Robinson Crusoe explores Defoe's story, the legend it captured, the universal desire which underlies the myth and a range of modern re-writings which reveal a continued fascination with the problematic character of this narrative. Whether envisaged as an heroic rejection of the old world order, a piece of pre-colonialist propaganda or a tale raising archetypal problems of 'otherness' and 'inequality', the mythic value of Crusoe has become a pretext over many centuries for an examination of some of the fundamental problems of existence. This collection of essays examines, from a wide range of critical and philosophical perspectives, the cultural manifestations of Robinson Crusoe in different centuries, in different media, in different genres.

Paul Valery's work is a unique odyssey in the universe of ideas and mental forms. The most recently acknowledged - and the most private - of the masters of modernity, Valery is perhaps the most radical and wide-ranging. He navigates freely within the mental galaxies known to scientists, poets, literary theorists, musicians, philosophers, historicans and social anthropologists, always concerned to explore the potential and limits of the human mind. Originally published in 1999, the present volume of essays by internationally recognised scholars offered the first comprehensive account of Valery's work in English or French. It provided a series of readings bringing into focus the deeper coherence that animates what Valery called his 'unitary mind in a thousand pieces', and offered perspectives on the immense range of his experimental and fragmentary writings. This book moved forward the frontiers of our understanding of Valery's work, and substantially altered the way in which he was perceived.

This 1984 book was the first to investigate the full implications of Paul Valery's interest in the relationship between music and poetry. The book is more of a survey of all that Valery had to say on music; it examines in detail the influence of such music upon his work as a poet. The structure of the book comprises three distinct phases of argument. In the first part Dr Stimpson details Valery's contacts with the major developments in twentieth-century French music, and reveals particularly close relationshops with a number of outstanding composers and performers. Part II explores Valery's theoretical consideration of the links between music and poetry. The third section studies the musical techniques in Valery's poetry - melody, harmonics, rhythm, musique verbale, and recitative. This will be an important book for serious students of Valery's poetry and all those interested in the relationship between poetry and music.

The most recently acknowledged--and the most private--of the masters of modernity, Paul Valéry is perhaps the most radical and wide-ranging. He navigates freely within the mental galaxies known to scientists, poets, literary theorists, musicians, philosophers, historians and social anthropologists, always concerned with exploring the potential and limits of the human mind. This volume of essays by internationally recognized scholars offers the first comprehensive account in English or French of Valéry's work. It brings into focus the deeper coherence that animates what Valéry called his "unitary mind in a thousand pieces," and offers new perspectives on the immense range of his experimental and fragmentary writings.

Robinson Crusoe explores Defoe's story, the legend it captured, the universal desire which underlies the myth and a range of modern re-writings which reveal a continued fascination with the problematic character of this narrative. Whether envisaged as an heroic rejection of the old world order, a piece of pre-colonialist propaganda or a tale raising archetypal problems of 'otherness' and 'inequality', the mythic value of Crusoe has become a pretext over many centuries for an examination of some of the fundamental problems of existence. This collection of essays examines, from a wide range of critical and philosophical perspectives, the cultural manifestations of Robinson Crusoe in different centuries, in different media, in different genres.