One knows, upon reading these essays, that with the death of Cleanth Brooks the literary world lost a powerful voice of wisdom and sanity. His careful meditation on the similarities and distinctions of function of religion and literature, his dissection of the dehumanizing self-destructiveness of structuralism and deconstructionism, his definition of the importance of the humanities in its nourishing of our understanding of our inner natures -- all are advanced with a rare and winsome combination of confidence and humility. There is no cynicism, no scathing denunciation, Because he renders the... View More...
Is the ''evangelical print culture'' of the nineteenth century worthy of an entire volume? As Candy Gunther Brown, a professor of American studies at St. Louis University, puts it, ''The Word became incarnate in American culture by the 1850s as publishers demonstrated its relevance to diverse cultural settings, ranging from the refined Victorian parlor to the rough-hewn frontier farm.'' She argues that historians of this period have too easily overlooked this ''theology of commercialization'' by assuming nineteenth-century evangelicals were more interested in packaging than content. Creating a... View More...
The most thorough and extensive investigation ever written on the much-beloved writer, The Book of Buechner explores the ways in which Frederick Buechner's writing, particularly his fiction, presents the possibilities of grace in the midst of the ambiguities of human existence and introduces themes of Christian faith. Both long-time readers and neophytes seeking a guide through his writings will delight in the illuminating analysis Dale Brown has to offer. Intelligent and gratifying, The Book of Buechner is a much overdue literary journey through one of the most significant American writers of... View More...
Sir Thomas Browne is one of the supreme stylists of the English language: a coiner of words and spinner of phrases to rival Shakespeare; the wielder of a weird and wonderful erudition; an inquiring spirit in the mold of Montaigne. Browne was an inspiration to the Romantics as well as to W.G. Sebald, and his work is quirky, sonorous, and enchanting. Here this baroque master's two most enduring and admired works, Religio Medici and Urne-Buriall, appear in a new edition that has been annotated and introduced by the distinguished scholars Ramie Targoff and Stephen Greenblatt (author of the best-se... View More...
From the author of the "dazzling epic"* Brilliant, a compelling history of silence as a powerful shaper of the human mind--in prisons, in places of contemplation, and in our own lives Through her evocative intertwined histories of the penitentiary and the monastery, Jane Brox illuminates the many ways silence is far more complex than any absolute; how it has influenced ideas of the self, soul, and society. Brox traces its place as a transformative power in the monastic world from Medieval Europe to the very public life of twentieth century monk Thomas Merton, whose love for silence deepened e... View More...
How happiness became mandatory-and why we should reject the demand to "be happy" Happiness today is not just a possibility or an option but a requirement and a duty. To fail to be happy is to fail utterly. Happiness has become a religion-one whose smiley-faced god looks down in rebuke upon everyone who hasn't yet attained the blessed state of perpetual euphoria. How has a liberating principle of the Enlightenment-the right to pursue happiness-become the unavoidable and burdensome responsibility to be happy? How did we become unhappy about not being happy-and what might we do to escape this pre... View More...
"Bravo I'll say nothing funny about it, for it is asuperior piece of work."--P. J. O'Rourke "F. H. Buckley's The Morality of Laughter is at oncea humorous look at serious matters and a seriousbook about humor."--Crisis Magazine "Buckley has written a . ne and funny book that willbe read with pleasure and instruction."--First Things ". . . written elegantly and often wittily. . . ."--National Post ". . . a fascinating philosophical exposition oflaughter. . . ."--National Review ". . . at once a wise and highly amusing book."--Wall Street Journal Online ". . . a useful reminder that a cheery so... View More...
Across two decades of intense creativity, David Foster Wallace (1962-2008) crafted a remarkable body of work that ranged from unclassifiable essays to a book about transfinite mathematics to vertiginous fictions. In essay volumes (A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, Consider the Lobster), short story collections (Girl with Curious Hair, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Oblivion), and his novels (Infinite Jest, The Broom of the System), the luminous qualities of Wallace's work recalibrated our measures of modern literary achievement. Conversations with David Foster Wallace gathers ove... View More...
Used - good condition no dustjacket. A very nice, tightly bound copy of this limited edition, with only slight fading and yellowing. Tissue-covered plates, uncut pages throughout. 294 pp. View More...
Used - good condition,no dustjacket. Small chip to front board in this otherwise lightly worn, limited edition. Binding solid, pages slightly yellowed and musty. With tissue-covered plates, some uncut page. 282 pp. View More...
Robert Olen Butler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, teaches graduate fiction at Florida State University -- his version of literary boot camp. In From Where You Dream, Butler reimagines the process of writing as emotional rather than intellectual, and tells writers how to achieve the dreamspace necessary for composing honest, inspired fiction. Proposing that fiction is the exploration of the human condition with yearning as its compass, Butler reinterprets the traditional tools of the craft using the dynamics of desire. Offering a direct view into the mind and craft of a literary mas... View More...
A terrifically engaging and original biography of one of England's greatest novelists, Evelyn Waugh, and the glamorous, eccentric, debauched, and ultimately tragic family that provided him with the most significant friendships of his life and inspired his masterpiece, Brideshead Revisited. Fans of The Mitfords, D.J. Taylor's Bright Young People, and Alexander Waugh's Fathers and Sons, as well as Anglophiles in general, will find much to savor in Paula Byrne's wonderful Mad World. View More...
Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, this updated edition of Paula Byrne's debut book includes new material that explores the history of Austen stage adaptations, why her books work so well on screen, and what that reveals about one of the world's most beloved authors.Originally published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2003 as Jane Austen and the Theatre, Paula Byrne's first book was never made widely available in the US and is out of print today. An exploration of Austen's passion for the stage--she acted in amateur productions, frequently attended the theatre, and even scripted several early works in... View More...
