Flying Too Close to the Sun


Book Description

The first major survey to reveal the ways in which Classical mythology has inspired art throughout the last 2,500 years From the films of Woody Allen and the Coen Brothers to Margaret Atwood's books and Arcade Fire's songs, Classical Greek and Roman myths continue to be a source of cultural inspiration. The struggles of heroes, both triumphant and tragic, with gods, monsters, and fate, exert a particular grip on our imagination. Visual artists have long expressed and reworked these foundational stories. This is the first book to unite myth-inspired artworks by ancient, modern, and contemporary artists, from Botticelli and Caravaggio to Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.




Icarus at the Edge of Time


Book Description

A futuristic reimaging of the classic Greek myth, as a boy ventures through deep space and challenges the awesome power of black holes. The beauty of the book lies in the images, provided by NASA and the Hubble Space telescope, and printed on board rather than paper.




Understanding Myths and Legends


Book Description

Understanding Myths and Legends contains 27 stories from different countries around the World, ranging from Perseus and Medusa from Ancient Greece to an Indian legend on how the Peacock got his glorious feathers. These exciting stories are full of fearsome monsters, brave heroes and magical happenings, and will appeal to both girls and boys. Understanding Myths and Legends is a flexible resource that can be used to support topic work in history and RE or used as part of a unit of work in literacy. The stories and activities are ideal for use in guided reading sessions. To enable teachers to make the most of each story, they are accompanied by: background information to enable teachers to place the story confidently in context; differentiated reading tasks, using a variety of question styles, to help improve children's reading and comprehension skills; speaking and listening activities to deepen children's insight into the stories and encourage engagement; cross-curricular follow-up ideas, enabling you to extend the story further. Myths and legends are not only excellent stories. They also help children to gain a true understanding of life in ancient times and improve their understanding of other people, cultures and places, making them an essential part of the primary curriculum.




A Book of Myths


Book Description

"A Book of Myths" deals in a most entertaining manner with the mythology of Greece and Rome and many other noted lands. Added to the pleasure of the story there is the lure of the legend and the spell of old ways and customs. Not only many of the most celebrated are retold, but also many of the less well-known tales. The aim of the author, it is stated, has been to simplify for those who are not erudite scholars the stories of mythology, to which constant reference is made not only in classic, but in modern poetry, and to direct the attention of readers to poems which are not already known to them. Included are tales of Prometheus, Pygmalion, Orpheus, Perseus, King Midas, Pan, the Lorelei, Baldur and many more.




Old Greek Stories


Book Description




Sky High


Book Description

Presents the life and career of the Chinese American woman who dreamed of flying as a child and who went on to become one of only two Chinese American Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) to serve during World War II.




Icarus


Book Description

A myth as old as civilization. The boy who donned wax wings and flew too close to the sun. Follow the tale of Icarus. And that of the father who tried to save him ... but brought his life to an end. You will come to love him. Then you will watch him fall. Live the tragic story as you never imagined possible.




The Buried Life


Book Description

The stories and sketches collected in The Buried Life offer an intimate perspective of people responding to challenges they encounter in dealing with the conditions of their lives. These vignettes revolving around a variety of story lines introduce a wide range of characters, some are set against the background of events during the 1940s and 1950s depicted in A Stirring of the Air, A Shifting of the Light. Others develop initial incidents in a culture changing over decades resulting in crises for people often resolving them in unexpected ways: Two men escape a gathering mountain storm in a surprising way. A narrator meets someone totally indifferent to the busy excitement of seeing Paris. A man faces the dilemma of choosing between a position at a national level with the prospect of greater income or remaining in one locally that will offer him more security but alienating him from his fellow workers. Another man struggles to accept the pain of betrayal and a dissolving marriage as he restores an antique auto. Offering a moving collection of stories, The Buried Life explores how people deal with self-doubt, psychic suffering, recurring painful memories, and the stinging regrets of the past.




Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction


Book Description

What do we mean by 'tragedy' in present-day usage? When we turn on the news, does a report of the latest atrocity have any connection with the masterpieces of Sophocles, Shakespeare and Racine? What has tragedy been made to mean by dramatists, story-tellers, critics, philosophers, politicians and journalists over the last two and a half millennia? Why do we still read, re-write, and stage these old plays? This book argues for the continuities between 'then' and 'now'. Addressing questions about belief, blame, mourning, revenge, pain, witnessing, timing and ending, Adrian Poole demonstrates the age-old significance of our attempts to make sense of terrible suffering. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.