Critical Companion to William Shakespeare

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Critical Companion to William Shakespeare: A Literary Refernce to His Life and Work (Literary a to Z), 2 Volume Set

by Charles Boyce

Easily the most respected, revered, and researched author of all time, William Shakespeare and his works have forever changed the face of literature, inspiring playful discussion and heated debate for hundreds of years. He wrote such well-known plays as Hamplet, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, published more than 150 sonnets, and coined more than 1,500 new words. While much of his life remains a mystery, this engrossing reference examines all facets of Shakespeare and his writings. An essential two-volume resource for the study of this literary giant, Critical Companion to William Shakespeare contains more than 3,000 engaging entries, making it an authoritative reference to virtually everything one needs to know about the Bard and his works.

Theophilus of Alexandria

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Theophilus of Alexandria (The Early Church Fathers)

by Norman Russell

"Thoephilus of Alexandria" brings back into focus a figure who has long been neglected in the study of early Christianity and will provide students and lecturers with a fresh perspective into the first Origenist controversy, through texts translated into English for the very first time. Norman Russell's new assessment of Theophilus not only examines his efforts to Christianize an Egypt still denominated by its great temples, but also details his battle to maintain the pre-eminence of the Alexandrian Church in an age of rapid change. This significantly reveals the full power and range of his thinking. This book presents a refreshing take on one of the greatest bishops of the Theodosian era, who played an important role in a crucial phase of the Roman Empire's transformation into a Christian society. "Theophilus of Alexandria" will greatly appeal to students and lecturers involved in Early Christian Studies and Religion.

THEODORET OF CYRUS

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THEODORET OF CYRUS (The Early Church Fathers)

by Istvan Pasztori Kupan

Theodoret of Cyrus writings provide a unique insight in to the stormy years of theological debate between the third and the fourth ecumenical councils (431-451). Unfortunately, the larger part of his extant writings still remains untranslated, which provides a fragmented representation of his thought and has lead to his misrepresentation by ancient, medieval and some modern scholars. This book provides the reader with whole small tracts and representative selections and a more balanced picture of his often neglected, depreciated and largely inaccessible theological legacy.

EVAGRIUS PONTICUS

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EVAGRIUS PONTICUS (Early Church Fathers S.)

by Augustine Casiday

Evagrius Ponticus is an increasingly important figure in the scholarship of early Christianity, particularly regarding monasticism, mysticism and the general relationship of Christian theology to classical philosophy. His surviving works constitute probably the largest corpus of writings from any Desert Farther. Evagrius Ponticus provides the teaching of an early master of asceticism, not as filtered through a disciple, but as he himself propounded it. This volume will provide a valuable frame of reference for students of the Desert Fathers, of Origen and his legacy, and indeed of the Greek mystical tradition.

Gregory of Nazianzus

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Gregory of Nazianzus (Early Church Fathers S.)

by Brian Daley

Gregory of Nazianzus, a complex and colorful figure living during a crucial age in which it was permissible for the first time to be a public Christian intellectual (4th Century AD), was well placed to become one of the outstanding defenders and formulators of Trinitarian orthodoxy. A gifted and skilled rhetorician, poet, and orator, as well as a profound theologian, Gregory was ordained a bishop and served as head of the orthodox Christian community in Constantinople, where he played an important role in formulating the classical doctrines of the Trinity and the person of Christ. Under fire from opponents in the Church, the enigmatic Gregory soon retreated into a quiet life of study and simple asceticism, concentrating on quiet meditation and strengthening his canon of literature. Gregory's body of works, comprising poetry, letters, sermons and lectures on religious themes and written with the terseness and elegance of classical Greek literature, was canonized in the Byzantine age as equal to the greatest Greek writers before him. A collection of new translations of a selection of these achievements in literature and theology, with an extensive introduction to Gregory's life, thought, and writings, Gregory Nazianzus portrays a vivid picture of a fascinating character of vital importance; who deserves to be regarded as the first true Christian humanist.

Gregory the Great

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Gregory the Great (The Early Church Fathers)

by John Moorhead

Gregory's life culminated in his holding the office of pope (590 - 604). He is generally regarded as one of the outstanding figures in the long line of popes, and by the late ninth century had come to be known as "the Great". Along with Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, he played a critical role in the history of his time. During the middle ages his intellectual influence was second only to that of Augustine.This volume provides a biographical and intellectual context to Gregory the Great, and new translations of his most influential writings.

The Private Worlds of Marcel Duchamp

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The Private Worlds of Marcel Duchamp: Desire, Liberation, and the Self in Modern Culture

by Jerrold Seigel

Marcel Duchamp is a founding figure of twentieth-century art and culture, the common source to which many contemporary movements trace their roots. His career has often been celebrated for its contradictions and discontinuities, its disparate parts unified only by their assault on the traditions of art. Jerrold Seigel offers a wholly different view, revealing a web of interrelated themes that unify Duchamp's work and tie it to his life.At the book's center is a reinterpretation of the famous "readymades," of which the urinal "Fountain" and the defaced Mona Lisa were the most shocking. By recovering their history, Seigel shows that their playful and rebellious surface veiled the meanings that linked them to Duchamp's pictures (especially the famous "Large Glass," here illuminated by a comprehensive new reading) and to his experiments with language. The result gives the artist's career the unity of a colorful and intricate puzzle.Behind that puzzle were the great modernist themes of isolation, perpetuated desire, and the imagined dissolution of the self. These themes entered Duchamp's mind both from his social and cultural environment and from the shaping experience of his family; around them were woven the patterns of working and loving that Seigel uncovers in his life. Duchamp emerges not just as a coherent, understandable personality, but as an exemplary one, his very eccentricities reflecting essential dimensions of modern experience.A mythic presence in modern culture, a hero whose story we tell for the sake of its valuable lessons, Duchamp opened the floodgates to a sea of questions about the nature and meaning of art. Seigel demands that we think again about these questions, and about the answers that Duchamp's heirs and followers have tried to give to them.