Boydell & Brewer

Afro-Brazilians; cultural production in a racial democracy.

Afolabi (Luso-Brazilian, Yoruba, and African diaspora studies, U. of Texas at Austin) illustrates the racial exclusion faced by Afro-Brazilians and examines cultural contributions from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to show how Afro-Brazilian artists address issues of identity and racism. Using canonical and merging writers, exponents of popular culture, and personal interviews, he explains that through these avenues of cultural production, Afro-Brazilians used strategies of survival and subversion to address subjugation and marginalization through writing, performance, and celebrating Afro-Brazilian heroes. He discusses select topics, issues, and figures such as writers Machado de Assis, Lima Barreto, Solano Trindade, Arnaldo Xavier, and Eduardo de Oliveira; the black literary movement Quilombhoje; women writers such as Miriam Alves and Esmeralda Ribiero; narratives about the ancestral link between freed African slaves from Brazil who returned to Nigeria after abolition of slavery; musician Gilberto Gil; Carnival; Brazilian films; cultural theorists; and performer Leci Brandão. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

After the digital divide?; German aesthetic theory in the age of new media.

Scholars of German art, literature, and media from the US and majority German-speaking countries review recent creative efforts in order to illuminate the impact on them of electronic media. Their topics include digital sampling and analogue montage; remixability; aura, virtuality, and the simulacrum; the possibility of the archive in cyberspace; digital negation and the fate of shock after the avant-garde; from Ruttmann's Berlin to hypermedia Berlin; and fragging fascism. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The ballet collaborations of Richard Strauss.

Austrian composer Strauss (1864-1949) is not generally associated with ballet, but Heisler (historical and cultural studies in music, College of New Jersey) shows that had a lifelong engagement with dance, though sporadic and varied as was his wont with most things. He looks at compositions he calls ballet texts to chart Strauss' interest and involvement in ballet from its beginning during the 1890s and re-emergence during the 1910s to its apex during the 1920s and 1930s. As the title suggests, he is very interested in how the composer interacted with other parties to the performance. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Celtic curses.

Mees (U. of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) focuses on the language used on curse tablets across mainland Europe when it was inhabited by Celtic peoples, comparing it to the insular languages that became Irish and Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, and Cornish. One of his goals is to see what the tablets might contribute to a better understanding of the variation and distribution of Celtic language. But he also considers the magic involved, drawing on recent anthropological perspectives and on historical scholarship into the magic being conducted by other people in the area about the same time. He looks at infernal powers, dark waters, vengeful prayers, fragments, breastplates and clamours, geases and binding, incantation, and other aspects. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

A companion to the works of Walter Benjamin.

In his introduction, Goebel (German, U. of Alabama, Huntsville) offers an extended discussion of the notion of actuality — the currency and relevance of ideas from the past in the present — with regard to the works of Walter Benjamin (1892-1940). The 12 essays that follow continue this theme, as they examine Benjamin's texts, themes, terminologies, and genres to demonstrate their relevance and relationship to currents in modern contemporary media, memory culture, constructions of gender, postcoloniality, and urban topographies. As befits a 'companion', the essays offer in-depth discussion of Benjamin's work and thought, with chapters on such topics as his approach to language and literature, an analysis of Einbahnstrasse, the politics of remembrance, and his theory of aura and technological reproduction applied to computer-driven animation. The contributors, who are scholars in Europe, North America, and Brazil in a variety of fields, are thorough in their analysis and include discussion of other influential works and thinkers of his time, making this an excellent resource to the philosopher. Camden House is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Crossing paths or sharing tracks?; future directions in the archaeological study of post-1550 Britain and Ireland.

Horning and Palmer, both from the archaeology and ancient history department of the University of Leicester, felt that the field of post-medieval archaeology was ill-defined and fragmented, with little communication between the practitioners. In 2008, they organized a conference to address the problem. The resulting papers demonstrate the differences of opinion as to methodology and goals. They also indicate a desire to work together. The first papers look at the differences. Industrial archaeology battles with historical, social and political. The second section offers some solutions in approach, noting areas that are understudied, such as glassworks and the bones of domestic animals and alterations in landscape. The final part deals with urban archeology and the need for more interdisciplinary cooperation. The perspectives of the participants is sometimes monocular, concentrating on the development of industrial techniques or ignoring them while searching for the effect of industrialization on individuals. All the papers reflect the growing pains of this new and important field of study. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The cult of Saint George in medieval England.

In this delightful study, Good (history, Reinhardt College, Georgia) examines the history of how St. George, who was not at all English, became England's patron saint in the Middle Ages, and remained popular into the Victorian era. The cult of the saint and the political and historical story behind its creation, the saint's earlier history outside of England, the many marvelous stories of other saints who killed dragons, and the iconography of the saint in English art and sculpture are discussed in chapters that carry the history through the Middle Ages, the Elizabethan era, and the Gothic Revival era to contemporary time. The volume concludes with an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources and appendices that list church and guild dedications to the saint. The volume is illustrated in b&w. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Edward the Confessor; the man and the legend.

The 9 papers of this collection were given in earlier form at a symposium held in conjunction with the 2005 celebrations for the 1000-year anniversary of the king's birth. The first chapter, by Mortimer (affiliations are not noted) provides a thorough analysis of the chronicles of Edward's life, teasing fact from myth and setting the chronicles within the historical context in which they were written. Four chapters assess Edward's role as son of Aethelred, his activities with regard to Normandy, the question of succession, including an analysis of the earldoms of the period, and his sanctity and canonization. Pauline Stafford offers a fascinating chapter on his wife Edith, and the balance of the volume is devoted to his greatest architectural accomplishment, Westminster Abbey, with details on recent archaeology. A subject-arranged bibliography and many b&w plates of illustrations and plans round out the volume, making this a significant contribution to the topic. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Encounters with Islam in German literature and culture.

The 14 essays of this collection were presented in earlier form at the March 2007 conference at the National U. of Ireland in Maynooth called German Encounters with Islam. Addressing references to Islam in German literature and the attitudes and beliefs these imply, the essay topics range from medieval texts, including a chapter on Wolfram von Eschenbach, to contemporary writers, with a chapter on the 2004 work Zu den heiligen Quellen des Islam, by Ilija Trojanow. Turkish-German writers, German converts to Islam, Goethe's West-östlicher Divan, and a critique of Said's comments about German writers in his influential Orientalism are among the topics. Written for scholars of German literature and culture, the essays quote extensively from the texts they analyze, in the original German. The medieval German phrases are accompanied by English translation; passages in contemporary German are not. Camden House is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

England and the 1641 Irish Rebellion.

One of the consistent themes in English discourses on the rising, says Cope (history, State U. of New York-Geneseo), was moral obligation of English Protestants to their distressed brethren and countrymen in Ireland. He describes how hundreds of refugees from the conflict who arrived destitute in England were on one hand considered disruptive, expensive, and possibly dangerous presences in local communities, but on the other were abstracted into victims of and evidence for a threatening international papist plot. His topics include the experience of survival, the international significance of the rebellion, refugees and the problem of local order, local charity contributing to the Irish cause, and the distribution and decline of Irish relief. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The English Catholic community, 1688-1745; politics, culture and ideology.

When the Edict of Toleration was announced in England in 1688, Catholics were not included. For many historians this meant that they were a spent force, with no political aspirations. Glickman (history, Hertford College, Oxford)has bypassed the secondary literature to examine the writings of English Catholics at home and in exile. He has found that, apart from the desire to restore the Stuart monarchy, Catholics had a variety of political goals. Their part in forging the new British identity is noted as is the contributions made by English exiles in Catholic countries who introduced the latest in continental thought. Glickman cites many hitherto unconsulted sources for this image of a more vibrant English Catholic culture than was previously thought. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Expansion and crisis in Louis XIV's France; Franche-Comté and absolute monarchy, 1674-1715.

Dee (history, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada) has a two-fold purpose in this study of the history of the department of Franche-Comté from its conquest by the French under Louis XIV to the death of that monarch in 1715. The first is an analysis of the politics of Franche-Comté, a backwater of the Hapsburg Empire that had been largely autonomous. Dee discusses the manner in which Louis' government insinuated itself into the workings of the local elite, managing to withdraw funds without engendering uprisings. The second goal is a reassessment of the nature of Louis' absolute monarchy. Dee argues that in Franche-Comté, as in other areas, the central government worked with local established authority. He also takes a hard look at the last thirty years of the reign of the Sun King that saw increased debt and a tightening of central control that excluded not only the poor but most of the aristocracy. An interesting study of two neglected areas of early modern French history. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Gender, nation and conquest in the works of William of Malmesbury.

Fenton (U. of Edinburgh) offers a gendered reading of the works of secular and church history, hagiography, and other genres by Anglo-Norman Benedictine monk William (1097-1143) that particularly engage the themes of conquest and nation. Her double focus is how he portrays individual men and women, and how he uses gender markers when discussing conquest and nation. She places him in his world, explores his construction of gender in relation to violence and its expression and to sexual behavior, and looks at his presentation of gentes as a national group. In most cases, his sources are known, so she can compare them with William's account to highlight his contribution. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Glory, Laud and honour; the arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation. (reprint, 2006)

Parry (English, U. of York) describes the works and styles of art that precipitated from the High Church movement that reached its apex under the benevolent hand of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury after 1633. After decades of austerity, he says, new churches were built and old ones restored in styles ranging from conservative gothic to avant-garde baroque, painted glass revived, religious painting once more played a role in public and private worship, new music was composed to accompany more elaborate services that were coming into vogue, wood and stone were carved, alter cloths and vestments woven and sewn, even new silverware was made for the alter. The movement came to a screeching halt in 1640 with the arrest of Laud and new anti-papist laws passed by The Long Parliament. The 2006 cloth edition was titled The Arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Harold Wilson's Cold War; the Labour government and East-West politics, 1964-1970.

Hughes (defense studies, King's College London) explores how Britain's Labour government responded to the Sino-Soviet split, the emergence of poly centrism within East Europe, other developments within the Communist world, and the gradual development of European détente during Wilson's first term as prime minister. Britain's attempt to seek a less adversarial relationship with the Soviet bloc states was inevitably affected by the course of superpower rivalry and general trends in East-West relations, he says, and was particularly hampered by the Vietnam War that the US strong-armed Britain to take part in. Published by Boydell & Brewer for the Royal Historical Society. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Heinrich von Kleist's poetics of passivity.

Huff (German, Oberlin College) explores in the writing of German poet Kleist (1777-1811) not some personal inclination to inaction in his characters, but a lack of activity itself. That is, he distinguishes that form of passivity and its externally imposed impotence, from the form that has arisen over recent decades in the study of the literary Sturm und Drang, which tends to involve self-castigation and melancholy. He covers the cultural and historical context, cannibalism made palatable or not, soldier and dreamer Prince Friedrich von Homburg, and passivity in the novellas. Quotations are in German with English translation. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

In search of new scales; Prince Edmond de Polignac, octatonic explorer.

Aristocrats are not widely known for breaking with tradition, yet that's exactly what Prince Edmond de Polignac did when he devised his octatonic scale in 1870. His new new way to create melodies and harmonies, which alternated half and whole steps, became an important element in the works of many late 19th century and 20th century composers, including Liszt, Ravel, and Stravinsky. In this book, Kahan (Music, City University of New York) presents Polignac's octatonic treatise for the first time, in both original French and English translation. In addition, she provides extensive biographic information and examines what the treatise and Polignac's compositions show about late 19th century musical thought in France. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Interwar Vienna; culture between tradition and modernity.

Editors Holmes (Researcher, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the History and Theory of Biography) and Silverman (History and Jewish Studies, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee) present essays that explore Vienna's achievements and anxieties between the two World Wars. Dealing with fields ranging from modern dance, theater, music, film, and literature to economic, cultural, and racial policy, contributors show how — despite social, political, and economic instabilities — interwar Vienna was an exhilarating place that hosted pioneering developments in the arts and innovations in the social sphere. Widening the traditional view that sees Vienna during this period as a shadow of its former imperial self, this book will appeal to social, cultural, and political historians as well as to specialists in modern European literary and visual culture. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Irony and sound; the music of Maurice Ravel.

Zank, who has taught musicology at several US universities, examines irony in the music of Maurice Ravel through his fascinations with dynamics, counterpoint, orchestration, exotic influences, multisensorial perception. Zank contends that irony connects these aspects and analyzes it within works such as Gaspard de la nuit, La valse, Le tombeau de Couperin, Jeux d'eau, Rapsodie espagnole, and other pieces, as well as within the context of earlier examinations by Roland-Manuel, Vladimir Jankélévitch, and other studies. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

A literary history of the Low Countries.

Editor Hermans (Dutch and comparative literature, University College London) brings together 28 contributed chapters investigating a history that spans 1,000 years. Arranged in chronologically-themed sections beginning with the Middle Ages and ending with the postwar period (1940- ), this comprehensive and authoritative work is the first English-language history of the literature of the Netherlands and Flanders to be published since the 1970s. Individual writers and works are discussed as are broader historical issues and the local and international contexts. The extensive bibliography includes titles in English and in Dutch as well as English translations of literary works. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)