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Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Essays, journals, letters & other prose works > Classical, early & medieval
"The first taste I had for books came to me from my pleasure in the fables of the Metamorphoses of Ovid. For at about seven or eight years of age I would steal away from any other pleasure to read them, inasmuch as this language was my mother tongue, and it was the easiest book I knew and the best suited by its content to my tender age." -Michel de Montaigne Ars Amatoria; or, The Art of Love (2 AD) is an instructional poem by Ovid. Divided into three books, Ars Amatoria; or, The Art of Love was immensely popular-if a little controversial-in its time, and has survived numerous charges of indecency over the centuries. For the modern reader, it should prove a surprisingly relatable work on intimacy from an author of the ancient world. Although it has been argued that the publication of this work led to Ovid's exile in 8 AD, it remains unlikely that the poet was banished for anything other than political reasons having to do with succession.At times serious, at others humorous, Ars Amatoria; or, The Art of Love uses a mix of down-to-earth examples and relatable references to mythology in order to offer salient advice for the reader longing for love. Far from a valuable artifact of classical literature-which it is, in part-Ovid's work is a wonderfully straightforward textbook on all aspects of human relationships. Topics include etiquette, remembering birthdays, avoiding unhealthy jealousy, being open to older and younger lovers, and nurturing honesty. On sex, Ovid suggests a careful selection of positions according to comfort and physique, ultimately recommending that love-making be done in a way that pleasures all parties involved. Ars Amatoria; or, The Art of Love, although frequently tongue-in-cheek, is an earnest and effective attempt to enlighten and encourage its readers to partake-responsibly-in one of life's greatest pleasures. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Ovid's Ars Amatoria; or, The Art of Love is a classic work of Roman literature reimagined for modern readers.
This unique Festschrift in honor of Professor Kevin J. McKenna on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday is different from most such celebratory essay volumes in that it does not consist of essays from various authors but is rather a collection of fourteen of his most significant publications on proverbial matters from the last two decades. For more than twenty-five years, Professor McKenna has taught Russian language, culture, and literature at the University of Vermont, and during this time, he has gained national and international recognition as an instructor, scholar, and administrator. On the campus of his university, he has been a true champion of international education, and he has been an inspiring and guiding light for many students as they made impressive progress with their Russian studies in Vermont and in Russia. While his numerous cultural, literary, and political studies have brought him much recognition, it is especially his seminal book All the Views Fit to Print: Changing Images of the U.S. in "Pravda" Political Cartoons, 1917-1991 (2001) that continues to be a mainstay today in the study of the relationship of the United States and the Soviet Union during the twentieth century. Of course, Dr. McKenna has also made a name for himself as a proverb scholar in the United States and in Europe with his paremiological publications on the literary, journalistic, and political use of proverbs. The edited essay volume Proverbs in Russian Literature: From Catherine the Great to Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1998) is especially noteworthy. The fourteen essays of this Festschrift are divided into three groups - literature, politics, and pedagogy. The first six essays are dedicated to the literary use and function of proverbs in the works of Catherine the Great, Leo Tolstoy, Boris Pasternak, Vladimir Nabokov, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Sergei Eisenstein. The next five articles deal with the use of proverbs in Pravda headlines, the depiction of the proverb "Big fish eat little fish" in Pravda cartoons, Russian politics in Pravda cartoons, the image of the "Ship of State" in such cartoons, and Vladimir Putin's employment of proverbs. The three essays in the section on pedagogy look at the role of proverbs in the Russian language curriculum, the appearance of proverbs in Russian language textbooks, and the importance of the so-called paremiological minimum, that is, the set of Russian proverbs that are known and used frequently by native speakers and that consequently should also be learned by foreign language students. Together these studies are representative of Kevin J. McKenna's accomplishments as a proverb scholar, and they also present an informed and eminently readable introduction to the rich field of Russian proverbs.
This volume gathers contributions representing the main trends in translation and interpreting studies by authors in the Iberian peninsula, with a focus on the Iberian languages (Basque, Catalan, Portuguese/Galician and Spanish). The essays cover different methodologies and objects of analysis, including traditional textual and historical approaches as well as contemporary methods, such as cultural, sociological, cognitive and gender-oriented perspectives. This seemingly eclectic approach pivots around seven focal points that aim to reflect the most frequent research topics in the Iberian peninsula: (i) theoretical and methodological approaches; (ii) translation and interpreting training; (iii) historical perspectives; (iv) terminology; (v) rapidly evolving fields in the translation and interpreting industry, such as localization and public service interpreting; (vi) translation of literature; and (vii) translation studies journals.
A thrilling retelling of the Star Wars saga in the style of classic epic poetry "I look not to myself but to the Force, In which all things arise and fall away." Journey to a galaxy far, far away like never before-through lyrical verse and meter. Like the tales of Odysseus and Beowulf, the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Jyn Erso, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, and the Emperor are fraught with legendary battles, iconic heroes, fearsome warriors, sleek ships, and dangerous monsters. Beginning with Rogue One's rebel heist on Scarif to secure the plans to the Death Star and continuing through the climax of Return of the Jedi, author Jack Mitchell uses the ancient literary form of epic poetry to put a new spin on the Star Wars saga. Punctuated with stunning illustrations inspired by the terracotta art of Greek antiquity, The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem presents the greatest myth of the 20th century as it would have been told nearly 3,000 years ago.
The teachings of Epicurus-about life and death, religion and science, physical sensation, happiness, morality, and friendship-attracted legions of adherents throughout the ancient Mediterranean world and deeply influenced later European thought. Though Epicurus faced hostile opposition for centuries after his death, he counts among his many admirers Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Jefferson, Karl Marx, and Isaac Newton. This volume includes all of his extant writings-his letters, doctrines, and Vatican sayings-alongside parallel passages from the greatest exponent of his philosophy, Lucretius, extracts from Diogenes Laertius' Life of Epicurus, a lucid introductory essay about Epicurean philosophy, and a foreword by Daniel Klein, author of Travels with Epicurus and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar.
Situated at the confluence of history, media and cultural studies, this book reconstructs the often deeply discordant and highly selective memories of the Holocaust in Italy in the postwar era. The author's core method is one of reception analysis, centred on the public responses to the many films and television programmes that have addressed the Holocaust from the 1940s to the present day. Tied to the heritage of Fascism, antifascism, and the Resistance, public memory of the Holocaust in Italy has changed greatly over the years. Self-acquitting myths of Italian innocence and victimhood, and universalising interpretations grounded in Catholicism and Communism, provided the initial frameworks for understanding the Holocaust. However, the last two decades have seen an increasing centrality of the Holocaust in memory culture but have also witnessed the establishment of a paradigm that relativises other fascist crimes and levels the differences between Fascism and antifascism. Working with the largest corpus yet established of Holocaust film and television in Italy, from the 1948 retelling of the Wandering Jew myth to Roberto Benigni's controversial Life Is Beautiful, from the American miniseries Holocaust to Perlasca: The Courage of a Just Man, Conflicts of Memory probes Italy's ongoing, if incomplete, process of coming to terms with this important aspect of its past.
This book reconsiders the body in literature and makes a case for visual representation as a physical and gesticulative domain for rethinking the constructions of gender, nationalism and sexuality. Examining literary production from the eleventh century until the present, the author argues that the body in contemporary North Africa and Latin America serves as a physical and symbolic terrain upon which sexual, textual, national, racial and linguistic identities are vectored and through which postcolonial and hegemonic antagonisms of power and identity are resolved. Rather than embracing "third world" identity as a residual repository of western thought, colonization and linguistic infusion, the author suggests that the paradigm of cultural identity in the Maghreb and Latin America is best understood through an examination of the emergent corporeal articulations of subjectivity prevalent in these literatures and visual cultures. The text examines the body as a critical landscape through which the various discourses of nationhood, gender and sexuality converge in order to construct a reading of the social that neither amasses subjectivity as singular under the rubric of the "third world", nor couches the other within static notions of gendered, sexual or racial identities.
Ajax is perhaps the earliest of Sophocles' tragedies, yet the issues at its heart remain profoundly resonant today. Set in the Greek encampment during the siege of Troy, it traces not just the story of a respected war hero's mental breakdown but (like Sophocles' Antigone) the treatment of an enemy's remains and the management of his memory. Pitting the fate of the individual against not just his own community but the cosmic world of the divine, it explores questions of loyalty and power, compassion and control, integrity and political expediency - and ultimately what it is to be human. In Antiquity the fate of Ajax fascinated writers and artists alike. Today it has assumed a new importance with Sophocles' play being used to help treat military veterans suffering from PTSD. This collection of 12 essays by leading academics from across the UK, US and Ireland draws together many of the themes explored in Ajax, from how Sophocles exploits audiences' awareness of mythology and visual arts, to questions of politics and religion, staging and characterization, changing perceptions of the heroic, and the therapeutic use to which the play is put today. The essays are accompanied by David Stuttard's introduction and performer-friendly, accurate and easily accessible English translation.
The papers, the appreciation and the poem that are collected in this volume were delivered at the conference, Aesthetics and Politics in Modern German Culture, which was held from 31 August to 2 September 2008 at the University of Wales Conference Centre, Gregynog Hall, in honour of Professor Rhys W. Williams upon his retirement from the Chair of German at Swansea University. The contributions focus on broad themes in modern German culture, all of which reflect Rhys Williams' research interests: Expressionism and Neue Sachlichkeit; Representing/Resisting National Socialism; West German Writing; GDR Spaces and Voices; Exploring Masculinities in Fiction; Performing Politics, Performing Humour; Intertexts and Difference; and Lives and Letters.
This book contrasts the portrayal of kings and kingship in the drama of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and the Spanish playwright Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600-81), concentrating on the ways in which both dramatists use the individual complexities of their kingly characters to address the intellectual and moral dilemmas of the ideological backgrounds that helped to create them. Against the background of seventeenth-century Europe, when religious and political reformation was leading to reconstructions of concepts of authority and personal and national identity, these two dramatists of early modern England and Spain use the increasingly theatrical facades of absolutist power to explore the internal drama of individual psychology and the kinship of flawed humanity.
Fra Francesc Moner (1462/3-1491/2) is a Catalan author, who flourished in Barcelona during the second decade subsequent to the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile in 1469. Moner's extant production amounts to seventy-four pieces, a collection of poems and prose works of various genres, written in Catalan and in Castilian. A comprehensive study that profiles the creativity of a whole career is a rare occurrence for a Hispanic author like Moner, whose lifetime straddles the boundaries between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This book highlights the two main aspects of Fra Francesc's contribution: first, the resourceful bilingualism stemming from Moner's mastery of not only his native Catalan but also Castilian, the language that in the late 1400s kept gaining the ascendancy and prestige of officialdom throughout the Spanish realm; second, the fashioning of an iconic text of subjectivity in the wake of the landmark innovations brought about by Ausias March, the Valencian luminary of the first half of the fifteenth century. Moner develops a love-centered poetics that integrates the distinctive strains of multiple traditions. By probing into Moner's poetics of love and reason, the reader catches a glimpse of an author engaged in intense soul-searching. Moner, in turn, shares with his readers some extraordinary insights into the compelling moments of the human condition - precisely the condition of the human being torn between the allure of the flesh and the aspiration toward the Divine.
Plato challenges his readers by depicting an elderly Socrates as an enthusiastic student of rhetoric who has learned from his teacher Aspasia to recite an inspiring funeral oration, an oration that conspicuously refers to events occurring after the deaths of Socrates and Aspasia, an oration that Aspasia, as a woman and a non-Athenian, was not eligible to deliver over the Athenians who died in war. This commentary, the first in English in over 100 years, assists the modern reader in confronting Plato's challenge. The Introduction sets the dialogue in the context of the traditional Athenian funeral oration and of Plato's ongoing critique of contemporary rhetoric. The Commentary, which is well suited to the needs and interests of intermediate students of Classical Greek, provides guidance on grammatical and historical matters, while allowing the student to appreciate Plato's mastery of Greek prose style and critique of democratic ideology.
Cicero's Brutus and Orator constitute his final major statements on the history of Roman oratory and the nature of the ideal orator. In the Brutus he traces the development of political and judicial speech over the span of 150 years, from the early second century to 46 BCE, when both of these treatises were written. In an immensely detailed account of some 200 speakers from the past he dispenses an expert's praise and criticism, provides an unparalleled resource for the study of Roman rhetoric, and engages delicately with the fraught political circumstances of the day, when the dominance of Julius Caesar was assured and the future of Rome's political institutions was thrown into question. The Orator written several months later, describes the form of oratory that Cicero most admired, even though he insists that neither he nor any other orator has been able to achieve it. At the same time, he defends his views against critics - the so-called Atticists - who found Cicero's style overwrought. In this volume, the first English translation of both works in more than eighty years, Robert Kaster provides faithful and eminently readable renderings, along with a detailed introduction that places the works in their historical and cultural context and explains the key stylistic concepts and terminology that Cicero uses in his analyses. Extensive notes accompany the translations, helping readers at every step contend with unfamiliar names, terms, and concepts from Roman culture and history.
Dependence, Independence, and Death: Toward a Psychobiography of Delmira Agustini depicts the life of Uruguayan poet Delmira Agustini (1886-1914) based on her poems and other writings. These works give evidence of two constructs related to a psychological conflict in her life. The first is a dependence/independence dichotomy, thematized as a polarized love relationship between speaker and Other, who can represent two individuals or dual aspects of the poet's self. The second involves the poet's fascination with death, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when she is murdered by her ex-husband at the age of twenty-seven.
In 13th-century Toledo, King Alfonso the Wise fostered the publication of Castilian translations of certain Arabic works that had in turn been translated from Greek and Pehlvi. In this book, which is the revised English version of the Spanish original published under the title of Modelos griegos de la sabiduria castellana y europea, the author studies four of these Castilian translations - the Libro de los Buenos Proverbios, Poridad de las Poridades or Secreto de secretos, Bocados de Oro and Historia de la Donzella Teodor - works of sapiential literature that had an enorrnous influence in all of Europe. Their Arabic models had been translated from Greek in Bagdad at the instigation of the great caliphs of the 9th century and also in the Fatamid court at Cairo in the 11th century. The traditional view is that this literature is simply of oriental origin, but the author believes that the models were Greek Byzantine works discovered by the Arabs in Syria and Egypt in the 7th and 8th centuries. Their true origin is to be found in the Greek sapiential literature that developed around the figures of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Alexander in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine schools of philosophy; its influence can frequently be found reflected in authors of Christian literature. A detailed study of themes, vocabulary and expressions in the works themselves confirms these origins.
Henning Nolke continue depuis 25 ans a faire d'importantes contributions a l'etude de la langue francaise, surtout dans le domaine de la linguistique enonciative. Les trente-six etudes recueillies ici se concentrent sur un choix de thematiques qui lui sont cheres, a savoir la polyphonie, la difference entre sens asserte et sens " montre ", l'argumentation dans la langue, les connecteurs et les adverbes de phrase, la semantique et la pragmatique textuelle, ainsi que la modularite. L'ouvrage reunit des contributions de specialistes travaillant en Belgique, au Danemark, en France, en Israel, en Norvege, au Royaume-Uni et en Suede, tous collegues, amis et admirateurs (parfois anciens etudiants) de Henning Nolke.
This book breaks new ground in considering the nature and function of anthologies of poetry and short stories in twentieth-century Portugal. It tackles the main theoretical issues, identifies a significant body of critical writing on the relationship between anthologies, literary history and the canon, and proposes an approach that might be designated Descriptive Anthology Studies. The author aims to achieve a full understanding of the role of anthologies in the literary polysystem. Moreover, this study considers anthologies published in Portugal in the early years of the twentieth-century, the influential figures who made them, the works they selected, and who read them. It also focuses on the principal publishing houses of the 1940s and 50s, and how their literary directors shaped public taste and promoted intercultural transfer. The author reveals tensions between conservative, nostalgic anthologies that promote an idyllic vision of rural Portugal, and collections of poems that question and challenge the status quo, whether in respect of the colonial wars or repressed female sexuality. The last part of the book explores anthology production in the period following the Revolution of 1974, observing the co-existence of traditional anthologising activity with new trends and innovations, and noting the role of women, both as anthologists and anthology items.
In the year 62, citing health issues, the Roman philosopher Seneca withdrew from public service and devoted his time to writing. His letters from this period offer a window into his experience as a landowner, a traveler through Roman Italy, and a man coping with the onset of old age. They describe the roar of the arena, the festival of Saturnalia, and the perils of the Adriatic Sea, and they explain his thoughts about political power, the treatment of slaves, the origins of civilization, and the key points of Stoic philosophy. This selection of fifty of his letters brings Seneca to readers in a fresh modern voice and shows how, as a philosopher, he speaks to our time. Above all, these letters explore the inner life of the individual: from the life of heedless vanity to the first interest in philosophy, to true friendship, self-determination, and personal excellence.
This volume reflects the scholarly interests and achievements of Alexander Stephan in whose honor it was conceived. The book presents essays by leading international scholars on the contours of politics and culture in German-American relations as well as broader traditions of cultural mediation. Topics range from current concerns about public policy and cultural diplomacy, Americanization and anti-Americanism to historical considerations of Central European artists and writers who as public intellectuals had significant impact on the politics of culture after World War Two and earlier.
HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. Confessions describes Saint Augustine's conversion to Christianity and is the basis for his reputation as one of Christianity's most influential thinkers.
Issues of language planning and minority nationalism or « micronationalism are becoming increasingly important in a globalized world. Yet minority language planning in Italy and its relation to minority nationalism has so far attracted relatively limited academic attention, despite the particularly interesting changes that have taken place since Law 482 on the protection of minority languages was passed in 1999. This book presents the situation in Italy in three case studies and compares them with similar cases in Spain: Friulian (compared with Galician), Cimbrian (compared with Aranese) and Western Lombard (compared with Asturian). Analysis of these case studies is preceded by a clear and thorough introduction to terminology, legislation in the two countries, nationalism, the discipline of language planning and bilingual education, both in general terms and with specific reference to the Italian and Spanish cases. This first part introduces and defines the crucial distinction between minority and regional languages, between macro and micronationalism, both in their conservative and progressive strands, and between majority and minority language planning, among other things.
The Tale of Princess Fatima - the only Arabic epic named for a woman - recounts the thrilling adventures of a legendary warrior known throughout the Middle East. After being abandoned at birth, Princess Fatima, otherwise known as Dhat al-Himma, must rely on strength and cunning to take her to the head of a powerful army. Bitter tribal warfare, stealthy ambushes and globetrotting pursuits will eventually lead Fatima back to face her father, and to confront another fierce warrior woman in a mighty showdown . . . Published in English for the first time, The Tale of Princess Fatima wonderfully recreates medieval Arabia and introduces a formidable new feminist icon.
Sixty years ago, the University of Chicago Press undertook a momentous project: a new translation of the Greek tragedies that would be the ultimate resource for teachers, students, and readers. They succeeded. Under the expert management of eminent classicists David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, those translations combined accuracy, poetic immediacy, and clarity of presentation to render the surviving masterpieces of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides in an English so lively and compelling that they remain the standard translations. Today, Chicago is taking pains to ensure that our Greek tragedies remain the leading English-language versions throughout the twenty-first century. In this highly anticipated third edition, Mark Griffith and Glenn W. Most have carefully updated the translations to bring them even closer to the ancient Greek while retaining the vibrancy for which our English versions are famous. This edition also includes brand-new translations of Euripides' "Medea", "The Children of Heracles", "Andromache", and "Iphigenia among the Taurians", fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' satyr-drama "The Trackers". New introductions for each play offer essential information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond. In addition, each volume includes an introduction to the life and work of its tragedian, as well as notes addressing textual uncertainties and a glossary of names and places mentioned in the plays. In addition to the new content, the volumes have been reorganized both within and between volumes to reflect the most up-to-date scholarship on the order in which the plays were originally written. The result is a set of handsome paperbacks destined to introduce new generations of readers to these foundational works of Western drama, art, and life. |
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