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Romanticism had its roots in fantasy and fed on myth'. So Roderick Cavaliero introduces the European Romantic obsession with the Orient.Cavaliero draws on a life-time's research in Romantic literature and introduces a rich cast of leading Romantic writers,artists,musicians and travellers,including Beckford,Byron, Shelley,Walter Scott,Pierre Loti,Thomas Moore,Rossini,Eugene Delacroix,Thackeray and Disraeli,and a host of other Romantics,who were drawn to the Orient in the 18th and 19th centuries.They luxuriate in its exotic sights,sounds,literature and,above all, in the prevailing mythology.Cavaliero analyses the Romantic vision where,as Byron writes, there are 'virgins soft as the roses they ...
This book presents gendered readings of cultural manifestations that relate to the Ottoman era as a preferred past and a model for the future. By means of claims of authenticity and the distribution of imaginaries of a homogenous desirable alternative to everyday concerns, as well as invoking an imperial past at the national level. In this mode of thinking, shaped around a polarised worldview, Republican ideals serve as a counter-image to the promoted splendour and harmony of the Ottomans. Yet, the stereotypical gender roles inextricably linked with this neo-Ottoman imaginary remain largely unacknowledged, dissimulated in the construction of the desire of an idealised past. Our adaption of a cultural studies perspective in this volume puts special emphasis on agency, gender, and authority. It provides a shared ground for the interrogation, through the contributions comprising this project of knowledge production about the past in light of what constitutes acceptable legitimacy in interpreting not only the canonical literature, but history at large.
In these essays, dancers and scholars from around the world carefully consider the transformation of an improvised folk form from North Africa and the Middle East into a popular global dance practice. They explore the differences between the solo improvisational forms of North Africa and the Middle East, often referred to as raqs sharki, which are part of family celebrations, and the numerous globalized versions of this dance form, belly dance, derived from the movement vocabulary of North Africa and the Middle East but with a variety of performance styles distinct from its site of origin. Local versions of belly dance have grown and changed along with the role that dance plays in the community. The global evolution of belly dance is an inspiring example of the interplay of imagination, the internet and the social forces of local communities. All royalties are being donated to Women for Women International, an organization dedicated to supporting women survivors of war through economic, health, and social education programs. The contributors are proud to provide continuing sponsorship to such a worthwhile and necessary cause.
Taxonomies of Orientalism in art, from Piotr Uklanski Celebrated Polish-born artist Piotr Uklanski (born 1968) established himself in the mid-1990s with a diverse body of work examining the ever-changing relationship between identity, history and culture. Continuing this investigation, Uklanski's new book, Ottomania, traces the phenomenon of Orientalist portraiture over the past 500 years. This book contains over 200 paintings, drawings, prints and photography--images of men in turbans, theatrically embellished masculine dress, richly decorated fabrics, the codification of facial hair and the romantic settings of Ottoman or Persian court life--from Rembrandt, Zurbarán, Liotard, Tiepolo, Rubens, Delacroix, Schiele, Matisse, Picasso, de Chirico, Dalí, Balthus and Leonor Fini. Uklanski orders the works roughly by theme, demonstrating how Western artists exploited key Orientalist signifiers, in dress, setting and pose, in order to portray their sitters--men, women and children--as worldly, romantic and in other ways exotic.
Diplomats had multiple tasks: not only negotiating with the representatives of other states, but also mediating culture and knowledge, and not least elaborating reports on their observations of politics, society, and culture. Culture, according to the studies featured in this book, is defined as a complex sphere including aspects like systems of communication, literature, music, arts, education, and the creation of knowledge. This edition containing contributions from six conferences held in Vienna and Istanbul by the Don Juan Archiv Wien focuses on the complex diplomatic and cultural relations between the Ottoman Empire and Europe from the time of the early embassies to Istanbul up to "Tanzimat".
This volume starts out with two contrasting studies of monuments. How does the seemingly stability of stone and bronze hide a constantly changing cultural use? Anne Eriksen looks at the history of ruins in Norway. The murmur of ruins turns out to be a speech of modernity, a way of emotionalising place and history. Viktoriya Hryaban discusses the fate of socialist monuments in Ukraine and shows how the attempts to create alternative post-socialist memorials reproduce a traditional Soviet cultural grammar. Lace is a dominating decorative element in many Turkish Dutch homes. It has become a sign of "Turkishness" but as Hilje van der Horst points out, people's relations to this mundane domestic ...
Whether re-creating an actual event or simply being set in a bygone era, films have long taken liberties with the truth. While some members of the audience can appreciate a movie without being distracted by historical inaccuracies, other viewers are more discerning. From revered classics like Gone with the Wind to recent award winners like Argo, Hollywood films often are taken to task for their loose adherence to the facts. But what obligation do filmmakers have to the truth when trying to create a two-hour piece of entertainment? In Bringing History to Life through Film: The Art of Cinematic Storytelling, Kathryn Anne Morey brings together essays that explore the controversial issue of film...
God Does Not Love The Workers The sewers of Bucharest, Romania, Christmas 1989. Vlad and other Securitate secret police comrades fan out across a city about to fall to counter-revolution. The show trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu are broadcast on television. Vlad, raised as an assassin in a Securitate orphanage in Targoviste, home of Vlad the Impaler, vows to avenge the death of his adoptive 'parents' in that very town. Moving from safe-house to safe-house, with help from remnants of the regime, he begins to pick off those involved in the murders. Vlad wanders around the new Romania, observing the turning of coats, the miners' rampages, meeting other post-communist undead. As European integration and a 'fully functioning market economy' beckon, he carves, quite literally, a lucrative and grisly niche. Love and fatherhood remain a possibility. But Vlad, like the stray dogs and street walkers he frequents, knows that life is becoming increasingly dangerous. As one victim exclaims: 'God does not love the workers!'
The book series "Ottomania" researches cultural transfers between the Ottoman Empire and Europe, with the performing arts as its focus. The fifth volume of the sub-series Ottoman Empire and European Theatre focuses on The Turkish Subject in Ballet and Dance from the seventeenth century to the time of Christoph W. Gluck (1714-1787). The Turkish theme was a popular topic on European ballet stages throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and most influential choreographers had 'Turkish' ballets in their repertoire. Taking as its departure point Ch. W. Gluck and Gasparo Angiolini (1741-1803), succesful composer and choreographer of ballets at the French theatre in Vienna, this publication discusses the topic from a historical perspective, presents new findings, and introduces the latest scholarly achievements of the research field. Contributions by Emre Aracı, Bruce Alan Brown, David Chataignier, Sibylle Dahms, Vera Grund, Bert Gstettner, Bent Holm, Michael Hüttler, Evren Kutlay, Dóra Kiss, Laura Naudeix, Strother Purdy, Katalin Rumpler, Käthe Springer-Dissmann, Dirk Van Waelderen, Hans Ernst Weidinger
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