The contributions to this book are dedicated to the heritage of the Ottoman Empire and the Austro- Hungarian Monarchy in the Orient and Occident. The book presents current research concerning the historical, political and cultural impact of this legacy and gives an overview of comparative approaches to Balkan and Ottoman studies.
Literature strives to interpret and explain the unknown, and to propose ways in which to engage with it—even if, at least initially, these keys exist only in the realm of the imagination. This is one of the many important qualities that draw us to study literature, and to marvel at the creative understandings that it offers. However, many questions call for further exploration: how does something “unknowable”, unspeakable, become a subject that can be examined and debated? How have literary and scientific communities entered into the dialogue and exchange that are crucial to the consolidation of knowledge? By what processes can we come to know and understand that which remains hidden, undocumented, unspoken, poorly understood: the memories, secrets, “unknowable” and “unspeakable” truths of public and private human lives? Inspired by questions such as these, the contributors to this volume reflect on fin de siècle discourses around homosexuality and sexual “inversion”, on Émile Zola as seeker of concealed truths and figure of scandal, on the modes and crises of representing human experience in literary and visual forms, and on the dialogic space between self and other.
Sources are the raw material of history, but where the written word has traditionally been seen as the principal source, today historians are increasingly recognizing the value of sources beyond text. In History and Material Culture, Karen Harvey embarks upon a discussion about material culture – considering objects, often those found surrounding us in day to day life, as sources, which can help historians develop new interpretations and new knowledge about the past. Across ten chapters, different historians look at a variety of material sources from around the globe and across centuries to assess how such sources can be used to study history. While the sources are discussed from ‘interdisciplinary’ perspectives, each contributor examines how material culture can be approached from an historical viewpoint, and each chapter addresses its theme or approach in a way accessible to readers without expertise in the area. In her introduction, Karen Harvey discusses some of the key issues raised when historians use material culture, and suggests some basic steps for those new to these kinds of sources. Opening up the discipline of history to new approaches, and introducing those working in other disciplines to historical approaches, this book is the ideal introduction to the opportunities and challenges of researching material culture.
A Cultural History of Color in the Age of Industry covers the period 1800 to 1920, when the world embraced color like never before. Inventions, such as steam power, lithography, photography, electricity, motor cars, aviation, and cheaper color printing, all contributed to a new exuberance about color. Available pigments and colored products - made possible by new technologies, industrial manufacturing, commercialization, and urbanization – also greatly increased, as did illustrated printed literature for the mass market. Color, both literally and metaphorically, was splashed around, and became an expressive tool for artists, designers, and writers. Color shapes an individual's experience of the world and also how society gives particular spaces, objects, and moments meaning. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Color examines how color has been created, traded, used, and interpreted over the last 5000 years. The themes covered in each volume are color philosophy and science; color technology and trade; power and identity; religion and ritual; body and clothing; language and psychology; literature and the performing arts; art; architecture and interiors; and artefacts. Alexandra Loske is Curator at the Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton, UK Volume 5 in the Cultural History of Color set. General Editors: Carole P. Biggam and Kirsten Wolf