|
Showing 1 - 5 of
5 matches in All Departments
Myth and Creative Writing is a unique and practical guide to the
arts of creative writing. It: Gives a historical perspective on the
storyteller's art Takes a wide view of myth, to include: legends,
folklore, biblical myth, classical myth, belief myths, balladry and
song. Considers all aspects of the creative process, from
conception to completion Provides tips on seeking inspiration from
classical and mythic sources Shows how myths can be linked to
contemporary concerns Enables beginning writers to tap into the
deeper resonances of myth Guides students to further critical and
creative resources A secret that all writers know is that they are
part of a long tradition of storytelling - whether they call it
mythic, intertextual, interactive or original. And in the pantheon
of storytelling, myths (those stories that tell us, in often
magical terms, how the world and the creatures in it came to be)
are the bedrock, a source of unending inspiration. One can dress
the study of literature in the finest critical clothing - or
intellectualise it until the cows come home - but at its heart it
is nothing more - and nothing less - than the study of the human
instinct to tell stories, to order the world into patterns we can
more readily understand. Exploring the mythic nature of writing (by
considering where the connections between instinct and art are
made, and where the writer is also seen as a mythic adventurer) is
a way of finding close links to what it is we demand from
literature, which is - again - something to do with the essences of
human nature. Further, in the course of examining the nature of
myth, Adrian May provides a very practical guide to the aspiring
writer - whether in a formal course or working alone - on how to
write stories (myths) of their own, from how to begin, how to
develop and how to close.
Myth and Creative Writing is a unique and practical guide to the
arts of creative writing. It: Gives a historical perspective on the
storyteller's art Takes a wide view of myth, to include: legends,
folklore, biblical myth, classical myth, belief myths, balladry and
song. Considers all aspects of the creative process, from
conception to completion Provides tips on seeking inspiration from
classical and mythic sources Shows how myths can be linked to
contemporary concerns Enables beginning writers to tap into the
deeper resonances of myth Guides students to further critical and
creative resources A secret that all writers know is that they are
part of a long tradition of storytelling - whether they call it
mythic, intertextual, interactive or original. And in the pantheon
of storytelling, myths (those stories that tell us, in often
magical terms, how the world and the creatures in it came to be)
are the bedrock, a source of unending inspiration. One can dress
the study of literature in the finest critical clothing - or
intellectualise it until the cows come home - but at its heart it
is nothing more - and nothing less - than the study of the human
instinct to tell stories, to order the world into patterns we can
more readily understand. Exploring the mythic nature of writing (by
considering where the connections between instinct and art are
made, and where the writer is also seen as a mythic adventurer) is
a way of finding close links to what it is we demand from
literature, which is - again - something to do with the essences of
human nature. Further, in the course of examining the nature of
myth, Adrian May provides a very practical guide to the aspiring
writer - whether in a formal course or working alone - on how to
write stories (myths) of their own, from how to begin, how to
develop and how to close.
Tradition in Creative Writing: Finding Inspiration Through Your
Roots encourages writers to rediscover sources of creativity in the
everyday, showing students how to see your writing as connected to
your life. Adrian May addresses a key question for many beginning
writers: Where do you get your ideas from? May argues that
tradition does not mean anti-progress-but is instead a kind of
hidden wealth that stems from literary and historical traditions,
folk and songs, self and nature, and community. By drawing on these
personal and traditional wellsprings of inspiration, writers will
learn to see their writing as part of a greater continuum of
influences and view their work as having innate value as part of
that cultural and artistic ecology. Each chapter includes
accessible discussion, literary and critical readings, creative
examples, and writing exercises. While the creative examples are
drawn from song lyrics and poetry, the writing exercises are
appropriate for all genres. Undergraduates and practitioners will
benefit from this guide to finding originality in writing through
exploring sources of creative inspiration.
From Bataille to Badiou: Lignes: the preservation of Radical French
Thought, 1987-2017 provides an exhaustive reading of the
significant yet understudied intellectual review Lignes, from 1987
to 2017, to demonstrate how it has managed to preserve and develop
the legacy of French radical thought often referred to as 'French
Theory' or 'la pensee 68'. Whilst many studies on intellectual
reviews from the 1930s to the 1980s exist, this book crucially
illuminates the shifting intellectual and political culture of
France since the 1980s, filling a major gap in contemporary debates
on the continued relevance of French intellectuals. This book
provides a strong counter-narrative to the received account that,
after the anti-totalitarian 'liberal moment' of the late 1970s,
Marxism and structuralism were completely banished from the French
intellectual sphere. It provides the historical context behind the
rise of such internationally renowned thinkers such as Alain
Badiou, Jacques Ranciere Jean-Luc Nancy, whilst placing them within
an intellectual genealogy stretching back to Georges Bataille and
Maurice Blanchot in the 1930s. The book also introduces the reader
to lesser known but nonetheless significant thinkers, including
Lignes editor Michel Surya, Dionys Mascolo, Daniel Bensaid, Fethi
Benslama, Anselm Jappe and Robert Kurz. Through the review's pages,
a novel cultural history of France emerges as intellectuals respond
to pressing contemporary issues, such as the fall of Communism, the
European migrant crisis and rising nationalist tensions, the
globalisation of financial capitalism and the 2008 economic crisis,
scandals surrounding paedophilia and the return of religious
thought to France, as well as debates on literature and the
political value of art.
Matters of Time provides an unorthodox array of perspectives on
materialist thought and representation in twentieth-century French
intellectual culture. Time is figured as the quintessential
revolutionary concept, through key historical moments from Jean
Jaures' orientation of the socialists at the turn of the century to
the inter-generational conflict and politicization of everyday life
in May '68. Essays on dialectics and theories of teleological
progress are placed side by side with accounts of the existential
turn in Marxist thought in France. Contributions on Heidegger and
Sartre inject meditations on human mortality into considerations of
a new politics of finitude. The volume also emphasizes the
inseparability of aesthetic and political thought for the French
avant-gardes: chapters on Sade, Artaud and Jarry place Marx's
theories of production and commodity fetishism into contact with
bodily abjection. The manipulation of time in cinema and matter in
painting are examined as a testament to the twentieth century as a
period of continuing experimental tension between form and
signification. Generational futurity is explored through Genet's
spatial representations of filiation and Verlaine's
proto-ecological attunement to nature. The volume as a whole
constructs a necessarily fragmented timeline of the breaks,
tensions and antagonisms in twentieth-century French thought,
culture and politics, with particular focus on questions of late
capitalism and political, intellectual and aesthetic progress and
regress.
|
|