Search results for ""Author Chris Clarke""

'A splendid critique' James O'Brien, Times Literary Supplement'Richly nuanced, the most stimulating book I have read on Labour in ages' Martin Kettle, Guardian'A brilliant book ... a reading of left-wing politics that suggests a road ahead' Independent A 'dark knight' conflict between good and evil; control by elite puppet masters; nostalgia for a golden age: these are the core myths of populism. And these narratives, argues Chris Clarke, have seduced the Left in Britain, causing bitter division and electoral disaster. Only by breaking this narrative spell and moving towards pluralism can Labour hope to fix itself - and to one day hold power again.Previously published by Rowman & Littlefield and Policy Network under the title Warring Fictions

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"Weaving the Cosmos" traces humanity's journey from the mythical origins of religion, through the struggles to make sense of Christianity in the fourth century, and the strangely similar struggles to make sense of quantum theory in the twentieth century, to modern quantum cosmology. What we see, both in the human mind and in the cosmos which has given birth to that mind, is a dance between rational Form and intuitive Being. This present moment of ecological crisis opens to us a unique opportunity for bringing together these two strands of our existence, represented by religion and science. As the story unfolds, the historical account is interwoven with the author's own experiences of learning the principles through which we can bring about this integration in ourselves and in society. The final chapter surveys the many changes now emerging in society which give us hope that a transformation can be achieved from our dysfunctional past to a future in which we can be truly human, in harmony with the earth.

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“The art of the biographer consists specifically in choice. He is not meant to worry about speaking truth; he must create human characteristics amidst the chaos.”—Marcel Schwob Imaginary Lives remains, over 120 years since its original publication in French, one of the secret keys to modern literature: under-recognized, yet a decisive influence on such writers as Apollinaire, Borges, Jarry and Artaud, and more contemporary authors such as Roberto Bolaño and Jean Echenoz. Drawing from historical influences such as Plutarch and Diogenes Laërtius, and authors more contemporary to him such as Thomas De Quincey and Walter Pater, Schwob established the genre of fictional biography with this collection: a form of narrative that championed the specificity of the individual over the generality of history, and the memorable detail of a vice over the forgettable banality of a virtue. These 22 portraits present figures drawn from the margins of history, from Empedocles the “Supposed God” and Clodia the “Licentious Matron” to the pirate Captain Kidd and the Scottish murderers Messrs. Burke and Hare. In his quest for unique lives, Schwob also formulated an early conception of the anti-hero, and discarded historical figures in favor of their shadows. These “imaginary lives” thus acquaint us with the “Hateful Poet” Cecco Angiolieri instead of his lifelong rival, Dante Alighieri; the would-be romantic pirate Major Stede Bonnet instead of the infamous Blackbeard who would lead him to the gallows; the false confessor Nicolas Loyseleur rather than Joan of Arc whom he cruelly deceived; or the actor Gabriel Spenser in place of the better-remembered Ben Jonson who ran a sword through his lung. Marcel Schwob (1867–1905) was a scholar of startling breadth and an incomparable storyteller. The secret influence on generations of writers, Schwob was as versed in the street slang of medieval thieves as he was in the poetry of Walt Whitman (whom he translated into French).

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Mademoiselle Bambù is Pierre Mac Orlan’s take on the spy novel, written and expanded between 1932 and 1966. Set in Hamburg, London, Palermo, Brest and other ports of call in the anxious Europe of the 1920s and 1930s, Mademoiselle Bambù tells the tales of three secret agents: the melancholic adventurer and accidental spy, Captain Hartmann; his enigmatic mistress from Naples (and a double agent for the Germans), Signorina Bambù; and the sinister Père Barbançon, who retires from his life of espionage and murder to eke out his troubled days in an aptly named “Boarding House of Usher,” where shadows are as likely to strangle a man as they are to haunt him. Like all of Mac Orlan’s novels, Mademoiselle Bambù is less a novel than a barometer of societal unease, crippling melancholy and dark humor. Pierre Mac Orlan (1882–1970) was a prolific writer of absurdist tales, adventure novels, flagellation erotica and essays, as well as the composer of a trove of songs made famous by the likes of Juliette Gréco. A member of both the Académie Goncourt and the Collège de ’Pataphysique, Mac Orlan was admired by everyone from Raymond Queneau and Boris Vian to André Malraux and Guy Debord.

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How can positive psychology approaches help us to understand the process of adjustment to, and living well with dementia?As accounts of positive experiences in dementia are increasingly emerging, this book reviews current evidence and explores how psychological constructs such as hope, humour, creativity, spirituality, wisdom, resilience and personal growth may be linked with wellbeing and quality of life in dementia. Expert contributors from a range of academic and clinical backgrounds examine the application of positive psychological concepts to dementia and dementia care practice. The lived experiences of people with dementia are central to the book, and their voices bring life to the ideas explored, highlighting how positive experiences in dementia and dementia care are possible.

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