Ann Arbor paperbacks

"Shakespeare against the background of his times, his world of the theatre, and his dramatic development through the last years of Elizabeth's reign." -- from book cover.

"Three Comedies represents the first English-language collection of plays by Jaime Salom, one of Spain's most important contemporary dramatists. His forty-plus works encompass an impressive array of subgenres, including domestic dramas, mysteries, political allegories, historical comedies, metaphysical meditations, and tales of Spanish life. Best known for his veiled critiques of Francisco Franco's regime, Salom went on to explore less overtly politicized themes following the dictator's death in 1975. This new volume features a trio of comedies from his later phase that offer insight into life under the eased restraints of a nominally democratic Spain." "Included in this collection are Behind the Scenes in Eden (1978), a retelling of events in Eden from a feminist perspective; Rigmaroles (1990), which recounts Golden Age author Juan Timoneda's domestic turmoil precipitated by a change in political winds; and The Other William (1998), in which Shakespeare appears as an opportunistic actor taking credit for someone else's writing. All three comedies revel in the foibles of protagonists who, in their search for self-determination, never quite manage to escape the specter of tyrannical authority."--BOOK JACKET.

Published in 1934 as a second edition to James Jeans' popular work on the general understanding of the physical universe, The New Background of Science took advantage of a comparatively 'quiescent' period in physical investigation when fundamental theories and findings gained wide acceptance. Jeans' aim in writing this book was to depict this situation in broad outline and in the simplest possible terms. I have drawn my picture against a roughly sketched background of rudimentary philosophy ... because I believe, in common with most scientific workers, that without a background of this kind we can neither see our new knowledge as a consistent whole, nor appreciate its significance to the full.'

„Die Maniteste des Surrealismus” sind die grundlegenden theoretischen Schriften des Surrealismus, jener bedeutenden historischen Avantgarde unseres Jahrhunderts, als deren Initiator und Organisator, vor allem aber auch Theoretiker, Lyriker und Romancier André Breton zu gelten hat (neben Aragon, Desnos, Eluard, Soupault). Bretons „Manifeste“ begründen die surrealistische Bewegung als einen Protest gegen die arbeitsteilig-zweckrationale Sonderung des bürgerlichen Alltags. „Dialektischer gefaßt aber heißt das: Hier wurde der Bereich der Dichtung von innen gesprengt, indem ein Kreis von engverbundenen Menschen ‚dichterisches Leben‘ bis an die äußersten Grenzen des Möglichen trieb.“ So formulierte Walter Benjamin die Intention des Surrealismus, Schluß zu machen mit der Autonomie der bürgerlichen Kunst, ihrer Trennung von der Lebenspraxis, was seinerzeit ein revolutionär-utopisches Moment enthielt: Infragestellung der Autonomie des schöpferischen Subjekts durch die kollektive Praxis der „écriture automatique“, des automatischen Schreibens, die zugleich den Primat des Bewußtseins zurückweist, Infragestellung aber auch der individuellen Form der Rezeption. Denn den Gegensatz zwischen Produktion und Rezeption aufzuheben liegt in der Logik der Bretonschen Forderung beschlossen, daß es gelte, „die Poesie zu praktizieren”. André Breton: 1896 in Tinchebray/Normandie geboren; publizierte 1924 das erste „Manifeste du Surréalisme“; gründete wichtige Zeitschriften, u. a.: „Littérature“ (1919 mit Soupault und Aragon), „La Révolution Surréaliste“ (1924 mit Péret, Eluard und Aragon), „VVV“ (1942 mit Duchamp und Max Ernst); veranstaltete in Paris 1938 und 1947 die großen Surrealistenausstellungen; starb 1966 in Paris.

Doomed forever to wander the earth, desperate to quell his insatiable hungers, Ramses the Damned turns up in Edwardian London as Dr. Ramsey and begins a romance with heiress Julie Stratford, but his cursed past again propels him toward disaster.

Sarah Grand's dual novel of the diabolically mischievous twins Diavolo and Angelica and the coming of age of nineteen-year-old Evadne valiantly explores subjects considered taboo for a female writer of the Victorian age. Through her characters, Grand, considered one of the "New Woman" writers of the late 1800s, courageously advocated "rational dress," financial independence, personal fulfillment over marriage and motherhood, and the freedom of women to initiate sexual relationships outside of wedlock and to openly discuss such volatile sexual topics as a woman's right to contraception. She was one of the first to explore the complexity of gender roles and their inherent constraints.

"This edition of Charles W. Chesnutt's 1901 novel about racial conflict in a southern town features an extensive selection of materials that place the work in its historical context. Organized thematically, these materials explore caste, gender, and race after Reconstruction; postbellum laws and lynching; the 1898 Wilmington riot on which the narrative is based; and the fin de siecle culture of segregation. The thematic sections are rich with documents such as letters, photographs, editorials, speeches, legal decisions, journalism, and essays from leading periodicals of the era. The writers represented include such well-known figures as W. E. B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman as well as fascinating, half-forgotten characters like the black newspaper editor Alexander Manly and the white supremacist Thomas Dixon."--BOOK JACKET.

The two most important and impartial accounts of the Spanish Civil War are Orwell's Homage to Catalonia and Borkenau's The Spanish Cockpit. Borkenau went to Spain before Orwell, however and gives details from almost the beginning of the war, including the first riots and fighting in Barcelona . Orwell arrived in Spain in December of 1936 and covers the Zaragosa front as well as the May fighting in Barcelona. Both authors can be counted upon for unbiased reporting.

Set against the backdrop of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941, When the Rainbow Goddess Wept tells the story of nine-year-old Yvonne, forced to flee her home and childhood when her family joins the resistance effort. Witnessing death and destruction on an unimaginable scale, Yvonne finds comfort in the stories her people have passed down over generations: the legends of Bongkatolan, the Woman Warrior, and the merciful rainbow goddess. Her tale combines Filipino myth and legend with an important chapter in Filipino history to create a compelling story of courage and determination.