"The Paper Age" is the phrase coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1837 to describe the monetary and literary inflation of the French Revolution—an age of mass-produced "Bank-paper" and "Book-paper." Carlyle's phrase is suggestive because it points to the particular substance—paper—that provides the basis for reflection on the mass media in much popular fiction appearing around the time of his historical essay. Rather than becoming a metaphor, however, paper in some of this fiction seems to display the more complex and elusive character of what Walter Benjamin evocatively calls "the decline of the aura." The critical perspective elaborated by Benjamin serves as the point of departure for the readings of paper proposed in Paperwork. Kevin McLaughlin argues for a literary-critical approach to the impact of the mass media on literature through a series of detailed interpretations of paper in fiction by Poe, Stevenson, Melville, Dickens, and Hardy. In this fiction, he argues, paper dramatizes the "withdrawal," as Benjamin puts it, of the "here and now" of the traditional work of art into the dispersing or distracting movement of the mass media. Paperwork seeks to challenge traditional concepts of medium and message that continue to inform studies of print culture and the mass media especially in the wake of industrialized production in the early nineteenth century. It breaks new ground in the exploration of the difference between mass culture and literature and will appeal to cultural historians and literary critics alike.

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The novella, as the editors of this volume explain, is in many ways the “native habitat” of modern Chinese literary production—the ideal fictional form for revealing the various facets of contemporary Chinese culture. The seven novellas collected here resoundingly support their claim. Featuring works by award winners and rising stars, women and men, By the River presents a confluence of some of the most compelling voices in China today. Together, their narratives reflect the rich diversity of Chinese experience in the modern era. These novellas are stories of coming of age in the countryside, of romance in the shadow of an electrical power station or in the watery landscape of a lost love, of a daughter’s epic journey to find her estranged mother. Whether telling of love or loss, of work or play along the river of experience, the narratives are replete with details that bring literary depth to the everyday—the mark of the novella. These details and the novellas into which they are woven defy simple answers to moral and political questions about modern life, leaving readers with the feeling that their world has been made larger, that they have seen through different eyes for a moment, if not forever. Reflecting modern Chinese life in the city and in the country, and among diverse regional cultures, By the River showcases the best of contemporary Chinese long-form fiction.

No ordinary collection of tales, this anthology was the result of extensive research that led Shah to conclude that there is a certain basic fund of human fictions which recur again and again throughout the world and never seem to lose their compelling attraction. This special paperback version of World Tales concentrates on the essentials, the text of the stories, and omits the illustrations which were part of a previous edition.

This is the first ever English translation of Sir David Lindsay’s masterpiece of 16th-century Scottish political theatre, Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis in Commendatioun of Vertew and Vituperatioune of Vyce. The work’s importance lies in its status as a well-known piece of national literature, and as a historical document of interest to historians of Scottish and European court politics.The verse translation available here is of over 3,000 lines, in an edition which combines a historical and critical introduction with the possibilities of modern performance. Besides issues of text and translation, the introduction examines the background of Scotland in 1552, the author and his audience, the play’s performance history and its position as a Renaissance text. A work on a grand scale with a cast of over 40, the play confronts and resolves the ill-counselled, misrule of young King Humanity through the intervention, not only of King Correction and of learned contemporaries, but also through the fearless condemnations of the Poor Man and the political resolution of John The Common Weal. Its conclusions are humanly centred, popularly representative and yet strikingly realistic. They, and their manner of expression, make an ideal object for the study of a society poised between the pluralism of the Renaissance and the rigour of the Reformation.

“If you want to write, paint, sing, compose, act, or make films, read The Gift.” —from the Introduction by Margaret Atwood A modern classic cherished by many of the greatest artists of our time and a brilliant, life-changing defense of the value of creative labor. Drawing on examples from folklore and literature, history and tribal customs, economics and modern copyright law, Lewis Hyde demonstrates how our society—governed by the marketplace—is poorly equipped to determine the worth of artists’ work. He shows us that another way is possible: the alternative economy of the gift, which allows creations and ideas to circulate freely, rather than hoarding them as commodities. Illuminating and transformative, The Gift is a triumph of originality and insight—an essential book for anyone who has ever given or received a work of art.

Examines the concept of gifts in anthropological terms and uses this approach to analyze the situation of creative artists and their gifts to society.

The Great Bengal Famine of 1943 forms the backdrop for the novel Ashani Sanket, written contemporaneously by the greatest portrayer of rural Bengal, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. Through the eyes of Ananga, her husband Gangacharan and their compatriots, the author has drawn with deep sympathy their daily lives in a remote village as they face with utter bewilderment the onset of the famine--the distant thunder. Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay is an iconic and beloved Bengali writer of the twentieth century. His novels Pather Panchali ('Song of the Road') and Aparajito ('The Unvanquished') were made into the famous 'Apu Trilogy' by Satyajit Ray, another iconic movie director (Life-time Oscar, 1992). Ray also made a movie based on this novel Ashani Sanket ('Distant Thunder') which conquered the Golden Bear in Berlin Film Festival and is claimed by New York Times as being one of the 1000 best movies ever made.