power Salute and Political Ideology from Afrobeat to Occupy Nigeria" Dotun Oyebade, University of Texas (PhD candidate) 3. Dressed-to-Kill: Don Mattera's Sophiatown Michael Sharp, University of Puerto Rico 4. Body Arts, Body Decoration, and Identity in Yorubaland Bukola Adeyemi Oyeniyi, Missouri State University 5. Bodies in Motion: Gestures and Performance of Identity in Tess Onwueme's Shakara Dance Hall Queen Maureen N. Eke, Central Michigan University Part 2: Non-Verbal communication and Cultural Diversity 6. The convergence of language and culture in Malawian gestures: Handedness in Everyday Rituals Karen W. Sanders, Tulane University 7. Nonverbal communication codes among the Hamar: structures and functions Moges Yigezu, Addis Ababa University 8. So That We Might Find Ourselves: Refashioning Embodied Beauty and Collective Identity in Yoruba Culture Abimbola A. Adelakun, Independent scholar 9. Nonverbal Message: Yoruba view of 'deviant' male hairstyles Augustine Agwuele 10. "Embodying Holiness: Gender, Sex and Bodies in a Neo-Pentecostal Church in Kenya" Damaris Seleina Parsitau, Egerton University
£67.50
Equinox Publishing Ltd Body Talk and Cultural Identity in the African
Book SynopsisThe body is a site bearing multiple signs of cultural inscriptions. People's postures, use of space, dress codes, speech particularities, facial expressions, tone qualities, gaze, and gestures are codes that send messages to observers. These messages differ across cultures and times. Some of these non-verbal messages are taken to be conscious or subconscious projection of a sense of personal or collective identity. The various forms of "body talk" may flag personal distinction, style, uniqueness or politics, in which case, the body and its presentations become stances of the self. Different from this, body talk may exhibit a society's or culture's standardized norms of valuation with respect to what conforms or deviates from expectations.The subject of this anthology is non-verbal communication signals with contributing studies from societies and cultures of Africa and African Diaspora. The goals are to document popular gestures, explore their meanings, and understand how they frame interactions and colour perception.The anthology is also aimed at offering interdisciplinary perspectives on the problematics of non-verbal communication by making sense of the various ways that different cultures speak without "voice", and to examine how people and groups make their presence felt as social, cultural and political actors. Some of the contributions include case studies, descriptive codification, theoretical analyses and performative studies. The issues highlighted range from film and literature studies, gender studies, history, religion, popular cultural, and extends to the virtual space. Other studies provide a linguistic treatment of non-verbal communication and use it as means of explicating perception and stereotyping.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Body Talks, Non-verbal communication in some African Societies and Institutions Augustine Agwuele Part One: Body Talk in Arts and Literature 1. What Traditional Dances Tell Us about African Cultural Identity in Puerto Rico and Trinidad" Ann Albuyeh, University of Puerto Rico 2. Fela's Clenched Fists: The Double Black Power Salute and Political Ideology from Afrobeat to Occupy Nigeria" Dotun Oyebade, University of Texas (PhD candidate) 3. Dressed-to-Kill: Don Mattera's Sophiatown Michael Sharp, University of Puerto Rico 4. Body Arts, Body Decoration, and Identity in Yorubaland Bukola Adeyemi Oyeniyi, Missouri State University 5. Bodies in Motion: Gestures and Performance of Identity in Tess Onwueme's Shakara Dance Hall Queen Maureen N. Eke, Central Michigan University Part 2: Non-Verbal communication and Cultural Diversity 6. The convergence of language and culture in Malawian gestures: Handedness in Everyday Rituals Karen W. Sanders, Tulane University 7. Nonverbal communication codes among the Hamar: structures and functions Moges Yigezu, Addis Ababa University 8. So That We Might Find Ourselves: Refashioning Embodied Beauty and Collective Identity in Yoruba Culture Abimbola A. Adelakun, Independent scholar 9. Nonverbal Message: Yoruba view of 'deviant' male hairstyles Augustine Agwuele 10. "Embodying Holiness: Gender, Sex and Bodies in a Neo-Pentecostal Church in Kenya" Damaris Seleina Parsitau, Egerton University
£23.70
