Elemental Narratives

Author : Enrico Cesaretti
Publisher : Penn State Press
Page : 404 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2020-09-29
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780271088471

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Elemental Narratives by Enrico Cesaretti Pdf

Over the past century, the Italian landscape has undergone exceedingly rapid transformations, shifting from a mostly rural environment to a decidedly modern world. This changing landscape is endowed with a narrative agency that transforms how we understand our surroundings. Situated at the juncture of Italian studies and ecocriticism and following the recent “material turn” in the environmental humanities, Elemental Narratives outlines an original cultural and environmental map of the bel paese. Giving equal weight to readings of fiction, nonfiction, works of visual art, and physical sites, Enrico Cesaretti investigates the interconnected stories emerging from both human creativity and the expressive eloquence of “glocal” materials, such as sulfur, petroleum, marble, steel, and asbestos, that have helped make and, simultaneously, “un-make” today’s Italy, affecting its socio-environmental health in multiple ways. Embracing the idea of a decentralized agency that is shared among human and nonhuman entities, Cesaretti suggests that engaging with these entangled discursive and material texts is a sound and revealing ecocritical practice that promises to generate new knowledge and more participatory, affective responses to environmental issues, both in Italy and elsewhere. Ultimately, he argues that complementing quantitative, data-based information with insights from fiction and nonfiction, the arts, and other humanistic disciplines is both desirable and crucial if we want to modify perceptions and attitudes, increase our awareness and understanding, and, in turn, develop more sustainable worldviews in the era of the Anthropocene. Elegantly written and convincingly argued, this book will appeal broadly to scholars and students working in the fields of environmental studies, comparative literatures, ecocriticism, environmental history, and Italian studies.

Author : Markus Altena Davidsen
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 271 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2018-10-16
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781351362634

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Narrative and Belief by Markus Altena Davidsen Pdf

The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and certain other works of fantasy and science fiction have inspired some of their readers and viewers to believe that the superhuman powers of the story-worlds, such as Gandalf and the Force, exist also in the real world. We can say that such fictional narratives possess ‘religious affordance’, for they contain certain textual features that afford or make possible a religious, rather than just a fictional, use of the text. This book aims to identify those features of the text that make it possible for a fictional narrative to inspire belief in the supernatural beings of the story, or even to facilitate ritual interaction with these beings. The contributions analyse the religious affordance and actual use of a wide range of texts, spanning from Harry Potter and Star Wars, over The Lord of the Rings and late 19th-century Scandinavian fantasy, to the Christian Gospels. Although we focus on the religious affordance of fictional texts, we also spell out implications for the study of religious narratives in general, and for the narrativist study of religion. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Religion.

Author : Raul Lejano,Mrill Ingram,Helen Ingram
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 243 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2013-07-26
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780262019378

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The Power of Narrative in Environmental Networks by Raul Lejano,Mrill Ingram,Helen Ingram Pdf

Theory and case studies demonstrate the analytic potential of mutually constitutive “narrative networks” in environmental governance.

Author : Timothy Neale,Courtney Addison,Thao Phan
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 303 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2022-08-31
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781487563592

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An Anthropogenic Table of Elements by Timothy Neale,Courtney Addison,Thao Phan Pdf

An Anthropogenic Table of Elements provides a contemporary rethinking of Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic table of elements, bringing together "elemental" stories to reflect on everyday life in the Anthropocene. Concise and engaging, this book provides stories of scale, toxicity, and temporality that extrapolate on ideas surrounding ethics, politics, and materiality that are fundamental to this contemporary moment. Examining elemental objects and forces, including carbon, mould, cheese, ice, and viruses, the contributors question what elemental forms are still waiting to emerge and what political possibilities of justice and environmental reparation they might usher into the world. Bringing together anthropologists, historians, and media studies scholars, this book tests a range of possible ways to tabulate and narrate the elemental as a way to bring into view fresh discussion on material constitutions and, thereby, new ethical stances, responsibilities, and power relations. In doing so, An Anthropogenic Table of Elements demonstrates through elementality that even the smallest and humblest stories are capable of powerful effects and vast journeys across time and space.

Author : Matthew Garrett
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 301 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2018-10-31
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781108428477

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The Cambridge Companion to Narrative Theory by Matthew Garrett Pdf

Narrative theory is essential to everything from history to lyric poetry, from novels to the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Narrative theory explores how stories work and how we make them work. This Companion is both an introduction and a contribution to the field. It presents narrative theory as an approach to understanding all kinds of cultural production: from literary texts to historiography, from film and videogames to philosophical discourse. It takes the long historical view, outlines essential concepts, and reflects on the way narrative forms connect with and rework social forms. The volume analyzes central premises, identifies narrative theory's feminist foundations, and elaborates its significance to queer theory and issues of race. The specially commissioned essays are exciting to read, uniting accessibility and rigor, traditional concerns with a renovated sense of the field as a whole, and analytical clarity with stylistic dash. Topical and substantial, The Cambridge Companion to Narrative Theory is an engaging resource on a key contemporary concept.

Author : Lajos Horváth
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 269 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2024-05-08
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9783031569203

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The Affective Core Self by Lajos Horváth Pdf

Author : Muhsin J. al-Musawi
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 347 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2009-05-13
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780231519465

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The Islamic Context of The Thousand and One Nights by Muhsin J. al-Musawi Pdf

In this fascinating study, Muhsin J. al-Musawi shows how deeply Islamic heritage and culture is embedded in the tales of The Thousand and One Nights (known to many as the Arabian Nights) and how this integration invites readers to make an Islamic milieu. Conservative Islam dismisses The Thousand and One Nights as facile popular literature, and liberal views disregard the rich Islamic context of the text. Approaching the text with a fresh and unbiased eye, al-Musawi reads the tales against Islamic schools of thought and theology and recovers persuasive historical evidence to reveal the cultural and religious struggle over Islam that drives the book's narrative tension and binds its seemingly fragmented stories. Written by a number of authors over a stretch of centuries, The Thousand and One Nights depicts a burgeoning, urban Islamic culture in all its variety and complexity. As al-Musawi demonstrates, the tales document their own places and periods of production, reflecting the Islamic individual's growing exposure to a number of entertainments and temptations and their conflict with the obligations of faith. Aimed at a diverse audience, these stories follow a narrative arc that begins with corruption and ends with redemption, conforming to a paradigm that concurs with the sociological and religious concerns of Islam and the Islamic state. By emphasizing Islam in his analysis of these entertaining and instructional tales, al-Musawi not only illuminates the work's consistent equation between art and life, but he also sheds light on its underlying narrative power. His study offers a brilliant portrait of medieval Islam as well, especially its social, political, and economic institutions and its unique practices of storytelling.

Author : Frederick Luis Aldama
Publisher : University of Texas Press
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2010-01-01
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780292784338

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A User's Guide to Postcolonial and Latino Borderland Fiction by Frederick Luis Aldama Pdf

Why are so many people attracted to narrative fiction? How do authors in this genre reframe experiences, people, and environments anchored to the real world without duplicating "real life"? In which ways does fiction differ from reality? What might fictional narrative and reality have in common—if anything? By analyzing novels such as Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace, Zadie Smith's White Teeth, and Hari Kunzru's The Impressionist, along with selected Latino comic books and short fiction, this book explores the peculiarities of the production and reception of postcolonial and Latino borderland fiction. Frederick Luis Aldama uses tools from disciplines such as film studies and cognitive science that allow the reader to establish how a fictional narrative is built, how it functions, and how it defines the boundaries of concepts that appear susceptible to limitless interpretations. Aldama emphasizes how postcolonial and Latino borderland narrative fiction authors and artists use narrative devices to create their aesthetic blueprints in ways that loosely guide their readers' imagination and emotion. In A User's Guide to Postcolonial and Latino Borderland Fiction, he argues that the study of ethnic-identified narrative fiction must acknowledge its active engagement with world narrative fictional genres, storytelling modes, and techniques, as well as the way such fictions work to move their audiences.

Author : Dan Davies,Alan Howe,Christopher Collier,Rebecca Digby,Sarah Earle,Kendra McMahon
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2019-04-30
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780429876769

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Teaching Science and Technology in the Early Years (3–7) by Dan Davies,Alan Howe,Christopher Collier,Rebecca Digby,Sarah Earle,Kendra McMahon Pdf

Teaching Science and Technology in the Early Years (3–7) celebrates young children’s amazing capabilities as scientists, designers and technologists. Research-based yet practical and accessible, it demonstrates how scientific designing and making activities are natural to young children, and have the potential for contributing to all aspects of their learning. By identifying the scientific and technological concepts, skills and activities being developed, the book enables the reader to make more focused diagnostic observations of young children and plan for how they can help move them forward in their learning. This third edition has been thoroughly updated and features: fresh insights into young children’s learning from neuroscience and ‘new-materialist’ perspectives; a UK-wide perspective on Early Years curricula and how they support the inclusion of science and technology as an entitlement for young children; new case studies of successful, evidence-based Early Years practice, alongside new examples of practical planning for learning, and advice on documenting children’s learning stories; an updated chapter on assessing and documenting children’s learning, drawing upon findings from the Teacher Assessment in Primary Science (TAPS) project at Bath Spa University. Based on the latest research and first-hand experience, this practical and accessible book is essential reading for Early Years and Primary students on undergraduate, PGCE and Masters-level courses.

Author : Leland Ryken,Tremper Longman III
Publisher : Zondervan Academic
Page : 535 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2010-08-10
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780310877424

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The Complete Literary Guide to the Bible by Leland Ryken,Tremper Longman III Pdf

A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible is consideration of the Bible from a literary perspective, reflecting contemporary interest in the academic world of the Bible as literature. This collection of essays addresses both specific books of the Bible and general topics dealing with the Bible. The four main sections of the book are; The Bible as Literature, The Literature of the Old Testament, The Literature of the New Testament, and The Literary Influence of the Bible. The editors for A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible are Leland Ryken and Tremper Longman III. Contributors include: Fredrick Buechner, Novelist John Sailhamer, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Wilson G. Baroody, Arizona State University William F. Gentrup, Arizona State University Kenneth R.R. Gros, Louis Indiana University Willard Van Antwerpen, Indiana University Nancy Tischler, The Pennsylvania State University Michael Hagan, North American Baptist Seminary Richard L. Pratt, Jr., Reformed Theological Seminary Douglas Green, Yale University Wilma McClarty, Southern College Jerry A. Gladson, First Christian Church, Garden Grove, California Raymond C. Van Leeouwen, Calvin Theological Seminary Richard Patterson, Liberty University James H. Sims, The University of Southern Mississippi Branson L. Woodard, Jr. Liberty University Amberys R. Whittle, Georgia Southern University John H. Augustine, Yale University Michael Travers, Grand Rapids Baptist College Marianne Meye Thompson, Fuller Theological Seminary John W. Sider, Westmont College Carey C. Newman, Palm Beach Atlantic College William G. Doty, The University of Alabama/Tuscaloosa Chaim Potak, Novelist Gene Warren Doty, University of Missouri-Rolla Sidney Greidanus, Calvin Theological Seminary XXXXXXX

Author : Monica Seger
Publisher : University of Virginia Press
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2022-06-10
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780813948379

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Toxic Matters by Monica Seger Pdf

In Toxic Matters, Monica Seger considers two Italian environmental disasters: an isolated factory explosion in Seveso, just north of Milan, in 1976 and the ongoing daily toxic emissions from the Ilva steelworks in the Apulian city of Taranto. Both have exposed residents to high concentrations of the persistent organic pollutant known as dioxin. Although different in terms of geography and temporality, Seveso and Taranto are deeply united by this nearly imperceptible substance, and by the representational complexities it poses. They are also united by creative narrative expressions, in literary, cinematic, and other forms, that push back against dominant contexts and representations perpetuated by state and industrial actors. Seger traces a dialogue between Seveso and Taranto, exploring an interplay between bodies, soil, industrial emissions, and the wealth of dynamic particulate matter that passes in between. At the same time, she emphasizes the crucial function of narrative expression for making sense of this modern-day reality and for shifting existing power dynamics as exposed communities exercise their voices. While Toxic Matters, is grounded in Italian cases and texts, it looks outward to the pressing questions of toxicity, embodiment, and storytelling faced by communities worldwide.

Author : Bruce A. Rosenberg
Publisher : Univ. of Tennessee Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 1991
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0870496816

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Folklore and Literature by Bruce A. Rosenberg Pdf

Literature's dependence on a few folktale plots is a cliche, and the significance of structuralist theory cannot have escaped many scholars, so Rosenberg's insistence on the interrelation of folklore and literature is nothing new. He surveys the foundational work of Aarne, Thompson, and Propp and the oral-formulaic theories of Parry and Lord, but the references are too elliptical to be clear to nonspecialists, while explanations of methodology will be redundant to folklorists. Bits of good material, of interest to medievalists and other literary scholars (especially on Beo wulf and on Chaucerian narrative), are buried in this disjointed collection of chapters. Serious editorial lapses include the complete absence of footnotes, forcing inappropriate supplementary matter into the body of the text and further blurring its weak structure. The parity of literary and narrative-folklore studies is the author's underlying theme, but his preoccupation with status in the academic hierarchy does nothing to make his arguments on the symbiosis of the two disciplines more convincing. - Patricia Dooley, Univ. of Washington Lib. Sch., Seattle Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Author : James Combs
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 375 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2010-08-11
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781443824699

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Wit's End by James Combs Pdf

This book is a study of the “Great Movies,” that fluid category of feature films deemed by various authorities—film societies, critics, academics, and movie enthusiasts—to be the enduring and memorable works of cinematic history. But what are they about? In Wit’s End, the author attempts to “make sense” of these films in order to understand their greatness in the context of their relation to other films and to the worlds they come from and recreate on screen. To that end, we employ the conceptual power of pragmatic social theory and the rich idea of aesthesis to explore and arrange these films as a means of understanding what they express about the universality of human life in our keen use of wit, organization of social wont, and direction of cultural way. It is hoped that such an inquiry will illuminate the glory of the great films and contribute to the advance of film studies.

Author : William J. Bauer, Jr., Jr.
Publisher : University of Washington Press
Page : 184 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2016-08-25
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780295806693

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California through Native Eyes by William J. Bauer, Jr., Jr. Pdf

Most California histories begin with the arrival of the Spanish missionaries in the late eighteenth century and conveniently skip to the Gold Rush of 1849. Noticeably absent from these stories are the perspectives and experiences of the people who lived on the land long before European settlers arrived. Historian William Bauer seeks to correct that oversight through an innovative approach that tells California history strictly through Native perspectives. Using oral histories of Concow, Pomo, and Paiute workers, taken as part of a New Deal federal works project, Bauer reveals how Native peoples have experienced and interpreted the history of the land we now call California. Combining these oral histories with creation myths and other oral traditions, he demonstrates the importance of sacred landscapes and animals and other nonhuman actors to the formation of place and identity. He also examines tribal stories of ancestors who prophesied the coming of white settlers and uses their recollections of the California Indian Wars to push back against popular narratives that seek to downplay Native resistance. The result both challenges the �California story� and enriches it with new voices and important points of view, serving as a model for understanding Native historical perspectives in other regions.

Author : Walter Brueggemann
Publisher : Fortress Press
Page : 598 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2012-06-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780800699314

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Theology of the Old Testament by Walter Brueggemann Pdf

In this powerful book, Walter Brueggemann moves the discussion of Old Testament theology beyond the dominant models of previous generations. Brueggemann focuses on the metaphor and imagery of the courtroom trial in order to regard the theological substance of the Old Testament as a series of claims asserted for Yahweh, the God of Israel. This provides a context that attends to pluralism in every dimension of the interpretive process and suggests links to the plurality of voices of our time.