european

A new, thoroughly researched and eminently readable work demonstrating how classic, historical literary symbols point the way to modern-day expression through popular, well-recognized icons. A "must" read for anyone in advertising or marketing who wants to understand the foundations of expression and communication. The author has succeeded brilliantly in wedding the classical to the practical.

A well-researched, artfully written, creative and thoughtful treatment of an important literary period. For scholars as well as people looking for a good read.

I've loved the art of this period for years, but had little academic grounding in it. This book lets me return to old favorites with new eyes.

This, in common with other volumes in the "Perspectives" series, offers high quality (though small) reproductions of important works, up-to-date analysis and discussion of the art and the contexts in which it was created. Harbison's tone is informative, if ocasionally a little too sententious. But it's a very small price to pay, given the overall excellence of his work in this volume. It's obvious that Harbison loves this period, and he transmits his excitement for these works to the reader in concise language that is accessible to a lay audience.

Of particular interest is the discussion of how the Northern Rennaisance related to and differed from what was going on in Italy at the time. The only major weakness: not enough of a focus on Durer. But it's hard to get sufficient focus on any artist in a book this condensed.

An excellent book for those familiar with the period, or those wanting to get acquainted with a school of art often unjustly overshadowed by its southern contemporary.

Informative, smart and well-written, Craig Harbison's "The Mirror of the Artist" provides an excellent, brief introduction to the sensibility, historical context, and practice of art in the North. From the attitude toward realism, to patronage among the growing class of government bureaucrats, to the market for art or the influence of the Reformation, the book offers an enhanced understanding of artistic interest and social situations in which the paintings were made -- without ever forgetting their aesthetic dimension. The best tribute I can offer is that I immediately went back to Amazon to order Harbison's "Jan Van Eyck: The Play of Realism", a $35 large format paperback. Minor quibble: Although well-illustrated for a paperback this size, with the book just about 6.25" x 9.5", more details should have been illustrated when details were discussed in larger works. (I'm still looking for the barely visible figure of the devil above the cow in the "Portinari Altarpiece".) But this is a rare problem.

Benjamin Bennett is professor of German at the University of Virginia and one of the finest Germanists in the country. This book may be his magmum opus.

I bought this book knowing relatively little about German Lit and reading this book made me feel like an expert. Bennett's book is incredibly well done, and it crosses the boundaries of genre and national literature like few others of its kind. A great book for the drama enthusiast of any age, and it will certainly appeal to specialists.

If one sums up Calinescu's book on modernity and this very complete anthology, one has probably the best combination to undertand this movement. Bradbury and McFarlane select some of the best examples I have seen for the topic and give a very clear perspective on the topic. Readers of some of the most important authors of the history of literature, like Joyce or Baudelaire, will find a clear contextualization based not on contemporary interpretations but by the critics of the time.

This collection of critical essays does much to clarify the readers understanding and enhance one's appreciation of the period that produced such great works as Ulysses and The Waste Land. By laying a ground work that focuses on historical and geographical scholarship and the individual movements that make up Modernism the editors have succeeded in portraying Modernism in all of its diversity. This book is essential to those who want a good, non-reductive introduction a great literary movement.

unbelievably beautiful! the impact of the Art Nouveau movement known in spain as Modernismo, had great bearing on the look of barcelona as a modernizing city in the early 20th century. the book is also a sharp tour guide of some of the great architectural works of a city that is brimming with incredible examples of the decorative arts. if youve been/youre going to barcelona or love nouveau/deco design-this is a must have!

I've always been interested in Gaudi, but was not aware of the variety and breadth of work done by other Catalonian architects around the same time. I don't know why this work is not better known, but should be studied by all who are interested in the arts--sculptors, painters, designers, musicians, and of course architects.

While it is hard not to just look at the pictures, the text is interesting (although at times dense). But I found that if I didn't get too mired down most of the essays were worthwhile, especially the one that related to art and painting. As a former art history student I was surprised by how impressed I was with many of the paintings in the book--from artists I hadn't heard of.

All in all this is a very high quality book and would be a great gift for anyone you know with an interest in art, architecture, modernism, or Spanish culture. Highly recommended.

As neither an art historian nor an artist, I don't know how I was lucky enough to find this book. It is an intellecutally and aesthetically enriching experience from start to finish. The author presents Durer in a full historical context, dramatically explaining his importance in time and place. Many illustrations are included, the style is very readable, and the fascination of watching Durer emerge from the pages of the book and the mists of the Middle Ages in Germany, is just terrific! You will learn more than you perhaps thought possible about Durer and you may also wonder, as I did, why I had not appreciated his art more.

Joseph Leo Koerner must rank as one of the most able and compelling figures writing in the field of Art History today. As with his previous work on Caspar David Friedrich this work is a masterpiece of interpretative criticism and research. Koerner proceeds always from close readings of individual works, but then sets them at the centre of a nexus of complex philosophical and socio historical questions. He invokes not only the writings of Durer's contemporaries, but such figures as Foucault and Adorno in drawing out the profoundest implications from the works cited. If proof were neeeded that art history can be urgent and disturbing rather than pedantic and arcane, then this book should offer it. As one reaches the end of this book one understands that the complex issues of identity which Durer and his circle grappled with are as vital and disturbing at the turn of the millenium as the were when Durer worked on the brink of the half millenium.

This book is a really good book in familiarizing the reader with Claude Monet. It shows more than 120 of his most famous paintings in color and descibes them. Several are shown in detail, also. This is not an in depth book about his life however, but it does give you a sense and an appreciation of who he was. Paintings from the earliest stage of his career to his last famous waterlilies are shown. The majority are given a page, or sometimes 2 pages. The only disappointment is that only 3 waterlilies are shown. (6 if one includes the pictures with the Japanese bridge.) But that shouldn't deter you from this book, since there are many books about Monet's waterlilies in print. (I recommand MONET IN THE 20TH CENTURY or MONET'S YEARS AT GIVERNY. Either will make a fine complement to this book.) The author writes both about Monet's life, and how it affected his paintings, and the paintings themselves. It is not "deep" but that is because this the type of book that doesn't permit that kind of introspection by the author. However, you will be able to have some sense of Monet's contradictions and complexities by the end of the book. It is a really lovely book that shouldn't be missed out on.

This book tells in detail about life and art of Claude Monet, it uncovers also his very interesting personality. The story of Monet's life becames really truthful when you read quotations from his letters to his friends. Illustrations are selected perfectly, you can find canvases from 1861 to 1919. The colors of pictures in this book are very close to the colors of original paintings (as I could see in The Art Institute of Chicago). "Monet : Impressions of Light" - is for soul and for mind of readers.

I just came from seeing this adaptation performed in a spectacular production at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery. The great Irish playwright Brian Friel has infused the text with wonderful, ironic humor. The language plays elegantly, but with a nice contemporary bite. If you love Chekhov, you'll love this version.

During 1 month in 1840s Russia, Natalya, a well-to-do 29-year-old married woman, has an infatuation for Belyayev, her son's tutor. However, he only sees Natalya as an "older woman" and his employer. Vera, Natalya's 17-year-old ward, also is interested in Belyayev, but he doesn't want to get involved with her either. Rakitin, Natalya's male friend and confidante, wants more than just friendship from her and is jealous of Belyayev. Bolshintov, a 40-year-old neighbor, makes an offer of marriage to Vera, an idea that she finds ridiculous. Obviously, with this set-up, many needs and desires are unmet and frustrations abound. This is a great play about human relationships, with the action being more psychological than physical. As a masterpiece with a timeless theme, I highly recommend it.

These stories were originally published ,in serial form, in the Jewish daily Foward. They are short almost precise stories of IB singers youth in Warsaw and his Fathers "court',the BETH DIN, a combination court,synagogue ,advice for the lovelorn, place of talmudic debate,etc. The stories,vignettes drawn from memory,tell these so well. None of these stories are in the collected stories,so it makes the purchase of these 2 volumes essential{the other is IN MY FATHERS COURT]. From Old widows wanting to remarry, to overly pious mates, to pseudo-intellectual rabbis trying to show off their'learning".,I.B. Singer has left us a record of a vanished civilization, in a place and time less then 70 years ago.Essential stories from the gratest short story writer of our time.

These are vignettes, really, scenes remembered from Singer's youth when he served as a messenger errand-boy for his father who conducted a beth din in Warsaw. Although often ambiguous and seemingly inconclusive, they are the works of a master who can effortlessly create a powerful scene in only four or five pages. He avoids all the popular flaws of the short-story genre. There is not a trace of vanity or judgment in his narratives. He is the perfect short story writer.

This is of course a master work, as are all of Wolfert's books. I am only writing here to spell out what the book blurb above fails to make clear: This is a REPRINT of Wolfert's WORLD OF FOOD book, first published in 1988, given a new, ostensibly more sexy, marketable name. So if you already have WORLD OF FOOD, don't buy this -- but do treat yourself to any other of her books -- they're all winners.

I have now bought ALL of Paula Wolfert's cookbooks and every one of them is magnificent. Even if you are the owner of shelves of mediterranean cookbooks this one shouldn't be missing! Wolfert has the gift of writing recipes that make you want to cook. The recipes in this book are original and exciting, but simple in the mediterranean tradition. The book has no color photographs and lacks even the simplest illustration, but you won't mind. Wolfert's writing is more than enough to get your imagination running in overdrive.