Contemporary American Memoirs in Action

Contemporary American Memoirs in Action PDF Author: Jane Danielewicz
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319696025
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 143

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Book Description
This book analyzes a collection of literary memoirs to demonstrate how this genre is an avenue for participation in public life. Writers are repurposing the memoir, a genre known for its personal and expressive function, to engage in debate and serve political goals. The chapters provide case studies for memoir as social action that effects change by looking at the writing of Joan Didion, John Edgar Wideman, James McBride, M. Elaine Mar, Janisse Ray, Lucy Grealy, and Ann Patchett. Drawing on theories of genre and agency, Danielewicz asserts how these writers are acting pragmatically. Memoirs contribute to democratic society by offering solutions, creating new knowledge, revealing social trends, bringing issues to light, creating empathy and connection, and changing public opinion.

The Private Life of Chairman Mao

The Private Life of Chairman Mao PDF Author: Li Zhi-Sui
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0307791394
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 734

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Book Description
“The most revealing book ever published on Mao, perhaps on any dictator in history.”—Professor Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University From 1954 until Mao Zedong's death twenty-two years later, Dr. Li Zhisui was the Chinese ruler's personal physician, which put him in daily—and increasingly intimate—contact with Mao and his inner circle. in The Private Life of Chairman Mao, Dr. Li vividly reconstructs his extraordinary experience at the center of Mao's decadent imperial court. Dr. Li clarifies numerous long-standing puzzles, such as the true nature of Mao's feelings toward the United States and the Soviet Union. He describes Mao's deliberate rudeness toward Khrushchev and reveals the actual catalyst of Nixon's historic visit. Here are also surprising details of Mao's personal depravity (we see him dependent on barbiturates and refusing to wash, dress, or brush his teeth) and the sexual politics of his court. To millions of Chinese, Mao was more god than man, but for Dr. Li, he was all too human. Dr. Li's intimate account of this lecherous, paranoid tyrant, callously indifferent to the suffering of his people, will forever alter our view of Chairman Mao and of China under his rule. Praise for The Private Life of Chairman Mao “From now one no one will be able to pretend to understand Chairman Mao's place in history without reference to this revealing account.”—Professor Lucian Pye, Massachusetts Institute of Technology “Dr. Li does for Mao what the physician Lord Moran's memoir did for Winston Churchill—turns him into a human being. Here is Mao unveiled: eccentric, demanding, suspicious, unregretful, lascivious, and unfailingly fascinating. Our view of Mao will never be the same again.”—Ross Terrill, author of China in Our Time “An extraordinarily intimate portrait of Mao. [Dr. Li] portrays [Mao's imperial court] as a place of boundless decadence, licentiousness, selfishness, relentless toadying and cutthroat political intrigue.”—Richard Bernstein, The New York Times “One of the most provocative books on Mao to appear since the publication of Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China.”—Paul G. Pickowicz, The Wall Street Journal

Contemporary American Memoirs in Action

Contemporary American Memoirs in Action PDF Author: Jane Danielewicz
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319696025
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 143

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Book Description
This book analyzes a collection of literary memoirs to demonstrate how this genre is an avenue for participation in public life. Writers are repurposing the memoir, a genre known for its personal and expressive function, to engage in debate and serve political goals. The chapters provide case studies for memoir as social action that effects change by looking at the writing of Joan Didion, John Edgar Wideman, James McBride, M. Elaine Mar, Janisse Ray, Lucy Grealy, and Ann Patchett. Drawing on theories of genre and agency, Danielewicz asserts how these writers are acting pragmatically. Memoirs contribute to democratic society by offering solutions, creating new knowledge, revealing social trends, bringing issues to light, creating empathy and connection, and changing public opinion.

Katalog der Privat-Bibliothek seiner Majestät des Königs von Hannover. [With] Nachtrags-Katalog

Katalog der Privat-Bibliothek seiner Majestät des Königs von Hannover. [With] Nachtrags-Katalog PDF Author: L. Nolte
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 574

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Book Description


Fictions of Pleasure

Fictions of Pleasure PDF Author: Alistaire Tallent
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 1644533251
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
Out of the libertine literary tradition of eighteenth-century France emerged over a dozen memoir novels of female libertines who eagerly take up sex work as a means of escape from the patriarchal control of fathers and husbands to pursue pleasure, wealth, and personal independence outside the private, domestic sphere. In these anonymously published novels, the heroines proudly declare themselves prostitutes, or putains, and use the desire they arouse, the professional skills they develop, and the network of female friends they create to exploit, humiliate, and financially ruin wealthy and powerful men. In pursuing their desires, the putains challenge contemporary notions of womanhood and expose the injustices of ancien-régime France. Until the French Revolution spelled the end of the genre, these novels proposed not only an appealing libertine utopia in which libertine women enjoy the same benefits as their male counterparts but also entirely new ways of looking at systems of power, gender, and sexuality.

The Collected Novels and Memoirs of William Godwin

The Collected Novels and Memoirs of William Godwin PDF Author: Mark Philp
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000744019
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 2024

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Book Description
A collection in eight volumes of the novels and memoirs of William Godwin, one of the foremost philosophers and radical thinkers of his age. There is a general introduction covering Godwin's life and literary works and each volume is prefaced by a scholarly introduction.

The Collected Novels and Memoirs of William Godwin Vol 1

The Collected Novels and Memoirs of William Godwin Vol 1 PDF Author: Pamela Clemit
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351221086
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
A collection in eight volumes of the novels and memoirs of William Godwin, one of the foremost philosophers and radical thinkers of his age. There is a general introduction covering Godwin's life and literary works and each volume is prefaced by a scholarly introduction.

MEMOIRS OF THE MEI RIVER

MEMOIRS OF THE MEI RIVER PDF Author: Li Yunqi
Publisher: American Academic Press
ISBN: 1631814656
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 477

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Book Description
Memoirs of Mei River chronicles the life of Chu Huainan, a protagonist whose youth was shaped by revolutionary ideals fueled by dissatisfaction with the Kuomintang's corruption. Believing in a utopian vision of socialist public ownership, Chu Huainan endures decades of political upheavals, witnessing the rise and fall of state-owned enterprises and the unexpected success of private businesses in Mei River. The narrative weaves through historical movements such as land reform, the Anti-Rightist Movement, the Cultural Revolution, and the reform era, reflecting the complexities of societal changes in 20th-century China. The story explores the paradoxes of Chu Huainan's personal life, from family tragedies to ideological conflicts, all set against the backdrop of China's rapid economic development. As Mei River prospers, Chu Huainan confronts the widening wealth gap and questions the efficacy of his lifelong commitment to ideals like public ownership and revolution. The novel delves into the struggles of belief systems, posing profound inquiries about equity, revolution, and the inherent injustices of those in power. Chu Huainan's tumultuous journey, mirroring China's 20th-century challenges, raises broader philosophical questions about humanity's search for meaning and values. The novel prompts readers to reflect on the futility of rigid belief systems in solving the multifaceted problems of human existence, leaving Chu Huainan in a state of confusion and existential questioning. Through his personal and political tribulations, the novel explores themes of benevolence, righteousness, and tolerance as enduring values necessary for navigating the complexities of life.

Written in Red

Written in Red PDF Author: Gina Herrmann
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252034694
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
The first major study of the profound impact of international communist politics and culture on Spanish letters

A Private Spy

A Private Spy PDF Author: John le Carré
Publisher: Random House Large Print
ISBN: 0593632745
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
An archive of letters written by the late John le Carré, giving listeners access to the intimate thoughts of one of the greatest writers of our time The never-before-seen correspondance of John le Carré, one of the most important novelists of our generation, are collected in this beautiful volume. During his lifetime, le Carré wrote numerous letters to writers, spies, politicians, artists, actors and public figures. This collection is a treasure trove, revealing the late author's humour, generosity, and wit--a side of him many readers have not previously seen.

Repossessing the World

Repossessing the World PDF Author: Helen M. Buss
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 0889209413
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Why does it seem as if everyone is writing memoirs, and particularly women? The current popularity of memoir verifies the common belief that we each have a story to tell. And we do...especially women. Memoirs are not only representations of women’s personal lives but also of their desire to repossess important parts of our culture, in which women’s stories have not mattered. Beginning with her own motivations for writing memoirs, Helen M. Buss examines the many kinds of memoir written by contemporary women: memoirs about growing up, memoirs about traumatic events, about relationships, about work. In writing memoirs, these women publicly assert that their lives have mattered. They reshape the memoir, a form as old as the middle ages and as young as today, into a social discourse that blends the personal with the political, the self with the significant other, literature with history, and fiction with autobiography and essay. Buss urges readers to use their reading experience to help themselves understand and write the significance of their own lives. Repossessing the World is the first book-length critical inquiry into women’s use of a form that has often been dismissed as less important than autobiography, less professional than the novel, and less intellectual than the formal essay. Buss demonstrates that the memoir makes its own art, not only through selective borrowing from these genres but also through the unique way that the tripartite narrative voice of the memoir constructs the personal and public experience of the memorist as significant to our cultural moment.