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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social institutions > Customs & folklore
One of Oprah Magazine's Most Anticipated Books of 2021! 'Genre-bending and darkly comic, Grushin's fourth novel is a weird and wonderful triumph.' And they lived happily ever after . . . didn't they? Cinderella married the man of her dreams - the perfect ending she deserved after diligently following all the fairy-tale rules. Yet now, two children and thirteen-and-a-half years later, things have gone badly wrong. One night, she sneaks out of the palace to get help from the Witch who, for a price, offers love potions to disgruntled housewives. But as the old hag flings the last ingredients into the cauldron, Cinderella doesn't ask for a love spell to win back her Prince Charming. Instead, she wants him dead. Endlessly surprising and wildly inventive, The Charmed Wife is a sophisticated literary fairy tale for the twenty-first century that weaves together time and place, fantasy and reality, to conjure a world unlike any other. Nothing in it is quite what it seems, and the twists and turns of its magical, dark, swiftly shifting paths take us deep into the heart of romance, marriage and the very nature of storytelling. 'Dark and dreamy. Inside the plot, magic comes and goes. But inside the reader, it's all magic - all of us happily caught in Grushin's hypnotic spell.' - Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and The Jane Austen Book Club 'Fall under its charms, I dare you' - Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked
The ancient Greek myth of Prometheus, the primordial Titan who defied the Olympian gods by stealing fire from the heavens as a gift for humanity, enjoyed unprecedented popularity during the Romantic era. An international coterie of writers such as Goethe, Monti, Byron, the Shelleys, Sainte-Helene, Coleridge, Browning, and Bridges engaged with the legend, while composers such as Beethoven, Reichardt, Schubert, Wolf, Liszt, Halevy, Saint-SaA"ns, Holmes, Faure, Parry, Goldmark, and Bargiel based works of diverse genres on the fable. Romantic authors and composers developed a unique perspective on the myth, emphasizing its themes of rebellion, punishment for transgression and creative autonomy, in great contrast to artists of the preceding era, who more characteristically ignored the tribulations of Prometheus and depicted him as the animator of a naA-ve, Arcadian mankind who, when awakened from their spiritual dormancy, expressed astonishment at the wonders of nature and paid homage to the Titan as a new god. Paul Bertagnolli charts the progress of the myth during the nineteenth century, as it articulates an extraordinary variety of issues pertaining to culture, society, aesthetics, and philosophy. Drawing on archival research, dance history, sketch studies, literary theory, linear analysis, topos theory, and reception history, individual chapters demonstrate that the legend served as a vehicle to express opinions on subjects as diverse as aristocratic patronage, movements of the body on the public stage, rebellion against political and religious authority, outright atheism, humanitarianism of the German Enlightenment, interest in the music of Greek antiquity, industrialization, nationalism inflamed by war, populism, and the aesthetics of musical form. Composers often resorted to varied and unorthodox musical techniques in order to reflect such remarkable subjects: Beethoven outraged critics by implying a key other than the tonic at the outset of the overture to
An expose on the fashion industry written by the Observer's 'Ethical Living' columnist, examining the inhumane and environmentally devastating story behind the clothes we so casually buy and wear. Coming at a time when the global financial crisis and contracting of consumer spending is ushering in a new epoch for the fashion industry, To Die For offers a very plausible vision of how green could really be the new black. Taking particular issue with our current mania for both big-name labels and cheap fashion, To Die For sets an agenda for the urgent changes that can and need to be made by both the industry and the consumer. Far from outlining a future of drab, ethical clothing, Lucy Siegle believes that it is indeed possible to be an 'ethical fashionista', simply by being aware of how and where (and by whom) clothing is manufactured. The global banking crisis has put the consumer at a crossroads: when money is tight should we embrace cheap fast fashion to prop up an already engorged wardrobe, or should we reject this as the ultimate false economy and advocate a return to real fashion, bolstered by the principles of individualism and style pedigree? In this impassioned book, Siegle analyses the global epidemic of unsustainable fashion, taking stock of our economic health and moral accountabilities to expose the pitfalls of fast fashion. Refocusing the debate squarely back on the importance of basic consumer rights, Siegle reveals the truth behind cut price, bulk fashion and the importance of your purchasing decisions, advocating the case for a new sustainable design era where we are assured of value for money: ethically, morally and in real terms.
This volume brings together a group of scholars to consider the rituals of eating together in the Byzantine world, the material culture of Byzantine food and wine consumption, and the transport and exchange of agricultural products. The contributors present food in nearly every conceivable guise, ranging from its rhetorical uses - food as a metaphor for redemption; food as politics; eating as a vice, abstinence as a virtue - to more practical applications such as the preparation of food, processing it, preserving it, and selling it abroad. We learn how the Byzantines viewed their diet, and how others - including, surprisingly, the Chinese - viewed it. Some consider the protocols of eating in a monastery, of dining in the palace, or of roughing it on a picnic or military campaign; others examine what serving dishes and utensils were in use in the dining room and how this changed over time. Throughout, the terminology of eating - and especially some of the more problematic terms - is explored. The chapters expand on papers presented at the 37th Annual Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, held at the University of Birmingham under the auspices of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, in honour of Professor A.A.M. Bryer, a fitting tribute for the man who first told the world about Byzantine agricultural implements.
Galliano: Spectacular Fashion is the first detailed guide to the work of one of fashion's greatest talents. Though the designer's otherwise glittering career has been punctured by years out of the limelight, his catalogue of work remains astonishing. Written by internationally renowned fashion expert Kerry Taylor, this beautifully illustrated and meticulously researched book looks in depth at John Galliano's collections from his 1984 graduate show at Saint Martins to his triumphant renaissance at Maison Margiela in 2015. With never-before-seen images of rare designs from private couture archives, close ups revealing the intricacies of garments, and iconic runway shots showing the designer's most innovative creations in motion, this visually rich book examines his revolutionary designs in unprecedented depth. In addition, original interviews with the designer as well as the people who worked closely with him throughout his career shed new light on both the clothes and the context in which they were created. A must-have for fashion lovers, collectors and researchers alike, Galliano: Spectacular Fashion is the ultimate overview of the work of a design genius.
Myth and the Greatest Generation calls into question the glowing paradigm of the World War II generation set up by such books as The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw. Including analysis of news reports, memoirs, novels, films and other cultural artefacts Ken Rose shows the war was much more disruptive to the lives of Americans in the military and on the home front during World War II than is generally acknowledged. Issues of racial, labor unrest, juvenile delinquency, and marital infidelity were rampant, and the black market flourished. This book delves into both personal and national issues, calling into questions the dominant view of World War II as a ~The Good Wara (TM).
Tales of East Africa is a collection of 22 traditional tales from
Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.
In medieval Europe, a new power was rising. A heresy had infiltrated the Catholic-hierarchy beginning a centuries-long campaign to alter the Churchs original teachings. This heresy was a penitent movement, based on a Babylonian cult of the dead. The bizarre public spectacles they displayed -- and still do today in the streets of Europe -- include acts of penance and self-mortification, but there are smokescreens to draw attention from the movements true workings. The authors led a team of researchers tracking this movement from the Middle East to Italy, Germany and France. Eventually, they realized that the mystery of Rennes-le-Chteau, linked with the extraordinary fortune of one Brenger Saunire, was another episode in the long and intriguing tale of this heretical movement. The Rise reveals that within the world of religion there have long been secret battles between the Church hierarchy and various movements that have tried to penetrate and take it oversometimes successfully!
Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, a King sat at a window and sewed. As he sewed and gazed out onto the landscape, he pricked his finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell onto the snow outside . . . People have been telling fairy tales to their children for hundreds of years. And for almost as long, people have been rewriting those fairy tales - to help their children imagine a world where they are the heroes. Karrie and Jon were reading their child these stories when they hit upon a dilemma, something previous versions of these stories were missing, and so they decided to make one vital change.. They haven't rewritten the stories in this book. They haven't reimagined endings, or reinvented characters. What they have done is switch all the genders. It might not sound like that much of a change, but you'll be dazzled by the world this swap creates - and amazed by the new characters you're about to discover.
Whether on top of the Christmas tree, at the bottom of the garden, or in school plays, today fairies are considered sweet, dainty creatures with wands and butterfly wings. But, as Diane Purkiss shows, they have far more wicked origins as troublemakers, child snatchers, seducers, and changelings, representing society's deepest fears and desires regarding birth, sex, and death. From these dangerous beings of ancient myths and medieval folklore to the sanitized "wingy thingies" of Shakespeare and the Victorians, and even modern myths of alien abduction, this is a riveting chronicle of the need to believe in fairies.
Covering a wide range of substances, including opium, cocaine, coffee, tobacco, kola, and betelnut, from prehistory to the present day, this new edition has been extensively updated, with an updated bibliography and two new chapters on cannabis and khat. Consuming Habits is the perfect companion for all those interested in how different cultures have defined drugs across the ages. Psychoactive substances have been central to the formation of civilizations, the definition of cultural identities, and the growth of the world economy. The labelling of these substances as 'legal' or 'illegal' has diverted attention away from understanding their important cultural and historical role. This collection explores the rich analytical category of psychoactive substances from challenging historical and anthropological perspectives.
Have you ever taken a walk in the woods and felt like you were not alone? That's because you weren't Forests, lakes, mountains, caves--even your garden--are alive with the spirits of nature. Faeries are real, and you can learn to commune with a whole world of unseen beings, including elves, devas, and nature spirits. With an open mind and a little patience, you can begin to recognize their presence all around you. This book will help you deepen your connection to the natural world as you explore the magical, mystical world of the faerie folk. --Discover hidden truths in faerie tales and use them as pathways into the faerie realm--Learn the basic habitats, powers and behaviors of faeries, elves, and other nature spirits--Read personal accounts of actual faerie encounters--Invoke fire spirits for traditional psychic readings--Share the magic and knowledge of twenty tree spirits--Find the elementals--gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders--with which you resonate most --Contact water sprites, mermaids and other water spirits--Find wood nymphs and the "lady of the woods"--Draw dragons into your environment with the right fragrances --Attract a faerie godmother into your life Recapture the magic and wonder of a world where trees still speak and every flower tells a story. Explore the faerie realm--a place where faerie tales can and do come true.
A fascinating examination of how Americans think about and write
about witches, from the 'real' witches tried and sometimes executed
in early New England to modern re-imaginings of witches as pagan
priestesses, comic-strip heroines and feminist icons.
A fascinating examination of how Americans think about and write about witches, from the 'real' witches tried and sometimes executed in early New England to modern re-imaginings of witches as pagan priestesses, comic-strip heroines and feminist icons. The first half of the book is a thorough re-reading of the original documents describing witchcraft prosecutions from 1640-1700 and a re-thinking of these sources as far less coherent and trustworthy than most historians have considered them to be. The second half of the book examines how these historical narratives have transformed into myths of witchcraft still current in American society, writing and visual culture. The discussion includes references to everything from Increase Mather and Edgar Allan Poe to Joss Whedon (the writer/director of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which includes a Wiccan character) and The Blair Witch Project.
For centuries fairy tales have been a powerful mode of passing cultural values onto our children, and for many these stories delight and haunt us from cradle to grave. But how have these stories become so powerful and why? In When Dreams Came True, Jack Zipes explains the social life of the fairy tale, from the sixteenth century on into the twenty-first. Whether exploring Charles Perrault or the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen or The Thousand and One Nights, The Happy Prince or Pinocchio, L. Frank Baum or Hermann Hesse, Zipes shows how the authors of our beloved fairy tales used the genre to articulate personal desires, political views, and aesthetic preferences within particular social contexts. Above all, he demonstrates the role that the fairy tale has assumed in the civilizing process-the way it imparts values, norms, and aesthetic taste to children and adults. This second edition of one of Jack Zipes's best-loved books includes a new preface and two new chapters on J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and E.T.A. Hoffman's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
A stunning book on kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with precious metals to highlight its history beautifully. A broken pot is made whole again, and within its golden repair we see a world of meaning. Kintsugi is the art of embracing imperfection. In Western cultures, the aim of repair has been to make the broken item 'as good as new'. Kintsugi on the other hand, is a Japanese art that leaves an obvious repair - one that may appear fragile, but which actually makes the restored ceramic piece stronger, more beautiful, and more valuable than before. Leaving clear, bold, visible lines with the appearance of solid gold, it never hides the story of the object's damage. Kintsugi traces memory, bringing together the moment of destruction and the gold seams of repair through finely-honed skills and painstaking, time-consuming labour in the creation of a new pot from the old. There is a story to be told with every crack, every chip. This story inevitably leads to kintsugi's greatest strength. an intimate metaphoric narrative of loss and recovery, breakage and restoration, tragedy and the ability to overcome it. A kintsugi repair speaks of individuality and uniqueness, fortitude and resilience, and the beauty to be found in survival. Kintsugi leads us to a respectful and appreciative acceptance of hardship and ageing. Author Bonnie Kemske explores kintsugi's metaphorical power as well as exploring the technical and practical aspects of the art, meeting with artists and ceramists in Japan and the US to discuss their personal connection to this intricate technique. With the inclusion of diary entries, personal stories, and in-depth exploration of its origin and symbolism, this book shows kintsugi's metaphoric strength as well as its striking aesthetic, making it a unique and powerful art form that can touch our lives.
For centuries fairy tales have been a powerful mode of passing cultural values onto our children, and for many these stories delight and haunt us from cradle to grave. But how have these stories become so powerful and why? In When Dreams Came True, Jack Zipes explains the social life of the fairy tale, from the sixteenth century on into the twenty-first. Whether exploring Charles Perrault or the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen or The Thousand and One Nights, The Happy Prince or Pinocchio, L. Frank Baum or Hermann Hesse, Zipes shows how the authors of our beloved fairy tales used the genre to articulate personal desires, political views, and aesthetic preferences within particular social contexts. Above all, he demonstrates the role that the fairy tale has assumed in the civilizing processthe way it imparts values, norms, and aesthetic taste to children and adults. This second edition of one of Jack Zipess best-loved books includes a new preface and two new chapters on J.M. Barries Peter Pan and E.T.A. Hoffmans The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
The Welsh Fairy Book is the finest example of Welsh book illustration to have been produced in the ferment of the early twentieth century. Published originally in 1907, the stories collected here were set in prose by the Welsh folklorist W. Jenkyn Thomas, editor of classical texts and of the poetry collection Penillion Telyn (1894), and illustrated by the Hungarian graphic artist Willy Pogany in the art nouveau idiom that was at the height of its popularity in the first decade of the twentieth century. This edition includes an introduction by Juliette Wood, chronicling and contextualising changing attitudes towards the work of folklorists and Welsh folk studies, to present again this important example of illustrated text from Wales
This book, from Europea (TM)s leading Mask director and co-founder of the Trestle Theatre Company, provides a fascinating demystification of the process of using masks. Full of simple explanations, and collating over twenty-five yearsa (TM) experience of writing for, directing and acting in masks, The Mask Handbook examines how masks have the ability to play the fundamental game of theatre a " the suspension of disbelief. The Handbook includes:
This accessible and inspiring handbook will empower teachers, directors and actors to fully explore the world of the mask.
In the ancient myth, Oedipus ceased to be king when he discovered
his crimes. Nonetheless, since the Renaissance, he has ruled the
kingdom of the imagination. The twentieth century begins with the
Oedipus complex in Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams" and the
power of the Oedipus myth continued to manifest itself in an
astonishing range of artistic and intellectual work.
In his latest book, fairy tales expert Jack Zipes explores the question of why some fairy tales "work" and others don't, why the fairy tale is uniquely capable of getting under the skin of culture and staying there. Why, in other words, fairy tales "stick." Long an advocate of the fairy tale as a serious genre with wide social and cultural ramifications, Jack Zipes here makes his strongest case for the idea of the fairy tale not just as a collection of stories for children but a profoundly important genre. Why Fairy Tales Stick contains two chapters on the history and theory of the genre, followed by case studies of famous tales (including Cinderella, Snow White, and Bluebeard), followed by a summary chapter on the problematic nature of traditional storytelling in the twenty-first century.
In his latest book, fairy tales expert Jack Zipes explores the question of why some fairy tales "work" and others don't, why the fairy tale is uniquely capable of getting under the skin of culture and staying there. Why, in other words, fairy tales "stick." Long an advocate of the fairy tale as a serious genre with wide social and cultural ramifications, Jack Zipes here makes his strongest case for the idea of the fairy tale not just as a collection of stories for children but a profoundly important genre. Why Fairy Tales Stick contains two chapters on the history and theory of the genre, followed by case studies of famous tales (including Cinderella, Snow White, and Bluebeard), followed by a summary chapter on the problematic nature of traditional storytelling in the twenty-first century.
The most penetrating study of the curse ever conducted, The Mummy's Curse uncovers forgotten nineteenth-century fiction and poetry, revolutionizes the study of mummy horror films, and reveals the prejudices embedded in children's toys. Examining original surveys and field observations of museum visitors demonstrate that media stereotypes - to which museums inadvertently contribute - promote vilification of mummies, which can invalidate demands for their removal from display. Jasmine Day shows that the curse's structure and meaning has changed over time, as public attitudes toward archaeology and the Middle East were transformed by events such as the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. The riddle of the 'curse of the pharaohs' is finally solved via a radical anthropological treatment of the legend as a cultural concept rather than a physical phenomenon. A must for anyone interested in this ancient and mystifying legend. |
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