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Challenging the ‘success story’ of curiosity from original sin to intellectual virtue, this study uses an innovative methodological approach to the history of ideas as a non-teleological neural network based on current research in information technology and neurophysiology. The network offers a dynamic alternative to the ‘development’ of curiosity within the progress-oriented mythology of the Enlightenment, emphasizing the oscillation and interaction of ideas within the processes of their construction, as well as exposing the power relations behind them. The text corpus focuses on enactments of curiosity in English literature of the 'Long' Eighteenth Century (c. 1680-1818), such as t...
An introduction to academic skills which leaves nothing to be desired – designed for students of English and American Studies, this companion will guide you through research, presentation, quoting and style, as well as the composition of essays and term papers. Acquiring these competences will not only equip you for the expectations of university studies but will also enhance your communication skills and promote your ability to think critically and independently. The book is rounded off by strategies for exam preparation and plenty of practice exercises complete with solutions.
The articles in this volume discuss specific ways in which the Gothic transgresses boundaries, be they historical, spatial, national, aesthetic, generic, modal, medial, or sexual. Offering a wide range in every respect - from 'Proto' to 'Post-Gothic, ' from mythical to digital, from national to 'Globalgothic, ' from metropolitan to 'EcoGothic, ' from traditional to 'Candygothic, ' from novel to film and from Shakespeare to Steampunk - this collection aims to enrich as well as extend the scholarly debate on the Gothic as a multi-faceted mode of expression that goes beyond limits and, much like a vampire, constantly refreshes itself by feeding on the lifeblood of topical issues. (Series: Culture: Research and Science / Kultur: Forschung und Wissenschaft - Vol. 19) [Subject: Popular Culture, Literary Critic
Werewolves, witches, vampires, demons, gods, zombies, and shape-shifters; these are just a few examples of the monstrous that society is confronted with. Most people have some knowledge about these creatures, and have had fleeting contact with ghosts, fairies, vampires and goblins, either in their imagination, or while reading, watching, or interacting with other people (whether in reality or the online world). From Beowulf and Buffy, to Freddy Krueger and Frankenstein’s Monster, this collection highlights different aspects of the monstrous, and discusses various ways in which they can be read, discussed, and understood. What does the mother in Beowulf really represent? How can the charact...
This collection comprises essays from various interdisciplinary perspectives – e.g. literary scholarship, intermediality, art history, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and medicine – to analyze and interpret the fictional and non-fictional works by Siri Hustvedt, an author whose reputation and public presence have been growing steadily in the 21st century and who is recognized as one of the most widely read and appreciated contemporary American writers. In her significance and stature as a public intellectual, she is not merely an American writer but a transnational, cosmopolitan author, who develops new forms not only of literary narrative but of interdisciplinary thought and writing, bringi...
Medicine and literary studies are often thematically aligned, since the former can be understood as an interpretive science. Literary texts across all genres and time periods deal with medical issues that portray illness, patients' suffering/recovering, or doctors at work, thus pointing towards a deep-seated interest in the human condition. Enveloping the growing interdisciplinary field of medical humanities, this book examines the connections between medicine and fictional/non-fictional literature, from the Early Modern period to the most recent present from literary, medical, and cultural studies perspectives. (Series: Natural Sciences and Humanities in Dialogue / Kultur- und Naturwissenschaften im Dialog - Vol. 2)
Ulrike Draesner is a prize-winning writer of novels, short stories, critical essays and poetry, and one of the foremost authors in Germany today. While a number of volumes have been published in German on her work, the current Companion offers the first volume on Draesner in English, capitalising on the interest in her work in Germany and further afield. Introducing Draesner’s major novels and short stories, poetry collections and essays, as well as giving an overview of existing research focusing on migration, memory, science, gender and bodily experience, chapters by international scholars in this volume also break new ground by focussing on visual culture, poetology, nature, the posthuman and Draesner’s reception of English literature and medieval culture. A comprehensive bibliography, commissioned interview and original writing by Draesner make the volume a valuable research tool for scholars and students. This will become essential reading for all those interested in Draesner, women’s writing, literature and history, and contemporary German prose and poetry.
In this book, Lea Gerhards traces connections between three recent vampire romance series; the Twilight film series (2008-2012), The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017) and True Blood (2008-2014), exploring their tremendous discursive and ideological power in order to understand the cultural politics of these extremely popular texts. She uses contemporary vampire romance to examine postfeminist ideologies and discuss gender, sexuality, subjectivity, agency and the body. Discussing a range of conflicting meanings contained in the narratives, Gerhards critically looks genre's engagement with everyday sexism and violence against women, power relations in heterosexual relationships, sexual autonomy and pleasure, (self-) empowerment, and (self-) surveillance. She asks: Why are these genre texts so popular right now, what specific desires, issues and fears are addressed and negotiated by them, and what kinds of pleasures do they offer?