Search results for ""author john edmondson""

"Charles Dickens, Francais naturalise, et Citoyen de Paris." This is how Dickens signed a letter from France to his friend John Forster in 1847. Behind the joke lay a fascination for French life and culture and a sense of affinity with the country that would take him back often and that would find expression in some of his finest work. "Dickens on France" brings together short stories, extracts from novels and travel writing. Among its journalistic highlights, are accounts of a train journey from London to Paris, a rough Channel crossing, the pleasures of Boulogne, and Parisian life in the 1850s and 1860s. Extracts from the travelogue Pictures from Italy, take us by coach from Paris to Marseille. The selected short stories include "His Boots", a section of "Mrs Lirriper's Legacy" and "The Boy at Mugby", and there are extracts from "A Tale of Two Cities", "Little Dorrit", "Dombey and Son", "Nicholas Nickleby", and "Our Mutual Friend". Dickens was interested primarily in the character of places he visited, the behaviour of people he observed in them, and in the sensation and psychology of travelling. These preoccupations keep the writing fresh and accessible. It requires no leap through time to appreciate his musings on his fellow passengers, his reflections on sitting in a Paris cafe, his random exploration of city streets or small country towns, or his opposition to cultural bigotry. Infused with energy, perception and open-mindedness, this collection vividly evokes life in France and Britain in the nineteenth century and reminds us, however much progress we make, how little we change. "Dickens on France" is extensively annotated to provide historical and autobiographical contexts, and to highlight literary and other allusions. Brief chapter introductions and a general introduction to the volume, highlight key aspects of the selections and discuss the nature of Dickens's enduring relationship with France.

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We live in the Age of Knowledge but we are heading towards the Age of Imagination. However, our current education systems still divide arts and business, juxtaposing them as different worlds, apparently ignoring the essential truth that imagination is the springboard of innovation. For business to continue to evolve, the barriers to creativity and innovation must be lowered. In Innovation and the Arts: The Value of Humanities Studies for Business, editors Piero Formica and John Edmondson bring together a cast of expert contributors to explore how arts education can transform future business and social endeavours by developing empathy and enhancing skills frequently identified as lacking in graduates entering the workplace. Looking at arts and humanities across the broad spectrum of business and social innovation, and in the context of business education, examples of entrepreneurial and innovative developments, and the nature of the innovative mind, the contributors show how underdeveloped empathy and creativity constrain innovation. Art is disruptive, and innovation requires disruption to thrive. By dwelling on the need for the convergence of business, innovation and the arts, Innovation and the Arts highlights the inestimable value of lowering the psychological, organizational and institutional barriers that keep them apart. For educators and practitioners, this is an in-depth discussion designed to stimulate awareness of the issues facing business education.

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