Tag: Essays

Free Download Patricia Prandini Buckler, "Bloody Italy: Essays on Crime Writing in Italian Settings"
English | ISBN: 078645864X | 2014 | 208 pages | EPUB | 491 KB
These new essays comprise a critical analysis of present-day crime fiction and nonfiction works set in Italy (all of which are available in English). The writers discussed range from Donna Leon and Michael Dibdin to Leonardo Sciascia and Andrea Camilleri. Essays also deal with nonfiction by Roberto Saviano and Douglas Preston. An emerging theme is the corruption of Italian police and judiciary officials and the frustration of officers and politicians trying to work ethically within a flawed system. Many of the works discussed show the struggle of the honest characters to find at least a limited justice for the victims.

Free Download Impersonality: Seven Essays by Sharon Cameron
English | February 15, 2007 | ISBN: 0226091317, 0226091325 | True EPUB | 272 pages | 2.7 MB
Philosophers have long debated the subjects of person and personhood. Sharon Cameron ushers this debate into the literary realm by considering impersonality in the works of major American writers and figures of international modernism-writers for whom personal identity is inconsequential and even imaginary. In essays on William Empson, Jonathan Edwards, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, T. S. Eliot, and Simone Weil, Cameron examines the impulse to hollow out the core of human distinctiveness, to construct a voice that is no one’s voice, to fashion a character without meaningful attributes, a being that is virtually anonymous.

Free Download Lee Easton, "The Influence of Imagination: Essays on Science Fiction and Fantasy as Agents of Social Change"
English | ISBN: 0786432306 | 2008 | 236 pages | PDF | 7 MB
This collection of essays examines the potential connections between speculative fiction and actual social change. Through a variety of approaches, the contributors explore whether consumers of science fiction and fantasy narratives can experience a real shift in their worldviews as a result of that consumption. Topics include the utopian vision of California in Ursula K. LeGuin’s Always Coming Home, the changing role of women in science fiction pulp magazines, and the representation of progress and social change in popular graphic novels.

Free Download Melissa Ames, "Women and Language: Essays on Gendered Communication Across Media"
English | ISBN: 0786449446 | 2011 | 244 pages | PDF | 6 MB
The present volume of essays examines women’s communication as it has evolved historically across multiple mediums. Part I explores how women became "gossip girls" and the important role of gossip in the perception and practice of female communication. Essays in Part II cover the convergence of oral and written communication in women’s literature. Gendered performance in such arenas as salsa dance, Dr. Phil and the Internet is examined in Part III, and essays in Part IV discuss women’s communication in the technology-rich 21st century.

Free Download Kimberley McMahon-Coleman, "The Vampire Diaries as Postmodern Storytelling: Essays on the Television Series and Novels"
English | ISBN: 147668684X | 2024 | 234 pages | EPUB, PDF | 3 MB + 10 MB
Taking a postmodern critical approach, this collection of new essays explores The CW Network’s popular television drama The Vampire Diaries, taking in the complete original series (2009-2017), its spinoffs, source novels and fan fiction. Spanning three decades, TVD has engaged its predominantly teenage audience with storylines around love, friendship, social politics and gender roles. Contributors traverse the franchise’s metamorphosis to suit the complex tastes of an early 21st century audience.

Free Download Anna Höglund, "The Enduring Fantastic: Essays on Imagination and Western Culture"
English | ISBN: 1476680124 | 2021 | 232 pages | EPUB, PDF | 4 MB + 10 MB
Fantastic fiction is traditionally understood as Western genre literature such as fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Expanding on this understanding, these essays explore how the fantastic has been used in Western societies since the Middle Ages as a tool for organizing and materializing abstractions in order to make sense of the present social order. Disciplines represented here include literature studies, gender studies, biology, ethnology, archeology, history, religion, game studies, cultural sociology, and film studies. Individual essays cover topics such as the fantastic creatures of medieval chronicle, mummy medicine in eighteenth-century Sweden, how fears of disease filtered through the universal and adaptable vampire, the gender aspects of goddess worship in the secular West, ecocentrism in fantasy fiction, how videogames are dealing with the remediation of heritage, and more.

Free Download Jacob Stratman, "Teens and the New Religious Landscape: Essays on Contemporary Young Adult Fiction"
English | ISBN: 1476668078 | 2018 | 242 pages | EPUB, PDF | 4 MB + 2 MB
How are teenagers’ religious experiences shown in today’s young adult literature? How do authors use religious texts and beliefs to add depth to characters, settings and Descriptions? How does YA fiction place itself in the larger conversation regarding religion?

Free Download Stephanie Hedge, "Roleplaying Games in the Digital Age: Essays on Transmedia Storytelling, Tabletop RPGs and Fandom "
English | ISBN: 1476676860 | 2021 | 241 pages | PDF | 19 MB
The Digital Age has created massive technological and disciplinary shifts in tabletop role-playing, increasing the appreciation of games like Dungeons & Dragons. Millions tune in to watch and listen to RPG players on podcasts and streaming platforms, while virtual tabletops connect online players. Such shifts elicit new scholarly perspectives.

Free Download Alicia M. Goodman, "Judge, Jury and Executioner: Essays on The Punisher in Print and on Screen"
English | ISBN: 147668250X | 2021 | 193 pages | EPUB, PDF | 3 MB + 8 MB
Since the Punisher’s first appearance in the pages of Spider-Man #129, the character has become one of the most popular and controversial figures in Marvel’s vast universe. The Punisher represents one of the most recognizable types of anti-heroes. His iconic skull insignia stands for a unique type of justice: protecting the innocent while violently eliminating everyone he sees as a villain. This collection examines the Punisher from philosophical perspectives about morality and justice. Essays critique the character through the lenses of gender and feminism; consider the Punisher’s veteran status in relation the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars; and examine how politics and gun violence connect the Punisher’s world with the real world. Many iterations of the Punisher are examined within, including the Netflix release of Marvel’s The Punisher

Free Download John Louis DiGaetani, "Inside the Ring: Essays on Wagner’s Opera Cycle"
English | ISBN: 0786423307 | 2006 | 268 pages | PDF | 16 MB
Once tainted by association with Hitler and Nazism, Richard Wagner’s work has experienced an international cultural renaissance in the last 25 years. His magnum opus, Der Ring des Nibelungen, which took him over 20 years to finish, is a complex tale with themes of greed, corruption and loss, spun out in more than 16 hours of powerfully moving opera. This book, with provocative essays for both the uninitiated and the seasoned fan, examines Wagner’s Ring cycle from a wide array of modern perspectives.