Dianne M. Stewart
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195154153
- eISBN:
- 9780199835713
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195154150.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter analyzes European cultural attitudes toward African people and African religions, especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. It assesses in greater depth the standard European ...
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This chapter analyzes European cultural attitudes toward African people and African religions, especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. It assesses in greater depth the standard European planter and missionary responses to Obeah and Myal. This assessment is prefaced by considering the Afrophobic motif as the most essential ingredient in colonial scripts of European expansion and encounter with the African Other.Less
This chapter analyzes European cultural attitudes toward African people and African religions, especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. It assesses in greater depth the standard European planter and missionary responses to Obeah and Myal. This assessment is prefaced by considering the Afrophobic motif as the most essential ingredient in colonial scripts of European expansion and encounter with the African Other.
Jonathan Boyarin
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520079557
- eISBN:
- 9780520913431
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520079557.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
“Reading” in ancient Jewish culture signifies an act that is oral, social, and collective, and, in Europe, one which belongs to a private or semiprivate social space. By studying the structure of the ...
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“Reading” in ancient Jewish culture signifies an act that is oral, social, and collective, and, in Europe, one which belongs to a private or semiprivate social space. By studying the structure of the semantic affinities and fields of the Hebrew words for “reading,” this chapter aims to show that they do not belong to the same lexical categorization of practices that reading does in modern European culture. It analyzes biblical narrative texts that describe scenes of reading; the descriptions of practice coincide with the semantics of the words involved.Less
“Reading” in ancient Jewish culture signifies an act that is oral, social, and collective, and, in Europe, one which belongs to a private or semiprivate social space. By studying the structure of the semantic affinities and fields of the Hebrew words for “reading,” this chapter aims to show that they do not belong to the same lexical categorization of practices that reading does in modern European culture. It analyzes biblical narrative texts that describe scenes of reading; the descriptions of practice coincide with the semantics of the words involved.
S.N. Balagangadhara
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198082965
- eISBN:
- 9780199081936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198082965.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
The book concludes with an address to the contemporary generations of Indians, both in India and in the diaspora. It argues that, so far, Indians have taken over the European descriptions of their ...
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The book concludes with an address to the contemporary generations of Indians, both in India and in the diaspora. It argues that, so far, Indians have taken over the European descriptions of their experience of India as though these descriptions are facts about India and her traditions. This prevents Indians from formulating what is valuable in the Indian traditions for humankind. This concluding chapter argues that in order to answer questions about the Indian traditions, Indians will first need to understand the western culture.Less
The book concludes with an address to the contemporary generations of Indians, both in India and in the diaspora. It argues that, so far, Indians have taken over the European descriptions of their experience of India as though these descriptions are facts about India and her traditions. This prevents Indians from formulating what is valuable in the Indian traditions for humankind. This concluding chapter argues that in order to answer questions about the Indian traditions, Indians will first need to understand the western culture.
T. C. W. BLANNING
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198227458
- eISBN:
- 9780191678707
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198227458.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Cultural History
This chapter begins by evaluating the forces of war, plague, and famine — which eroded the dominance of the courtly absolutist culture of France. It then examines Gersaint’s shop-sign and notes that ...
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This chapter begins by evaluating the forces of war, plague, and famine — which eroded the dominance of the courtly absolutist culture of France. It then examines Gersaint’s shop-sign and notes that Gersaint’s customers were few in number, but they represent an increasingly powerful force in European culture — the paying public. By the middle of the 18th century, ‘the public’ had become established as not just a legitimate voice in aesthetic appreciation but as the most authoritative. This chapter then discusses another communication medium of the public — the written word — raising literacy rates in France. Lastly, it explores how Europe became more populous, more urban, and more prosperous, and how this greatly assisted the emergence of the public as a key player in European culture. Travel and goods transportation were made easy through the construction of roads and improvement of postal services.Less
This chapter begins by evaluating the forces of war, plague, and famine — which eroded the dominance of the courtly absolutist culture of France. It then examines Gersaint’s shop-sign and notes that Gersaint’s customers were few in number, but they represent an increasingly powerful force in European culture — the paying public. By the middle of the 18th century, ‘the public’ had become established as not just a legitimate voice in aesthetic appreciation but as the most authoritative. This chapter then discusses another communication medium of the public — the written word — raising literacy rates in France. Lastly, it explores how Europe became more populous, more urban, and more prosperous, and how this greatly assisted the emergence of the public as a key player in European culture. Travel and goods transportation were made easy through the construction of roads and improvement of postal services.
Bernhard Maier
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748616053
- eISBN:
- 9780748672219
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748616053.003.0026
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter looks back and reflects on the problems of the modern term ‘Celtic’. It suggests that the present inflationary trend in the use of the adjective ‘Celtic’ is due firstly to a deliberately ...
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This chapter looks back and reflects on the problems of the modern term ‘Celtic’. It suggests that the present inflationary trend in the use of the adjective ‘Celtic’ is due firstly to a deliberately selective viewpoint, and secondly to widespread ignorance of the historical premises underlying the modern term ‘Celtic’, and of the Celtic languages and literatures. The objective contributions of the Celts to European culture as well as their subjective role in the minds of their neighbours are also considered.Less
This chapter looks back and reflects on the problems of the modern term ‘Celtic’. It suggests that the present inflationary trend in the use of the adjective ‘Celtic’ is due firstly to a deliberately selective viewpoint, and secondly to widespread ignorance of the historical premises underlying the modern term ‘Celtic’, and of the Celtic languages and literatures. The objective contributions of the Celts to European culture as well as their subjective role in the minds of their neighbours are also considered.
Ronald Hutton
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207443
- eISBN:
- 9780191677670
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207443.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter explores a major shift of opinion in world history which occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the majority of Europe's social, political, and intellectual elites moved from ...
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This chapter explores a major shift of opinion in world history which occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the majority of Europe's social, political, and intellectual elites moved from believing that humans could do damage by uncanny, non-physical means to believing that they could not. This led to the repeal of the laws against witchcraft which, between 1428 and 1782, resulted in 40—50,000 executions. Statutes against the practice of magic were still enacted, but treated that practice as fraud or superstition rather than as effective action. This conceptual alteration represents one of the most remarkable processes in the transition of European culture into modernity.Less
This chapter explores a major shift of opinion in world history which occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the majority of Europe's social, political, and intellectual elites moved from believing that humans could do damage by uncanny, non-physical means to believing that they could not. This led to the repeal of the laws against witchcraft which, between 1428 and 1782, resulted in 40—50,000 executions. Statutes against the practice of magic were still enacted, but treated that practice as fraud or superstition rather than as effective action. This conceptual alteration represents one of the most remarkable processes in the transition of European culture into modernity.
Julia M. H. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780192892638
- eISBN:
- 9780191670626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192892638.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This introductory chapter presents the main argument of this book, namely that contrary to existing paradigms, the dynamic transformation of Europe's cultures between Antiquity and the Middle Ages ...
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This introductory chapter presents the main argument of this book, namely that contrary to existing paradigms, the dynamic transformation of Europe's cultures between Antiquity and the Middle Ages has a fundamental significance in its own right. It focuses on the period between of AD500 and AD1000 to demonstrate that, within the overall matrix of social and cultural development across these centuries, change occurred at different times and speeds in different places. The book also calls attention to the role of the Roman heritage in early medieval constructions of power. Whether in Rome's former provinces or in regions that were never within the imperial boundaries, it is argued that the reception, reinterpretation, or abandonment of that inheritance made a formative contribution to all the cultures of early medieval Europe.Less
This introductory chapter presents the main argument of this book, namely that contrary to existing paradigms, the dynamic transformation of Europe's cultures between Antiquity and the Middle Ages has a fundamental significance in its own right. It focuses on the period between of AD500 and AD1000 to demonstrate that, within the overall matrix of social and cultural development across these centuries, change occurred at different times and speeds in different places. The book also calls attention to the role of the Roman heritage in early medieval constructions of power. Whether in Rome's former provinces or in regions that were never within the imperial boundaries, it is argued that the reception, reinterpretation, or abandonment of that inheritance made a formative contribution to all the cultures of early medieval Europe.
Benjamin Brinner
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395945
- eISBN:
- 9780199852666
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395945.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
The courtyard of the Hebrew Union College in West Jerusalem fills with a mix of Israeli adults and rowdy Colorado teenagers on a summer trip to Israel. Rows of plastic armchairs face a temporary ...
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The courtyard of the Hebrew Union College in West Jerusalem fills with a mix of Israeli adults and rowdy Colorado teenagers on a summer trip to Israel. Rows of plastic armchairs face a temporary stage flanked by speaker towers and banks of colored stage lights. Shlomo Bar, the leader of Habreira Hativ'it, enters last and sits on a high stool in front of and higher than the arc of musicians on chairs. Bar tells the audience in Hebrew how happy he is to perform in Jerusalem. This chapter surveys musical life in Israel in the late twentieth century to highlight Jewish musicians' motivations to explore new directions that incorporated elements of Middle Eastern music, often in collaboration with Arab musicians. The portrayal of Israeli culture and society as dominated by Ashkenazi Jews of European origin is too simplistic. The hegemony of European cultural and social forms is linked.Less
The courtyard of the Hebrew Union College in West Jerusalem fills with a mix of Israeli adults and rowdy Colorado teenagers on a summer trip to Israel. Rows of plastic armchairs face a temporary stage flanked by speaker towers and banks of colored stage lights. Shlomo Bar, the leader of Habreira Hativ'it, enters last and sits on a high stool in front of and higher than the arc of musicians on chairs. Bar tells the audience in Hebrew how happy he is to perform in Jerusalem. This chapter surveys musical life in Israel in the late twentieth century to highlight Jewish musicians' motivations to explore new directions that incorporated elements of Middle Eastern music, often in collaboration with Arab musicians. The portrayal of Israeli culture and society as dominated by Ashkenazi Jews of European origin is too simplistic. The hegemony of European cultural and social forms is linked.
Hilary Gatti
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163833
- eISBN:
- 9781400866304
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163833.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This concluding chapter reflects on the historical foundation on which the modern discourse of liberty and toleration is based. It looks back to “the long sixteenth century,” the period between 1500 ...
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This concluding chapter reflects on the historical foundation on which the modern discourse of liberty and toleration is based. It looks back to “the long sixteenth century,” the period between 1500 and approximately 1650—specifically between the time of Niccolò Machiavelli and John Milton—during which the principal concepts and themes concerning liberty in the modern world began to emerge against a background of unprecedented violence and oppression. At this time a series of dramatic crises that altered the map of European society and culture, bringing about changes so radical and lasting that all the values that had guided the previous centuries had to be recast in entirely different and unfamiliar molds.Less
This concluding chapter reflects on the historical foundation on which the modern discourse of liberty and toleration is based. It looks back to “the long sixteenth century,” the period between 1500 and approximately 1650—specifically between the time of Niccolò Machiavelli and John Milton—during which the principal concepts and themes concerning liberty in the modern world began to emerge against a background of unprecedented violence and oppression. At this time a series of dramatic crises that altered the map of European society and culture, bringing about changes so radical and lasting that all the values that had guided the previous centuries had to be recast in entirely different and unfamiliar molds.
Carl Stumpf
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199695737
- eISBN:
- 9780191742286
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695737.003.0004
- Subject:
- Psychology, Music Psychology, Developmental Psychology
This chapter presents Part II of Carl Stumpf's The Origins of Music, which analyses of melodies from non-European cultures to demonstrate the psychological principles of tonal organization. It ...
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This chapter presents Part II of Carl Stumpf's The Origins of Music, which analyses of melodies from non-European cultures to demonstrate the psychological principles of tonal organization. It includes an Appendix with images of primitive instruments.Less
This chapter presents Part II of Carl Stumpf's The Origins of Music, which analyses of melodies from non-European cultures to demonstrate the psychological principles of tonal organization. It includes an Appendix with images of primitive instruments.
Gordon Graham
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780192892553
- eISBN:
- 9780191670619
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192892553.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, General
This chapter discusses the first of specific types of the construction of grand narrative, that is ‘progress’. The desire for, and belief in, historical progress has always been found in human ...
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This chapter discusses the first of specific types of the construction of grand narrative, that is ‘progress’. The desire for, and belief in, historical progress has always been found in human societies. This reached its height in the 19th century in the thoughts of thinkers as diverse a Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill. In the 19th century the progressivism was often accompanied by additional contentions about the superiority of European culture and the Christian religion, and for this reason it also came to be associated with the justification of imperialism. Progressivism, however, does not necessarily has to invoke anything in the way of a teleology or grand design. Less
This chapter discusses the first of specific types of the construction of grand narrative, that is ‘progress’. The desire for, and belief in, historical progress has always been found in human societies. This reached its height in the 19th century in the thoughts of thinkers as diverse a Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill. In the 19th century the progressivism was often accompanied by additional contentions about the superiority of European culture and the Christian religion, and for this reason it also came to be associated with the justification of imperialism. Progressivism, however, does not necessarily has to invoke anything in the way of a teleology or grand design.
Cairns Craig
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748637133
- eISBN:
- 9780748653478
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748637133.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Scottish Studies
This chapter tests the development of contemporary theories of the nation and of national identity — such as Benedict Anderson's concept of ‘imagined communities’ — against Scottish experience. It ...
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This chapter tests the development of contemporary theories of the nation and of national identity — such as Benedict Anderson's concept of ‘imagined communities’ — against Scottish experience. It attempts to tend forgotten elements of Scotland's cultural past, and to do so by focusing, in part, on the prominent place of intention in the development of modern Scottish thought, and on the nation as an outcome of intending. It interprets the models of gardening to which Ian Hamilton Finlay's work is connected which were always ‘elsewhere’ — that this was a Scottish garden tended by a ‘Scottish’ gardener, as incidental rather than fundamental; and if, as Finlay insists, ‘Garden sculpture ought to have roots, as garden plants do’, Finlay's own roots must be envisaged as reaching tentacularly beyond Scotland through European culture to classical sources rather than being rooted in Scotland itself.Less
This chapter tests the development of contemporary theories of the nation and of national identity — such as Benedict Anderson's concept of ‘imagined communities’ — against Scottish experience. It attempts to tend forgotten elements of Scotland's cultural past, and to do so by focusing, in part, on the prominent place of intention in the development of modern Scottish thought, and on the nation as an outcome of intending. It interprets the models of gardening to which Ian Hamilton Finlay's work is connected which were always ‘elsewhere’ — that this was a Scottish garden tended by a ‘Scottish’ gardener, as incidental rather than fundamental; and if, as Finlay insists, ‘Garden sculpture ought to have roots, as garden plants do’, Finlay's own roots must be envisaged as reaching tentacularly beyond Scotland through European culture to classical sources rather than being rooted in Scotland itself.
Ross McKibbin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199253456
- eISBN:
- 9780191698149
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199253456.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Working on the franchise and on Gladstone had the paradoxical effect of making Collin Matthew more ‘European’. Colin was not a ‘little Englander’ — he was not after all English — but he had a very ...
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Working on the franchise and on Gladstone had the paradoxical effect of making Collin Matthew more ‘European’. Colin was not a ‘little Englander’ — he was not after all English — but he had a very strong sense of the uniqueness of British institutions, and the unique value of these institutions. He had voted in favour of leaving the Common Market in the 1975 referendum. ‘Franchise Factor’ is explicitly comparative simply to emphasize just how undemocratic the British franchise was in comparison with most other ‘comparable’ countries — including France and Germany. This suggested a less attractive aspect of the uniqueness of British institutions. Furthermore, Colin himself demonstrated, as no previous historian had done, how intellectually and ideologically embedded in European culture Gladstone was. Colin was also required to teach late nineteenth- and twentieth-century European history for the Oxford history syllabus and this again suggested to him how far Britain was in fact a European state.Less
Working on the franchise and on Gladstone had the paradoxical effect of making Collin Matthew more ‘European’. Colin was not a ‘little Englander’ — he was not after all English — but he had a very strong sense of the uniqueness of British institutions, and the unique value of these institutions. He had voted in favour of leaving the Common Market in the 1975 referendum. ‘Franchise Factor’ is explicitly comparative simply to emphasize just how undemocratic the British franchise was in comparison with most other ‘comparable’ countries — including France and Germany. This suggested a less attractive aspect of the uniqueness of British institutions. Furthermore, Colin himself demonstrated, as no previous historian had done, how intellectually and ideologically embedded in European culture Gladstone was. Colin was also required to teach late nineteenth- and twentieth-century European history for the Oxford history syllabus and this again suggested to him how far Britain was in fact a European state.
Jeffrey Shandler
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781874774730
- eISBN:
- 9781800340732
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781874774730.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter investigates how pictures taken by photographers from outside the east European Jewish community became widely familiar throughout the post-war period, none more so than the work of one ...
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This chapter investigates how pictures taken by photographers from outside the east European Jewish community became widely familiar throughout the post-war period, none more so than the work of one photographer, Roman Vishniac. Taken during a series of trips he made to Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania from the mid-1930s until the start of the Second World War, some of these photographs have been republished frequently, including in five books devoted solely to the photographer's work. Vishniac's images figured prominently in the first exhibitions and books of photographs of pre-war east European Jewish life to appear in the United States after the Second World War, and not a decade has passed since without some of these photographs being published or exhibited there, as well as abroad. Although these pictures are the product of a limited phase in Vishniac's career, they are his best-known accomplishment. For many post-war Americans, in particular, some of his images have served as key visual points of entry into the culture of pre-war east European Jewry.Less
This chapter investigates how pictures taken by photographers from outside the east European Jewish community became widely familiar throughout the post-war period, none more so than the work of one photographer, Roman Vishniac. Taken during a series of trips he made to Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania from the mid-1930s until the start of the Second World War, some of these photographs have been republished frequently, including in five books devoted solely to the photographer's work. Vishniac's images figured prominently in the first exhibitions and books of photographs of pre-war east European Jewish life to appear in the United States after the Second World War, and not a decade has passed since without some of these photographs being published or exhibited there, as well as abroad. Although these pictures are the product of a limited phase in Vishniac's career, they are his best-known accomplishment. For many post-war Americans, in particular, some of his images have served as key visual points of entry into the culture of pre-war east European Jewry.
Donald Prater
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198158912
- eISBN:
- 9780191673405
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198158912.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, European Literature
This is a biography of Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), perhaps the greatest lyric poet of this century. Rilke was born in Prague, but his nomadic existence led him through Germany, Russia, Spain, ...
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This is a biography of Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), perhaps the greatest lyric poet of this century. Rilke was born in Prague, but his nomadic existence led him through Germany, Russia, Spain, Italy, and France, until his death in Switzerland from leukaemia. Uniquely, he dedicated himself exclusively to his art while remaining receptive to the most varied influences of European culture. He visited Tolstoy at Yasnaya Polyana, acted for a time as secretary to Rodin, and was a friend of Romain Rolland, Leonid Pasternak, and Walter Rathenau. He was the protégé of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis, and the lover of Lou Andreas-Salome and Baladine Klossowska. Yet Rilke was single minded in his search for the solitude he needed for his work, so much so that he seemed to many of his contemporaries to be a poet remote from the world. His poetic achievement – the New Poems, the Duino Elegies, the Sonnets to Orpheus – and, in prose, the Cornet and the astonishing Malte Laurids Brigge, were works that made a lasting mark on European literature. Drawing on recent documentary evidence, this is an account of this most complex of lives, showing what manner of man lay behind the achievement of the work, and the part that work in turn played in Rilke's life.Less
This is a biography of Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), perhaps the greatest lyric poet of this century. Rilke was born in Prague, but his nomadic existence led him through Germany, Russia, Spain, Italy, and France, until his death in Switzerland from leukaemia. Uniquely, he dedicated himself exclusively to his art while remaining receptive to the most varied influences of European culture. He visited Tolstoy at Yasnaya Polyana, acted for a time as secretary to Rodin, and was a friend of Romain Rolland, Leonid Pasternak, and Walter Rathenau. He was the protégé of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis, and the lover of Lou Andreas-Salome and Baladine Klossowska. Yet Rilke was single minded in his search for the solitude he needed for his work, so much so that he seemed to many of his contemporaries to be a poet remote from the world. His poetic achievement – the New Poems, the Duino Elegies, the Sonnets to Orpheus – and, in prose, the Cornet and the astonishing Malte Laurids Brigge, were works that made a lasting mark on European literature. Drawing on recent documentary evidence, this is an account of this most complex of lives, showing what manner of man lay behind the achievement of the work, and the part that work in turn played in Rilke's life.
Maurizio Bettini
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226044743
- eISBN:
- 9780226039961
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226039961.003.0014
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter shows that the weasel is regarded as a woman not only in the Roman world but also in many other cultures across Europe. The story of Alcmene emerges as only one tale within a more ...
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This chapter shows that the weasel is regarded as a woman not only in the Roman world but also in many other cultures across Europe. The story of Alcmene emerges as only one tale within a more general narrative complex about the weasel-woman, a complex that includes a group of Greek legends. It explains why the weasel is called “godmother” in so many European languages and dialects—in Spain, Bulgaria, Germany, Sardinia, and elsewhere. It also considers the resemblance of the ancient Greek word for weasel to the word for husband's sister, another story which casts the weasel in the role of a female relative.Less
This chapter shows that the weasel is regarded as a woman not only in the Roman world but also in many other cultures across Europe. The story of Alcmene emerges as only one tale within a more general narrative complex about the weasel-woman, a complex that includes a group of Greek legends. It explains why the weasel is called “godmother” in so many European languages and dialects—in Spain, Bulgaria, Germany, Sardinia, and elsewhere. It also considers the resemblance of the ancient Greek word for weasel to the word for husband's sister, another story which casts the weasel in the role of a female relative.
Yaacov Shavit
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781874774259
- eISBN:
- 9781800340879
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781874774259.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
This chapter addresses the persistent binary between Jewish and Greek culture. It shows how Jewish writers, thinkers, and creative artists of diverse viewpoints adopted the binary model as an ...
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This chapter addresses the persistent binary between Jewish and Greek culture. It shows how Jewish writers, thinkers, and creative artists of diverse viewpoints adopted the binary model as an appropriate historical code. However, the chapter also reveals that the modern era formulated new conditions and inspired new meanings within tradition, or aroused protest against it for reasons new in nature. Since the eighteenth century, the confrontation or encounter with Greekness (as a metaphor for modern European culture) has neither exhausted nor diminished the debate in matters of philosophy or theology, but rather extended it to all areas of human existence. Gradually, all strata of Jewish society faced the new European culture, and became involved in the process of building and creating the new Jewish world. In the process, the validity of the antinomy was strengthened, and it became all-embracing — a historical and cultural challenge that had constantly to be faced. Paradoxically, as the desire to be regarded as a nation of culture became more intense and the broadening of the antinomy became more pronounced, the chapter reveals that a process of ‘Hellenization’ of thought categories and criteria deepened.Less
This chapter addresses the persistent binary between Jewish and Greek culture. It shows how Jewish writers, thinkers, and creative artists of diverse viewpoints adopted the binary model as an appropriate historical code. However, the chapter also reveals that the modern era formulated new conditions and inspired new meanings within tradition, or aroused protest against it for reasons new in nature. Since the eighteenth century, the confrontation or encounter with Greekness (as a metaphor for modern European culture) has neither exhausted nor diminished the debate in matters of philosophy or theology, but rather extended it to all areas of human existence. Gradually, all strata of Jewish society faced the new European culture, and became involved in the process of building and creating the new Jewish world. In the process, the validity of the antinomy was strengthened, and it became all-embracing — a historical and cultural challenge that had constantly to be faced. Paradoxically, as the desire to be regarded as a nation of culture became more intense and the broadening of the antinomy became more pronounced, the chapter reveals that a process of ‘Hellenization’ of thought categories and criteria deepened.
JONATHAN I. ISRAEL
- Published in print:
- 1985
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198219286
- eISBN:
- 9780191678332
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198219286.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, History of Religion
The Jewish community underwent the most severe and fundamental spiritual crisis during the second half of the seventeenth century, which is believed to have been initiated through not only various ...
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The Jewish community underwent the most severe and fundamental spiritual crisis during the second half of the seventeenth century, which is believed to have been initiated through not only various internal conflicts but also because of the ongoing crisis experienced by European culture as a whole during the seventeenth century. These conflicts on spiritual issues evidently interacted with the difficulties experienced in European thought and devotion, both of which are fundamental to cultural transformation. Also, another perspective in attempting to understand this crisis involves how it was a cultural reaction that resulted from the previous migrations and disruptions of the Jewish community across the previous two centuries, specifically the events in Spain in 1492 that enabled a shifting and mobile society.Less
The Jewish community underwent the most severe and fundamental spiritual crisis during the second half of the seventeenth century, which is believed to have been initiated through not only various internal conflicts but also because of the ongoing crisis experienced by European culture as a whole during the seventeenth century. These conflicts on spiritual issues evidently interacted with the difficulties experienced in European thought and devotion, both of which are fundamental to cultural transformation. Also, another perspective in attempting to understand this crisis involves how it was a cultural reaction that resulted from the previous migrations and disruptions of the Jewish community across the previous two centuries, specifically the events in Spain in 1492 that enabled a shifting and mobile society.
John Kerrigan
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184515
- eISBN:
- 9780191674280
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184515.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Revenge has long been central to European culture. From Homer to Nietzsche, St Paul to Sylvia Plath, numerous major authors have been fascinated by its emotional intensity, and by the questions which ...
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Revenge has long been central to European culture. From Homer to Nietzsche, St Paul to Sylvia Plath, numerous major authors have been fascinated by its emotional intensity, and by the questions which it raises about violence, sexuality, death, and the nature of justice. This book explores the literature of vengeance from Greek tragedy to postmodernism, using material in several languages, as well as through opera, painting, and film, while opening new perspectives on such familiar English works as Hamlet, Clarissa, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. By means of broad historical analysis, but also through subtle attention to the fabric of individual texts, the book shows how evolving attitudes to retribution have shaped and reconstituted tragedy in the West, and elucidates the remarkable capacity of his ancient theme to generate innovative works of art. Although this is a literary study, it makes fresh and ambitious use of ideas from anthropology, social theory, and moral philosophy.Less
Revenge has long been central to European culture. From Homer to Nietzsche, St Paul to Sylvia Plath, numerous major authors have been fascinated by its emotional intensity, and by the questions which it raises about violence, sexuality, death, and the nature of justice. This book explores the literature of vengeance from Greek tragedy to postmodernism, using material in several languages, as well as through opera, painting, and film, while opening new perspectives on such familiar English works as Hamlet, Clarissa, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. By means of broad historical analysis, but also through subtle attention to the fabric of individual texts, the book shows how evolving attitudes to retribution have shaped and reconstituted tragedy in the West, and elucidates the remarkable capacity of his ancient theme to generate innovative works of art. Although this is a literary study, it makes fresh and ambitious use of ideas from anthropology, social theory, and moral philosophy.
James W. Laine
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195141269
- eISBN:
- 9780199849543
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195141269.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
During the period of Bristish colonization, the British considered the political and cultural affairs of the nation in their concerns as they exiled the last peshwa and appointed a raja in 1818 ...
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During the period of Bristish colonization, the British considered the political and cultural affairs of the nation in their concerns as they exiled the last peshwa and appointed a raja in 1818 before actually attaining sovereign control in 1848. Because this period is dominated by British supervision, the versions of Shivaji's legend that were retold at this time reflected a consciousness of European culture and power in a way similar to how earlier explanations reflected the Islamicate context. This chapter seeks to understand how the Shivaji legend contains an underlying nationalist discourse by looking into the sociological study of the common themes observed from the legend and in the actual places where events of Shivaji's life are remembered.Less
During the period of Bristish colonization, the British considered the political and cultural affairs of the nation in their concerns as they exiled the last peshwa and appointed a raja in 1818 before actually attaining sovereign control in 1848. Because this period is dominated by British supervision, the versions of Shivaji's legend that were retold at this time reflected a consciousness of European culture and power in a way similar to how earlier explanations reflected the Islamicate context. This chapter seeks to understand how the Shivaji legend contains an underlying nationalist discourse by looking into the sociological study of the common themes observed from the legend and in the actual places where events of Shivaji's life are remembered.
