I have travelled to all parts of the world for over forty years, often to the most remote villages and towns on all continents, enjoying the unique landscapes and their people. This is how I have had the most delightful encounters, often when least expected. The book aims to show that one should venture out, not be afraid to leave the beaten paths and instead seek authenticity. It also shows the common humanity of people and how cross-cultural encounters can leave us with indelible memories that in turn push us to learn ever more about this planet and its various people. I hope the book spurs readers to travel outside of organized tours or to keep travelling if they already do and see how this kind of journey can incredibly enrich their lives.
To read on or to let go? Are you relaxed about the way things are, or are you up in arms, disenchanted with instant gratification of mass media? Have you tried reading a contrarians book lately? Are you in search of a bolshies poem? Do you dare to question, such as what, if anything, is correct about political correctness; what is level about level economical playing fields; what is rational about economical rationalism; how come 0.1 percent owns half of just about everything? Il caro compagnero, do you feel we are being had?
The concept of poesie critique - poetry that possesses both a poetic and a critical function - has an extensive history in modern literature. Written in response to another work of art, be it a painting, a film, a poem, or a piece of music, the critical poem comments on the latter in various ways but refuses to abandon its poetic mission. Marvelous Encounters examines surrealist poets writing in French, Spanish, and Catalan who experimented with this intriguing genre. The first three chapters are concerned with the French surrealists, who began to cultivate critical poetry toward the end of World War I. Chapter 2 considers how Louis Aragon and Philippe Soupault appropriated the critical poem, as they reviewed books of poetry and films starring Charlie Chaplin. Chapter 3, which examines how Benjamin Peret and Paul Eluard conceived of critical poetry, analyzes their response to poems by Tristan Tzara and paintings by Giorgio de Chirico and Joan Miro. Chapter 4 is devoted entirely to Andre Breton.
A rare combination of personal and academic, this book showcases the myriad avenues for transcending the boundaries of reality through direct sensory experience. The Varieties of Magical Experience: Indigenous, Medieval, and Modern Magic provides a comprehensive volume that examines magic in all its aspects. Through detailed case studies, verbatim accounts of personal experiences, and first-hand experience from the authors' own active participation in many alternative religious rituals and ceremonies, this unique book reveals how magic can be a universal phenomenon that crosses cultural, historical, and spatial boundaries. The work is organized in five sections that embrace several broad themes: indigenous magical and shamanic practices; medieval witchcraft; sorcery and hermetic magic; and contemporary Western magical practices, including the role of sexuality, trance, and meditation. The introductory section explores the idea of magic, other realities, and the employment of all the senses, while the final section discusses contemporary issues of ecology and cybermagic. The authors give voice to the powerful emotions and feelings that result from a magical encounter, providing engaging and accessible information to general readers, while those well versed in the opaque world of magic and occultism, consciousness studies, and imaginal and disembodied realms will appreciate the book's content at a deeper level.
For many tabletop RPG players, the joy of an in-depth game is that anything can happen. Typical adventure modules include a map of the adventure’s primary location, but every other location?whether it's a woodland clearing, a random apothecary or the depths of a temple players elect to explore?has to be improvised on the fly by the Game Master. As every GM knows, no matter how many story hooks, maps or NPCs you painstakingly create during session prep, your best-laid plans are often foiled by your players' whims, extreme skill check successes (or critical fails) or their playful refusal to stay on task. In a game packed with infinite possibilities, what are GMs supposed to do when their players choose those for which they're not prepared? The Game Master’s Book of Random Encounters provides an unbeatable solution. This massive tome is divided into location categories, each of which can stand alone as a small stop as part of a larger campaign. As an example, the “Taverns, Inns, Shops & Guild Halls” section includes maps for 19 unique spaces, as well as multiple encounter tables designed to help GMs fill in the sights, sounds, smells and proprietors of a given location, allowing for each location in the book to be augmented and populated on the fly while still ensuring memorable moments for all your players. Each map is presented at scale on grid, enabling GMs to determine exactly where all of the characters are in relation to one another and anyone (or anything) else in the space, critical information should any combat or other movement-based action occur. Perhaps more useful than its nearly 100 maps, the book's one-shot generator features all the story hooks necessary for GMs to use these maps as part of an interconnected and contained adventure. Featuring eight unique campaign drivers that lead players through several of the book's provided maps, the random tables associated with each stage in the adventure allow for nearly three million different outcomes, making The Game Master's Book of Random Encounters an incredible investment for any would-be GM. The book also includes a Random NPC Generator to help you create intriguing characters your players will love (or love to hate), as well as a Party Makeup Maker for establishing connections among your PCs so you can weave together a disparate group of adventurers with just a few dice rolls. Locations include taverns, temples, inns, animal/creature lairs, gatehouses, courts, ships, laboratories and more, with adventure hooks that run the gamut from frantic rooftop chases to deep cellar dungeon-crawls, with a total of 97 maps, more than 150 tables and millions of possible adventures. No matter where your players end up, they'll have someone or something to persuade or deceive, impress or destroy. As always, the choice is theirs. But no matter what they choose, with The Game Master's Book of Random Encounters, you'll be ready.
Take your gaming campaign to the next level with this inspiring, easy-to-use collection of random encounters perfect for any fantasy RPG. Spark your imagination fast with this collection of fun, engaging, and inspiring random encounter prompts. These expertly written options are organized into popular themes and locations so you can find what you need fast, whether you choose from the list or use the dice to choose randomly. With fantasy hooks to fit every game from Pathfinder to GURPS to D&D, there are options for all of your campaigns. Whether you’re playing from a game book or weaving your own homebrewed adventure, there’s always a need for short random encounters in between set pieces. Featuring fun full-color illustrations, you’ll engage more in your story and bring your game to life!
James Joyce's Ulysses was first published in New York in the Little Review between 1918 and 1920. What kind of reception did it have and how does the serial version of the text differ from the version most readers know, the iconic volume edition published in Paris in 1922 by Shakespeare and Company? Joyce prepared much of Ulysses for serial publication while resident in Zurich between 1915 and 1919. This original study, based on sustained archival research, goes behind the scenes in Zurich and New York in order to recover long forgotten facts that are pertinent to the writing, reception, and interpretation of Ulysses. The Little Review serialization of Ulysses proved controversial from the outset and was ultimately stopped before Joyce had completed the work. The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice had taken successful legal action against the journal's editors, on the grounds that the final instalment of the thirteenth chapter of Ulysses was obscene. This triumph of the social purity movement had far reaching repercussions for Joyce's subsequent publishing history, and for his ongoing efforts with the composition of Ulysses. After chapters of contextual literary history (on the cultural world of the Little Review; the early production history of Ulysses; and the New York trial of 1921), the study moves to a consideration of the textual significance of the serialization. It breaks new ground in Joycean scholarship by paying critical attention to Ulysses as a serial text. The study concludes by examining the myriad ways in which Joyce revised and augmented Ulysses while resident in Paris; it shows how Joyce made Ulysses more sexually suggestive and overt, in explicit response to the work's legal reception in New York.
A broad, definitive history of the profound relationship between religion and movements for social change in America Though in recent years the religious right has been a powerful political force, making “religion” and “conservatism” synonymous in the minds of many, the United States has always had an active, vibrant, and influential religious Left. In every period of our history, people of faith have envisioned a society of peace and justice, and their tireless efforts have made an indelible mark on our nation’s history. In Prophetic Encounters, Dan McKanan challenges simple distinctions between “religious” and “secular” activism, showing that religious beliefs and practices have been integral to every movement promoting liberty, equality, and solidarity. From Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the nineteenth century to Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., and Starhawk in the twentieth, American radicals have maintained a deep faith in the human capacity to transform the world. This radical faith has always been intertwined with the religious practices of Christians and Jews, pagans and Buddhists, orthodox believers and humanist heretics. Their vision and energies powered the social movements that have defined America’s progress: the abolition of slavery, feminism, the New Deal, civil rights, and others. In this groundbreaking, definitive work, McKanan treats the histories of religion and the Left as a single history, showing that American radicalism is a continuous tradition rather than a collection of disparate movements. Emphasizing the power of encounter—encounters between whites and former slaves, between the middle classes and the immigrant masses, and among activists themselves—McKanan shows that the coming together of people of different perspectives and beliefs has been transformative for centuries, uniting those whose faith is a source of activist commitment with those whose activism is a source of faith. Offering a history of the diverse religious dimensions of radical movements from the American Revolution to the present day, Prophetic Encounters invites contemporary activists to stand proudly in a tradition of prophetic power.
Dick Cavett is back, sharing his reflections and reminiscences about Hollywood legends, American cultural icons, and the absurdities of everyday life In Brief Encounters, the legendary talk show host Dick Cavett introduces us to the fascinating characters who have crossed his path, from James Gandolfini and John Lennon to Mel Brooks and Nora Ephron, enhancing our appreciation of their talent, their personalities, and their place in the pantheon. We tag along as Cavett spends an afternoon with Stan Laurel at his modest apartment in Los Angeles, spars with Muhammad Ali at his training camp, and comes to know a young Steve Jobs—who woos him to be Apple's first celebrity pitchman. He also offers piquant commentary on contemporary politics, the indignities of travel, the nature of comedy writing, and the utter improbability of being alive at all. On his talk show, Cavett welcomed the leading figures from film, music, theater, literature, comedy, and politics, and engaged them in conversation that made viewers feel that the discussion was taking place in their own living rooms. Jimmy Fallon, the host of The Tonight Show, has called him "a legend and an inspiration" and has written a foreword that makes clear the debt that today's talk show hosts owe to Dick Cavett. To spend a few minutes, or an hour, or even a whole evening with Dick Cavett is an experience not to be missed, and now there's no reason to deny yourself. Enjoy the conversation!
