This volume examines the multifaceted ways in which textual material in nineteenth-century European cultures intersected with non-literary cultural artefacts and concepts. The essays consider the presence of such diverse phenomena as the dandy, nationhood, diasporic identity, operatic and dramatic personae and effects, trapeze artists, paintings, and the grotesque and fantastic in the work of a variety of writers from France, Germany, Spain, Britain, Russia, Greece and Italy. The volume argues for a view of the long nineteenth century as a century of lively cultural dialogue and exchange between national and sub-national cultures, between 'high' and popular art forms, and between different genres and different media, and it will be of interest to general readers and scholars alike.

This volume examines the multifaceted ways in which textual material in nineteenth-century European cultures intersected with non-literary cultural artefacts and concepts. The essays consider the presence of such diverse phenomena as the dandy, nationhood, diasporic identity, operatic and dramatic personae and effects, trapeze artists, paintings, and the grotesque and fantastic in the work of a variety of writers from France, Germany, Spain, Britain, Russia, Greece and Italy. The volume argues for a view of the long nineteenth century as a century of lively cultural dialogue and exchange between national and sub-national cultures, between ‘high’ and popular art forms, and between different genres and different media, and it will be of interest to general readers and scholars alike.

This volume argues against Gérard Genette’s theory that there is an “insurmountable opposition” between drama and narrative and shows that the two forms of storytelling have been productively intertwined throughout literary history. Building on the idea that plays often incorporate elements from other genres, especially narrative ones, the present study theorises drama as a fundamentally narrative genre. Guided by the question of how drama tells stories, the first part of the study delineates the general characteristics of dramatic narration and zooms in on the use of narrative forms in drama. The second part proposes a history of dramatic storytelling from the Renaissance to the twenty-first century that transcends conventional genre boundaries. Close readings of exemplary British plays provide an overview of the dominant narrative modes in each period and point to their impact in the broader cultural and historical context of the plays. Finally, the volume argues that throughout history, highly narrative plays have had a performative power that reached well beyond the stage: dramatic storytelling not only reflects socio-political realities, but also largely shapes them.

Word Mingas is an English-language translation by Paul M. Worley and Melissa Birkhofer of the award-winning book Mingas de la palabra written by Miguel Rocha Vivas (Casa de las Americas, 2016). It is an encompassing study of oralitures--multilayered cultural knowledge shared through the power of orality--and written literatures by authors from Colombia and other regions in the hemisphere who self-identify as Indigenous. In consequential dialogue with the most recent theories of decoloniality and interculturality, the book weaves and compares two threads of literary critique Rocha Vivas names as oralitegraphies and mirrored visions. The study focuses on texts produced from the early 1990s to the present, and offers productive avenues to discuss, understand, and foster dialogue with the wide array of symbolic-literary systems of the original peoples. Rocha Vivas offers a valuable contribution to the much-needed dialogue on the basic rights of self-representation, self-determination, and the coexistence of multiple systems of representation and identity.

This collection examines intertextual intersections in the works of Henry Vaughan and John Milton and considers their aesthetic, philosophical, or political implications. The theoretical pluralism of the volume reveals the variety and complexity of textual relations in the words of these early modern authors. Some of the essays focus on the author's conscious creation of intertext, others explore the reader's negotiation of books within books, while still others examine the linguistic effect of textual intersections. The essays not only consider material borrowing, but also explore the absorption of concepts or formal structures from antecedent texts. The volume not only adds to the debate on Milton's iteration, duplication, and renovation of precursor texts, but represents the first collection of original essays on the poetry and prose of Henry Vaughan, essays authored by experts in the field. Donald Dickson is Professor of English at Texas A&M University. Holly Faith Nelson is Assistant Professor of English at Trinity Western University.

Hydrocriticism and Colonialism in Latin America is organized around the critical and theoretical “turn” known as hydro-criticism, an innovative approach to the study of the ways in which bodies of water (oceans, seas, rivers, archipelagos, lakes, etc.) impact the study of history, culture, and society. This volume proposes a hydro-critical approach to issues related to the colonial period. The analysed texts demonstrate not only the presence of water and oceanic trajectories as metaphorical devices, but the inherent implication of navigation, ports, islandic territories, drainage systems, floodings and the like in configuration of collective imaginaries, from colonial times to the present. This book encompasses studies of the decisive role water played in the world view from/about the “New World” since the discovery, both for the monarchy and the church, and the impact of oceanic journeys for the advancement of colonization and slavery. In chapters that combine historical, linguistic, literary and ethnographic approaches, this volume constitutes an attempt to expand the scope and methodology of colonial studies. At the same time, the continuity of maritime perspectives reaches the analysis of contemporary literature, thus demonstrating the importance of this critical paradigm for the study of Caribbean cultures. In this respect, studies particularly illuminate the connection between popular beliefs and oceanic dimensions, as well as on issues of gender and ethnicity.

Papers presented at a two day national seminar on "Globalization : a challenge to educational management."

Articles in this volume focus on theories and histories of comparative literature and the field of comparative cultural studies. Contributors are Kwaku Asante-Darko on African postcolonial literature; Hendrik Birus on Goethe's concept of world literature; Amiya Dev on comparative literature in India; Marian Galik on interliterariness; Ernst Grabovszki on globalization, new media, and world literature; Jan Walsh Hokenson on the culture of the context; Marko Juvan on literariness; Karl S.Y. Kao on metaphor; Kristof Jacek Kozak on comparative literature in Slovenia; Manuela Mourao on comparative literature in the USA; Jola Skulj on cultural identity; Slobodan Sucur on period styles and theory; Peter Swirski on popular and highbrow literature; Antony Tatlow on textual anthropology; William H. Thornton on East/West power politics in cultural studies; Steven Totosy on comparative cultural studies; and Xiaoyi Zhou and Q.S. Tong on comparative literature in China. The papers are followed by an index and a bibliography of scholarship in comparative literature and cultural studies compiled by Steven Totosy, Steven Aoun, and Wendy C. Nielsen.

This book considers the key critical interventions on short story writing in South Africa written in English since the year 2000. The short story genre, whilst often marginalised in national literary canons, has been central to the trajectory of literary history in South Africa. In recent years, the short story has undergone a significant renaissance, with new collections and young writers making a significant impact on the contemporary literary scene, and subgenres such as speculative fiction, erotic fiction, flash fiction and queer fiction expanding rapidly in popularity. This book examines the role of the short story genre in reflecting or championing new developments in South African writing and the ways in which traditional boundaries and definitions of the short story in South Africa have been reimagined in the present. Drawing together a range of critical interventions, including scholarly articles, interviews and personal reflective pieces, the volume traces some of the aesthetic and thematic continuities and discontinuities in the genre and sheds new light on questions of literary form. Finally, the book considers the place of the short story in twenty-first century writing and interrogates the ways in which the short story form may contribute to, or recast ideas of, the post-apartheid or post-transitional. The perfect guide to contemporary short story writing in South Africa, this book will be essential reading for researchers of African literature.

The crónica, or chronicle, which crosses the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction, literature and journalism, is a highly polemical and widely read form of writing in Mexico and throughout Latin America, where it plays an influential cultural, social, and historical role. For the first time, this book addresses the theory and practice of the chronicle in twentieth-century Mexico. Contributions by Mexican writers such as Carlos Monsiváis and Elena Poniatowska and essays on a wide range of texts and authors provide diverse perspectives on the chronicle as a literary genre and as a cultural and social practice.