Title search results
Showing 1 - 20 of 6464 items
This book analyses the emergence and growth of the creative sector in Naples between the early modern and modern eras,…
focusing particularly on the development of music markets in the city. From the seventeenth century, Naples became one of the most culturally enriched regions in the Italian peninsula, with internationally known music schools, theatres and opera venues attracting visitors from across Europe in a burgeoning tourist market. This book sheds light on the driving economic factors and political contexts behind this key case study for the early growth of the opera and music sector in Europe. Starting with a discussion of the value of economic history to understanding cultural industries, the chapters approach this analysis through multiple lenses: the formation of human capital as the result of Naples’ institutional urban welfare system; the role of cultural consumption as it evolved from a primarily religious activity to growing popular demand; and the rolethat central city authorities played in encouraging cultural activity through private investment and public policy. The book also draws on fascinating archival research to examine the contribution of Naples’ music conservatories in the local creative economy. This book is a valuable resource to a broad range of readers, including those working in economic history, tourism history, the history of music and theatre, Italian social history and more.#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during…
the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis &“One of [Erik Larson&’s] best books yet . . . perfectly timed for the moment.&”—Time • &“A bravura performance by one of America&’s greatest storytellers.&”—NPR NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • Vogue • NPR • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • The Globe & Mail • Fortune • Bloomberg • New York Post • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • LibraryReads • PopMattersOn Winston Churchill&’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end. In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people &“the art of being fearless.&” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it&’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill&’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London&’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents&’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela&’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill&’s &“Secret Circle,&” to whom he turns in the hardest moments. The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today&’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill&’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
By Erik Larson. 2011
Erik Larson, New York Times bestselling author of Devil in the White City, delivers a remarkable story set during Hitler&’s…
rise to power.The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America&’s first ambassador to Hitler&’s Nazi Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the &“New Germany,&” she has one affair after another, including with the suprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance—and ultimately, horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler&’s true character and ruthless ambition. Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Göring and the expectedly charming--yet wholly sinister--Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning, eyewitness perspective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. The result is a dazzling, addictively readable work that speaks volumes about why the world did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler until Berlin, and Europe, were awash in blood and terror.Nap Ministry's Rest Deck: 50 Practices to Resist Grind Culture
By Tricia Hersey. 2023
"This is about more than naps. Rest is anything that allows you to connect your body with your mind."The Nap…
Ministry's Rest Deck is a rousing call to reclaim rest in everyday life. Delivered in a stunning package with gold accents and gorgeous artwork throughout, the deck combines restorative meditations with prescient wisdom from celebrated activist and teaching artist Tricia Hersey, a.k.a. "the Nap Bishop," and founder of the Nap Ministry.Readers will discover 50 inspiring cards, each with an empowering affirmation and a simple practice to encourage rest, rejuvenation, and imagination. Rooted in social justice and imbued with spirituality, these cards offer short, accessible practices designed to uplift anyone suffering from the toxic effects of grind culture.Things to Look Forward To: 52 Large and Small Joys for Today and Every Day
By Sophie Blackall. 2022
Everyone needs things to look forward to: big things and small things, on good days and on bad days, whether…
we actively create delight for ourselves or simply allow it to enter our lives.In these pages, beloved author and illustrator Sophie Blackall has gathered a collection of joys for all of us—reminders that every day the sun comes up and new babies are born. She includes suggestions that you bake muffins for a friend, or draw a face on an egg and put it in the fridge where it will smile at you each time you open the door. With wisdom, whimsy, and compassion, the 52 illustrated ideas in this book offer moments of uplift and serendipity for yourself and your loved ones.A message of hope and solace in hard times and of joyful anticipation at times of new beginnings—whether you're grieving a loss or starting a new chapter—and for all the days in between—Things to Look Forward to is full of gentle reminders of the objects, occasions, gestures, and ideas that warm our hearts. There is always something bright on the horizon, and sometimes that horizon can be a lot closer than we think.BELOVED AUTHOR: Sophie Blackall is a world-renowned, two-time Caldecott award–winning children's book author and illustrator. Whether your kids grew up with Ivy & Bean and If You Come to Earth, or you're discovering Blackall's empathetic voice and gorgeous artwork for the first time, you’re sure to fall in love with her new book for adults and folks of all ages.UPLIFTING AND HOPEFUL: We all need a little reassurance that things will get better—this book offers just that, and so much more. It reminds us that while looking forward is important, sometimes we can take matters into our own hands and create our own joy when we need it most.THE PERFECT GIFT: Not only a promise of solace in tough times, this book is also a celebration of joyful new beginnings—after all, who has more to look forward to than parents of new babies, or recent grads? You'll want to give Things to Look Forward to to the grieving and the embarking alike. Perfect for new moms, new graduates, those going through breakups or suffering a loss, and anyone who could use a little extra joy in life just because. Perfect for:• Those going through hard times and those experiencing joyous life events• Parents (or aunts, uncles, grandparents) who have bought Sophie Blackall's books for their children and fallen in love with her artwork• Shoppers looking for the perfect grad gift or baby shower gift• People looking for a way to express sympathy with someone who is struggling or grievingLove and Justice: A Journey of Empowerment, Activism, and Embracing Black Beauty
By Laetitia Ky. 2022
The deeply personal story of artist, activist, and influencer Laetitia Ky, told through the powerful sculptures she creates with her…
own hair that embrace Black culture and beauty, the fight for social justice, and the journey toward self-love.Laetitia Ky is a one-of-a-kind artist, activist, and creative voice based in Ivory Coast, West Africa. With the help of extensions, wool, wire, and thread, Ky sculpts her hair into unique and compelling art pieces that shine a light on, and ignite conversation around, social justice. Her bold and intimate storytelling, which she openly shares with her extensive social media audience, covers issues like:• Sexism and internalized misogyny• Racial oppression• Reproductive rights and consent• Harmful beauty standards• Shame and its corrosive effect on mental health• And moreLove and Justice is equal parts memoir, artwork, and feminist manifesto. Ky's striking words, combined with 135 remarkable photographs, offer empowerment and inspiration. She emerges from her exploration of justice and equality with a message of self-love, showing readers the path to loving themselves and their bodies, expressing their voices, and feeling more confident.Through this celebration of women's empowerment, Ky extends a generous invitation to love ourselves, embrace our unique beauty, and to work toward a more just world.Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers
By Ellen Lupton, Jennifer Tobias. 2021
Extra Bold is the inclusive, practical, and informative (design) career guide for everyone!Part textbook and part comic book, zine, manifesto,…
survival guide, and self-help manual, Extra Bold is filled with stories and ideas that don't show up in other career books or design overviews.• Both pragmatic and inquisitive, the book explores power structures in the workplace and how to navigate them.• Interviews showcase people at different stages of their careers.• Biographical sketches explore individuals marginalized by sexism, racism, and ableism.• Practical guides cover everything from starting out, to wage gaps, coming out at work, cover letters, mentoring, and more.A new take on the design canon.• Opens with critical essays that rethink design principles and practices through theories of feminism, anti-racism, inclusion, and nonbinary thinking.• Features interviews, essays, typefaces, and projects from dozens of contributors with a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, abilities, gender identities, and positions of economic and social privilege.• Adds new voices to the dominant design canon.Written collaboratively by a diverse team of authors, with original, handcrafted illustrations by Jennifer Tobias that bring warmth, happiness, humor, and narrative depth to the book. Extra Bold is written by Ellen Lupton (Thinking with Type), Farah Kafei, Jennifer Tobias, Josh A. Halstead, Kaleena Sales, Leslie Xia, and Valentina Vergara.A Turtle's Guide to Introversion
By Ton Mak. 2021
A Turtle's Guide to Introversion is a delightful illustrated gift book that celebrates the wonderful qualities of introverts through the…
everyday adventures of a turtle.Being an introvert comes with numerous advantages and the occasional woe, and no animal knows that better than the humble turtle hiding in its shell. This book celebrates introverts and their many wonderful, often-underrated qualities.The story is narrated by a lovable turtle who finds socializing tiring, prefers alone time, and recharges through solitude. Each spread features 2-color illustrations of Turtle navigating life alongside a cast of pudgy animal friends. Self-identified introverts, art and comics enthusiasts will love the spare yet resonant text, adorable narrator, and delightful illustrations. This uplifting novelty book is a cute collectible or a sweet anytime gift for a friend.• BESTSELLING BOOK SERIES: Author Ton Mak delivers all the same ingredients as her bestselling book A Sloth's Guide to Mindfulness with a new (adorable) animal protagonist you'll instantly love.• INTROVERTS DESERVE TO BE CELEBRATED: Introverts are having a moment (separately, each one on their own). People are preferring to stay in rather than go out and this book makes it ok to need some alone time.Perfect for:• Introverts, and Extroverts who are secretly Introverts.• People who like turtles.• Fans of quirky comics in the style of Gemma Correll, Jomny Sun, and Yumi Sakugawa.Simplicity at Home: Japanese Rituals, Recipes, and Arrangements for Thoughtful Living
By Yumiko Sekine. 2021
A gorgeous guide to creating a beautiful, comfortable home based on Japanese traditions from the founder of the beloved lifestyle…
brand Fog Linen Work.For anyone who dreams of a home filled with well-organized closets, eye-catching flower arrangements, perfectly draped blankets, and thoughtfully curated shelves, here is a guide to cultivating an elegant home.Yumiko Sekine, founder of the internationally celebrated lifestyle brand Fog Linen Work, shares lovely rituals and simple techniques based on Japanese traditions, including practices for decorating, organizing, preparing food, and more. From the kitchen to the bedroom and every space in between, here are tips for refreshing a home each season—arranging and displaying fresh flowers in spring, choosing the right sheets and linens for summer, taking warm herbal baths in autumn, and draping blankets and layering rugs to cozy up a space for winter. Brimming with easy-to-follow tips for elevating any space and packed with hundreds of photographs showcasing gorgeous interiors, this book is an invitation to create a home that nourishes, rejuvenates, and inspires—all year long.• CELEBRATED AUTHOR: Yumiko Sekine is the founder of Fog Linen Work, a Japanese home goods brand sold throughout the world and beloved by home cooks, interior decorators, and design enthusiasts. Her products are known for their simplicity, beauty, and ability to elevate any space. In this book, Sekine distills all her secrets to creating a home that exudes simple elegance.• ORGANIZATION MADE EASY: This book gives readers easy, elegant ways to declutter their homes and organize their belongings, whether they live in an apartment or house, and includes simple tips for tidying and curating objects to bring order and simplicity to every room.• JAPANESE TRADITIONS: Yumiko presents Japanese traditions for preparing food, arranging flowers, entertaining, organizing, and more. The combination of ancient practices and modern techniques makes this the perfect companion for anyone curious about Japanese culture and aesthetics.• GIFT WORTHY: Presented in a linen-wrapped case and brimming with hundreds of gorgeous photographs and inspired advice for every home, this book is a perfect addition to any bookshelf and a lovely gift for new homeowners, newlyweds, and fans of organization and interior design.Perfect for:• Interior designers, minimalists, and fans of sustainability• People who are into organizing their space• Fans of Fog Linen WorkGreat Sex Starts at 50: Age-Proof Your Libido & Transform Your Sex Life
By Tracey Cox. 2021
"Hoping to keep having great sex for the rest of your life? Be sure to keep this book next to…
your bed." —Stephen Snyder, MDIt's time to discover that the sex you have later in life can be far superior.Reassuring, honest, funny, and most of all empowering, Great Sex Starts at 50 is the must-have sex and relationships book for men and women hitting half a century with little sign of slowing down. There's no denying that something happens to us sexually at 50. From menopause to the mixed blessing of Viagra to other challenges that go beyond the physical: How do you ignite desire after decades with the same person?Thankfully, information and enthusiasm can help you reclaim a robust sex life—and greater health, as a result. In this easy-to-follow guide, Tracey Cox uses a blend of research, case studies, practical techniques, and personal anecdotes to show you how to arouse yourself and your partner, regain your passion, navigate relationship issues, and create the perfect conditions for sex. Tracey's authentic, trustworthy, and relatable approach will give you everything you need to do it!The perfect book for:• The growing demographic of Gen X and Boomers who want to live well and are leading a new dating and sexual revolution for the over-50s• Fans of Hot Sex: How to Do It• Milestone birthday gift seekers (40th, 50th)• Premenopausal, perimenopausal, and menopausal women looking for a sexual health resource• Medical professionalsCreate Your Own Midlife Crisis: The Best Way to Make the Worst Decisions
By Marie Phillips. 2021
Create Your Own Midlife Crisis is a fun and humorous choose-your-own-path book on making risqué and bold choices in the…
prime of midlife, giving you the chance to try countless roads not yet taken.What's the worst that could happen?Are you on the far side of forty and wondering how you ended up here? Do you secretly wish you could set flame to everything and walk away in slow motion, leave your tedious responsibilities and boring routines behind, and start life over again?What if you could?In the classic choose-your-own-path style, gives you unlimited chances to try all the roads not taken:To quit your stupid job, turn to page 108.To buy a motorcycle, turn to page 74.To agree to a swingers' night, turn to page 82.To go clubbing with your mom, turn to page 68.Whether it's an affair with a younger man, trying ayahuasca, or just telling your boss to shove it, Create Your Own Midlife Crisis delivers over 150 exciting and hilarious ways to reinvent your life.With illustrations and endless possibilities, this fun and affordable book is the PERFECT GIRLFRIEND's GIFT! It will make a hilarious birthday, retirement, Galentine's, or girlfriend's gift for anyone in their midlife years.• What to gift a girlfriend going through a divorce? Divorce can be difficult and painful, but these days, women are also making it fun and empowering—as evidenced in The Huffington Post's piece, "Divorce Parties: Inside the Trend That Makes Ending a Marriage Look Fun." Create Your Own Midlife Crisis is the perfect gag gift for such an event.• A fun, easy escape from daily life: Whether you're looking for a fun way to pass the time on a 10-hour flight or just a quick 15-minute read before bed (because you are a busy Bosslady), this book is both easy to dip into and fun to get lost in.• Missing Choose-your-own-path books? Create Your Own Midlife Crisis will appeal to anyone who grew up reading choose-your-own-adventure books and loves the interactive experience of making reckless choices and discovering unexpected paths while reading.The Routledge Companion to Theatre-Fiction (Routledge Literature Handbooks)
By Graham Wolfe. 2023
Novelists have long been attracted to theatre. Some have pursued success on the stage, but many have sought to combine…
these worlds, entering theatre through their fiction, setting stages on their novels’ pages, and casting actors, directors, and playwrights as their protagonists. The Routledge Companion to Theatre-Fiction has convened an international community of scholars to explore the remarkable array of novelists from many eras and parts of the world who have created fiction from the stuff of theatre, asking what happens to theatre on the pages of novels, and what happens to novels when they collaborate with theatre. From J. W. Goethe to Louisa May Alcott, Mikhail Bulgakov, Virginia Woolf, and Margaret Atwood, some of history’s most influential novelists have written theatre-fiction, and this Companion discusses many of these figures from new angles. But it also spotlights writers who have received less critical attention, such as Dorothy Leighton, Agustín de Rojas Villandrando, Ronald Firbank, Syed Mustafa Siraj, Li Yu, and Vicente Blasco Ibañez, bringing their work into conversation with a vital field. A valuable resource for students, scholars, and admirers of both theatre and novels, The Routledge Companion to Theatre-Fiction offers a wealth of new perspectives on topics of increasing critical concern, including intermediality, theatricality, antitheatricality, mimesis, diegesis, and performativity.Rehumanizing Muslim Subjectivities: Postcolonial Geographies, Postcolonial Ethics is a timely and urgent monograph, allowing us to imagine what it feels…
like to be the victim of genocide, abuse, dehumanization, torture and violence, something which many Muslims in Palestine, Kashmir, Pakistan, Myanmar, Syria, Iraq and China have to endure. Most importantly, the book emphasizes the continued relevance of creative literature’s potential to intervene in and transform our understanding of a conceptual and political field, as well as advanced technologies of power and domination. The book makes a substantial theoretical contribution by drawing on wide-ranging angles and dimensions of contemporary drone warfare and its related catastrophes, postcolonial ethics in relation to the thanatopolitics of slow violence, dehumanization and the politics of death. Against the backdrop of such institutionalized and diverse acts of violence committed against Muslim communities, I call the postcolonial Muslim world ‘geographies of dehumanization’. The book investigates how ongoing legacies of contemporary forms of injustice and denial of subjecthood are represented, staged and challenged in a range of postcolonial anglophone Muslim texts, thereby questioning the idea of postcolonial ethics. One of the selling points of this book is the chapters on fictional representations by Muslim Myanmar and Uyghur writers as, to the best of my knowledge, no critical work or single authored book is available on Myanmar and Uyghur literature to date.This book examines the writings of seven English women economists from the period 1735–1811. It reveals that contrary to what…
standard accounts of the history of economic thought suggest, eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century women intellectuals were undertaking incisive and gender-sensitive analyses of the economy.Women’s Economic Thought in the Romantic Age argues that established notions of what constitutes economic enquiry, topics, and genres of writing have for centuries marginalised the perspectives and experiences of women and obscured the knowledge they recorded in novels, memoirs, or pamphlets. This has led to an underrepresentation of women in the canon of economic theory. Using insights from literary studies, cultural studies, gender studies, and feminist economics, the book develops a transdisciplinary methodology that redresses this imbalance and problematises the distinction between literary and economic texts. In its in-depth readings of selected writings by Sarah Chapone, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Hays, Mary Robinson, Priscilla Wakefield, Mary Ann Radcliffe, and Jane Austen, this book uncovers the originality and topicality of their insights on the economics of marriage, women and paid work, and moral economics.Combining historical analysis with conceptual revision, Women’s Economic Thought in the Romantic Age retrieves women’s overlooked intellectual contributions and radically breaks down the barriers between literature and economics. It will be of interest to researchers and students from across the humanities and social sciences, in particular the history of economic thought, English literary and cultural studies, gender studies, economics, eighteenth-century and Romantic studies, social history, and the history of ideas.The Church As A Culture Of Care: Finding Hope In Biblical Community
By T. Dale Johnson. 2021
We all know people in our world are struggling--eating disorders, addictions, depression, sexual issues, marital problems--the list goes on and…
on. Can the church help or is that an outdated concept that no longer fits modern problems? In The Church as a Culture of Care, biblical counselor Dale Johnson explains that the church is still the primary place where those who struggle can receive lasting hope and healing. Pastors and lay leaders in the church often feel inadequate to address certain needs and are unsure of how to help. This book is designed to help erase the stigma of "mental health issues" in the church and to present the church as the primary haven for answers to deep-seated human problems. Readers will learn that God has designed every function of the church to be an integral part of soul care. God has provided the church with the necessary us to care well for one another. Prayer, the Word, the work of the Holy Spirit, and Christian community are God's provisions to lead all of us to Christ--even those with the deepest struggles. Counselors, ministers, and lay leaders will be empowered to have confidence in God's purpose for the church, the power of his Spirit, and the sufficiency of his Word for soul care.Gallus Dressler's Praecepta musicae poeticae (Studies in the History of Music Theory and Literature)
By Gallus Dressler. 2007
Now available for the first time in English translation, this new edition of Gallus Dressler's Praecepta musicae poeticae corrects and…
expands upon earlier editions of one of the most important sixteenth-century treatments of musical theory and rhetoric. Robert Forgács’ detailed study of the Latin text reveals significant and original insights into the invention of fugues and the composition of opening, middle, and concluding sections. Forgács introduces the reader to Dressler's life and work and the design and sources of Praecepta musicae poeticae, places the treatise more fully in its humanist environment, presents additional classical sources for the text, and relates it to the work of Dressler’s contemporary music theorists. Copious annotations and indexes of words, names, and subjects place the treatise within the broader context of German theoretical discussion, the teaching and practice of music in the sixteenth century, and the musical life of the Lutheran Church.The Writings of Padraic Colum: ‘That Queer Thing, Genius’ (Routledge Studies in Irish Literature)
By Pádraic Whyte, Keith O’Sullivan. 2024
This co-edited collection breaks new ground by bringing together several leading scholars to explore the substantial body of work produced…
by Padraic Colum (1881–1972) who was a poet, a novelist, a dramatist, a biographer, a writer of fiction for adults and children, and a collector of folklore. The awards, honours, and distinction conferred upon him and his work throughout his life and career, as well as retrospectively, give an indication of the significant and wide-ranging appeal and influence of Colum not only as an Irish writer and storyteller but also as a literary figure entrusted with the myths and legends of other cultures and nations. Despite such achievements, he has received comparatively little critical or scholarly attention to date. This volume showcases the richness of Colum’s work by subjecting it to a rigorous literary and theoretical examination and is the first combined and detailed analysis of both his children’s and adult texts.Old Age in European Society: The Case of France (Routledge Library Editions: Aging)
By Peter N. Stearns. 1977
Originally published in 1977, Old Age in European Society provides an historical perspective on aging, a process which had received…
little attention from any group in the social sciences and virtually none from historians at the time. Starting from the premise that ‘the elderly can and should be active, participant members of their society’ the book examines the ways in which old people were and are viewed by certain key groups. This is done in a series of thematic essays linked by the main theme of a dominant culture in which the elderly and the groups who deal with them were and still are ensnared. This dominant culture is one of denigration of the elderly: the traditional idea of veneration of the elderly is found to be largely mythical. Variations on this theme are dealt with in individual chapters concerned with the elderly in French working-class culture and geriatric medicine. Key groups are studied with an eye to distinct patterns of modernization, which involves particular attention to the working class and middle class as those exposed to the leading edge of change. Women are treated separately, as their aging process involves distinctive elements, which exacerbate the problems of old age. France, with its exceptional percentage of elderly and its low retirement ages, provides much of the material for these essays, the main purpose of which is to indicate those topics for which an historical treatment is vital to our understanding of the elderly and to the formulation of a more positive approach to old age.Rene Girard, Law, Literature, and Cinema: The Legal Drama of the Scapegoat
By Eric M. Wilson. 2024
This book is the first monograph to critically evaluate the work of the literary scholar René Girard from the perspectives…
of Law and Literature and Law and Film Studies, two of the most multidisciplinary branches of critical legal theory. The central thesis is that Girard’s theory of the scapegoat mechanism provides a wholly new and original means of re-conceptualizing the nature of judicial modernity, which is the belief that modern Law constitutes an internally coherent and exclusively secular form of rationality. The book argues that it is the archaic scapegoat mechanism – the reconciliation of the community through the direction of unified violence against a single victim – that actually works best in explaining all of the outstanding issues of Law and Literature in both of its sub-forms: law-as-literature (the analysis of legal language and practice exemplified by literacy texts) and law-in-literature (the exploration of issues in legaltheory through the fictitious form of the novel). The book will provide readers with: (i) a useful introduction to the most important elements of the work of René Girard; (ii) a greater awareness of the ‘hidden’ nature of legal culture and reasoning within a post-secular age; and (iii) a new understanding of the ‘subversive’ (or ‘enlightening‘) nature of some of the most iconic works on Law in both Literature and Cinema, media which by their nature allow for the expression of truths repressed by formal legal discourse.John Donne's Physics
By Elizabeth D. Harvey, Timothy M. Harrison. 2024
A reimagining of Devotions upon Emergent Occasions as an original treatment of human life shaped by innovations in seventeenth-century science…
and medicine. In 1624, poet and preacher John Donne published Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, a book that recorded his near-death experience during a deadly epidemic in London. Four hundred years later, in the aftermath of our own pandemic, Harvey and Harrison show how Devotions crystalizes the power, beauty, and enduring strangeness of Donne’s thinking. Arguing that Donne saw human life in light of emergent ideas in the study of nature (physics) and the study of the body (physick), John Donne’s Physics reveals Devotions as a culminating achievement, a radically new literary form that uses poetic techniques to depict Donne’s encounter with death in a world transformed by new discoveries and knowledge systems.