The Modernist Masquerade


Book Description

Masked and costume balls thrived in Russia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries during a period of rich literary and theatrical experimentation. The first study of its kind, The Modernist Masquerade examines the cultural history of masquerades in Russia and their representations in influential literary works. The masquerade's widespread appearance as a literary motif in works by such writers as Anna Akhmatova, Leonid Andreev, Andrei Bely, Aleksandr Blok, and Fyodor Sologub mirrored its popularity as a leisure-time activity and illuminated its integral role in the Russian modernist creative consciousness. Colleen McQuillen charts how the political, cultural, and personal significance of lavish costumes and other forms of self-stylizing evolved in Russia over time. She shows how their representations in literature engaged in dialog with the diverse aesthetic trends of Decadence, Symbolism, and Futurism and with the era's artistic philosophies.




Modernist Disguise


Book Description

This book highlights that masquerade can be regarded as a distinct genre of performance activity that employs elements of the carnivalesque, circus, dance, gestural theatre and theatre of objects.







Masquerade and Civilization


Book Description

Public masquerades were a popular and controversial form of urban entertainment in England for most of the eighteenth century. They were held regularly in London and attended by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people from all ranks of society who delighted in disguising themselves in fanciful costumes and masks and moving through crowds of strangers. The authors shows how the masquerade played a subversive role in the eighteenth-century imagination, and that it was persistently associated with the crossing of class and sexual boundaries, sexual freedom, the overthrow of decorum, and urban corruption. Authorities clearly saw it as a profound challenge to social order and persistently sought to suppress it. The book is in two parts. In the first, the author recreates the historical phenomenon of the English masquerade: the makeup of the crowds, the symbolic language of costume, and the various codes of verbal exchange, gesture, and sexual behavior. The second part analyzes contemporary literary representations of the masquerade, using novels by Richardson, Fielding, Burney, and Inchbald to show how the masquerade in fiction reflected the disruptive power it had in contemporary life. It also served as an indispensable plot-catalyst, generating the complications out of which the essential drama of the fiction emerged. An epilogue discusses the use of the masquerade as a literary device after the eighteenth century. The book contains some 40 illustrations.




Masquerade


Book Description

On his way to deliver a splendid necklace to the Sun from the Moon, Jack Hare is diverted by a series of odd characters and when he finally reaches his destination he realizes that the necklace is missing. The reader is invited to answer several riddles and solve the mystery from clues given in the text.




Moonlight Masquerade


Book Description

After being abruptly jilted, Sophie Kincaid flees to the place her friend Kim Aldredge calls heaven on earth. But Sophie's first taste of Edilean is far from heavenly: after her car breaks down on a country road, she is nearly run over by a speeding sports car. A small act of revenge brings some satisfaction, and word quickly spreads that a gorgeous newcomer gave the driver, the notoriously bitter Dr. Reede Aldredge, a dressing down! But it isn't the first time the fiery artist has gone too far for payback; a secret possession she carries with her could shatter her ex-boyfriend's future. Reede Aldredge has secrets, too, including a desire to get closer to the beauty who is turning his dark world upside-down. Under the night skies, their masquerade is magic-but will it turn to stardust by the light of day?




Vampire: The Masquerade Vol. 1


Book Description

The global bestseller Vampire: The Masquerade comes to comics in Vampire: The Masquerade Vol. 1: Winter's Teeth. When Camarilla enforcer Cecily Bain takes a fledgling vampire under her wing, she's dragged into a vast conspiracy that will topple princes and threaten the very Masquerade. BORN FROM THE WORLD OF THE INTERNATIONALLY BEST-SELLING ROLE PLAYING GAME, VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE'S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED COMICS DEBUT SPINS A GRIPPING AND TRAGIC TALE ABOUT THE BEAST WITHIN US ALL. When Cecily Bain, an enforcer for the Twin Cities' vampiric elite, takes a mysterious new vampire under her wing, she's dragged into an insidious conspiracy. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the cities, a rebellious found-family of vampire cast-outs investigates a vicious killing. As the unlives of the Kindred twine together and betrayals are unearthed, will Cecily be able to escape and save what's left of her family, or will she be yet another pawn sacrificed to maintain the age-old secret: that vampires exist among the living? Vampire: The Masquerade Vol. 1: Winter's Teeth collects issues #1 - #5 of the ongoing series. Read more in Vampire: The Masquerade Vol. 2: The Mortician's Army, collecting issues #6 - #10 of the series For fans of VAMPIRE: The Masquerade RPG, WEREWOLF: The Apocalypse RPG, The World of Darkness, American Vampire, Killadelphia, Something is Killing the Children, Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat/The Vampire Chronicles, Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries/True Blood, Certain Dark Things, Underworld, and vampire/werewolf/monster graphic novels, tabletop/RPGs, books, movies, video games, and series! “This is a fresh take on vampires, mixing it with crime, thrillers, and a pinch of romance all with a vein of horror running through it.” -- Horror DNA “… strongly recommend this book to both fans of the franchise and newcomers.” – Grimdark Magazine "I’m absolutely in love with what a badass Cecily is..." - The Wandering Nerd Girl “Vampire: the Masquerade … is an enjoyable read even if you’re not familiar with the RPG… like the real world, but with hotter outfits, blood, and fangs. – Graphic Policy “This is the horror thriller we all need.” – Horror DNA




Masquerade and Social Justice in Contemporary Latin American Fiction


Book Description

Contemporary Latin American fiction establishes a unique connection between masquerade, frequently motivated by stigma or trauma, and social justice. Using an interdisciplinary approach that combines philosophy, history, psychology, literature, and social justice theory, this study delineates the synergistic connection between these two themes. Weldt-Basson examines fourteen novels by twelve different Latin American authors: Mario Vargas Llosa, Sergio Galindo, Augusto Roa Bastos, Fernando del Paso, Mayra Santos-Febres, Isabel Allende, Carmen Boullosa, Antonio Benítez-Rojo, Marcela Serrano, Sara Sefchovich, Luisa Valenzuela, and Ariel Dorfman. She elucidates the varieties of social justice operating in the plots of contemporary Latin American novels: distributive, postmodern/feminist, postcolonial, transitional, and historical justices. The author further examines how masquerade and disguise aid in articulating the theme of social justice, why this is important, and how it relates to Latin American history and the historical novel.




Remembering Queens and Kings of Early Modern England and France


Book Description

This collection examines the afterlives of early modern English and French rulers. Spanning five centuries of cultural memory, the volume offers case studies of how kings and queens were remembered, represented, and reincarnated in a wide range of sources, from contemporary pageants, plays, and visual art to twenty-first-century television, and from premodern fiction to manga and romance novels. With essays on well-known figures such as Elizabeth I and Marie Antoinette as well as lesser-known monarchs such as Francis II of France and Mary Tudor, Queen of France, Remembering Queens and Kings of Early Modern England and France brings together reflections on how rulers live on in collective memory.