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Politics is no longer the art of the possible, but of the fictive. Its aim is not to change the world as it exists, but to affect the way that it is perceived. In Storytelling Christian Salmon looks at the twenty-first century hijacking of creative imagination, anatomizing the timeless human desire for narrative form, and how this desire is abused by the marketing mechanisms that bolster politicians and their products: luxury brands trade on embellished histories, managers tell stories to motivate employees, soldiers in Iraq train on Hollywood-conceived computer games, and spin doctors construct political lives as if they were a folk epic. This "storytelling machine" is masterfully unveiled by Salmon, and is shown to be more effective and insidious as a means of oppression than anything dreamed up by Orwell.
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This collection of twenty-one unabridged interviews puts us immediately in the company of one of the presiding literary figures of our times. This revered editor, poet, literary historian, and critic encapsulates seven decades of American literature in these conversations that took place between 1942 and 1985. Full of insights and strong opinions, direct, salty, Cowley converses candidly with his interviewers about himself and about many subjects and personages that have shaped our national literature in the last century. Throughout this volume Cowley gives vivid accounts of his close alliances with such widely diverse and individual authors as William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Hart Crane, John Cheever, Jack Kerouac, and Ken Kesey. From these interviews emerges a literary man who inspires the reader's renewed admiration and gratitude. In the common bond uniting great authors Cowley sees the manifestation of a Republic of Letters with laws, intelligence, and confraternity. These magnificently articulate interviews leave little doubt that Cowley is its elder statesman.
With research sourced by the world's greatest libraries, Robbins has compiled a rational, balanced history of 300 years of horror concentrated primarily in Western Europe. Spanning from the 15th century through the 18th century, the witch-hunt frenzy marks a period of suppressed rational thought; never before have so many been so wrong. To better understand this phenomenon, Robbins examines how the meaning of "witch" has evolved and exposes the true nature of witchcraft—a topic widely discussed in popular culture, though remarkably misunderstood. First published in 1959, Robbins' encyclopedia remains the most authoritative and comprehensive body of information about witchcraft and demonology ever compiled in a single volume. Lavishly acclaimed in academic and popular reviews, this full-scale compendium of fact, history, and legend covers about every phase of this fascinating subject from its origins in the medieval times to its last eruptions in the 18th century. Accompanying the text are 250 illustrations from rare books, contemporary prints, and old manuscripts, many of which have been published here for the first time.
This book explores the evolutionary and cognitive foundations of human communication, focusing on narrative as its distinctive dimension. Within a framework of continuity with both the communication of our hominin predecessors and that of non-human animals, the book is about a twofold proposal. It includes the idea that (human and animal) communication has an intrinsically persuasive nature along with the hypothesis that humans developed narrative forms of communication in order to enhance their persuasive abilities. In this view, narrative persuasion becomes the feature that distinguishes human communication from animal communication. The study of the transition from animal communication to...
Rzepka draws on more than twelve hours of personal interviews with Leonard and applies what he learned to his close analysis of the writer's long life and prodigious output: 45 published novels, 39 published and unpublished short stories, and numerous essays written over the course of six decades.--David Geherin, Eastern Michigan University "International Crime Fiction Association"
Although he belonged to an American generation of writers deeply influenced by the high modernist revolt "against nature" and against the self-imposed limits of realism to a palpable world, William Faulkner reveals throughout his work an abiding sensitivity to the natural world. He writes of the big woods, of animals, and of the human body as a ground of being that art and culture can neither transcend nor completely control. The eleven essays that make up this volume, including a paper written by the acclaimed novelist William Kennedy, explore the place of "the unbuilt world" in Faulkner's fiction. They give particular attention to the social, mythic, and economic significance of nature, to...
The first comprehensive collection of contemporary published reactions to the writing of William Faulkner from 1926 to 1962, these articles document the response of reviewers to specific works, and chronicle the development of Faulkner's reputation among the nation's book reviewers. It has often been assumed that a poor reception in the popular review publications contributed to Faulkner's lack of commercial success. The material presented here tends to refute that assumption, clarifying the development of Faulkner's literary career and providing a fuller understanding of the part played by book reviewing in the sales, promotion, and success of American literature.
"This comprehensive reference covers all the important aspects of heat exchangers (HEs)--their design and modes of operation--and practical, large-scale applications in process, power, petroleum, transport, air conditioning, refrigeration, cryogenics, heat recovery, energy, and other industries. Reflecting the author's extensive practical experienc
This book evaluates the latest developments in nickel alloys and high-alloy special stainless steels by material number, price, wear rate in corrosive media, mechanical and metallurgical characteristics, weldability, and resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion. Nickel Alloys is at the forefront in the search for the most economic solutions to c