Canadian film director David Cronenberg has long been a figure of artistic acclaim and public controversy. Bursting into view with a trio of shocking horror films in the 1970s, Cronenbergs work has become increasingly complex in its sensibilities and inward-looking in its concerns and themes. This trajectory culminates in the multiplex successes of his most recent films, which appear to conclude a straightforward evolutionary arc that begins in the cold outside of shock-horror and arrives in the warm embrace of commercial and critical success.Scott Wilsonargues persuasivelythat Cronenbergs career can be divided into broad thematic stages and instead offers a complex examination of the relationship between three inter-related terms: the director as auteur; the industry that support or denies commercial opportunity; and the audience who receive, interpret and support (or decry) the vision represented on screen. The Politics of Insects provides an opportunity to explore Cronenbergs films in relation to each other in terms of their thematic continuity, and in terms of their relationship to industrial concerns and audience responses.

Newly available in paperback, this book looks at how rap and metal have been highly engaged with America's role in the world, supercapitalism and their own role within it. This has especially been the case when genres - hitherto clearly identified as indelibly 'black' or 'white' forms of music - have crossed over as an effect of cross-racial forms of identification and desire, marketing strategy, political engagement, opportunism and experimentation. It is how examples of these forms have negotiated, contested, raged against, survived, exploited, simulated and performed 'Satan's rage' that is the subject of this book. The book offers a highly original approach in relating rap/metal to critical theories of economy and culture, introducing a new method of cultural analysis based on theories of negativity and expenditure that will be of great interest to students in media and cultural studies, American studies, critical and cultural theory, advertising and marketing, and sociology and politics. -- .

This book looks at how rap and metal, the two most pervasive popular music forms of the 1990s, have been highly engaged with America's role in the world, supercapitalism and their own role within it. This has especially been the case when genres - hitherto clearly identified as indelibly 'black' or 'white' forms of music - have crossed over as an effect of cross-racial forms of identification and desire, marketing strategy, political engagement, opportunism and experimentation. It is how examples of these forms have negotiated, contested, raged against, survived, exploited, simulated and performed 'Satan's rage' that is the subject of this book. The book offers a highly original approach in relating rap/metal to critical theories of economy and culture, introducing a new method of cultural analysis based on theories of negativity and expenditure that will be of great interest to students in media and cultural studies, American studies, critical and cultural theory, advertising and marketing, and sociology and politics. -- .

This book offers a new theory of music as a form of social bond analogous to language as it is understood according to the Lacanian orientation in psychoanalysis. It presents contemporary examples that look at how music has become both a powerful locus of discontent and a form of orientation.

The fascinating and quirky biography of a disheveled poet, skillfully interwoven with his original works. Zen monk Santoka Taneda (1882-1940) is one of Japan's most beloved modern poets, famous for his "free-verse" haiku, the dominant style today. This book tells the fascinating story of his life, liberally sprinkled with more than 300 of his poems and extracts from his essays and journals--compiled by his best friend and biographer Sumita Oyama and elegantly translated by William Scott Wilson. Santoka was a literary prodigy, but a notoriously disorganized human being. By his own admission, he was incapable of doing anything other than wandering the countryside and writing verses. Although Santoka married and had a son, he devoted his life to poetry, studying Zen, drinking sake and wandering the length and breadth of the Japanese islands on foot, as a mendicant monk. The poet's life alternated between long periods of solitary retreat and restless travel, influenced by his tragic childhood. When not on the road, he lived in simple grass huts supported by friends and family. Santoka was a lively conversationalist who was often found so drunk he could only make it home with the help of a friendly neighbor or passerby. But above all, throughout his life, he wrote constantly; poetry and essays flowed from him effortlessly. Santoka's eccentric style of haiku is highly regarded in Japan today for being truly modern and free from formal constraints. His journals and essays are equally thought-provoking--the musings of an unkempt but supremely self-conscious mind on everything from writing to cooking rice and his failure to live a more orderly life. This translation and its introduction are by best-selling author William Scott Wilson, whose other works include The Book of Five Rings and The Lone Samurai. Wilson provides sensitive renditions of the haiku illustrating Santoka's life as well as an extensive introduction to the influences on Santoka's work, from contemporary haiku poets and his Buddhist teachers. Alongside the book, readers have access to a two-hour online audio recording of 331 of Santoka Taneda's haiku, read in Japanese by a native speaker, and in English.

This book offers a new theory of music as a form of social bond analogous to language as it is understood according to the Lacanian orientation in psychoanalysis. It presents contemporary examples that look at how music has become both a powerful locus of discontent and a form of orientation.

Since opening to foreign investment in 1979, China has emerged as the leading investment site for multinational corporations. Remade in China looks beyond the macroeconomic effects of China's investment boom to analyze how foreign investors from the US, Japan, and other nations are shaping China's legal, labor, and business reforms. Wilson draws on interviews with nearly 100 foreign and local managers, attorneys, workers, and members of the business community to explain why Chinese laborers and firms have gravitated toward foreign models, especially US businesses and their institutions.
Wilson uses the term "state-guided globalization" to describe how China has used foreign engagement to advance its domestic reform objectives and to enhance its role in international society. Rather than undermining state power, globalization actually has allowed China's state to push through difficult labor and legal reforms. Wilson concludes that Chinese policy makers drew lessons from foreign investors and foreign legal experts on how to introduce difficult labor market reforms in its state-owned enterprises and how to promote rule of law.
Remade in China examines globalization and foreign investment in a different light, showing how these developments have helped to chart China's entry into international society. China's WTO accession agreement and international norms have established parameters by which to judge Chinese legal and business reforms. Although China's rise is a grave concern to the world, Remade in China asserts that Chinese leaders now see compliance with international rules as a means to secure more investment and to enhance their international legitimacy. Wilson provides a lucid and insightful analysis of how foreign and domestic actors, from political leaders to average laborers, have contributed to remaking China's institutions.

The screenplays and films of Quentin Tarantino raise profound comic and ethical dilemmas. Developing ideas from Lacanian psychoanalysis, Botting and Wilson explore ethical issues in relation to Tarantino's work, postmodernity and recent cultural theory. They argue that Tarantino's texts provide a provocative and telling contribution to theorized accounts of contemporary culture.

The term `Tarantinian' has been coined to refer to a set of sampled, self-authorizing signs that are cinematically assembled in processes of `consuming-producing-expending' in the general context of a postmodern capitalism that enjoins excess. The Tarantinian ethics are elaborated, in the midst of a homogenized fast-food, movie and video culture, in relation to heterogeneous events of violence, horror and laughter.

Witty and incisive, the book illuminates and interrogates contemporary structures of identity, desire and consumption. It will be of great interest to students of cultural studies, social theory and communication.

An old pond; a frog jumps in: the sound of water -- Basho This comprehensive introduction to Japan's best-loved haiku poets is the perfect book for anyone wanting to learn about haiku. Compiled and with commentary by renowned author and translator William Scott Wilson, the book features 26 poets and 550 haiku, exquisitely translated. Wilson takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the works of the major Japanese poets from the fifteenth century up to the present. The poets include Basho, Shiki, Buson and Issa (the "Great Four") along with other well-known practitioners of the genre such as Ryokan, Kikaku and Chora. Wilson gives his own brand-new renditions of poems that are already known as classics, and also shares with us the delightful work of a number of poets who are rarely found in English translation, such as six female poets including Chiyojo and Hisajo, as well as novelist Natsume Soseki, who, unbeknown to many, also wrote haiku. The book is divided into sections, each starting with a 2-4 page introduction to each poet, followed by a selection of that poet's haiku, in Japanese script and English translation. Online audio files are available with recordings of the poems in both English and Japanese.

Is it possible to incite a turn towards Media Philosophy, a field that accounts for the autonomy of media, for machine agency and for the new modalities of thought and subjectivity that these enable, rather than dwelling on representations, audiences and extensions of the self? In the wake of the field-defining work done by Friedrich Kittler, this important collection of essays takes a philosophical approach to the end of the media era in the traditional sense and outlines the implications of a turn that sees media become concepts of the middle, of connection, and of multitude-across diverse disciplines and theoretical perspectives. An expert panel of contributors, working at the cutting edge of media theory, analyze the German thinker's legacy and the possibilities his thought can unfold for media theory. This book examines the present and future condition of mediation, within the wider context of media studies in a digital age.

Is it possible to incite a turn towards Media Philosophy, a field that accounts for the autonomy of media, for machine agency and for the new modalities of thought and subjectivity that these enable, rather than dwelling on representations, audiences and extensions of the self? In the wake of the field-defining work done by Friedrich Kittler, this important collection of essays takes a philosophical approach to the end of the media era in the traditional sense and outlines the implications of a turn that sees media become concepts of the middle, of connection, and of multitude-across diverse disciplines and theoretical perspectives. An expert panel of contributors, working at the cutting edge of media theory, analyze the German thinker's legacy and the possibilities his thought can unfold for media theory. This book examines the present and future condition of mediation, within the wider context of media studies in a digital age.

Scott Walker and the Song of the One-All-Alone offers, in detailed interpretative commentaries of his best songs, a sustained assessment of the work and career of Scott Walker, one of the most significant and perplexing artists of the late 20th and 21st century. For Brian Eno, Walker was not only a great composer and a superlative lyricist but also a significant contemporary poet. Marc Almond goes further, 'an absolute musical genius, existential and intellectual and a star right from the days of The Walker Brothers'. As Almond suggests, Walker's work is marked by a continual engagement with existentialist philosophy informing his approach to art, politics and life. In particular, the device of the solitary figure or 'one-all-alone' evoked in his songs provides the basis for his lyrical exploration of the singularity of existence - in all its darkness as well as light. Through following his own path, Walker arrived at a unique sound according to his own method that produced a genuinely new form of song. Looking closely at these songs, this book also considers the wider political implications of his approach in its rejection of external authorities and common or consensual ideals.

This compelling book analyzes the rise of civil society and legal contentiousness in contemporary China. Scott Wilson examines how Chinese AIDS carriers and pollution victims, relying on weak laws and judicial institutions, pursue justice and protection of their rights in Chinese courts and civil society. In exploring the "politics of justice" in China, the author contends that civil society and legal rights advance when their organizers have support from pockets of the Chinese Communist Party, resources from international groups, and the backing of protesters. Even lawsuits that fail in the courts can raise societal consciousness of social issues and can lead to revised state policies to address the substantive claims of disadvantaged citizens. Underlying the politics of justice is the regime's attempt to balance commitments to legal development and its interest in regime stability. Wilson argues that the Chinese state has looked more favorably upon pollution victims' civil-society organizations and lawsuits than those of AIDS carriers. Going beyond the standard overviews of China's legal system, Tigers without Teeth is unique in its close comparison of legal activism on two sensitive and politically relevant social issues. It provides important insights into the development of civil society, as well as highlighting limitations to the pursuit of justice as the system balances between the development of rule of law and regime stability.

Words of wisdom from great samurai leaders: A collection of inspiring essays and aphorisms from Japan's leading warriors Samurai warrior leaders had to deal with grim conditions of life, death and survival. But such men were not simply rough uneducated fighters: they often personified the Far Eastern ideal of balancing cultural awareness and artistic expertise with high martial abilities. Their sayings, precepts and the anecdotes about them are informed by a broad spectrum of interests, many of which are still relevant today. Advice in this book includes: You should not envy the swords and clothing of others. It goes without saying that you should arrange your hair early in the morning if you are going out to your work, but this should be done even if you are thinking of staying at home. When you think too much, it is difficult to achieve your objectives. If you are too clever and look too far ahead, you will accomplish nothing. If you have some pressing or urgent affair, write it down with a calm state of mind. Your regular meals should be light, and you should not take a trivial liking for elegant cuisine. If someone promotes only those things the lord finds acceptable, and never remonstrates with him at all, you should watch that man carefully. No matter how wise a person may be, you should never depend fully on him but rather, understand that you are always on your own. Covering universal themes ranging from the courage and ambition to face daily affairs, the insights and strategies necessary to deal with allies and opponents, the value of art and literature, and even why and how to save money-- this is a book whose ancient wisdom is still highly relevant and of great value to readers today.

The New Interpreter s Handbook of Preaching is a major reference tool for preaching, with articles on every facet of Christian sermon preparation and delivery. This resource is both scholarly and practical. It focuses on the most distinctive feature and greatest strength of homiletics as a discipline: It is rooted in interdisciplinary scholarship and it develops theory geared to practice. Its theory arises out of the study of both excellent preaching past and present and actual sermon preparation and composition. When theory and practice critique each other, it is possible to produce guidelines that assist greater excellence and economy in preaching the gospel. Excellence in standards is an area in which homiletics needs to grow, and this project will be both a means to encourage and develop it. A guiding question throughout will be, Will it preach? The answers will be offered in the sense that here is something that works well, rather than here is something to try.

Preachers will turn to this resource with the expectation that they will find scholarly treatment of topics, brief bibliographies of relevant key books and articles, along with practical methodological suggestions for preachers to employ. The contributors are homileticians, preachers, and writers in various disciplines who are committed to the pulpit through practice."