Images of the Immortal
Images of the Immortal

Author: Paul R. Katz

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0824862902

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The Palace of Eternal Joy (Yongle gong) is a mammoth cult site dedicated to one of late imperial China’s most popular deities, Lu Dongbin. In one of the first book-length studies of a Chinese sacred site, Paul Katz focuses on the Palace’s role in the development of Lu's legend. This highly innovative approach takes into account the various "histories" of the Palace presented in different texts and surpasses previous scholarship by stressing the ways in which the site both reflected and produced cultural diversity. Katz breaks new ground by analyzing the texts in terms of the textuality--the processes by which they were produced, transmitted, and understood. The study begins with a detailed description of the Palace of Eternal Joy and a brief account of its history. The reader is then introduced to the cult of Lu Dongbin. Special consideration is given to various hagiographical traditions, particularly those that influenced the growth of his cult at Yongle. Throughout late imperial China, a growing number of worshipers (among them scholar-officials, Taoist priests, artisans, and dramatists) created an ever-burgeoning variety of images of Lu, ranging from a patron god of ink-makers and prostitutes to a member of that powerful yet rambunctious group of spirits known as the Eight Immortals. In this context, the author explores the Perfect Realization Taoist movement's adoption of Lu's cult during the Jin and Yuan dynasties and highlight the social and religious factors that led to Lu's immense popularity in north China during the late imperial era. Katz next looks at the four type of inscriptions found at the Palace (commemorative, official, hagiographical, and poetic) and identifies the Palace patrons who worshiped there and contributed to its growth. In the description and analysis of the Palace murals that follow, he divides these works into two types: those painted to provide a setting for, and even an object of, Taoist rituals performed at the Palace; and those used to instruct Perfect Realization Taoists and perhaps pilgrims. The final section traces the reception of the Palace texts among the people of Yongle and its environs. Here Katz examines the ways in which patrons tried to impose their representations of the Palace’s history and the cult of Lu Dongbin on other members of the community and assesses the extent to which these efforts succeeded. Images of the Immortal is richly informed by a wide reading in social, cultural, and literary theory as well as a thorough awareness of previous work in comparative and Chinese religion. Scholars of Taoism, Chinese popular religion, and art history will find it especially rewarding for its thought-provoking reinterpretation of an important religious figure and his cult.

Immortal Images
Immortal Images

Author: Tedd Thomey

Publisher: US Naval Institute Press

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13:

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A member of the 28th Marines regiment that fought at Iwo Jima and raised the flags on Mt. Suribachi, Tedd Thomey offers here a fascinating, very personal story about the two photographers whose camera artistry captured the historic second flag raising. He describes with great sensitivity the triumphs and humiliations of Joe Rosenthal, the Associated Press photographer who became well known to the public but endured years of abuse from the media, which claimed he had staged his famous photo. A modest, highly ethical man, Rosenthal tried for years to ignore the unjust accusations but finally fought back. Thomey also tells the tragic story of the other photographer, Sgt. Bill Genaust, a Marine cinematographer whose immortal motion picture of the flag raising has been seen world-wide for half a century. Killed in battle nine days after the flag went up, Genaust was not publicly identified by the Marine Corps or given credit for his film classic, Thomey explains, until another Marine movie cameraman and Iwo survivor, Sgt. Harrold Weinberger, mounted a decades-long campaign. His efforts eventually succeeded in bringing honor to Genaust and in 1995 a bronze plaque atop Suribachi. The poignant story of Genaust's widow, Adelaide, is also told. A series of photos reproduced from Genaust's motion picture illustrates the book along with photographs by Rosenthal and of Iwo Jima today, taken by the author on a recent visit.

Immortal, Invisible
Immortal, Invisible

Author: Tamsin Wilton

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-02

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 1134842627

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Immortal, Invisible: Lesbians and the Moving Image is the first collection to bring together leading film-makers, academics and activists to discuss films by, for and about lesbians and queer women. The contributors debate the practice of lesbian and queer film-making, from the queer cinema of Monika Treut to the work of lesbian film-makers Andrea Weiss and Greta Schiller. They explore the pleasures and problems of lesbian spectatorship, both in mainstream Hollywood films including Aliens and Red Sonja, and in independent cinema from She Must be Seeing Things to Salmonberries and Desert Hearts. The authors tackle tricky questions: can a film such as Strictly Ballroom be both pleasurably camp and heterosexist? Is it ok to drool over dyke icons like Sigourney Weaver and kd lang? What makes a film lesbian, or queer, or even post-queer? What about showing sex on screen? And why do lesbian screen romances hardly ever have happy endings? Immortal, Invisible is splendidly illustrated with a selection of images from film and television texts.

Midwestern Journal
Midwestern Journal

Author: Howard Doughty

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2013-02-15

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1466978163

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Perhaps the reports of Mark Twain’s death have been greatly exaggerated. His literary wit and style live in Howard Doughty’s Midwestern Journal. “Edward Ellis’ fictional diary explores the human condition with humor, irony and intelligence... Thoroughly enjoyable and deceptively easy reading.” Kirkus Reviews “At its best, Midwestern Journal captures the rhythms of rural life... It’s the sort of book that, by getting us laughing at others, allows us to laugh at ourselves.” Clarion Review “Readers will find sympathy, understanding and flashes of humor in this intelligently crafted novel.” Blueink Review

Phantom Shadows
Phantom Shadows

Author: Dianne Duvall

Publisher: Zebra Books

Published: 2011-10-24

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 1420128361

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A doctor and a reformed bad-boy vampire struggle with danger and their desires in this New York Times–bestselling paranormal romantic suspense novel. Dr. Melanie Lipton is no stranger to the supernatural. She knows immortals better than they know themselves, right down to their stubborn little genes. So although a handsome rogue immortal seems suspicious to her colleagues, Sebastien Newcombe intrigues Melanie. His history is checkered, his scars are impressive, and his ideas are daring. But it's not his ideas that have Melanie fighting off surges of desire… Bastien is used to being the bad guy. In fact, he can't remember the last time he had an ally he could trust. But Melanie is different—and under her calm, professional exterior he senses a passion beyond anything in his centuries of experience. Giving in to temptation is out of the question—he can't put her in danger. But she isn't asking him… RT Book Reviews“With this excellent entry, rising star Duvall is fast proving to be a major player in paranormal romance!”— “With a deeply emotional love story, two beautiful, complex main characters, and a pulse-pounding adventure that won’t let up, this book was haunting and addictive.”—The Romance Reviews

Immortal Axes
Immortal Axes

Author: Lisa S. Johnson

Publisher:

Published: 2021-09-28

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9781648960239

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From the photographer of the critically acclaimed 108 Rock Star Guitarscomes a new collection of beautifully shot guitar photos, documenting the legendary instruments of B.B. King, Kurt Cobain, St. Vincent, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and more than one hundred and fifty icons of rock.

History and Its Images
History and Its Images

Author: Francis Haskell

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1993-01-01

Total Pages: 574

ISBN-13: 9780300059496

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Over the last four centuries, historians have turned to images in their attempts to understand and visualize the past. In this book, an art historian surveys the various ways that they have adopted for making use of this material and examines the objects that became available to them.

On Telling Images of China
On Telling Images of China

Author: Shane McCausland

Publisher: Hong Kong University Press

Published: 2013-11-01

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 9888139436

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The essays in this volume address a diverse range of issues in China’s narrative art and visual culture mainly from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) to the present. These studies attend to the complex ways in which images circulate in pictorial media and across boundaries between ‘high art’ and popular culture—images in paintings, prints, stone engravings and posters, as well as in film and video art. In addition, the authors examine the roles of ancient exemplary stories and textual narratives, as well as their reiteration in the visual arts in early modern and modern social and political contexts. The volume is divided into three sections: Representing Paradigms, Interpreting Literary Themes and Narratives, and the Medium and Modernity. While the essays in each section deal with concerns in the field of China’s art history, an editors’ introduction serves to position the topic of narrative art and to introduce definitions and genre issues which run through the book. As a whole, the volume invites reflection on the intrinsic nature of narratives and their pictorial lives, and presents new research which challenges established views and paradigms.

Ming Erotic Novellas
Ming Erotic Novellas

Author: Richard G Wang

Publisher: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press

Published: 2011-03-13

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 9629969696

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Richard Wang's Ming Erotic Novellas is path breaking in its attention to a virtually ignored body of literature that certainly influenced the writing of the Jin Ping Mei, the Sanyan vernacular stories, and most likely Li Yu's fiction. Compared to other titles in the field, this is the first scholarly monograph in any language to contextualize the erotic novellas of late imperial China. Moreover, existing studies in this area have tended to concentrate on a limited number of works of Chinese erotic fiction, or have only brushed up against these works tangentially during more general discussion of Ming and Qing literature. Ming Erotic Novellas adopts a provocative approach to fiction, moving beyond the traditional textual analyses of gender politics and the qing cult, and examining these erotic novellas as a new genre within the contexts of print culture, readership, consumption patterns, as well as religious dimensions. Ming Erotic Novellas focuses on a group of mid to late Ming literary (wenyan) novellas, which are all stories of erotic romance. These novellas include a profusion of poems mixed with prose narratives that are characterized by "simple" literary Chinese, with a tendency toward the vernacular. Their plots are complex, with some running 20,000 characters or more, allowing for nuanced character development, rich dialogue, and psychological description. Circulated widely during the Ming, the novellas had a significant impact on later erotic and "scholarbeauty" (caizi jiaren) novels. This particular group of novellas was of great importance in the development of Chinese fiction, functioning as a transitional link between the classical tale to the vernacular novel. By approaching these works through the lens of a cultural study, Wang is able to explore the social functions of the novellas as well as their significance in the development of Chinese fiction in the Ming cultural context.