Book Description
This pioneering study of the history of the Bengali theatre looks at the plays mounted in the city in the 18th and 19th centuries and their reception. It goes on to study the cultural efflorescence known as the "Bengal Renaissance" and the subsequent politicization of a theatre imbued with ideas of nationalism and social reform, with a particular focus on the complex and problematic issue of the place of women in theatre. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Extraordinary
This is the second year that I purchased the Rumi calendar, and I didn't see how it could top the 1st one. Well, it does. The extraordinary art coupled with the depth and sensivity of Rumi's poetry combine to create absolute sheer magic. Each page takes my breath away...I plan to frame last year's pictures and will certainly do the same for the 2008 calendar. This is a "can't miss" for a Christmas present to anyone you love. I plan to buy several for my friends. ... Read more

Book Description
The first major work on pre-1949 Chinese cinema written in English, Projecting a Nation represents an important contribution to existing discussions of both Chinese cinema and national cinema.Its historical research is based on sources that were previously not widely available, and therefore it is indispensable to scholars interested in Chinese film history.

The book analyses the wide variety of concepts of Chinese national cinema between the early years of the twentieth century and 1949, and contrasts them to concepts of national cinema in Europe.Hu maintains that debates and questions about the status and meaning of the 'national' in Chinese national cinema are central to any consideration of cinema during this period, and addresses the issue of Chinese nationalism as being part of the complex history of cinema in the early modern Chinese nation. ... Read more

Book Description
Building a New China in Cinema introduces English readers for the first time to one of the most exciting left-wing cinema traditions in the world. This unique book explores the history, ideology, and aesthetics of China's left-wing cinema movement, a quixotic film culture that was as political as commercial, as militant as sensationalist. Drawing on detailed archival research, Pang demonstrates that this cinema movement was a product of the era's social, economic, and political discourses. The author offers a close analysis of many rarely seen films, richly illustrated with over eighty stills collected from the Beijing Film Archive. With its original conceptual approach and rich use of primary sources, this book will be of interest not only to scholars and fans of Chinese cinema but to those who study the relationship between cinema and modernity. Visit our website for sample chapters! ... Read more

Book Description
Blending a flair for textual nuance with theoretical engagement, Theaters of Desire not only contributes to our understanding of the most influential form of early Chinese song-drama in local and international cultural contexts, but adds a Chinese perspective to the scholarship on print culture, authorship, and the regulatory discourses of desire. The book argues that, particularly between 1550 and 1680, Chinese elite editors rewrote and printed early plays and songs, so-called Yuan-dynasty zaju and sanqu, to imagine and embody new concepts of authorship, readership and desire, an interpretation that contrasts starkly with the national and racially-oriented reception of song-drama developed by European critics after 1735 and subsequently modified by Japanese and Chinese critics after 1897. By analyzing the critical and material facets of the early song and play tradition across different historical periods and cultural settings, Theaters of Desire presents a compelling case study of literary canon formation. ... Read more

Book Description
For a month in the summer of 2004, Istanbul was the site of a series of concise public performance events designed to stimulate political and artistic discussion about the city's sometimes tumultuous role as a bridge between Europe and Asia. Color photographs document the guerilla art actions and give a sense of their vibrancy (and humor), followed by descriptions of each artist's goals and their results. ... Read more

Book Description
Puppets of Nostalgia is the first major work in any Western language to examine the ritual origins and religious dimensions of puppetry in Japan. In a lucid and engaging style accessible to the general reader, Jane Marie Law describes the "life, death, and rebirth" of awaji ningy shibai, the unique form of puppet theater of Awaji Island that has existed since the sixteenth century. Puppetry rites on Awaji helped to maintain rigid ritual purity codes and to keep dangerous spiritual forces properly channeled and appeased. Law conducted fieldwork on Awaji, located in Japan's Inland Sea, over a ten-year period. In addition to being a detailed history and ethnography of this ritual tradition, Law's work is, at a theoretical level, a study of the process and meaning of tradition formation, reformation, invention, and revitalization. It will interest scholars in a number of fields, including the history of religions, anthropology, cultural studies, ritual and theater studies, Japanese studies, and social history. Focusing on the puppetry tradition of Awaji Island, Puppets of Nostalgia describes the activities of the island's ritual puppeteers and includes the first English translation of their performance texts and detailed descriptions of their rites. Because the author has lived on Awaji during extended periods of research, the work includes fine attention to local detail and nuanced readings of religious currents in Japan that affect popular religious expression. Illustrated throughout with rare photographs, the book provides an in- depth view of a four-hundred-year-old tradition never so thoroughly revealed to Western readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A much needed, study of the revival of Japanese folk a art
Travellers to, and scholars of, Japan have always marvelled at the wonderfully intricate and romantic Bunraku puppet theatre tradition.

However, few writers in the English language have ever gone beyond the form of the art which is known to us today to look at the root and branch of puppet tradition in Japan. Yet, though the Bunraku tradition can be said to be the ultimate evolved form of Japanese puppet art as a whole, in ignoring the traditions which gave raise to it students of the art are unable to appreciate some of the aspects of the art to their fill extent. This is why this work by professor Law is of such great import to the world of Japanese theatre arts. In deconstructing a single puppet theatre tradition - the Awaji Island school (possibly the oldest in Japan and probably the branch of the art from which most if not all later schools emerged) - right down to its most basic elements, the reader is made acutely aware of the fact that puppet arts did not spring into being, whole and immaculate, in the nineteenth century as some descriptions of the rise of Bunraku might have it, neither were they the product of the partnership of Chikamatsu Monzaemon and the Takemoto Theatre as other schools of thought maintain. Professor Law shows her audience quite clearly how and (the probable reasons) why puppet arts became important to the Japanese people and - which is more - why they retained their popularity long into the Early Modern era when such arts were being almost universally discarded or marginalized on the continent. She reminds us of the socio religious aspects of the art which have become so divorced from the very touristy puppet theatre traditions which form the of the Bunraku Association and presents to the reader physical evidence of the survival of other, older traditions which are equally deserving of study as the monotheistic National Puppet theatre (and, one might argue, which are far more deserving of recognition because of the way in which some of these traditions even now teeter on the brink of oblivion - driven there by the academic indifference of a century and more).

In brief then. A most marvellous book, which has opened up the world of Japanese puppet arts in a way never attempted before.

Clearly the most important work in this area of study for many decades. ... Read more

Book Description
Sparta has often been described as the original Utopia-a remarkably evolved society whose warrior heroes were forbidden any other trade, profession, or business. As a people, the Spartans were the living exemplars of such core values as duty, discipline, the nobility of arms in a cause worth dying for, sacrificing the individual for the greater good of the community (symbolized in the tale of Thermopylae), and the triumph of will over seemingly insuperable obstacles-qualities that today are frequently believed to signify the ultimate heroism.

In a work that resounds with the battle cries of the ancient Greeks, Paul Cartledge, the distinguished scholar and historian who has long been seen as the leading international authority on ancient Sparta, traces the evolution of Spartan society-the culture and the people, as well as the tremendous influence they had on their world and even ours. The narrative also details the lives of such illustrious and myth-making figures as Lycurgus, King Leonidas, Helen of Troy (and Sparta), and Lysander, and explains how the Spartans, although they placed a high value on masculine ideals, nevertheless allowed women an unusually dominant and powerful role-unlike the Athenian culture with which the Spartans are so often compared.

In resurrecting the ancient culture and society of the Spartans, Cartledge delves deep into ancient texts and archeological sources, and complements his text with illustrations that depict original Spartan artifacts and drawings, as well as examples of representational paintings from the Renaissance onward-including J.L. David's famously brooding "Leonidas."

The Spartans is an illuminating volume that ties in with the PBS television series of the same name, airing in summer 2003. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (37)

Not bad for an extremely short introduction.
It's good for what it is, but I was hoping for a bit more depth. If you want a short introduction to the subject that is well written and a really fast read, this would be perfect for you.

The world of the ancient Spartans made clearer.
These Spartans of ancient Greece are a very interesting lot. Most writings and opinions of this society seem to come from Athens, usually they prove to be rivals of Sparta or from Athenian expatriates like Xenophon. A lifetime of practice in hunting, combat training and preparation for war certainly defined who and what the Spartans were, fueled by the legends of Heracles and other god-men of fame, this society saw itself as heroic in their own time. Victorious in battle and in the Olympic games, usually called upon by other Greek city-states to take the lead in war yet profoundly distrustful of the world outside of Laconia. The rights of women, children and even slaves could be considered progressive in Sparta by the standards of the ancient world. This is impressive considering the hyper-masculine standards the Spartans imposed on themselves and the fact that these warrior-heroes seem to be profoundly religious at the same time. Cartledge does a fine job of bringing these people, now long dead to life. I do not personally buy the authors belief these Spartan men were homosexual, considering their brutal and fanatical upbringing, their view and treatment of their mothers, wives and daughters and the strict obedience to Lycurgus laws proclaiming such activity as Foul and abhorent.
Most of what Cartledge comments on seems to have the ring of truth. Is it worth your money and time to have it on the shelf? Yes! It is extremely interesting and it helps to explain how these men once lived and died.

Herodotus is better
If you have not read Herodotus or Thucydides this book might be helpful to understand some parts of Ancient Greek history. Otherwise, Paul Cartledge has a talent of turning bright and interesting history into difficult and dull.

Best Intro to Sparta for the Layman
This was the first book on the Spartans I ever read, and it is still the best.I used it as a springboard to delve further, but the fact is that little is known about the Spartans, and I still keep coming back to this book to put everything in perspective.It is easy to read (nowhere near as dry as the same author's history of Lakonia) and pretty much has everything known about the Spartans as a people if you don't want to muddle around in timelines, sources, pottery, etc.One reviewer here thought it was confusing for some reason. My condolences.For everyone else, there is no better place to start.The text is never dry, gets into specifics only when the need arises, yet gives a complete and detailed picture without insulting the reader's intelligence and Cartledge's prose here (unlike his other book) rolls right along with a wry wit.You will learn of Spartan attitudes, structure of their government, customs, etc.Don't worry about it being a companion book to a TV documentary.I never saw it and the book stands firmly on its own.

I also highly recommend a collection of essays about different aspects of Spartan life written by a variety of eminent archeologists called (appropriately enough) "Sparta", edited by Michael Whitby and available on amazon.comIt is quite readable, and is the MUST HAVE companion book to the above.

interesting and informative
I thought this book would be boring but it was very good and informative.Imglad Paul Cartledge also paid attention to the Spartan Women as well, it was a good guide to all things Spartan.I can see why he is considered the "Authority" on everything Spartan.

... Read more

Book Description
This New York Times Notable Book tells the true story of what it was like growing up in Mao's China, where the soul was secondary to the state, beauty was mistrusted, and love could be punishable by death. Newsweek calls Anchee Min's prose "as delicate and evocative as a traditional Chinese brush painting." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (57)

Interesting prose in spite of itself
Red Azalea is a compelling memoir, even though the writing is not always engaging. The prose relies on simple declarative sentences and often seems stilted. One observation follows closely upon another; thus, a description of setting might be followed immediately by a description of mortal danger, all in the same even, subject-verb syntax. You feel like you are reading a translation, and, in a sense, you probably are, since Anchee Min knew no English when she came to the U.S. in 1984, although the memoir was written in English. (Red Azalea was published in 1994.) Interestingly, she does not use quotation marks for a character's speech, but does use them for the numerous quotations from Chairman Mao, which has the effect of making Mao a powerful presence in the book. Two things make the book compelling. One is the sheer force of the events of the Cultural Revolution, particularly Min's depiction of her childhood and of her time on Red Fire Farm. The other is her eye for detail, like the bright red underwear hung out to dry in the spartan barracks of the collective farm. Min's recollections of sexual repression (and expression) during the Cultural Revolution are interesting. Such sexual puritanism is exactly what George Orwell's character Julia rebels against in the totalitarian society of his novel 1984, written in 1949, the year Mao came to power.

umm...
I'm not really sure what to make of this book. It was very powerful and personal. It's unlike any other book i've read because it something that has actually happened. The events in the book are mind blowing in a way that makes you want to keep reading. I would reccomend this book for someone who is ready to read a story that can overwhelm you.

Excellent.
I finished the book in 2 days...I could've finished it in one but I'm a student so I couldn't finish it as early as planned. However, I love this book! I love Anchee Min..she is definetly my favorite author. I bought almost all her books. One of the book I really liked is Empress Orchid.

Good but not as good as Empress Orchid
Having read Empress Orchard I found this written in a more juvenile way.Perhaps the author was a younger and less sophisticated writer at the time.Good, but not fantastic

RED AZALEA
A VERY OUTSTANDING STORY....FROM COMMUNIST CHINA, WITH ALL THE HARDSHIPS
AND BEING FRIENDLESS STRUGGLE WITH LIFE IN A NEW CHINA.LOVE READING IT
EVERY MINUTE...HARD TO PUT DOWN. ... Read more

Product Description
A milestone in Middle Eastern Dance reference materials! Bennu, published by ASAmed Associated Artists of Middle Eastern Dance Inc. 1999-2006, has long been recognized as an exemplary full color periodical on the cultures and traditions that birthed what is collectively known as Middle Eastern Dance as well its contemporary evolution.

Once only available through membership subscription, the Best of Bennu brings you extraordinarily comprehensive content as well as the finest collection of full color images relating to Middle Eastern Dance.
If you liked our printed publication wait until you see those gorgeous images on your computer screen!

2 Cd set contains eight outstanding most requested issues in Adobe Acrobat PDF format:
Vol 6#3 Dances Along the NileEgyptian folkloric dances and uses in theater & cabaret performance
Vol 6#2 Hareems of the Egyptians19th century Egyptian lifestyles chronicled by an authority of the era
Vol 6#1 Alla Turca: Ozel TurkbasTracing the lineage of Turkish Danse Orientale in America
Vol 5#4 Ottoman Women of PowerWhen women's wiles... and astute political minds... ruled the world
Vol 5#3 Hareem Myths / the House of FelictyTracing the illusions of Ottoman harem life through Western accounts
Vol 5#2 American Tribal StyleIntensive overview of the growth and development of ATS
Vol 5#1 The Ghawazi of EgyptComprehensive account of the history of the Ghawazi
Vol 4#3 Our Big Fat Wedding IssueWedding Customs of Morocco / N.Africa / Middle East
... Read more