An illustrated selection of Van Gogh’s letters, forming an extraordinary window into the life and creative thinking of one of the world’s most iconic artists. Vincent van Gogh’s letters have long been prized as some of the most valuable documents in the world of art. Not only do they throw light on Van Gogh’s own complex and intriguing character, they enlighten the whole creative process as seen through his eyes. Here we can observe Van Gogh’s thoughts and opinions at first hand, as well as his close ties with his brother Theo, his sometimes troubled relationships with friends and fellow artists, his personal doubts and fears, and above all his overriding passion for his art. This is not only an immense treasure trove of biographical and art-historical information, it provides a lasting pleasure as a personal written testimony to a life consecrated to art. Vincent van Gogh: A Life in Letters belongs on the shelves of every reader in search of self-revelatory documents of one of the greatest creative minds.

An authoritative new publication that revisits Munch’s work in its entirety. Edvard Munch occupies a pivotal place in artistic modernity. His work is permeated by a singular vision of the world, with a powerful symbolist dimension that goes beyond the masterpieces he created in the 1890s, and which gives his art a great coherence. For Munch, humanity and nature were united in the cycle of life, death and rebirth, which is reflected in the unending recurrence of certain motifs and colour combinations in his work. He wrote: ‘These paintings, which are, admittedly, relatively difficult to understand, will be […] easier to grasp if they are integrated into a whole.’ Published to accompany the major exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay, Edvard Munch: A Poem of Life, Love and Death presents about a hundred works – paintings, drawings, prints and engraved blocks – reflecting the diversity of Munch’s practice. Seven essays explore the artist in his philosophical and scientific milieu and the places that shaped the man and his art, as well as offering a rare glimpse of Munch’s attempts at creative writing. They also examine the historical evolution of his monumental Frieze of Life series and the world-famous Scream. This publication invites readers to revisit the painter’s work in its entirety by following the thread of an ever-inventive pictorial thinking: a vision that is both fundamentally coherent, even obsessive, and at the same time constantly renewed.

A DECK OF 52 WILD PLANT CARDS with remedies and recipes to soothe and treat the emotional and physical body BEAUTIFUL BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATIONS by Raxenne Maniquiz will help you to identify the plants, and enable you to channel their energies ALCHEMY MEETS ASTROLOGY - the ancient practices of alchemy, astrology and wildcrafting combined USE THE DECK FOR SELF-EXPLORATION with meditation ideas and oracle spreads to help you connect with nature and yourself DISCOVER MORE about the practice of alchemy and astrology in the accompanying booklet Wild Alchemy Lab is a beautiful gift for lovers of a spiritual way of living, in harmony with the natural world. Each of the 52 cards in the deck features a wild plant, beautifully illustrated, accompanied by its astrological correspondences. The back of the card features a brief description of the plant, some context from history and mythology, and a recipe for a medicinal or culinary use of the plant. The accompanying booklet gives the history of alchemical practices and offers information about when and where to forage, some tips for preparing the plants and some other ways you can use the cards.

Thomas Hardy and the Folk Horror Tradition takes the uncanny and unsettling fiction of Thomas Hardy as fundamental in examining the lineage of ‘Hardyan Folk Horror’. Hardy’s novels and his short fiction often delve into a world of folklore and what was, for Hardy the recent past. Hardy’s Wessex plays out tensions between the rational and irrational, the pagan and the Christian, the past and the 'enlightened' future. Examining these tensions in Hardy's life and his work provides a foundation for exploring the themes that develop in the latter half of the 20th century and again in the 21st century into a definable genre, folk horror. This study analyses the subduing function of heritage drama via analysis of adaptations of Hardy's work to this financially lucrative film market. This is a market in which the inclusion of the weird and the eerie does not fit with the construction of a past and their function in creating a nostalgia of a safe and idyllic picture of England’s rural past. However, there are some lesser-known adaptations from the 1970s that sit alongside the unholy trinity of folk horror: the adaptation for television of the Wessex Tales. From a consideration of the epistemological fissure that characterize Hardy’s world, the book draws parallels between then and now and the manifestation of writing on conceptual borders. Through this comparative analysis, Thomas Hardy and the Folk Horror Tradition posits that we currently exist on a moment of fracture, when tradition sits as a seductive threat.

Hoewel hy algemeen bekend is as die Afrikaner-Kommunis wat vir Nelson Mandela van die galg gered het, is bitter min bekend oor Bram Fischer die man. Fischer was 'n gerespekteerde senior advokaat by die Johannesburgse Balie, wat gekies het om hom by die onderdruktes te skaar en wat ondergronds gegaan het om by die gewapende stryd aan te sluit. Hy is op 5 November 1965 in hegtenis geneem nadat hy vir bykans tien maande op vlug was. “Ek is dit verskuldig aan politieke gevangenes, aan die uitgewekenes, aan dié wat stilgemaak is en diegene onder huisarres om nie 'n toeskouer te bly nie, maar op te tree.� Ná Bram Fischer dié woorde uit sy verklaring voorgelees het, wat hy in die beskuldigdebank tydens sy hoogverraadverhoor gelewer het, is hy lewenslange tronkstraf opgelê. Fischer was onwrikbaar verbind tot die droom van ’n nie-rassige demokrasie, maar ook ’n humoristiese, opgewekte mens en ’n toegewyde gesinsman vir sy vrou en kinders. Die vele fasette van die merkwaardige man word weerspieel in Die Bram Fischer Wals, Harry Kalmer se liriese huldeblyk. Die bondige, maar kragtige solostuk, met die protagonis as die verteller, neem die gehoor op 'n emosionele reis soos Fischer se verhaal ontvou. Die opvoering het in 2013 'n silwer Standard Bank Ovation-prys gewen met die premiere van die Engelse weergawe by die Nasionale Kunstefees in Grahamstad. Dit is in 2014 bekroon met die Adelaide Tambo-prys vir menseregte in die kunste. Die teks word aangevul met 'n voorwoord deur adv. George Bizos, 'n inleiding deur die dramaturg waarin hy vertel oor die pad wat daartoe gelei het dat hy die drama geskryf het en 'n nawoord deur Yvonne Malan, getiteld “Die krag van morele moed�.

Take a seat at the Christmas table of Downton Abbey, the historic British estate at the heart of the popular ITV series. Downton fans will appreciate this enticing collection of classic British holiday recipes from the Edwardian era, evocative narratives about Christmas traditions, and seasonal anecdotes from the award-winning series. Colorful photographs of finished dishes, fan-favorite moments from the Christmas episodes, and excerpts of character quotes bring the spirit of the holidays to life.

As television grew more enticing for both viewers and filmmakers in the 1950s, several independent film producers with knowledge of making low-cost films and radio shows transferred their skills to producing shows for the small screen. Rather than funding live programs that were popular at the time, these producers saw the value in pre-taped shows, which created large financial returns through episode reruns. This low-cost, high-yield production model resulted in what are known and beloved as "B" television shows. Part historical account and part filmography, this book documents the careers of over a dozen "B" television producers. It chronicles the rise of situation comedies and crime dramas and explores the minds behind popular shows like My Little Margie, The Lone Ranger, Lassie, Highway Patrol and Sea Hunt. Divided into 14 chapters of producer profiles, this work is rich in both trivia and critical assessments of the first years of television. A chapter detailing the work of early female television producers rounds out the text.

In 1982’s ground-breaking science-fiction film Blade Runner, the world saw a vision of the future so bold and breath-taking it remains at the forefront of pop culture. Thirty-five years later, many of the world-renowned original cast and crew made a thrilling return to that world. Their journey is chronicled with captivating detail in this official visual guide to Blade Runner 2049, presented in an oversized and luxe full-colour format. The author documented the film’s production for two years, with unprecedented access to the creative process that brought this epic film to life. Exclusive concept art, storyboards, behind-the-scenes photography, and production stills are accompanied by fascinating insights and interviews by the cast and crew. The Art and Soul of Blade Runner 2049 – Revised and Expanded Edition updates the original version of the book by adding 20 pages of new content, featuring new interviews with cast and crew covering the movie’s spoiler scenes.

Since late evening cartoons first aired in 1960, prime-time animated series have had a profound effect on American television and American culture at large. The characters and motifs from such shows as The Flintstones and The Simpsons are among the best known images in world popular culture; and tellingly, even series that have not done well in prime time--series like The Jetsons, for instance--have yielded similarly iconic images. The advent of cable and several new channels devoted exclusively to animated programming have brought old series back to life in syndication, while also providing new markets for additional, often more experimental animated series. Even on the conventional networks, programs such as The Flintstones and The Simpsons, not to mention Family Guy and King of the Hill, have consistently shown a smartness and a satirical punch that goes well beyond the norm in network programming. Drawn to Television traces the history of prime-time animation from The Flintstones' initial extension of Saturday mornings to Family Guy and South Park's late-night appeal in the 21st century. In the process, it sheds a surprising light on just how much the kid inside us all still has to say. Drawn to Television describes the content and style of all the major prime-time animated series, while also placing these series within their political and cultural contexts. It also tackles a number of important questions about animated programming, such as: how animated series differ from conventional series; why animated programming tends to be so effective as a vehicle for social and political satire; what makes animated characters so readily convertible into icons; and what the likely effects ofnew technologies (such as digital animation) will be on this genre in the future.

This book gives new insight into acting and theatre-making through phenomenology (the study of how the world shows itself to conscious experience). It examines Being-in-the-world in everyday life with exercises for workshops and rehearsal. Each chapter explores themes to guide the creative process through objects, bodies, spaces, being with others, time, history, freedom and authenticity. Key examples in the work are drawn from Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, Sophocles’ Antigone and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Practical tasks in each section explore how the theatrical event can offer unique insight into Being and existence. In this way, the book makes a bold leap to understand acting as an embodied form of philosophy and to explain how phenomenology can be a rich source of inspiration for actors, directors, designers and the creative process of theatre-making. This original new book will provide new insight into the practice and theory of acting, stimulate new approaches to rehearsal and advance the notion of theatre making a genuine contribution to philosophical discourse. The fundamental task of the actor is to be on stage with purposeful action in the given circumstances. But this simple act of ‘Being’ is not easy. Phenomenology can provide valuable insight into the challenge. For some time, scholars have looked to phenomenology to describe and analyse the theatrical event. But more than simply drawing attention to embodiment and the subjective experience of the world, a philosophical perspective can also shed light on broader existential issues of being. No specialist knowledge of philosophy is required for the reader to find this text engaging and it will be relevant for second-year students and above at tertiary level. For postgraduates and researchers, the book will provide a valuable touchstone for phenomenology and performance as research. The book will appeal to theatre and performance studies, and some applied philosophy courses. The material is also relevant to studies in literary and critical theory, cultural studies and comparative literature. The work is relevant to The International Federation of Theatre Research (IFTR/FIRT) (Performance and Consciousness), Performance Studies International (psi) and the Performance Philosophy Research Network — an influential and growing research field. Primary markets for this book will be students (both at university and conservatoires) and academics in theatre studies, as well as practitioners and actors in training. The text will be useful to students in units or modules relating to acting theory and theatre-making processes, and which combine critical theory with practical performance. It will also be useful for practitioners of theatre looking to expand or inflect their own methods of approaching performance.

An illustrated biography of the remarkable and pioneering artist Leonora Carrington, told through the houses and locations that had meaning for her and are fundamental to an understanding of her work. An evocative visual chronicle on the life of Leonora Carrington as seen through interiors, international locations and vintage photographs, this book leads the reader on a personal journey through the many spaces she inhabited and which infused and haunted her art and the people she knew. Long underrated, Carrington is now considered as one of the vanguard, not only in histories of women artists but also Surrealism; her interests – feminism, ecology and life-enhancing art – are now shared by many. Challenging the conventions of her time, Carrington abandoned family, society and England to embrace new experiences and mix with artists in Europe and America, and to forge her own unique artistic style. From Lancashire to London, Cornwall to France and Spain, then to Mexico, New York and finally back to Mexico, each place and interior became etched in her memory – whether her grandmother’s kitchen with its giant stove, Parisian cafés, a rural French hideaway, the sanatorium in Santander or her Mexican sanctuary – only to be echoed, sometimes decades later, in her paintings and writings. ‘Houses are really bodies,’ she wrote in her novella The Hearing Trumpet (1974), ‘We connect ourselves with walls, roofs, and objects just as we hang on to our livers, skeletons, flesh and blood streams.’

The comedic work of the children of modern Jewish immigrants overturned the prevailing languages and imageries with which an Anglocentric United States had traditionally represented and expanded itself. In ^IGravity Fails: The Comic Jewish Shaping of Modern America^R, James D. Bloom approaches these developments by first surveying this transformation as it affected literature, entertainment, commerce, and politics, and then offers sharply focused chapters that look at changes in sexual candor, reactions to the Holocaust, and critiques of race. Indeed, the personae discussed here pioneered unprecedented candor toward and scrutiny about sex and violence, and no other book delves as deeply or as widely among art forms, media, and levels of cultural hierarchy. Including considerations of the work of such diverse artists as Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Lenny Bruce, Gilda Radner, Philip Roth, Jerry Seinfeld, and Stephen Sondheim, Gravity Fails provides a unique, penetrating, and hilarious look at a major force in the progress of American culture.

The French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) was home to one of the richest public theatre traditions of the colonial-era Caribbean.  This book examines the relationship between public theatre and the enslaved people of Saint-Domingue—something that is generally given short shrift owing to a perceived lack of documentation.  Here, a range of materials and methodologies are used to explore pressing questions including the ‘mitigated spectatorship’ of the enslaved, portrayals of enslaved people in French and Creole repertoire, the contributions of enslaved people to theatre-making, and shifting attitudes during the revolutionary era.  The book demonstrates that slavery was no mere backdrop to this portion of theatre history but an integral part of its story.  It also helps recover the hidden experiences of some of the enslaved individuals who became entangled in that story.

The definitive 1990s blockbuster, Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park met with almost universal critical and popular acclaim, broke new ground with its CGI recreation of dinosaurs, and started one of the most profitable of all movie franchises. To mark the film’s 30th anniversary, this exciting illustrated collection of new essays interrogates the Jurassic Park phenomenon from a diverse range of critical, historical, and theoretical angles. The primary focus is on Jurassic Park itself but there is also discussion of the franchise and its numerous spin-offs. As well as leading international scholars of film studies and history, contributors include experts in special effects, science on screen, fan studies, and palaeontology. Comprehensive, up to date, and accessible, The Jurassic Park Book appeals not only to students and scholars of Hollywood and contemporary culture, but also to the global audience of fans of the greatest of all dinosaur movies.

An exciting new strand in The Television Series, the ‘Moments in Television’ collections celebrate the power and artistry of television, whilst interrogating key critical concepts in television scholarship. Each ‘Moments’ book is organised around a provocative binary theme. Epic / everyday explores the presence within television of the epic and the everyday. It argues that attention to ideas of the epic and notions of the everyday can illuminate television programmes in new ways. The book explores an eclectic range of TV fictions, including Game of Thrones, Lost and Dr Who. Contributors from diverse perspectives come together to expand and enrich the kind of close analysis most commonly found in television aesthetics. Sustained, detailed programme analyses are sensitively framed within historical, technological, institutional, cultural, creative and art-historical contexts. -- .

A comprehensive anthology of women's theatre writing, spanning the history of modern and romantic theatre. This book caters to contemporary syllabi across theatre studies, covering major courses across BA degrees. No other collection of women's theatre writing exists on this scale.