As traditional social hierarchies fall away, ever steeper levels of economic inequality and the entrenchment of new class distinctions lend a new glamor to the idea of aristocracy: witness the worldwide popularity of Downton Abbey, or the seemingly insatiable public fascination with the private lives of the British royal family. This collection of essays investigates the enduring attraction with the icon of the aristocrat and the spectacle of aristocratic society. It traces the ambivalent reactions the aristocracy provokes and the needs (political, ideological, psychological, and otherwise) it caters to in modern times when the economic power of the landed classes have been eroded and their political role curtailed. In this interdisciplinary collection, aristocracy is considered from multiple viewpoints, including British and American literature, European history and politics, cultural studies, linguistics, visual arts, music, and media studies.

Throughout most of his work, Anglo-American poet Thom Gunn served as a mouthpiece for his time, illustrating the social, cultural, and historical transformations that have characterized western civilization from World War II until today. Striking images of the Holocaust and the tragedies of World War II emerge in some of Gunn's poems about soldiers (""Innocence,"" ""Claus Von Stauffenberg,"" ""Misanthropos,"" etc.) Likewise, metaphors for the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s can be found in ""Moly"" and ""Jack's Straw Castle."" Characterized by rigorous intellectual honesty and sincerity, Gunn's poetry constitutes a unique artistic experience in that it seeks to mediate between several opposite poles: old Europe against contemporary America; traditional metre against free verse; and the language of the present against the lessons of the great writers of the past.Starting with theoretical premises drawn from philosophy, anthropology, and sociology, this work examines Thom Gunn's entire poetic career. In Gunn's early poetry, the author argues, the predominant theme is the desire for freedom from the painful prison of the intellect and from the masks that the individual feels compelled to wear even in his sexual relationships. In Gunn's later poetry, the author notes a gradual opening to human relationships and to Nature, which is also Gunn's vindication and reevaluation of his own nature and the liberation of his long repressed and hidden homosexuality.

Originally published in Italian as Lorizzonte mobile: spazio e luoghi nella narrativa di D.H. Lawrence in 1998, this critical study analyzes the work of D.H. Lawrence in light of new theories about space and location, or place and community. This approach is especially useful in examining Lawrence, as place and space are central aspects of all of his work. The introductory chapter explains the theoretical premises, drawing extensively from anthropology especially insofar as the relationship between culture and nature or community and place are concerned. This chapter also offers theories based on semiotics, sociological concerns and recent research in human geography and environmentalism. Succeeding chapters analyze functional aspects of place and space in D.H. Lawrences work. Lawrence's major novels and stories provide the main focus of this book, but attention is also paid to lesser-known texts, both fiction and nonfiction. This work provides a new approach to studies on D.H. Lawrence, opening up new insights for both scholars and students alike.