Literature in Art Books

What a great book...opened my eyes to a new world food history!

Worth a purchase!

Ian

http://www.bragazzis.com

This monograph by George Savran presents concrete scriptural examples of a subject mostly regarded as ethereal in nature. Generally, "theophany" refers to divine encounters in the guise of dreams or visions. Savran has gone to great lengths and efforts to analyze Man-God narratives from the Hebrew Bible which describe actual contact and interaction. He uses type-scene analysis to bring into focus the structures and shared dynamics present in these narratives.
I commend the author on making a study tool which I found quite effective in helping me wrap my mind around this heady subject. Previous treatments of this topic, in my opinion, have often combined the prophecies and visions type of encounter with the more personally defined contacts, thus introducing a higher degree of subjective assessment to the analysis. By staying with the more actual, physical event narratives, the author focuses on the definition and ordering of the universal aspects found throughout these biblical narratives.

About the Book :
The present encyclopaedia in seven volumes gives exhaustive descriptions of mythical, legendary and poetic traditions related to art, religion, culture and literature. Volume One throws lucid light on the Celtic mythology, which tells about the Gaelic gods and their stories and also about the British gods and their tales. Volume two has dealt with the development of the early myths, beliefs, customs and habits of life of the Teutonic people. Volume Three speaks of the mythical and legendary tales of Egypt, Volume Four deals with the abundant storehouse of Sanskrit literature and the rise and growth of Brahmanism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc., besides the manifestations of the Hindu deities and their artistic forms, and also narrates the story of Nala and Damayanti and the two great epics of the Hindus³the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Volume Five gives a survey of the ancient Crete civilization, its art, mythology and literature, besides the cultural activities. Volume Six gives a vivid description of the myths and legends of Babylonia and Assyria, Volume Seven has dealt with the religious practices of the pre-Columbian America, the habits of life and growth of civilization. This multivolume set has been profusely illustrated, to add graphic value to the factual data it contains.

We perused the book for the absolutely amazing art work! My third graders can't wait to create their own detailed animals! The book is so fascinating! Each animal is so colorful with the finest of detail which does not distract from the basic animal picture at all. All A-B-C picture books are not just for the very youngest crowd, and this is one of those.

Lollie Butler is a genius! Her poetry speaks to your heart and imagination! This book should be read to every child in the country! Can't wait to read more of Butler's works!

This is a scholarly work that brings together various essays on the influence of eroticism and pornography in the context of the political discourse. I concentrated on the articles pertinent to the French Revolution, particularly "The Diamond Necklace Affair: The Case of the Missing Queen," in which Sara Maza explored the disintegration of Marie Antoinette's reputation with the French public. Maza argued that the legal briefs written, published, and widely distributed by the lawyers involved in the prosecution and defense of the Cardinal de Rohan, con artist Jeanne de Valois, and prostitute Nicole Le Guay subtly and in some cases deliberately linked the Queen with the Jeanne and Nicole by way of merging their identities. This is a well-researched book, and easily understood and enjoyed by the casual reader as well as students.

I read this book recently upon the death of Octavio Paz. The mans mind was incredible and he was able to elucidate on such disparate themes as philosophy,religion and history. What is incredible is that he manages to tie these diverse subjects into a major topic, Mexican Art. The European influences on the major Mexican artists is indelible and Paz shows how one cannot exist without it's predecessor. He takes shots at such Mexican icons as Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo for their seemingly contradictory views. This book is not easy reading and requires a base of knowledge prior to reading. One area of interest is his first person accounts with famous people. Paz does not pull any punches and is a straight shooter. The insights he provides here are excellent. The expressions he provides are eloquent and given with great detail. A trully brilliant thinker that offers his thoughts for all to share and enjoy. This book makes you question your knowledge and makes you take the leap into a new understanding of what you thought you knew. Like all provacative writers who influence, you come out the better, as a result of his insights.

This book depicts the history of sacrifice to God through works of art. It starts in the Old Testament sacrafice of the Levitical priests through the sacrifice of Jesus and the Mass. It includes images of paintings and artifacts demonstrating how sacrifice was performed, the importance of it and how it has transformed into the Eucharist. Along with the pictures, there are Biblical references giving a well-articulated apologetical explanation of the sacrifice of the Mass. A beautiful book.

In comparing the "facts of the plays with the documentary evidence of the historical record, [this work] offers what is really a first study in biography based on knowledge of what in a work are the fact's of [O'Neill's] life and what are not." As psychologically incisive and true-to-life as O'Neill's last plays were, with their richly-drawn, identifiable, flawed, characters, they were particularly susceptible to biographical interpretations and such points of view by critics and even scholars. Among the mixed biographical and literary topics concerning this major American playwright Alexander brings clarity to from poring over material lately uncovered and rereadings of some known material are O'Neill's suicide attempt, his illness of tuberculosis, and his relationship with his parents. Alexander, professor emerita of English at CUNY, gives only passing conjecture on why such "myths" arose in the first place or persisted on the basis of nonexistent, scant, or clearly contradictory evidence. The reasons for such errors or misguided interpretations of O'Neill's late plays--no doubt growing out of an awe and mystique surrounding O'Neill as a deeply impressive, preternaturally gifted playwright--is an absorbing topic on its own--but beyond the interest or scope of Alexander here. The author focuses on how such errors came to be, and on clearing them up. In this, she brings much clarity, and sometimes definitiveness, to mistakenly held views and some outright fictions of both O'Neill's life and his late plays, all without lowering this playwright's stature.

a wonderful book, very insightful essays about the complicated nostalgia for lost languages,"identity," citizenship and belonging that the contemporary global diaspora has left us with.