The most widely read military classic in human history, newly translated and revised in accordance with newly discovered materials of unprecedented historical significance. Fluid, crisp and rigorously faithful to the original, this new text is destined to stand as the definitive version of this cornerstone work of Classical Chinese. Of compelling importance not only to students of Chinese history and literature, but to all readers interested in the art or the philosophy of war.

Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) is the most famous Samurai who ever lived. His magnum opus, the Go-Rin-Sho or Book of Five Rings is a classic that is still read by tens of thousands of people each year--Japanese and foreigners alike. Alex Bennett's groundbreaking new translation of The Book of Five Rings reveals the true meaning of this text for the first time. Like Sun Tzu's The Art of War, Musashi's book offers unique insights, not just for warriors, but for anyone wanting to apply the Zen Buddhist principle of awareness to achieve success in their endeavors. This book sheds new light on Japanese history and on the philosophical meaning of Bushido--the ancient "code of the Japanese warrior." Unlike other translations that are based on incomplete and inaccurate versions of Musashi's work, Bennett's is the first to be based on a careful reconstruction of the long-lost original manuscript. Capturing the subtle nuances of the original Japanese classic, the result is a far more accurate and meaningful English version of The Book of Five Rings text. Richly annotated and with an extensive introduction to Musashi's life, this version includes a collection of his other writings--translated into English for the first time. A respected scholar, as well as a skilled martial artist, Bennett's understanding of Musashi's life and work is unparalleled. This book will be widely read by students of Japanese culture, history, military strategy, and martial arts. It sets a new standard against which all other translations will be measured.

Subtexts are all around us. In conversation, business transactions, politics, literature, philosophy, and even love, the art of expressing more than what is explicitly said allows us to live and move in the world. But rarely do we reflect on this subterranean dimension of communication. In this book, renowned classicist and scholar of rhetoric Laurent Pernot explores the fascinating world of subtext. Of the two meanings present in any instance of double meaning, Pernot focuses on the meaning that is unstated—the meaning that counts. He analyzes subtext in all its multifarious forms, including allusion, allegory, insinuation, figured speech, irony, innuendo, esoteric teaching, reading between the lines, ambiguity, and beyond. Drawing on examples from figures as varied as Homer, Shakespeare, Molière, Proust, Foucault, and others, as well as from popular culture, Pernot shows how subtext can be identified and deciphered as well as how prevalent and essential it is in human life. With erudition and wit, Pernot explains and clarifies a device of language that we use and understand every day without even realizing it. The Subtle Subtext is a book for anyone who is interested in language, literature, hidden meanings, and the finer points of social relations.

The argument moves from the art and civilization of ancient Egypt to that of modern Europe and effortlessly reveals a full and surprising range of language in art - from the magical to the impious, from the ambiguous to the didactic, scientific, and propagandistic.

Over the last decade there has been a dramatic increase in publications on media and translation. In fact, there are those who believe that so much has been published in this field that any further publications are superfluous. But if one views media and translation as anything ranging from film and television drama to news-casting, commercials, video games, web-pages and electronic street signs, it would seem that research in media and translation has barely scratched the surface. The research in this field is shared largely by scholars in communication and translation studies, often without knowledge of each other or access to their respective methods of scholarship. This collection will rectify this lack of communication by bringing such scholars together and creating a context for a theoretical discussion of the entire emerging field of Media and Translation, with a preference for theoretical work (rather than case studies) on translation and communications of various forms, and through various media.

The ancient Greeks and Romans lived in a world teeming with animals. Animals were integral to ancient commerce, war, love, literature and art. Inside the city they were found as pets, pests, and parasites. They could be sacred, sacrificed, liminal, workers, or intruders from the wild. Beyond the city domesticated animals were herded and bred for profit and wild animals were hunted for pleasure and gain alike. Specialists like Aristotle, Aelian, Pliny and Seneca studied their anatomy and behavior. Geographers and travelers described new lands in terms of their animals. Animals are to be seen on every possible artistic medium, woven into cloth and inlaid into furniture. They are the subject of proverbs, oaths and dreams. Magicians, physicians and lovers turned to animals and their parts for their crafts. They paraded before kings, inhabited palaces, and entertained the poor in the arena. Quite literally, animals pervaded the ancient world from A-Z. In entries ranging from short to long, Kenneth Kitchell offers insight into this commonly overlooked world, covering representative and intriguing examples of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Familiar animals such as the cow, dog, fox and donkey are treated along with more exotic animals such as the babirussa, pangolin, and dugong. The evidence adduced ranges from Minoan times to the Late Roman Empire and is taken from archaeology, ancient authors, inscriptions, papyri, coins, mosaics and all other artistic media. Whenever possible reasoned identifications are given for ancient animal names and the realities behind animal lore are brought forth. Why did the ancients think hippopotamuses practiced blood letting on themselves? How do you catch a monkey? Why were hyenas thought to be hermaphroditic? Was there really a vampire moth? Entries are accompanied by full citations to ancient authors and an extensive bibliography. Of use to Classics students and scholars, but written in a style designed to engage anyone interested in Greco-Roman antiquity, Animals in the Ancient World from A to Z reveals the extent and importance of the animal world to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It answers many questions, asks several more, and seeks to stimulate further research in this important field.

A groundbreaking reading of Duchamp's work as informed by Asian “esoterism, ” energetic spiritual practices identifying creative energy with the erotic impulse. Considered by many to be the most important artist of the twentieth century, the object of intensive critical scrutiny and extensive theorizing, Marcel Duchamp remains an enigma. He may be the most intellectual artist of all time; and yet, toward the end of his life, he said, “If you wish, my art would be that of living: each second, each breath is a work which is inscribed nowhere, which is neither visual or cerebral.” In Marcel Duchamp and the Art of Life, Jacquelynn Baas offers a groundbreaking new reading of Duchamp, arguing in particular that his work may have been informed by Asian “esoterism, ” energetic spiritual practices that identify creative energy with the erotic impulse. Duchamp drew on a wide range of sources for his art, from science and mathematics to alchemy. Largely overlooked, until now, have been Asian spiritual practices, including Indo-Tibetan tantra. Baas presents evidence that Duchamp's version of artistic realization was grounded in a western interpretation of Asian mind training and body energetics designed to transform erotic energy into mental and spiritual liberation. She offers close readings of many Duchamp works, beginning and ending with his final work, the mysterious, shockingly explicit Étant donnés: 1° la chute d'eau 2° le gaz d'éclairage, (Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas). Generously illustrated, with many images in color, Marcel Duchamp and the Art of Life speculates that Duchamp viewed art making as part of an esoteric continuum grounded in Eros. It asks us to unlearn what we think we know, about both art and life, in order to be open to experience.