A Franz Kafka Encyclopedia by Richard T. Gray, Ruth V. Gross, Rolf J. Goebel, Clayton

The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

The word "the which means of life" for lots of turns out a old fashioned proposal healthy for satirical mauling through Monty Python or Douglas Adams. yet during this lively Very brief advent, famed critic Terry Eagleton takes a major if frequently a laugh examine the query and provides his personal dazzling answer.

Eagleton first examines how centuries of thinkers and writers--from Marx and Schopenhauer to Shakespeare, Sartre, and Beckett--have answered to the last word query of that means. He indicates, despite the fact that, that it's only nowa days that the query has turn into difficult. yet rather than tackling it head-on, many people take care of the sentiments of meaninglessness in our lives by way of filling them with every little thing from soccer to intercourse, Kabbala, Scientology, "New Age softheadedness," or fundamentalism. nevertheless, Eagleton notes, many proficient humans think that existence is an evolutionary coincidence that has no intrinsic which means. If our lives have which means, it truly is anything with which we be capable to make investments them, now not whatever with which they arrive prepared made. Eagleton probes this view of which means as one of those deepest firm, and concludes that it fails to holds up. He argues as an alternative that the which means of lifestyles isn't really an answer to an issue, yet a question of residing in a undeniable method. it isn't metaphysical yet moral. it's not whatever become independent from lifestyles, yet what makes it worthy living--that is, a undeniable caliber, intensity, abundance and depth of existence.

Here then is a superb dialogue of the matter of that means through a number one philosopher, who writes with a mild and infrequently irreverent contact, yet with a truly critical result in mind.

Reviews:

"This is a quick, bold, and gratifying ebook. As a survivor of the idea wars, Terry Eagleton has emerged as a critic and philosopher who can assist us theologues give some thought to not just life's which means however the subsequent steps we should always take as even postmodernism fades into cultural historical past. If there's a cultural lifestyles for us all within the aftermath of the clash among essentialism and relativism, Eagleton's provocative essay will aspect the way in which either to creating and gaining knowledge of its that means. "--Gary R. corridor, Anglican Theological Review

"Eagleton's witty eclecticism is ideal for this sort of lofty topic, yet would it not be irrelevant to invite for extra? --Leoppold Froelich, Playboy

"The which means of existence might be 'lie' relative to how even more a pupil like Mr. Eagleton may need acknowledged, however it continues to be a piece that calls for shut recognition from readers who're already good grounded in literature and philosophy. "--Mark Grannis, The Washington Times

"The information that Terry Eagleton has tackled the that means of existence in a booklet of a trifling 185 pages shouldn't increase any eyebrows. If somebody can pull it off, it's most likely him. Eagleton, unsurprisingly, has written a chic, literate, cogent attention of a maddeningly slippery subject, one whose conclusions run opposite to traditional knowledge, particularly during this state. "--Laura Miller, Salon. com

"Eagleton's is in contrast to such a lot works on life's that means, during which writers usually invoke theology. Eagleton's thought of affection could seem to steer again to theism, yet he exhibits us we will be able to have significant lives no matter what our theology, and he invitations us all to settle on. He merits a spot in such a lot collections. "--Leslie Armour, Library Journal

"Regardless of even if you settle with him, you'll end up challenged by means of this little ebook. "--Houston Chronicle"

Emerson, Romanticism, and Intuitive Reason: The Transatlantic "Light of All Our Day"

Review

The remedy of the Wordsworth-Coleridge-Emerson nexus all through is so beneficiant, methodical, and insightful that it's difficult to visualize it ever being handed. ”—Richard Gravil, writer of Romantic Dialogues: Anglo-American Continuities, 1776–1862
About the Author

Patrick J. Keane is Professor Emeritus of English at LeMoyne university in Syracuse, ny. he's the writer of diverse books, together with Coleridge’s Submerged Politics: the traditional Mariner and Robinson Crusoe(University of Missouri Press).

Lolita, the Story of a Cover Girl: Vladimir Nabokov's Novel in Art and Design

What should still Lolita seem like? The query has dogged book-cover designers given that 1955, while Lolita used to be first released in a undeniable eco-friendly wrapper. The heroine of Vladimir Nabokov's vintage novel has frequently been proven as a teenage seductress in heart-shaped glasses—a misleading picture that misreads the publication yet has seeped deep into our cultural existence, from type to movie.

Valéry : Tenter de vivre

Paul Valéry est bien autre selected que ce que los angeles postérité a fait de lui.

Derrière l’académicien aux éternelles moustaches se cache un penseur qui, toute sa vie, de silences en éclats, s’est débattu avec son désir de littérature. Derrière le disciple de Mallarmé, le poète glorieux et le contempteur du roman, voici un prosateur à los angeles langue superbe, énergique et multiforme. Derrière l’écrivain mondain, c’est un homme désargenté, contraint, pour « faire bouillir los angeles marmite », de servir un vieillard des décennies durant ou de monnayer ses propres manuscrits. Derrière le pur esprit, on découvre l’ami exigeant de Gide et de Louÿs, mais aussi un amant fragile et brûlant dans sa liaison tourmentée avec Catherine Pozzi ou ses passions pour Renée Vautier et Jeanne Loviton.

Les funérailles nationales du 25 juillet 1945 furent celles d’un homme au destin tragique, pour qui « tenter de vivre » ne fut pas que l. a. moitié d’un vers.

Impénitent lecteur de Valéry, nourri d’archives et de correspondances inédites, Benoît Peeters nous livre le portrait empathique d’une des plus fascinantes figures d’écrivain qui ait jamais existé, et renouvelle avec brio l. a. lecture de son œuvre.