Vanny Gani
The Awakening of the Stars, a novel in the mystical fiction category & Aerial Roots a drama and comedy about the author grandmother.
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Humanities & Social SciencesSeptember 1997Understanding the mafia
by Joe Farrell
An anthology of writings in Italian which examine the origins, nature and culture of the Sicilian mafia. Separate chapters are devoted to the culture from which the mafia emerged, the economic and business activities in which it is now engaged, its relations with politics and politicians, as well as its structure and historical evolution. There are portraits of prominent mafiosi as well as of the people and organizations that have struggled against mafia crime. The individual pieces come from a diverse range of sources, including newspapers, historical and sociological works. There is an introduction in English, as well as a full vocabulary and a glossary of terms associated with the mafia.
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1991Birdie, Bully, Bananenflanke
Sportregeln und Begriffe - und was Sie schon immer wissen wollten
by Scheunig, Rolf; Poppen, Helmuth
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February 2004Die Rückkehr des Hooligan
Ein Selbstporträt
by Manea, Norman / Übersetzt von Aescht, Georg
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Children's & YAThe Sparkling Ponies (3). Luna and the Moonstones
by Emily Palmer/ Josephine Llobet
The four friends Fiona, Aurelia, Jana and Leni thoroughly enjoy their friendship with their sparkling ponies and they’re looking forward to the festival that’s about to take place at Funfield Pony Farm. But there’s a lot to be done first. Only Aurelia can’t really enjoy the prospect because the problem she has to solve with the mare Luna is really giving her a tough time. Suddenly Fiona and Sunny are also given a tricky task. And when the secret of the sparkling ponies is then in danger of being exposed, everything goes topsy-turvy. Will the friends end up enjoying the pony festival or not?
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Teaching, Language & ReferenceFebruary 2013Ramon J. Sender's 'Cronica del alba'
by Catherine Davies, Anthony Trippett
Crónica del alba is a novel by Sender with a Civil War background, like the popular Réquiem por un campesino español, also in this series. The author evokes his childhood in rural Aragón at the beginning of the twentieth century in a book which has a charm and something of the character of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The young Pepe fights to believe in himself as a hero in the face of a world, and a father bent on putting him down. He is supported by his girlfriend, Valentina, who believes in him implicitly and often ends up in as much trouble as him. But there is something more here than scrapes and mischief-making. It is written by an older and disillusioned Pepe who has known real heroism and is now detained in a prison camp for Spanish Civil War refugees in southern France. The novel raises challenging questions about the loss of hope, how people cope with disillusionment, and the place of writing in that process. Moreover, since the novel reflects Sender's own childhood it sheds light on the complex relationship of fact and fiction in autobiographical novels. ;
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Literature & Literary StudiesAugust 2023Poison on the early modern English stage
Plants, paints and potions
by Lisa Hopkins, Bill Angus
Many early modern plays use poison, most famously Hamlet, where the murder of Old Hamlet showcases the range of issues poison mobilises. Its orchard setting is one of a number of sinister uses of plants which comment on both the loss of horticultural knowledge resulting from the Dissolution of the Monasteries and also the many new arrivals in English gardens through travel, trade, and attempts at colonisation. The fact that Old Hamlet was asleep reflects unease about soporifics troubling the distinction between sleep and death; pouring poison into the ear smuggles in the contemporary fear of informers; and it is difficult to prove. This book explores poisoning in early modern plays, the legal and epistemological issues it raises, and the cultural work it performs, which includes questions related to race, religion, nationality, gender, and humans' relationship to the environment.
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May 2023How Philosophers Fail Themselves
The somewhat different historyof philosophy
by Otto A. Böhmer
— Philosophy for beginners — For philosophy enthusiasts — A pleasant read This truly brilliant book tells of the sometimes sublime, sometimes exhilarating efforts of philosophers to maintain their attitude in everyday life without forgetting the meaning of their own words – and how they ultimately failed to do so. The minor, sometimes bizarre events in the lives of the great philosophers fit so aptly in the picture of the respective philosophy that one has to assume they could have been conceived to keep the associated intellectual giant in a strange and memorable mood. A book of cheerful science, full of wit, narrative and linguistic eloquence.
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FictionSeptember 2017A Vision of Battlements
by Anthony Burgess
by Andrew Biswell, Paul Wake
A Vision of Battlements is the first novel by the writer and composer Anthony Burgess, who was born in Manchester in 1917. Set in Gibraltar during the Second World War, the book follows the fortunes of Richard Ennis, an army sergeant and incipient composer who dreams of composing great music and building a new cultural world after the end of the war. Following the example of his literary hero, James Joyce, Burgess takes the structure of his book from Virgil's Aeneid. The result is, like Joyce's Ulysses, a comic rewriting of a classical epic, whose critique of the Army and the postwar settlement is sharp and assured. The Irwell Edition is the first publication of Burgess's forgotten masterpiece since 1965. This new edition includes an introduction and notes by Andrew Biswell, author of a prize-winning biography of Anthony Burgess.
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March 2024The Strategy of Rescue
The past and present of a power-political concept
by Johannes F. Lehmann
"Rescue” has two fundamentally different “existential” dimensions. One is aimed at “saving” individual lives that are in danger. Firefighters, for instance, rescue people from fires, while the sea rescue services rescue shipwrecked people from the Mediterranean. The second dimension of “rescue”, on the other hand, concerns systems – think of the bailing out of banks, the euro or the climate disaster – and so points to a larger context that creates the conditions for “life” to even be possible, or at least to be preserved. The complex subject of this stringent essay is just to what extent politics enable or prevent “rescue attempts”, to what extent it understands its actions as “rescue actions”, and how decisively the “narrative”, i.e. the “talk of rescue”, ultimately dominates our entire understanding of politics.
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Literature & Literary StudiesApril 2023Charles Dickens and Georgina Hogarth
A curious and enduring relationship
by Christine Skelton
Charles Dickens called his sister-in-law Georgina Hogarth his 'best and truest friend'. Georgina saw Dickens as much more than a friend. They lived together for twenty-eight years, during which time their relationship constantly changed. The sister of his wife Catherine, the sharp and witty Georgina moved into the Dickens home aged fifteen. What began as a father-daughter relationship blossomed into a genuine rapport, but their easy relations were fractured when Dickens had a mid-life crisis and determined to rid himself of Catherine. Georgina's refusal to leave Dickens and his desire for her to remain in his household led to rumours of an affair and even illegitimate children. He left her the equivalent of almost £1 million and all his personal papers in his will. Georgina's commitment to Dickens was unwavering but it is far from clear what he did to deserve such loyalty. There were several occasions when he misused her in order to protect his public reputation. Why did Georgina betray her once much-loved sister? Why did she fall out with her family and risk her reputation in order to stay with Dickens? And why did the Dickenses' daughter Katey say it was 'the greatest mistake ever' to invite a sister-in-law to live with a family?
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Humanities & Social SciencesApril 2024Downward spiral
Collapsing public standards and how to restore them
by John Bowers
The Johnson era will be remembered for a series of scandals that severely eroded trust in the British government. From questionable PPE tenders and public appointments to the 'partygate' fiasco, every aspect of public life seemed tainted. How did this downward spiral begin, and what can be done to reverse it? In this eye-opening book, veteran KC John Bowers presents a fearless examination of the decline in ethical standards before, during and after the Johnson government. He focuses on the institutions responsible for holding the government accountable, exposing how they have been bypassed by prime ministers determined to impose their agenda. Through interviews with political insiders, Bowers provides analysis of scandals such as partygate, Greensill and the revolving door with the private sector. He shines a light on a culture of favouritism, where standards are upheld based on little more than the assumption those in power can be trusted to behave. Rishi Sunak entered Number 10 on the promise of restoring integrity, but it is clear major problems remain. Confronting the failings of the current system, Downward spiral presents concrete proposals for creating an alternative that is more transparent and accountable.
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Literature & Literary StudiesAugust 1996Poetaster
Ben Jonson
by Tom Cain
Set in Ancient Rome, "Poetaster" offers one of the first and most subtle statements in English of the Augustan cultural ideal. Jonson contrasts Augustus' wise rule with an English polity dominated (like the stage) by malice, intrigue and envy. This text examines these different strands so skilfully interwoven by Jonson, and argues for a reassessment of "Poetaster" as one of the most ideologically interesting of all early modern plays. The accompanying explanatory notes guide the reader through the personal and political illusions which gave the play its immediate satirical impact. ;
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Historical fictionMERCURIA
by Michael Römling
Rome, 1570: gazette writer Michelangelo moves in as a tenant with rich courtesan Mercuria. During an illicit excavation he comes across a strange skeleton and uncovers a scandal, in which a former contract killer, now cardinal, plays the lead a leading role – together with Mercuria herself, who carries a terrible secret around with her. Michael Römling carries us off into the splendid, chaotic, unholy Rome of the Renaissance popes and their courtesans. Strong women, unscrupulous men, intrigues, seduction and violence – an all-consuming reading trip.
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Literature & Literary StudiesJune 2012Moliere: L'imposteur de 1667
A critical edition
by Robert McBride
This book is the second part of an important experimental trilogy in text archaeology of all the various ideas about the 1664 and later versions. Tartuffe ou L'Imposteur, (Tartuffe or the Hypocrite), is Molière's most famous play and was first performed at Versailles in 1664. It attacked religious hypocrisy and as a result caused much scandal and was then banned. Tartuffe means 'hypocrite' especially one who shows affected religious piety and exaggeratedly feigns virtue. Revised versions of Tartuffe were performed at various times between 1667 and 1669. McBride provides a reconstruction of the 1667 version in this book. McBride's work is meticulous and nuanced and he provides a scholarly reconstruction of one of Molière's masterpieces. ;
