The essays in Phillip Lopate's new book record an ardent three-decades-plus love affair with the movies; like Michel Piccoli with Brigitte Bardot in Godard's "Contempt," he is "totally, tenderly, tragically" besotted with the cinema. Artfully braiding emotional and intellectual autobiography with critical and historical commentary, these essays exemplify and record a passionate engagement with an irreplaceable art form, its creators, and its critics. Lopate evaluates those filmmakers who have most affected him since his days as a nascent film cultist at Columbia: Antonioni, Godard, Bresson, Mizoguchi, Fassbinder, Ozu, and Visconti. He celebrates Andrew Sarris as the film critic who first won his heart and provides an eye-opening extended portrait and fondly skeptical critique of Pauline Kael, the most influential film writer of our time. And in essays such as "The Last Taboo: The Dumbing Down of American Movies, " he addresses the elusive question of whether movies can actually think. With his full-hearted affection and bracing intelligence, Phillip Lopate captures, as few others have, the insistent allure of films and filmgoing.

Humorist Amy Krouse Rosenthal's hilarious and nail-on-the-head writing has struck again. Her latest book, The Same Phrase Describes My Marriage and My Breasts, spotlights the lighter side of parenting with a sharp wit reminiscent of the late Erma Bombeck, but with a modern twist. Rosenthal reassures parents that the insanity that comes with raising a child is perfectly normal. It is a delightful book for any parent who has realized that stain-free baby clothes and perfectly behaved children only exist on commercials for Kodak and Downy. Rosenthal's endearing collection of humorous anecdotes and reflections is drawn from her illuminating first years as a mother of three. Being a pregnant working mom means occasionally having a urine specimen hidden in your briefcase for your mid-day checkup. No matter how anal you get, no matter how methodically you put away the toys, the Candyland cards end up in the Lego bin, and Lion King puzzle pieces turn up in your shoes. Daylight savings means that on one Sunday, when it's 7:30 A.M., you still have something like 80 more hours until they go to bed. Forget the instructions of Dr. Spock and open your heart to a woman who proudly survives life with three kids-granted not a single glass from her bridal registry remains intact-and relishes being a mom. At times touching, at other times hysterical, The Same Phrase Describes My Marriage and My Breasts is a must for parents who long ago realized that parenting is just like The Brady Bunch if you eliminate the neatly-wrapped solutions and toss in complete unpredictability and random vomiting.

What is marriage? Can a relationship dedicated to equality, friendship, and mutual education flower in an atmosphere of romance? What are the paths between loving another and knowing another? Stanley Cavell identified a genre of classic American films that engaged these questions in his study of comedies of remarriage, Pursuits of Happiness . With Contesting Tears , Cavell demonstrates that a contrasting genre, which he calls "the melodrama of the unknown woman," shares a surprising number and weave of concerns with those comedies. Cavell provides close readings of four melodramas he finds definitive of the genre: Letter from an Unknown Woman , Gaslight , Now Voyager , and Stella Dallas . The women in these melodramas, like the women in the comedies, demand equality, shared education, and transfiguration, exemplifying for Cavell a moral perfectionism he identifies as Emersonian. But unlike the comedies, which portray a quest for a shared existence of expressiveness and joy, the melodramas trace instead the woman's recognition that in this quest she is isolated. Part of the melodrama concerns the various ways the men in the films (and the audiences of the films) interpret and desire to force the woman's consequent inaccessibility. "Film is an interest of mine," Stanley Cavell has written, "or say a love, not separate from my interest in, or love of, philosophy." In Contesting Tears Cavell once again brilliantly unites his two loves, using detailed and perceptive musings on melodrama to reflect on philosophical problems of skepticism, psychoanalysis, and perfectionism. As he shows, the fascination and intelligence of such great stars as Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, and Barbara Stanwyck illuminate, as they are illuminated by, the topics and events of these beloved and enduring films.

In this book, the world's foremost scholar of Kabbalah explores the understanding of erotic love in Jewish mystical thought. Encompassing Jewish mystical literatures from those of late antiquity to works of Polish Hasidism, Moshe Idel highlights the diversity of Kabbalistic views on eros and distinguishes between the major forms of eroticism. The author traces the main developments of a religious formula that reflects the union between a masculine divine attribute and a feminine divine attribute, and he asks why such an "erotic formula" was incorporated into the Jewish prayer book. Idel shows how Kabbalistic literature was influenced not only by rabbinic literature but also by Greek thought that helped introduce a wider understanding of eros. Addressing topics ranging from cosmic eros and androgyneity to the affinity between C. J. Jung and Kabbalah to feminist thought, Idel's deeply learned study will be of consuming interest to scholars of religion, Judaism, and feminism.

"The Fairy Green" is an ancient Children's poetry story book written by Rose Fyleman. This amazing story comes within the delusion and fairy story genres, taking young readers on a fable adventure through a wonderful the world complete of fairies, goblins, and other terrific animals. Fyleman's fabulous writing and ingenious storytelling take site visitors to the inexperienced lands of the Fairy Green, wherein wooded area sprites dance below the whole moon and depraved elves play tricks on unsuspecting vacationers. Each of the poems in the collection is a little works of art, full with shiny imagery and charming characters that pique the curiosity and excite the senses. "The Fairy Green" is a ways greater than a collection of poems; it's far a gateway to the lovely women of nature and the strength of the thoughts. Fyleman's eternal memories remind visitors of the importance of marvel and enchantment in some surroundings wherein humans are all too frequently distracted through the commonplace. Through its whimsical appealing people and ageless enchantment, "The Fairy Green" has charmed readers of each technology, motivating destiny generations to trust within the magic that exists simply backstage of fact.

As the title Jar Jar Binks Must Die indicates, Daniel M. Kimmel is not only a film critic with strong opinions, he's also a fan. In this collection of essays, he covers movies from Metropolis (1927), answering the absurd claim that the restoration of this silent classic negated its status as a science fiction film, to how Star Trek, Avatar, Moon, and District 9 may have made 2009 a "miracle year" for the genre. Along the way he looks at neglected works like Things to Come (1936), explains why remakes aren't always bad, and how seeing E.T. in an empty screening room changed his mind about Steven Spielberg. Whether to rediscover old favorites or add new titles to your Netflix queue, this is a must-have for lovers of SF movies. Author Bio Daniel M. Kimmel is a past president of the Boston Society of Film Critics. When it was discovered he is also a science fiction fan he started getting invitations to participate at a number of SF conventions, which he continues to do. He reviewed for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and now writes for Northshoremovies.net. He is a correspondent for Variety, the "Movie Maven" for the Jewish Advocate and teaches film--including a course on SF and horror--at Suffolk University. His essays on classic science films have appeared in several publications including Clarkesworld, Space and Time, and the Internet Review of Science Fiction. He is the author of a history of FOX TV, The Fourth Network (2004) which received the Cable Center Book Award. His other books include a history of DreamWorks, The Dream Team (2006) and I'll Have What She's Having: Behind the Scenes of the Great Romantic Comedies (2008). He is also the author of three novels: Shh! It's a Secret: a novel about Aliens, Hollywood, and the Bartender's Guide (2013) Time On My Hands: My Misadventures In Time Travel (2017), and Father of the Bride of Frankenstein (2019).

Not since perhaps Eleanor and Franklin has there been so provocative a public pair: fiercely independent and yet codependent, they spent twenty-five years discovering a way they could live together after they figured out that they couldn't live apart. In 1932 they separated; in 1933 they divorced. They reunited in Paris in 1935 and then went to New York; in 1937 they remarried and together applied for American citizenship. Except for brief periods of separation, their relationship remained what it had always been, simultaneously tenacious and tumultuous. Yet Weill and Lenya required one another on a creative level that transcended ordinary emotional, erotic, and professional bonds. Although she was musically untrained, Lenya's canny theatrical sensitivity and innate intelligence enabled her to become Weill's most trusted critic as well as his most famous interpreter, especially as Jenny in The Threepenny Opera. As Weill rhapsodized, "When I feel this longing for you, I think most of all of the sound of your voice, which I love like a very force of nature." The letters are filled with artistic news, reactions to world events, reports on work-in-progress, and reflections on the creative process and the experience of exile. We get a backstage view of German music and theater, the American musical theater in the late thirties and forties, and the Hollywood studios. Together Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya have come to symbolize what was most vibrant about the experiment of Weimar culture in the Golden Twenties and what was most vital among the contributions to American culture by Central European emigres.

In a tribute to the great musical loves of his life, the popular musician and performer tells the story of his legendary career as America's favorite interpreter of classical popular music and his love affair with Tin Pan Alley and friendship with Ira Gershwin. Reprint.

Written between 1947 and 1960 and first published in 1963, the prose work in the first of these two volumes reflects Louis Zukofsky's ongoing obsession with Shakespeare-whose plays he had first seen performed in Yiddish-and is central to understanding Zukofsky's work. Tracing the themes of knowledge, love and physical vision ("the eyes have it") through both Shakespeare's plays and the poetry, Bottom: On Shakespeare is more than a compendious act of homage by one poet to another. In effect, it lays out Zukofsky's poetics and theory of knowledge on a grand scale, tracing his themes through the whole of Western culture, from the Classical Greeks through William Carlos Williams. The second volume of Bottom: On Shakespeare consists of Celia Thaew Zukofsky's spare operatic setting of Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre, a play in which Zukofsky saw Shakespeare rewriting the classic plots and tropes of the Odyssey. The Wesleyan edition features a new foreword by Bob Perelman.

Experience the wit and charm of 18th-century Italian comedy with "The Comedies of Carlo Goldoni," a collection of plays from one of Europe's most celebrated playwrights. This carefully prepared edition, edited with an insightful introduction by Helen Zimmern, showcases Goldoni's enduring contribution to theater. Carlo Goldoni revitalized Italian drama, moving away from the improvisational style of commedia dell'arte to create fully realized characters and engaging plots. This anthology offers a glimpse into his mastery, demonstrating why his works continue to be studied and enjoyed today. Explore universal themes of love, family, and social class through Goldoni's distinctly Italian lens. Whether you're a student of literature, a theater enthusiast, or simply appreciate classic comedies, this collection provides a rich and rewarding reading experience. "The Comedies of Carlo Goldoni" is a testament to the power of theater to entertain, enlighten, and endure. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Praise for Harold Norse's WILLIAM CARLOS "I believe in your intellectual honesty and in what you are doing with the American idiom of which you are an intrinsic genius." CHARLES "He can't write a bad line. I've never seen one. . . . He is one of the great ones of our rather strange times." JAMES If light ever enters the hearts of men, Harold Norse will be one of the writers who will have helped to set it there." ALLEN "I was kept amazed by your sense of reality, by your awareness of the thing in these poems."

"More than forty years of scribble, scribble, scribble, and I have been sued only once..." But this collection of essays is no less a pleasure to read for all that. Mordecai Richler is an exuberant essayist, with a combative wit and sharp eye, regularly offending some, endearing himself mightily to others, and always hugely entertaining. Like all great satirists, he is passionate about the world in which we live; it's that appetite for life and friendship, his love of sanity and common sense as much as his hatred for sacred cows, that lies at the heart of this irresistible book.

Gerald Abraham's reputation as an authority on Russian music has tended to obscure his deep interest in the music of Poland and Czechoslovakia and in the music of the nineteenth-century generally. From a lifetime's devoted scholarship in these fields the author has now selected his best work to make up a volume of exceptional breadth and fascination. The subjects range from the relationship of Slavonic music to the western world to detailed essays on figures such as Chopin, Dvorak, Rubinstein and Mussorgsky. There are two new unpulished essays. A study of realism in Janacek's operas contains a particularly fine analysis of 'From the House of the Dead' and there is an account of the fantastic 'erotic diary' for piano in which Fibich, one of the best, recorded the secrets of his love affair with Anezka Schulzova. This book is welcomed as much by specialists in the field as by the general reader.

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Joyzelle is a play in four acts written by Maurice Maeterlinck. This edition is translated into English by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos and Alfred Sutro. The play is a tragic fairy tale about Joyzelle, a fairy queen, who leaves her realm and falls in love with a mortal. Her actions set off a series of events that lead to her own destruction and the downfall of her realm. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This illuminating study of classical music offers a unique perspective on the works of some of the greatest composers in history. Max Graf's insightful commentary sheds light on the meaning and significance of each piece, making this book a must-read for any music lover. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

"Amy Levy's The Romance of a Shop (1888) follows the four Lorimer sisters in the wake of their father's death. Penniless and reliant on each other, they decide to open a photography studio at 20B Baker Street, offering the citizens of London quality portraits. It's the 1880s and photography is not only growing in popularity and accessibility, but those with a critical eye are elevating the medium associated with quick and steady cash into a true art form. With more women entering the workforce out of necessity and rebellion, the Lorimer sisters take advantage of newfound independence as they work to survive poverty, the grind and smoke of London, fraught courtships, and melodramatic twists of fate. A novel of sisterhood, love, the female gaze and postmortem photography Levy deftly balances along the thin lines of romance and realism, art and commerce"--

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.