This celebrated Russian emigre novelist chronicles his encounter with America; through his eyes readers see the psyche, the landscape and the cultural life of the United States. Contains a new postscript on Gorbachev.
In the 14th century, beset by wars, plague, famine, and social unrest, French writers saw themselves in the winter of literature, a time for retreat into reflection. Yet, in the midst of their troubles, as this extraordinary study reveals, large number of Latin texts were translated into French, opening up new areas of thought and literary exploration. 8 color illustrations.
Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt/M., New York, Oxford, Wien. Schweizer Asiatische Studien. Monographien. Bd. 38 Herausgegeben von Robert Gassmann. The reception of China in the West is very often dominated by Chinese scholars like Lin Yutang who defined the Chinese people as 'joyful beings' and Chinese civilization as a 'civilization of joy'. Nonetheless, in the history of Chinese thought since ancient times not only the expression of sadness itself but also guidelines to its expression can be found. How are we to understand this? These papers from the Bonn conference 'Melancholy and Society in China' explore various aspects of this issue. Contents: Wolfgang Kubin: Introduction - Monika Motsch: The Disentangling of the Silk-knot: A Chinese-Western 'Anatomy of Melancholy' - Karl-Heinz Pohl: Scholars Scorn Each Other, Don't They? On the Psychology of (Not Only) Chinese Literati - Lutz Bieg: Laughter in China during the Ming and Qing Era: Preliminary Comments on Zhao Nanxing's Xiao Zan - Cheng Chung-Ying: Morality of Daode and Overcoming of Melancholy in Classical Chinese Philosophy - Barbara Hendrischke: Joy and Sadness in Daoism - Hans-Georg Moller: Lonely Hearts: How Does It Feel to Be Alone in Daoism? - Thomas Zimmer: The Illness without Name: The Problem of Melancholy in the Chinese Novel Xiyouji - Donald Holoch: Melancholy Phoenix: Self Ascending from the Ashes of History (From Shiji to Rulin Waisht) - Wong Kam-Ming: The Allure of Melancholy: The Anxiety of Allusion in Hongloumeng - Hans Kuhner: Tears of Strength or Tears of Weakness? Lao Can Youji and the Aporias of Political and Moral Commitment in Late Imperial China - Jon Kowallis: Melancholy in Late Qing and Early RepublicanEra Verse - Wai-Lim Yip: Condemned to Cultural Displacements: The Case of Modern China - Tao Tao Liu: Exile, Homesickness and Displacement in Modern Chinese Literature - Helmut Martin: 'Like a Film Abruptly Tom off': Tension and Despair in Zhang Ailing's Writing Experience - Bonnie S. McDougall: Lu Xun Hates China, Lu Xun Hates Lu Xun - Tsau Shu-Ying: 'They Learn in Suffering What They Teach in Song': Lu Xun and Kuriyagawa Hakuson's Symbols of Anguish.
From breathtaking stop-action animation to bittersweet modern fairy tales, filmmaker Tim Burton has become known for his unique visual brilliance -- witty and macabre at once. Now he gives birth to a cast of gruesomely sympathetic children -- misunderstood outcasts who struggle to find love and belonging in their cruel, cruel worlds. His lovingly lurid illustrations evoke both the sweetness and the tragedy of these dark yet simple beings -- hopeful, hapless heroes who appeal to the ugly outsider in all of us, and let us laugh at a world we have long left behind (mostly anyway).
Compared by critics across the country to War and Peace for its memorable characters and sweep, and to Dr. Zhivago for its portrayal of Stalin's Russia, Generations of Winter is the romantic saga of the Gradov family from 1925 to 1945. "A long, lavish plunge into another world."--USA Today.
Alberto Manguel praises the Hungarian writer László Földényi as “one of the most brilliant essayists of our time.” Földényi’s extraordinary Melancholy, with its profusion of literary, ecclesiastical, artistic, and historical insights, gives proof to such praise. His book, part history of the term melancholy and part analysis of the melancholic disposition, explores many centuries to explore melancholy’s ambiguities. Along the way Földényi discovers the unrecognized role melancholy may play as a source of energy and creativity in a well-examined life. Földényi begins with a tour of the history of the word melancholy, from ancient Greece to the medieval era, the Renaissance, and modern times. He finds the meaning of melancholy has always been ambiguous, even paradoxical. In our own times it may be regarded either as a psychic illness or a mood familiar to everyone. The author analyzes the complexities of melancholy and concludes that its dual nature reflects the inherent tension of birth and mortality. To understand the melancholic disposition is to find entry to some of the deepest questions one’s life. This distinguished translation brings Földényi’s work directly to English-language readers for the first time.
BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.