Unnatural Wonders


Book Description

The famous theorist locates contemporary art's most exhilarating achievements.




Herrick's Lie


Book Description

Underground. Underwater. Out of time. Ollie had only wanted to make things better at Herrick's End. And he thought he had, until he sees the stark truth spelled out in black-and-white: His friends are in danger, and it's all his fault. The good news? There might be a solution. The less-good news? It's hidden at the bottom of a deep, dangerous lake. Leaping into that water, he knows, is a monstrously bad idea. It's also the only idea he's got. One thing is certain: Ollie's quest to right past wrongs is about to open up a whole new can of wormwalkers in the extraordinary underground world he now calls home.




The Madonna of the Future


Book Description

Danto writes about the contemporary art to be seen in museums and galleries, placing it in the context of the history of modern art and of current debates about essential ideas in our society.




The Unnatural History Museum


Book Description

Viktor Wynd, master of the contemporary Wunderkabinett, is back with a collection of artifacts and curiosities that are more bizarre and wonderful than ever. For over a decade, from a tiny storefront in east London, the artist Viktor Wynd has been reinventing the cabinet of curiosities for the 21st century. The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & UnNatural History is now one of the city's most tantalizing tourist destinations. Wynd first introduced his worldview in the book Viktor Wynd's Cabinet of Wonders, which John Waters called "an insanely delightful how-to guide...told with lunatic humor and absolute joy." In this new volume, he takes readers on a tour inside his mildly-twisted mind, delving deeper into his philosophy of collecting, and describing personal connections to the objects he treasures. Written in his trademark charismatic style, which blends whimsical stories with odd facts and obscure references, this book is filled with lavish and theatrical photographs and drawings. Loosely organized into thematic chapters, it ponders the beauty of skulls and masks; explores beasts, freaks, monsters, fairies, and mermaids; covers magical plants, hallucinogens, erotica, and dandies; and dips into the world of the occult. This might not be a book for everyone. However, it is a book everyone interested in cabinets of curiosities should have on their shelf.




The Judge


Book Description




Beauty and the End of Art


Book Description

Beauty and the End of Art shows how a resurgence of interest in beauty and a sense of ending in Western art are challenging us to rethink art, beauty and their relationship. By arguing that Wittgenstein's later work and contemporary theory of perception offer just what we need for a unified approach to art and beauty, Sonia Sedivy provides new answers to these contemporary challenges. These new accounts also provide support for the Wittgensteinian realism and theory of perception that make them possible. Wittgenstein's subtle form of realism explains artworks in terms of norm governed practices that have their own varied constitutive norms and values. Wittgensteinian realism also suggests that diverse beauties become available and compelling in different cultural eras and bring a shared 'higher-order' value into view. With this framework in place, Sedivy argues that perception is a form of engagement with the world that draws on our conceptual capacities. This approach explains how perceptual experience and the perceptible presence of the world are of value, helping to account for the diversity of beauties that are available in different historical contexts and why the many faces of beauty allow us to experience the value of the world's perceptible presence. Carefully examining contemporary debates about art, aesthetics and perception, Beauty and the End of Art presents an original approach. Insights from such diverse thinkers as Immanuel Kant, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Arthur Danto, Alexander Nehamas, Elaine Scarry and Dave Hickey are woven together to reveal how they make good sense if we bring contemporary theory of perception and Wittgensteinian realism into the conversation.




Chaucer's England


Book Description




The Complete fiction of H.P. Lovecraft (60+ titles). The Necronomicon. Collection of short stories and novels: The Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow out of Time, The Dunwich Horror, The Colour out of Space etc


Book Description

This is the most complete collection of American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Stephen King has called Lovecraft "the twentieth Century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale." His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Christian humanism. Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. The History of the Necronomicon. “Original title Al Azif-azif being the word used by Arabs to designate that nocturnal sound (made by insects) suppos’d to be the howling of daemons…” Contents: -The Alchemist -At the Mountains of Madness -Azathoth -The Beast in the Cave -Beyond the Wall of Sleep -The Book -The Call of Cthulhu -The Case of Charles Dexter Ward -The Cats of Ulthar -The Colour out of Space -Dagon -The Descendant -The Doom That Came to Sarnath -The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath -The Dunwich Horror -The Evil Clergyman -Ex Oblivione -Facts concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family -The Festival -From Beyond -The Haunter of the Dark -He -Herbert West-Reanimator -The History of the Necronomicon -The Horror at Red Hook -The Hound -Hypnos -Ibid -In the Vault -The Little Glass Bottle -Memory -The Moon-Bog -The Music of Erich Zann -The Nameless City -Nyarlathotep -Old Bugs -The Other Gods -The Outsider -Pickman’s Model -The Picture in the House -Polaris -The Quest of Iranon -The Rats in the Walls -A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson -The Secret Cave or John Lees adventure -The Shadow out of Time -The Shadow over Innsmouth -The Shunned House -The Silver Key -The Statement of Randolph Carter -The Strange High House in the Mist -The Street -The Temple -The Terrible Old Man -The Tomb -The Transition of Juan Romero -The Tree -Under the Pyramids -The Very Old Folk -What the Moon Brings -The Whisperer in Darkness -The White Ship




Paracelsian Moments


Book Description

Scientific ideas inspired by religious, magical, and alchemical themes competed alongside traditional Aristotelian science and the emerging mechanical philosophy in the early modern era. At the center of this ferment was a quirky and creative German physician, Paracelsus, whose religious-alchemical worldview served as an inspiration for countless scientific innovators. This collection is about Paracelsus and the wide range of issues he explored, and ones taken up by many who were directly or indirectly affected by the same mental universe that sustained his thought and writings. This volume includes strong contextual studies on Paracelsianism and the larger cultural history of early modern science, including groundbreaking studies on Robert Boyle, François Rabelais, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and Johannes Praetorius.




Foundations of Comparative Politics


Book Description

This concise, comprehensive overview of comparative politics blends theory and evidence across democratic systems and is updated throughout.