In the early decades of this century, the wave of immigration that brought nearly two million Jews from the Pale of Settlement to the United States included an extraordinary group of gifted Yiddish poets and writers, who came to be called Di Yunge (The Young). A Little Love in Big Manhattan tells the story of two of the Young’s most prominent figures―Mani Leib, a lyric poet intent on refining the hard facts of his life into works of enduring beauty, and Moishe Leib Halpern, for whom poetry had to be the expression of coarse and shattering reality. Through a dual biography of these opposing personalities, Ruth Wisse describes the rich and vital cultural movement that embraced them both. She tells of the burst of creative energy exhibited by the young poets and intellectuals who, after a long day of manual labor, would congregate in the cafes of the Lower East Side for badinage, debate, and literary talk. They started literary journals and compiled anthologies of their writings, which found their way overseas and had a rejuvenating influence on Yiddish poetry abroad. Ironically, their achievement coincided with the decline of the language in which they wrote, so that Yiddish poetry came into its own in America at a time when the next generation could scarcely read it; there were no literary heirs. Ruth Wisse presents modern Jews with a part of their lost inheritance, and also claims for the Yiddish poets a place in the American canon. The first book to present these poets as part of the history of immigrant Jews in America, A Little Love in Big Manhattan (the title is from a poem of Halpern’s) will appeal to readers of poetry and to people interested in facets of the intellectual and artistic atmosphere of the interwar period.

The glorious tradition of the Broadway musical from Irving Berlin to Jerome Kern and Rodgers and Hammerstein to Stephen Sondheim. And then . . . Cats and Les Miz. Mark Steyn's Broadway Babies Say Goodnight is a sharp-eyed view of the whole span of Broadway musical history, seven decades of brilliant achievements the best of which are among the finest works American artists have made. Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Carousel, Gypsy, and more. In an energetic blend of musical history, analysis, and backstage chat, Mark Steyn shows us the genius behind the 'simple' musical, and asks hard questions about the British invasion of Broadway and the future of the form. In this delicious book he gives us geniuses and monsters, hits and atomic bombs, and the wonderful stories that prove show business is a business which -- as the song goes --there's no business like.

Dorothy Parker holds a place in history as one of New York’s most beloved writers. Now, for the first time in nearly a century, the public is invited to enjoy Mrs. Parker’s sharp wit and biting commentary on the Jazz Age hits and flops in this first-ever published collection of her groundbreaking Broadway reviews. Starting when she was twenty-four at Vanity Fair as New York’s only female theatre critic, Mrs. Parker reviewed some of the biggest names of the era: the Barrymores, George M. Cohan, W.C. Fields, Helen Hayes, Al Jolson, Eugene O’Neil, Will Rogers, and the Ziegfeld Follies. Her words of praise—and contempt—for the dramas, comedies, musicals, and revues are just as fresh and funny today as they were in the age of speakeasies and bathtub gin. Annotated with a notes section by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, president of the Dorothy Parker Society, the volume shares Parker’s outspoken opinions of a great era of live theatre in America, from a time before radio, talking pictures, and television decimated attendance. Dorothy Parker: Complete Broadway, 1918–1923 provides a fascinating glimpse of Broadway in its Golden Era and literary life in New York through the eyes of a renowned theatre critic.

Aus dem Buch: "Die notwendige Richtung aufs Extreme, als welche in philosophischen Untersuchungen die Norm der Begriffsbildung gibt, hat für eine Darstellung vom Ursprung des deutschen Barocktrauerspiels zweierlei zu besagen. Erstens weist sie die Forschung an, unbefangen die Breite des Stoffes ins Auge zu fassen. Angesichts der ohnedies nicht allzu großen Fülle der dramatischen Produktion, soll ihr Anliegen nicht darin bestehen, in ihm, wie die Literaturgeschichte mit Recht dies täte, nach Schulen der Dichter, Epochen des oeuvres, Schichten der Einzelwerke zu suchen." Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) war ein deutscher Philosoph, Kulturkritiker und Übersetzer der Werke von Honoré de Balzac, Charles Baudelaire und Marcel Proust. Als undogmatisch positionierter Denker und durch die enge Freundschaft zu u. a. Theodor W. Adorno kann er zum assoziierten Wirkungskreis der Frankfurter Schule gerechnet werden.

"In repressive Elizabethan England, artists are frightened into dull conventionality; foreigners are suspect; popular entertainment largely consists of coarse spectacles, animal fights, and hangings. Into this crude world of government censorship and religious authoritarianism comes an ambitious cobbler's son from Canterbury with a daring desire to be known--and an uncanny ear for Latin poetry. A torment for most schoolboys, yet for a few, like Christopher Marlowe, a secret portal to beauty, visionary imagination, transgressive desire, and dangerous skepticism. What Marlowe seizes in his rare opportunity for a classical education, and what he does with it, brings about a spectacular explosion of English literature, language, and culture. His astonishing literary success will, in turn, nourish the talent of a collaborator and rival, William Shakespeare. Dark Renaissance illuminates both Marlowe's times and the origins and significance of his work--from his erotic translations of Ovid to his portrayal of unfettered ambition in a triumphant Tamburlaine to Doctor Faustus, his unforgettable masterpiece about making a pact with the devil in exchange for knowledge. Introducing us to Marlowe's transgressive genius in the form of a thrilling page-turner, Stephen Greenblatt brings a penetrating understanding of the literary work to reveal the inner world of the author, bringing to life a homosexual atheist who was tormented by his own compromises, who refused to toe the party line, and who was murdered just when he had found love. Meanwhile, he explores how the people Marlowe knew, and the transformations they wrought, gave birth to the economic, scientific, and cultural power of the modern world including Faustian bargains with which we reckon still." --

Book by Alter, Robert

Divided into three parts, this book addresses all aspects of Puccinni's life and work. Part I, The Man, gives the facts of the composer's somewhat stormy life, quoting extensively from his own letters. Part II, The Artist, calls on the resources of modern psychology in assessing his personality and its curious limitations, and the unconscious springs of his creative processes. Part III, The Work, is a detailed guide to each opera, both music and libretto, with a synopsis of opera plots.

The new book from Jimmy Barnes, the award-winning author of the number-one bestsellers Working Class Boy, Working Class Man and Killing Time From larger-than-life adventures to vivid and poignant tales of the imagination, Highways and Byways is a collection of stories taking readers on an enthralling tour (complete with the odd detour) through the raucous, well-lived life of one of this country's most successful and beloved artists. Told with Jimmy's signature verve and flair, and richly coloured by his distinctive voice and wit, Highways and Byways sees him sharing a 1970s Texas stage with a dream line-up of US musicians; flirting with disaster in a Hawaiian high-rise; discovering a life-changing cassette tape; unearthing shattering family secrets in Glasgow; encountering charismatic and not-so-endearing superstars, ghosts of the recent and distant past, superfan traffic cops and shady salesmen; and confronting his own mortality - while pondering the more amusing effects of hospital medication. Charming, personal and poignant, Highways and Byways is a collection that celebrates Jimmy's Scottish heritage, family, friends, music and the adventure of a grand life.

Back in the early 1940s, late at night in the clubs of Harlem, a handful of jazz musicians began to experiment with a style that no one had ever heard before. The music was fast, complicated, impossible to play for many of the older musicians -- but it soon became the lingua franca of jazz music. They called it bebop, and as the years went by, it became even more popular. Today it reigns as perhaps the best-loved style of jazz ever created. Ira Gitler conveys the excitement of this musical birth as only someone who was there can. In The Masters of Bebop, Gitler traces the advent of what was a revolution in sound. He profiles the leading players -- Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillepie, Max Roach -- but also studies the style and music of the first disciples, such as Dexter Gordon and J. J. Johnson, to reveal bebop's pervasive influence throughout American culture. Revised with an updated discography -- and with a new chapter covering bebop right up through the end of the twentieth century -- The Masters of Bebop is the essential listener's handbook.

Critical Companion to Philip Roth is a comprehensive reference to this talented writer's life and works. Coverage includes: A concise but thorough biography of Roth Entries on all of Roth's works, including American Pastoral, The Ghost Writer, Sabbath's Theater, The Human Stain, Zuckerman Unbound, the stories collected in Goodbye, Columbus, The Plot Against America, his nonfiction works, and more. Each entry on a fictional work contains subentries on the work's main characters (including Nathan Zuckerman, Alexander Portnoy, "Swede" Levov, and more) Entries on related people, places, and topics, such as anti-Semitism, Claire Bloom, Newark, satire, and many more Appendixes, including a chronology, a bibliography of Roth's works, and a secondary-source bibliography.

Here are Groucho's improbable tales of true romance, narrated with his characteristic panache and illustrated with splendid New Yorker -esque cartoons.

Book by Keene, Donald

On October 12, 1994, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen-three of Hollywood's biggest players-announced they would form a new studio to produce feature films, television series, and pop music recordings. It didn't have a name, though Katzenberg's reference to his partners as the "Dream Team" eventually led to the company being dubbed DreamWorks. What the three men were attempting hadn't been done in more than sixty years: create a movie studio that could compete with the already existing major players. In The Dream Team , Daniel Kimmel tells the behind-the-scenes story of DreamWorks' rise-and the end of the dream eleven years later, when most of the company was sold off or shut down. Its plan for 1,087 acres of studio facilities that would include residences and retail operations came to naught. Its animation division was split off and went public. Its principals had already begun to go their own ways. Mr. Kimmel explores DreamWorks' successes: best-picture Oscars for American Beauty and Gladiator ; a near miss (but box office success) for Saving Private Ryan ; a smash animated hit Shrek winning the first Oscar ever for best animated feature and pointing the industry toward computer animation. But he also investigates why an enterprise with such promise failed to reach the heights. Was it the company's diffuse management style, or had the industry changed and consolidated so greatly that it was now impossible for new players to break into the ranks? Mr. Kimmel offers intriguing answers, showing how, more often than not, the guys tilting at windmills usually end up on the ground.

Please Please Me and With The Beatles, along with their associated singles, introduced the Beatles first to England and then to several countries across the world, including Canada and the United States. Although often overlooked due to the excellence of the group' s later albums, these early albums contain the exciting songs that fueled Beatlemania. These albums showcased the songwriting talents of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, as well as incredible cover versions of songs from the group' s stage show. Had the Beatles not evolved and matured, the group would still be well respected for the quality of the recordings on these two albums.In addition to the usual chapters on the British, American and Canadian perspectives, the book contains chapters on the Decca audition and the EMI artists test session. There are also chapters on the recording sessions and album covers, as well as on the news, music and films of the era to place these albums in their proper context.It is a 9" x 9" hardcover book to match the other books in Bruce Spizer' s Beatles Album Series. It is 272 pages long and contains over 290 color and original black and white images.

Dive into a compelling work of literary criticism with "Drug themes in science fiction" by the esteemed Robert Silverberg. This authoritative volume offers a meticulous exploration and comprehensive bibliography of drug-related themes across speculative fiction. Silverberg, a master of the genre, insightfully examines the diverse ways drugs-real and imagined-have been portrayed within American and English science fiction. From their roles in societal commentary to their impact on individual characters and narrative progression, this book uncovers the profound and often complex presence of psychoactive substances in literary imagination. It serves as both a critical analysis of recurring motifs and an invaluable reference for anyone researching the genre. For readers captivated by literary themes, the history of science fiction, or the enduring dialogue between human experience and altered states of consciousness, "Drug themes in science fiction" provides an essential, detailed, and timeless perspective on a fascinating corner of literature. 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.

Robin Lakoff gets to the heart of one of the most fascinating and pressing issues in American society today: who holds power and how they use it, keep it, or lose it. In a brilliant and vastly entertaining discussion of news events that have occupied an enormous amount of media space--political correctness, the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings, Hillary Rodham Clinton as First Lady, O. J. Simpson's murder trial, the Ebonics controversy, and the Clinton sex scandal--Lakoff shows that the struggle for power and status at the end of the century is being played out as a war over language. Controlling language is a basis for all power, she says, and therefore it is worth fighting for. As a result, newly emergent groups, especially blacks and women, are contending with middle- to upper-class white men for a share in "language rights." Lakoff's introduction to linguistic theories and the philosophy of language lays the groundwork for an exploration of news stories that meet what she calls the UAT (Undue Attention Test). As the stories became the subject of talk-show debates, late-night comedy routines, Web sites, and magazine articles, they were embroidered with additional meanings, depending on who was telling the story. Race, gender, or both are at the heart of these stories, and each one is about the right to construct meanings from languagein short, to possess power. Because language tells us how we are connected to one another, who has power and who does not, the stories reflect the language war. We use language to analyze what we call "reality," the author argues, but we mistrust how language is used today--witness the "politics of personal destruction" following the Clinton impeachment. Yet Lakoff sees in the struggle over language a positive goal: equality in the creation of our national discourse. Her writing is accessible and witty, and her excerpts from the media are used to great effect.