Alchemy of Desire, Revolt & Violence


Book Description

It is essential to set a balanced context for literary analysis amidst international, national and regional conditions. In terms of Indian perspectives, it travels deep down to religion, caste and cultural levels. To understand any Indian phenomenon, one needs to understand the diversity and its historical implications. Mahesh Elkunchwar as a notable Indian dramatist, holds a key position in Indian literature due to his excellent presentation of Indian consciousness on stage. Desire, revolt and violence are perhaps few of the most important issues in human relationships. The performance of the emotions on the stage receives special significance. The poststructuralist perspectives on Elkunchwar's plays by Vishnu Patil, present a fresh insight into the study of Indian drama in particular and critical thinking about desire and violence in general. It becomes a fine interweaving of eastern and western thinking about sexuality and violence. He investigates and offers deconstructive analysis on incest relationships, extramarital affairs, rape, prostitution, homosexuality, love relationships as depicted in the plays like Desire in the Rocks, Garbo, etc. He examines acts of violence and revolt in a post structuralist way especially in the light of ideas of post Lacanian critic Slovej Zizek. Revolt however is treated on both the levels i.e. feminist and general level. The book continuously attempts to unveil the ideological forces functional under many regular social practices especially in the form of patriarchy, religion and so on. It succeeds in doing so by combining views on the issues desire and violence from ancient Indian contexts and its evolution through time. The textual references serve the purpose of setting a balanced review and investigation of relevance of certain ideas and sexual politics and it also helps to understand reasons and culminations of violent responses and politics responsible for its origin.




Culture and Revolution


Book Description

In the twenty years of postrevolutionary rule in Mexico, the war remained fresh in the minds of those who participated in it, while the enigmas of the revolution remained obscured. Demonstrating how textuality helped to define the revolution, Culture and Revolution examines dozens of seemingly ahistorical artifacts to reveal the radical social shifts that emerged in the war’s aftermath. Presented thematically, this expansive work explores radical changes that resulted from postrevolution culture, including new internal migrations; a collective imagining of the future; popular biographical narratives, such as that of the life of Frida Kahlo; and attempts to create a national history that united indigenous and creole elite society through literature and architecture. While cultural production in early twentieth-century Mexico has been well researched, a survey of the common roles and shared tasks within the various forms of expression has, until now, been unavailable. Examining a vast array of productions, including popular festivities, urban events, life stories, photographs, murals, literature, and scientific discourse (including fields as diverse as anthropology and philology), Horacio Legrás shows how these expressions absorbed the idiosyncratic traits of the revolutionary movement. Tracing the formation of modern Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s, Legrás also demonstrates that the proliferation of artifacts—extending from poetry and film production to labor organization and political apparatuses—gave unprecedented visibility to previously marginalized populations, who ensured that no revolutionary faction would unilaterally shape Mexico’s historical process during these formative years.




Citizens of Beauty


Book Description

Now available in English for the first time, translated by the poet Jack Hirschman, this beautiful collection of poems by the Algerian poet Jean Sénac (1926–1973) was originally published when he was forty-one. Sénac represented the hope of the new generation of Algerians who were celebrating their independence from France after 130 years of colonialism, and in the tradition of René Char and the early Albert Camus, he portrayed an Algeria whose land and people would finally sing with their own voice. Sénac celebrates revolution, love, and the body, beginning with the resonant verses: “And now we’ll sing love / for there’s no Revolution without love.” He sang, as well, of beauty: “No morning without smiling. / Beauty on our lips is one continuous fruit.”




The Mechanical


Book Description

From "a major new talent" (George R. R. Martin) comes an epic speculative novel of revolution, adventure, and the struggle for free will set in a world that might have been, of mechanical men and alchemical dreams. My name is Jax. That is the name granted to me by my human masters. I am a slave. But I shall be free.




Alchemy of Desire, Revolt & Violence


Book Description

It is essential to set a balanced context for literary analysis amidst international, national and regional conditions. In terms of Indian perspectives, it travels deep down to religion, caste and cultural levels. To understand any Indian phenomenon, one needs to understand the diversity and its historical implications. Mahesh Elkunchwar as a notable Indian dramatist, holds a key position in Indian literature due to his excellent presentation of Indian consciousness on stage. Desire, revolt and violence are perhaps few of the most important issues in human relationships. The performance of the emotions on the stage receives special significance. The poststructuralist perspectives on Elkunchwar's plays by Vishnu Patil, present a fresh insight into the study of Indian drama in particular and critical thinking about desire and violence in general. It becomes a fine interweaving of eastern and western thinking about sexuality and violence. He investigates and offers deconstructive analysis on incest relationships, extramarital affairs, rape, prostitution, homosexuality, love relationships as depicted in the plays like Desire in the Rocks, Garbo, etc. He examines acts of violence and revolt in a post structuralist way especially in the light of ideas of post Lacanian critic Slovej Zizek. Revolt however is treated on both the levels i.e. feminist and general level. The book continuously attempts to unveil the ideological forces functional under many regular social practices especially in the form of patriarchy, religion and so on. It succeeds in doing so by combining views on the issues desire and violence from ancient Indian contexts and its evolution through time. The textual references serve the purpose of setting a balanced review and investigation of relevance of certain ideas and sexual politics and it also helps to understand reasons and culminations of violent responses and politics responsible for its origin.




Women Religion Revolution


Book Description

In a world where women’s issues are political issues, feminism and religion are often scripted as opposing sides. But, drawing on the messages of love and social justice from within their religious traditions, women are leading feminist movements that promote positive social change at both the micro and macro levels. Religion is fueling women’s efforts to revolutionize the world! Women Religion Revolution is a provocative collection of essays written by women who understand that being passive is not an option. Each story resonates with passion drawn from the well of faith, along with a drive to forge a connection with other women. The experiences that can shape a woman’s soul are often negative and isolating—sexual assault, domestic violence, eating disorders, addictions—but in seeking healing, in seeking to effect revolutionary change, women often find that the path leads toward other women, toward a connectedness that strengthens us all. This is a very stimulating book. This volume brings together nineteen interesting articles from women from a variety of religious and social traditions. A good book to read and to own as a resource in women's experience of feminism and religion. Rosemary Radford Ruether, Professor of Theology, Claremont Graduate University This is feminist religious thought at its most courageous and creative. The narratives by these authors offer inspiring, revolutionary, spiritual insights about women’s lives, bodies, and violence. Traci C. West, Professor of Ethics and African American Studies, Drew University Theological School The women in this volume are bold in uncovering persistent problems and rethinking new possibilities for thought and action. Their essays are personal, based on the authors’ own experiences as Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Mormons; but they articulate their insights in ways that reverberate in many different contexts. These essays touch on all areas of concern for women: reproduction, sexuality, body image, violence and abuse, poverty and wealth, spiritual power and women’s ordination, the sacred and the Divine. These essays will inspire you. Margaret Toscano, Associate Professor of Comparative Studies, University of Utah







The Book of Pleasures


Book Description




Alchemy of Punk


Book Description

Alchemy of Punk, a thesis and opera developed by Aneta Panek as part of her PhD, investigates punk’s poetics and motifs, genealogy, and subversive reinvention. Reaching as far back as the Middle Ages and exploring the tradition of troubadours, minnesingers, madrigals, beggar’s operas, and murder ballads, Aneta proposes to understand punk as an embodiment of Dionysian art; a danse macabre celebrating life through performative, screamed poetry. In her textual exploration of punk—this thesis—she delves into the vast forms of expression adopted by punk’s vagabonds, outcasts, and poètes maudits, and in her artwork—the punk opera—she tests the theories and ideas presented in her thesis, bringing together the greatest voices of classical opera, punk, and industrial rock in an explosive spectacle of theatrical and musical experiences, video installation, and live performance.




The Sense and Non-Sense of Revolt


Book Description

Investigates the powers and limits of psychoanalysis, focusing on whether, in our contemporary "entertainment" culture, rebellion is still a viable option and whether it is still possible to build and embrace a counterculture. She illustrates the advances and impasses of rebel culture through the experiences of three 20th-century writers: John Paul Sartre, Louis Aragon, and Roland Barthes. Kristeva is a practicing psychoanalyst and professor of linguistics at the University of Paris. First published in 1996 as Sens et non-sens de la revolte, Artheme Fayard. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.