Early in 1067 Count Roger of Carcassonne — known to some modern historians as Roger II and to others as Roger III — died without direct descendants and probably intestate. He was still a young man. Roger was the son of Rangard of La Marche and Count Peter-Raimond. With many others he proudly traced his lineage back to the tenth-century Count Roger “the Old” and his brother Odo and through them claimed a cousinage to counts and countesses from the high (...) valleys of the Pyrenees to the ancient cities on the Mediterranean. By the time of Roger's death the houses of Foix, Comminges, Couserans, Béziers-Albi-Nîmes, Bigorre, Barcelona, Navarre, and Aragon were all related through male descent, through daughters who had married out, or through heiresses who had married in. They were but the remnant of an even larger number of branch lineages, three of which came to an end in the 1060s. (shrink)

The pace and import of this passage have severely tested modern critics' sense of a satisfying conclusion. In 1981 Leslie Topsfield wrote, “The ending of Yvain is unconvincing, and Chrétien's commonplace references to the mutual joy and peace without end of Yvain and Laudine leave some doubt whether he did not see in this conclusion the patching together of a story which on its higher level of meaning had transcended its narrative framework.” In 2001 Joseph Duggan argued that the reconciliation (...) occurs “only because Laudine does not wish to renege on her oath. Remarkably Chretien declares that Yvain is happier now than he has ever been, for he is loved and cherished by his lady and she by him. The notion that one can be constrained to love is as bizarre in a twelfth-century context as it would be today.” He concludes that in Yvain Chretien's “portrayal of motivation has come up a bit short.”. (shrink)

A guide to ocean waves traces their evolution from wind-wave generation to coastal effects. Sitting on the beach on a sunny summer day, we enjoy the steady advance and retreat of the waves. In the water, enthusiastic waders jump and shriek with pleasure when a wave hits them. But where do these waves come from? How are they formed and why do they break on the shore? In Waves, Fredric Raichlen traces the evolution of waves, from their generation in (...) the deep ocean to their effects on the coast. He explains, in a way that is readily understandable to nonscientists, both the science of waves themselves and the technology that can be used to protect us against their more extreme forms, including hurricanes and tsunamis. After offering a basic definition of waves and explaining the mechanics of wind-wave generation, Raichlen describes how waves travel, how they shoal, how they break, and how they transform in other ways. He goes on to describe, among other things, the complicated sun-Earth-moon combinations that create astronomical tides ; the effects of waves on the beach, including rip currents and beach erosion, and on harbors and shipping; and the building of breakwaters to protect harbors and bays. He discusses hurricanes, storm surges, and hurricane-generated waves. He offers a brief history of tsunamis, including Sumatra's in 2004 and Japan's in 2011, and explains the mechanisms that generate them. Waves can be little ripples that lap peacefully at the shore or monstrous tsunamis that destroy everything in their paths. Describing the science underlying this astonishing variety, Waves offers a different kind of beach reading. (shrink)

A comprehensive new reading of Walter Benjamin's major works, as well as a great number of his less well-known publications, from one of America's foremost cultural and literary critics.

Our classicism -- Narrative bodies: the case of Rubens -- Wagner as dramatist and allegorist -- Transcendence and movie-music in Mahler -- Late modernism in film -- Angelopoulos and collective narrative -- History and elegy in Sokurov -- Dekalog as decameron -- Adaptation as experiment in the postmodern -- Eurotrash or regieoper? -- Altman and the national-popular -- A global neuromancer -- Realism and utopia in the wire -- The clocks of Dresden -- Counterfactual socialisms -- Dirty little secret.

Legislators and Interpreters (1987), Modernity and the Holocaust (1989) and Modernity and Ambivalence (1991) are the foundational trilogy on which Zygmunt Bauman developed much of his later work (from postmodernity to liquid modernity and from “the Jew” to “the Stranger”). This article is a unique engagement with the trilogy and with the metaphorical thinking which relates the trilogy to Bauman's later work in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. The article is divided into three parts focusing broadly on (...) Warsaw, Leeds, and Jerusalem as contextual “windows” for Bauman's Jewishness under the sign of totalitarianism, exile, and globalism. This is the first account of Bauman's Jewishness in relation to his extraordinary life and work and includes, for the first time, his little known “Jewish” essays which are placed next to his more general theories of modernity. (shrink)

Dual-Brain Psychology is a theory and its clinical applications that come out of the author's clinical observations and from the Split-brain Studies. The theory posits, based on decades of rigorous, peer-reviewed experiments and clinical reports, that, in most patients, one brain's cerebral hemisphere when stimulated by simple lateral visual field stimulation, or unilateral transcranial photobiomodulation, reveals a dramatic change in personality such that stimulating one hemisphere evokes, as a trait, a personality that is more childlike and more presently affected by (...) childhood maltreatments that are usually not presently appreciated but are the proximal cause of the patient's symptoms. The personality associated with the other hemisphere is much more mature, less affected by the traumas, and less symptomatic. The theory can be applied to in-depth psychotherapy in which the focus is on helping the troubled side to bear and process the traumas with the help of the therapist and the healthier personality. A person's symptoms can be evoked to aid the psychotherapy with hemispheric stimulation and the relationship between the dual personalities can be transformed from conflicted and sabotaging to cooperating toward overall health. Stimulating the positive hemisphere in most therapy patients rapidly relieves symptoms such as anxiety, depression, or substance cravings. Two randomized controlled trials used unilateral transcranial photobiomodulation to the positive hemisphere as a stand-alone treatment for opioid cravings and both revealed high effect sizes. The theory is supported by brain imaging and rTMS studies. It is the first psychological theory and application that comes out of and is supported by rigorous peer-reviewed experimentation. (shrink)

This article examines two statements that Hopkins made on Newman as a poet and as a critic of poetry. Hopkins carefully analyzed the literary genealogy of Newman’s poetry, indifferently assessed its general achievement, and specifically criticized one point in Newman’s judgment of a poet. Hopkins’ statements, which came late in his own career, give no hint of a process of change in his response to Newman’s poetry. But Newman’s numerous remarks, gleaned from random sources over forty years, demonstrate change in (...) his theory of poetry. (shrink)

In this ground-breaking and influential study Fredric Jameson explores the complex place and function of literature within culture. At the time Jameson was actually writing the book, in the mid to late seventies, there was a major reaction against deconstruction and poststructuralism. As one of the most significant literary theorists, Jameson found himself in the unenviable position of wanting to defend his intellectual past yet keep an eye on the future. With this book he carried it off beautifully. A (...) landmark publication, The Political Unconscious takes its place as one of the most meaningful works of the twentieth century.century. (shrink)

Photographs document the growth of Philadelphia and show the life of its citizens prior to World War II.

Bluhm and Cabrera advance that Sadler’s ‘Archimedean point’ is an example of integration of sub-perspectives by an overall self, as such a self who may be reconciled and understood to be caused by DBS systems. Although this suggests great avenues to explore, we stress that the Archimedean viewpoint is strictly bound to a metaphorical domain. We argue that what is needed to help (prospective) DBS patients is not a metaphorical viewpoint, but a scientific viewpoint, rooted in empirical evidence.

In this ground-breaking and influential study Fredric Jameson explores the complex place and function of literature within culture. At the time Jameson was actually writing the book, in the mid to late seventies, there was a major reaction against deconstruction and poststructuralism. As one of the most significant literary theorists, Jameson found himself in the unenviable position of wanting to defend his intellectual past yet keep an eye on the future. With this book he carried it off beautifully. A (...) landmark publication, _The Political Unconscious_ takes its place as one of the most meaningful works of the twentieth century.century. (shrink)

_‘Every now and then a book appears which is literally ahead of its time... _The Political Unconscious_ is such a book... it sets new standards of what a classic work is.’_ – Slavoj Zizek In this ground-breaking and influential study, Fredric Jameson explores the complex place and function of literature within culture. A landmark publication, _The Political Unconscious_ takes its place as one of the most meaningful works of the twentieth century. _First published: 1983._.

After half a century exploring dialectical thought, renowned cultural critic Fredric Jameson presents a comprehensive study of a misrepresented, vital strain in Western philosophy. The dialectic, the concept of the evolution of an idea through internal contradiction and conflict, transformed two centuries of Western philosophy. To Hegel, who dominated nineteenth-century thought, it was a metaphysical system. In the works of Marx, the dialectic became a tool for materialist historical analysis, a theoretical maneuver that his critics derided and his descendants (...) on the Left have wrestled with ever since. Jameson brings a theoretical scrutiny to bear on the questions that have arisen in the history of this philosophical tradition, contextualizing the debate with essays on commodification and globalization, and with reference to the work of Rousseau, Fichte, Heidegger, Sartre, Derrida, and Lacan. Through rigorous, erudite examination, Valences of the Dialectic charts a movement toward the innovation of a "spatial" dialectic, culminating in a remarkable meditation on globalization, through a study of Paul Ricoeur. Jameson presents a new synthesis of thought that revitalizes dialectical thinking for the twenty-first century. (shrink)

After speculation that the dialectic is as yet unrealized, a kind of "unfinished project," three areas in which the dialectic remains alive are outlined: 1) in reflexivity, in which the theory of ideology demands to be confronted with the contemporary theory and experience of "multiple subject positions"; 2) in historiography, in which the dialectic is not a philosophical position but a critical operation performed on traditional historical narrative; and, finally, 3) in contradiction, a structure the dialectic does not posit, but (...) causes to emerge and to become visible in familiar and seemingly unproblematical situations. (shrink)

A lively and lucid introduction to one of the great Marxist thinkers of the 20th century by the master cultural critic.

Mentalization is the capacity to perceive and interpret behavior in terms of intentional mental states, to imagine what others are thinking and feeling, and is a concept that has taken the psychological and psychoanalytic worlds by storm. This collection of papers, carefully edited by Fredric Busch, clarifies its import as an essential perspective for understanding the human psyche and interpersonal relationships. The book is divided into theoretical, research and clinical papers, reflecting how the investigators thoughtfully and purposefully pursued each (...) of these goals. Those involved in identifying mentalization have also made consistent efforts to measure and research the concept. Thus, in addition to expanding the theoretical bases and implications of mentalization and identifying clinically useful applications, the authors describe research that scientifically grounds the concept. _Mentalization _addresses and expands upon a number of implications of mentalization. These include: What are the broader implications for mentalization with regard to social and evolutionary development? How does mentalization interdigitate with other psychoanalytic models? How is mentalization systematically assessed? What clinical correlates have been found? How do we understand variations in the capacity for mentalization, even within a given individual? What are the applications of mentalization in the clinical arena, including specific disorders? Readers of this volume will find their clinical work to be more productive and their view of the human psyche broadened. (shrink)