Author: Esther Rashkin File Type: pdf Esther Rashkin argues that psychoanalysis galvanizes, as no other discipline can, an understanding of texts in their social, historical, and political contexts. Demonstrating that close reading can be a radical political practice, she exposes heretofore unseen ideologies concealed in works of film and literature, from Last Tango in Paris to The Picture of Dorian Gray, from Barthess Mythologies and Balzacs Sarrasine to Babettes Feast. Psychoanalytic concepts such as identification with the aggressor, the crypt, cryptonymy, illness of mourning, and the phantom allow Rashkin to reveal how shameful and unspeakable secrets propel the narratives she examines. In the process, she convincingly makes the case for a new practice of psychoanalytic cultural studies, a practice that fully engages with the politicized discoursesanti-Semitism, racism, colonialism, censorshipthat mark a texts location in history.

Author: Siân Echard File Type: pdf This book takes a unique look at the Latin Arthurian tradition, placing authors such as Geoffrey of Monmouth in the context of Latin histories, monastic chronicles, saints lives, and other Latin prose Arthurian narratives. Placing them against a background of the Angevin court of Henry II, the book introduces a new set of texts into the Arthurian canon and suggests a way to understand their place in that tradition. The unfamiliar works are summarized for the reader, and there are extensive quotations, with translations, throughout.ReviewEchards book provides a valuable resource and starting point for further study. ComitatusThanks to Echards efforts, at least the Latin tradition is now more readily accessible to us all. Arthurian Narrative in the Latin Tradition is an important study, one which deserves reprinting in paperback so that it can reach an even broader audience. ArthurianaInsofar as Echards goal is to bring some very interesting material to the attention of a wider audience, the book certainly succeeds... she has brought a number of very interesting texts to our attention. Cambridge University Press has acquitted itself very well in making an attractiv small book nicely free of typographical errors and with footnotes placed at the foot of the page where they belong. Robert M. Stein, Journal of Medieval LatinStudents of Arthurian literature will find Sian Echards Arthurian Narrative in the Latin Tradition a useful and sensible study. Speculum Book DescriptionThis book takes a unique look at the Latin Arthurian tradition, placing authors like Geoffrey of Monmouth in the context of Latin histories, monastic chronicles, saints lives, and other Latin prose Arthurian narratives. Placing them against a background of the Angevin court of Henry II, the book introduces a new set of texts into the Arthurian canon and suggests a way to understand their place in that tradition. The unfamiliar works are summarized for the reader, and there are extensive quotations, with translations, throughout.

Author: Pema Chodron File Type: pdf Best-seller Pema Chodron draws on the Buddhist concept of shenpa to help us see how certain habits of mind tend to hook us and get us stuck in states of anger, blame, self-hatred, and addiction. The good news is that once we start to recognize these patterns, they instantly begin to lose their hold on us and we can begin to change our lives for the better. This path entails uncovering three basic human qualities, explains Pema. They are natural intelligence, natural warmth, and natural openness. Everyone, everywhere, all over the globe, has these qualities and can call on them to help themselves and others. This book gives us the insights and practices we can immediately put to use in our lives to awaken these essential qualities. In her friendly and encouraging style, Pema Chodron helps us take a bold leap toward a new way of livingone that will bring about positive transformation for ourselves and for our troubled world.**

Author: Dorothy M. Figueira File Type: pdf In Aryans, Jews, Brahmins, Dorothy M. Figueira provides a fascinating account of the construction of the Aryan myth and its uses in both India and Europe from the Enlightenment to the twentieth century. The myth concerns a race that inhabits a utopian past and gives rise first to Brahmin Indian culture and then to European culture. In India, notions of the Aryan were used to develop a national identity under colonialism, one that allowed Indian elites to identify with their British rulers. It also allowed non-elites to set up a counter identity critical of their position in the caste system. In Europe, the Aryan myth provided certain thinkers with an origin story that could compete with the Biblical one and could be used to diminish the importance of the West s Jewish heritage. European racial hygienists made much of the myth of a pure Aryan race, and the Nazis later looked at India as a cautionary tale of what could happen if a nation did not remain pure. As Figueira demonstrates, the history of the Aryan myth is also a history of reading, interpretation, and imaginative construction. Initially, the ideology of the Aryan was imposed upon absent or false texts. Over time, it involved strategies of constructing, evoking, or distorting the canon. Each construction of racial identity was concerned with key issues of reading canonicity, textual accessibility, interpretive strategies of reading, and ideal readers. The book s cross-cultural investigation demonstrates how identities can be and are created from texts and illuminates an engrossing, often disturbing history that arose from these creations. **Review This is a marvelously learned and engaging book. It asks serious questions about the relations between language and race, and locates compelling answers in the texts that Indians and Europeans were reading simultaneously, often reinventing them for their respective purposes. The quality of the research and the vigor of the interpretations make this a valuable resource for cultural and intellectual historians, as well as for literary critics interested in emerging ideologies of right reading. Gauri Viswanathan, author of Outside the Fold Conversion, Modernity, and Belief From the Back Cover In Aryans, Jews, Brahmins, Dorothy Figueira provides a fascinating account of the construction of the Aryan myth and its uses in both India and Europe from the Enlightenment to the twentieth century. The myth concerns a race that inhabits a utopian past and gives rise first to Brahmin Indian culture and then to European culture. In India, notions of the Aryan were used to develop a national identity under colonialism, one that allowed Indian elites to identify with their British rulers. It also allowed non-elites to set up a counter identity critical of their position in the caste system. In Europe, the Aryan myth provided certain thinkers with an origin story that could compete with the Biblical one and could be used to diminish the importance of the Wests Jewish heritage. European racial hygienists made much of the myth of a pure Aryan race, and the Nazis later looked at India as a cautionary tale of what could happen if a nation did not remain pure. As Figueira demonstrates, the history of the Aryan myth is also a history of reading, interpretation, and imaginative construction. Initially, the ideology of the Aryan was imposed upon absent or false texts. Over time, it involved strategies of constructing, evoking, or distorting the canon. Each construction of racial identity was concerned with key issues of reading canonicity, textual accessibility, interpretive strategies of reading, and ideal readers. The books cross-cultural investigation demonstrates how identities can be and are created from texts and illuminates an engrossing, often disturbing history that arose from these creations.