The Possessed

Author : Elif Batuman
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2010-02-16
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 9781429936415

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The Possessed Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year THE TRUE BUT UNLIKELY STORIES OF LIVES DEVOTED—ABSURDLY! MELANCHOLICALLY! BEAUTIFULLY!—TO THE RUSSIAN CLASSICS No one who read Elif Batuman's first article (in the journal n+1) will ever forget it. "Babel in California" told the true story of various human destinies intersecting at Stanford University during a conference about the enigmatic writer Isaac Babel. Over the course of several pages, Batuman managed to misplace Babel's last living relatives at the San Francisco airport, uncover Babel's secret influence on the making of King Kong, and introduce her readers to a new voice that was unpredictable, comic, humane, ironic, charming, poignant, and completely, unpretentiously full of love for literature. Batuman's subsequent pieces—for The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, and the London Review of Books— have made her one of the most sought-after and admired writers of her generation, and its best traveling companion. In The Possessed we watch her investigate a possible murder at Tolstoy's ancestral estate. We go with her to Stanford, Switzerland, and St. Petersburg; retrace Pushkin's wanderings in the Caucasus; learn why Old Uzbek has one hundred different words for crying; and see an eighteenth-century ice palace reconstructed on the Neva. Love and the novel, the individual in history, the existential plight of the graduate student: all find their place in The Possessed. Literally and metaphorically following the footsteps of her favorite authors, Batuman searches for the answers to the big questions in the details of lived experience, combining fresh readings of the great Russians, from Pushkin to Platonov, with the sad and funny stories of the lives they continue to influence—including her own.

Author : Elif Batuman
Publisher : Granta Books
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2011-04-07
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781847083791

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Roaming from Tashkent to San Francisco, this is the true story of one budding writer's strange encounters with the fanatics who are devoted - absurdly! melancholically! ecstatically! - to the Russian classics. Combining fresh readings of the great Russians from Gogol to Goncharov with the sad and funny stories of the lives they continue to influence, The Possessed introduces a brilliant and distinctive new voice: comic, humane, charming, poignant and completely, and unpretentiously, full of an infectious love for literature.

Author : Elif Batuman
Publisher : Granta Books
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Russian literature
ISBN : 9781847083135

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Batuman searches for the answers to the big questions in the details of lived experience, combining fresh readings of the great Russians with the sad and funny stories of the lives they continue to influence--including her own.

Author : Fyodor Dostoevsky
Publisher : 谷月社
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2015-10-11
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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I will say at once that Stepan Trofimovitch had always filled a particular rôle among us, that of the progressive patriot, so to say, and he was passionately fond of playing the part--so much so that I really believe he could not have existed without it. Not that I would put him on a level with an actor at a theatre, God forbid, for I really have a respect for him. This may all have been the effect of habit, or rather, more exactly of a generous propensity he had from his earliest years for indulging in an agreeable day-dream in which he figured as a picturesque public character. He fondly loved, for instance, his position as a "persecuted" man and, so to speak, an "exile." There is a sort of traditional glamour about those two little words that fascinated him once for all and, exalting him gradually in his own opinion, raised him in the course of years to a lofty pedestal very gratifying to vanity. In an English satire of the last century, Gulliver, returning from the land of the Lilliputians where the people were only three or four inches high, had grown so accustomed to consider himself a giant among them, that as he walked along the streets of London he could not help crying out to carriages and passers-by to be careful and get out of his way for fear he should crush them, imagining that they were little and he was still a giant. He was laughed at and abused for it, and rough coachmen even lashed at the giant with their whips. But was that just? What may not be done by habit? Habit had brought Stepan Trofimovitch almost to the same position, but in a more innocent and inoffensive form, if one may use such expressions, for he was a most excellent man. I am even inclined to suppose that towards the end he had been entirely forgotten everywhere; but still it cannot be said that his name had never been known. It is beyond question that he had at one time belonged to a certain distinguished constellation of celebrated leaders of the last generation, and at one time--though only for the briefest moment--his name was pronounced by many hasty persons of that day almost as though it were on a level with the names of Tchaadaev, of Byelinsky, of Granovsky, and of Herzen, who had only just begun to write abroad. But Stepan Trofimovitch's activity ceased almost at the moment it began, owing, so to say, to a "vortex of combined circumstances." And would you believe it? It turned out afterwards that there had been no "vortex" and even no "circumstances," at least in that connection. I only learned the other day to my intense amazement, though on the most unimpeachable authority, that Stepan Trofimovitch had lived among us in our province not as an "exile" as we were accustomed to believe, and had never even been under police supervision at all. Such is the force of imagination! All his life he sincerely believed that in certain spheres he was a constant cause of apprehension, that every step he took was watched and noted, and that each one of the three governors who succeeded one another during twenty years in our province came with special and uneasy ideas concerning him, which had, by higher powers, been impressed upon each before everything else, on receiving the appointment. Had anyone assured the honest man on the most irrefutable grounds that he had nothing to be afraid of, he would certainly have been offended. Yet Stepan Trofimovitch was a most intelligent and gifted man, even, so to say, a man of science, though indeed, in science... well, in fact he had not done such great things in science. I believe indeed he had done nothing at all. But that's very often the case, of course, with men of science among us in Russia....

Author : Fyodor Dostoevsky
Publisher : Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2018-02-28
Category : Fiction
ISBN : PKEY:SMP2200000180407

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The Possessed. Illustrated edition Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The Possessed is a political and social satire, a large scale tragedy, which is considered amongst the four masterworks written by Dostoevsky. This psychological drama is Dostoevsky’s criticism of the political and moral nihilism, which were prevalent in Russia in 1860s. Dostoyevsky’s criticises the spreading atheism and explores a loss by a Russian man of his true national identity. The author sees nihilism as a root of many deepening social problems and in his book portrays the growing suicide rate as an inevitable ultimate self-destructing end. A fictional town somewhere in province becomes a focal point of an attempted revolution and descends into chaos. Stepan Verkhovensky represents an idealistic westernised generation of 1840s, he is a mere helpless accomplice of the ‘demonic’ force possessing the town. His son, Pyotr, is a conspirator orchestrating the revolution, while his counterpart in the moral sphere, Nikolai Stavrogin, the protagonist, dominates the book by influencing the hearts and the minds of everyone around him. Pretty illustrations by Dmitrii Rybalko provide you with new impressions from reading this legendary story.

Author : Michel de Certeau
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2000-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9780226100357

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The Possession at Loudun Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

It is August 18, 1634. Father Urbain Grandier, convicted of sorcery that led to the demonic possession of the Ursuline nuns of provincial Loudun in France, confesses his sins on the porch of the church of Saint-Pierre, then perishes in flames lit by his own exorcists. A dramatic tale that has inspired many artistic retellings, including a novel by Aldous Huxley and an incendiary film by Ken Russell, the story of the possession at Loudun here receives a compelling analysis from the renowned Jesuit historian Michel de Certeau. Interweaving substantial excerpts from primary historical documents with fascinating commentary, de Certeau shows how the plague of sorceries and possessions in France that climaxed in the events at Loudun both revealed the deepest fears of a society in traumatic flux and accelerated its transformation. In this tour de force of psychological history, de Certeau brings to vivid life a people torn between the decline of centralized religious authority and the rise of science and reason, wracked by violent anxiety over what or whom to believe. At the time of his death in 1986, Michel de Certeau was a director of studies at the école des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris. He was author of eighteen books in French, three of which have appeared in English translation as The Practice of Everyday Life,The Writing of History, and The Mystic Fable, Volume 1, the last of which is published by The University of Chicago Press. "Brilliant and innovative. . . . The Possession at Loudun is [de Certeau's] most accessible book and one of his most wonderful."—Stephen Greenblatt (from the Foreword)

Author : Fyodor Dostoevsky
Publisher : Random House
Page : 768 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2011-09-30
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781446485316

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Demons Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

'The most innovative and challenging writer of fiction in his generation in Russia' Guardian Based on a real-life crime which horrified Russia in 1869, Dostoevsky intended his novel to castigate the fanaticism of his country's new political reformers, particularly those known as Nihilists. Blackly funny, grotesque and shocking, Demons is a disturbing portrait of five young men saturated in ideology and bent on destruction, and a compelling study of terrorism. 'Marvellous...a fluid and well-paced translation' Observer

Author : A S Byatt
Publisher : Random House
Page : 624 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2012-03-31
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781446499115

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Possession Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Possession is an exhilarating novel of wit and romance, at once a literary detective novel and a triumphant love story. It is the tale of a pair of young scholars investigating the lives of two Victorian poets. Following a trail of letters, journals and poems they uncover a web of passion, deceit and tragedy, and their quest becomes a battle against time. WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE

Author : Michael Rutger
Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2019-07-23
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781538761892

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The Possession Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

"Fans of supernatural thrillers will be more than satisfied" with this novel that's in the James Rollins tradition of of a team investigating American myths and legends (Publishers Weekly). Still recovering from the shocking revelations they uncovered deep in uncharted territory in the Grand Canyon, American myth and legend investigator Nolan Moore and his team take on a new mission, investigating a rumored case of witchcraft and possession. Nolan hopes their new case, in a quaint village in the middle of the woods, will prove much more like those he and his team investigated prior to their trip to Kincaid's cavern. But as the residents' accounts of strange phenomena add up, Nolan and company begin to suspect something all too real and dangerous may be at play. A force that may not be willing to let them escape the village unscathed.

Author : Tadd Ruetenik
Publisher : Springer
Page : 169 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2018-07-04
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783319916231

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The Demons of William James Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book is a psychological exploration of unusual minds, a religious exploration of demonological myth, and a philosophical exploration of the reaches of pragmatism. It uses topics such as hypnotism, mediumship, and mass possession to argue for a comprehensive understanding of the demonic that acknowledges not only the creativity which it encourages, but also the danger it can bring. Professor Ruetenik uses James’ religious pragmatism to evaluate the relevance of psychical research, and to explain common beliefs regarding demons, spirits, and other controlling personalities. The conclusion of this interdisciplinary research is as alarming as it is fascinating: When exploring the demons of William James, we discover that ordinary personality cannot be clearly separated from what we consider the demonic.

Author : William M. Alexander
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2001-08-21
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781579107253

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Demonic Possession in the New Testament Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Demon possession in New Testament times was real, contends the author in the face of rationalistic denials. A study of the Gospels reveals that genuine demon possession had two distinctive elements: (1) insanity or idiocy of some sort, forming the natural element,Ó and (2) the confession of Jesus as Messiah, forming the supernatural element.Ó The author's research also led him to conclude that demon possession in the New Testament is a unique phenomenon in the history of the world, being confined indeed to the earlier portion of the ministry of our Lord.Ó Why did this phenomenon erupt when it did? The incarnation initiated the establishment of the kingdom of heaven upon earth. That determined a countermovement among the powers of darkness. Genuine demonic possession was one of its manifestations.Ó Entire chapters are devoted to historic demonology, medical aspects of demonic possession, the existence of genuine demonic possession, the New Testament narratives concerning the Beelzebul controversyÓ and the Gerasene affair,Ó and the alleged continuance of genuine demonic possession.

Author : Albert Camus
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 182 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 1959
Category : Drama
ISBN : OCLC:15139137

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The Possessed Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Author : Matthew Wood
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2016-04-08
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781317077589

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Possession, Power and the New Age Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book provides a new sociological account of contemporary religious phenomena such as channelling, holistic healing, meditation and divination, which are usually classed as part of a New Age Movement. Drawing on his extensive ethnography carried out in the UK, alongside comparative studies in America and Europe, Matthew Wood criticises the view that such phenomena represent spirituality in which self-authority is paramount. Instead, he emphasises the role of social authority and the centrality of spirit possession, linking these to participants' class positions and experiences of secularisation. Informed by sociological and anthropological approaches to social power and practice, especially the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault, Wood's study explores what he calls the nonformative regions of the religious field, and charts similarities and differences with pagan, spiritualist and Theosophical traditions.

Author : Harold Bloom
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 546 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2020-03-17
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780525562474

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Possessed by Memory Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

"Wonderful. . . . Spectacular. . . . You feel the pulse of life, what poetry can bring to us if we let it." —The Philadelphia Inquirer "This audacious personal odyssey offers readers a cosmos of possibilities when contemplating what happens once we 'shuffle off this mortal coil.'" —The Christian Science Monitor "An elegiac meditation on a life lived through books." —O, The Oprah Magazine "The great critic revisits the literature that has meant most to him." —The New York Times Book Review Here is the daringly original literary critic's most personal book: a four-part spiritual autobiography in the form of brief, luminous readings of poetry, drama, and prose—much of which he has known by heart since childhood. As one of his own mentors, M. H. Abrams, has said, to read Bloom's commentaries is like "reading classic authors by flashes of lightning." Gone are the polemics; here Bloom argues elegiacally with nobody but himself. In "A Voice she Heard Before the World Was Made," he offers startling meditations on foundational concerns of Biblical study. "In the Elegy Season" finds him coming to terms movingly, from a new vantage, with writers on whom he has brooded for much of his life. And with brio and bravura in "The Imperfect Is Our Paradise," Bloom ranges dazzlingly through twentieth-century American poetry, from Wallace Stevens to Amy Clampitt. Possessed by Memory, in short, is essential Bloom.

Author : Reussie Miliardario
Publisher : Reussie Miliardario
Page : 235 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2011-12-07
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781461184898

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Girl Possessed Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Aside from the hump on her back, aside from the fact that she hides away in an island cave near Hollywood, aside from the fact that music plays in her mind, Cordellia Dressemme seems like an ordinary teenager. At least Cordellia thought she was ordinary, that is before the U.S. economy crash and before alluring music began playing in her mind, music that only she and the most devilishly handsome bad boy can hear.Why is she so undeniably drawn to this mysterious boy with wicked silver eyes and a crooked grin that makes her body tingle all over? And why did he take her away to enchanting woods with mesmerizing waterfalls and a spellbinding lake only to avoid her like the plague?But, worse than that, the music possesses her thoughts. It draws her to the boy and to aprohibited place. So many seductive tunes and the dreams and the visions... It lures her to the point of near madness to a place that could kill her andeveryone she loves. But, she can't help it--when she sees the boy running toward the forbidden, she can't help but chase after him, she can't help but sacrifice everything for him. He is her other half even if he is entirely bad.