Authenticity is one of the most crucial, but also most contested concepts in literary and cultural studies. Hollowed out by postmodernist theory, it paradoxically enough persists as an important backdrop for the discussion of literature, film, and the visual arts. The essays in this volume explore perspectives on authenticity and case studies dealing with »the authentic«. They thereby seek to show how the paradoxical persistence of authenticity in contemporary critical discourse can be turned into a fruitful point of departure for an analysis of literary texts, but also films, and the visual arts.

A real-world, timely, and provocative book which provides a wakeup call to move beyond the limitations of traditional coaching

In this book, Eric E. Hall takes up the question of the meaning of a vigorously used concept in the liberal west: authenticity and the pursuit of personal originality. By uncovering this idea's uses within three deepening contexts - the ethical, the ontological, and the theological - the author unfolds authenticity's origins and implications. To the degree that authenticity seeks in all contexts freedom from social horizons, the conclusion renders attempts to embody this ideal secularly impossible. The goal requires a total transcendence that only the divine could fulfill. Human authenticity thus emerges in creatively imitating God's self-sacrificial expression on the cross, which both transcends and revalues the horizons of this world.

A theoretically rich and vividly written ethnography of folklore revival and performance in Eastern Europe that provocatively embraces larger questions of social theory, authenticity, and philosophy.

What does it mean to be yourself at work? As a leader, how do you strike the right balance between vulnerability and authority? This book explains the role of authenticity in emotionally intelligent leadership. You'll learn how to discover your authentic self, when emotional responses are appropriate, how conforming to specific standards can hurt you, and when you need to feel like a fake. This volume includes the work of: Bill George Herminia Ibarra Rob Goffee Gareth Jones This collection of articles includes: "Discovering Your Authentic Leadership" by Bill George, Peter Sims, Andrew N. McLean, and Diana Mayer; "The Authenticity Paradox" by Herminia Ibarra; "What Bosses Gain by Being Vulnerable" by Emma Seppala; "Practice Tough Empathy" by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones; "Cracking the Code That Stalls People of Color" by Sylvia Ann Hewitt; "For a Corporate Apology to Work, the CEO Should Look Sad" by Sarah Green Carmichael; and "Are Leaders Getting Too Emotional?" an interview with Gautam Mukunda and Gianpiero Petriglieri by Adi Ignatius and Sarah Green Carmichael. How to be human at work. The HBR Emotional Intelligence Series features smart, essential reading on the human side of professional life from the pages of Harvard Business Review. Each book in the series offers proven research showing how our emotions impact our work lives, practical advice for managing difficult people and situations, and inspiring essays on what it means to tend to our emotional well-being at work. Uplifting and practical, these books describe the social skills that are critical for ambitious professionals to master.

During the Communist reign in Slovakia the state government staged a public performance of stage folklore that was both simplistic and artificial. Recently, as part of a larger movement to retrieve their culture, young Slovakian folklore enthusiasts have attempted to recover an authentic form of rural dance and music, and return their folklore traditions to the Slovakian public by researching, learning, and presenting original, authentic folklore performances. Joseph Feinberg sets out to analyze this contemporary movement with a special focus on its ideology, practices, and performances. But he also tackles a much larger issue. Interpreting the Slovakian movement against a wider background of post-Communist contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, he investigates the issue of authenticity itself, and how a self-identified form of authentic folklore is reconstructed and reenacted.

Leverage your authentic self into a valuable leadership strategy The Art of Authenticity is a guide to becoming a better leader by achieving your best self. All people bring different sides of themselves to various situations. This book will show you how to broaden and deepen your effectiveness by presenting the most appropriate side of yourself. Dr. Karissa Thacker is the management psychologist called on by over two hundred Fortune 500 companies to work with high potential leaders. This book provides you with her expert guidance, based on validated psychological research and artful application of psychological principles to actual business situations, to help you become an authentic leader. You'll learn how to lead through reflection, action, and conscious choice, and how to maintain your guiding principles while effectively leading your team. By replacing habitual reactions with authentic ones, you'll find that you're modeling good behavior and effective decision-making—and that authenticity is contagious. This guide equips you with the tools and skills you need to be the catalyst of positive change your organization needs. How do you remain authentic while being an effective leader? This book argues that the question isn't a duality. Authenticity is the best way to lead, and the only way to maintain sustainable success as an organization. This insightful guide shows you how to find your authentic self, and leverage that into an effective, executable leadership strategy. Become authentic in a way that befits your values Show loyalty, honesty, ethics, and consideration Maintain authenticity in leadership roles Make conscious choices instead of blind reactions Some are born to lead, other must be taught, but all leaders must work to retain their own values and basic sense of self. A simple pause can mean the difference between a knee-jerk reaction and an authentic decision, and the effects ripple throughout your organization. The Art of Authenticity is your guidebook to finding the true authentic leader within, and leading from the inside out for the long haul.

Throughout his career, Johnny Cash has been depicted—and has depicted himself—as a walking contradiction: social protestor and establishment patriot, drugged wildman and devout Christian crusader, rebel outlaw hillbilly thug and elder statesman. Leigh H. Edwards explores the allure of this paradoxical image and its cultural significance. She argues that Cash embodies irresolvable contradictions of American identity that reflect foundational issues in the American experience, such as the tensions between freedom and patriotism, individual rights and nationalism, the sacred and the profane. She illustrates how this model of ambivalence is a vital paradigm for American popular music, and for American identity in general. Making use of sources such as Cash's autobiographies, lyrics, music, liner notes, and interviews, Edwards pays equal attention to depictions of Cash by others, such as Vivian Cash's publication of his letters to her, documentaries and music journalism about him, Walk the Line, and fan club materials found in the archives at the Country Music Foundation in Nashville, to create a full portrait of Cash and his significance as a cultural icon.

Authenticity in our globalized world is a paradox. This collection examines how authenticity relates to cultural products, looking closely at how a particular "ethnic" food, or genre of popular music, or indigenous religious belief attains its aura of originality, when all traditional cultural products are invented in a certain time and place.

What is the role of cultural authenticity in the making of nations? Much scholarly and popular commentary on nationalism dismisses authenticity as a romantic fantasy or, worse, a deliberately constructed mythology used for political manipulation. The Politics and Poetics of Authenticity places authenticity at the heart of Sinhala nationalism in late nineteenth and twentieth-century Sri Lanka. It argues that the passion for the ‘real’ or the ‘authentic’ has played a significant role in shaping nationalist thinking and argues for an empathetic yet critical engagement with the idea of authenticity. Through a series of fine-grained and historically grounded analyses of the writings of individual figures central to the making of Sinhala nationalist ideology the book demonstrates authenticity’s rich and varied presence in Sri Lankan public life and its key role in understanding postcolonial nationalism in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in South Asia and the world. It also explores how notions of authenticity shape certain strands of postcolonial criticism and offers a way of questioning the taken-for-granted nature of the nation as a unit of analysis but at the same time critically explore the deep imprint of nations and nationalisms on people's lives.