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Hydriotaphia
''Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial, or, a Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in Norfolk'' is a work by Sir Thomas Browne, published in 1658 as the first part of a two-part work that concludes with ''The Garden of Cyrus''. The title is Greek for "urn burial": A hydria (ὑδρία) is a large Greek pot, and ''taphos'' (τάφος) means "tomb". Its nominal subject was the discovery of some 40 to 50 Anglo-Saxon pots in Norfolk. The discovery of these remains prompts Browne to deliver, first, a description of the antiquities found, and then a survey of most of the burial and funerary customs, ancient and current, of which his era was aware. The most famous part of the work is the apotheosis of the fifth chapter, where Browne declaims: George Saintsbury, in the '' Cambridge History of English Literature'' (1911), calls the totality of Chapter V "the longest piece, perhaps, of absolutely sublime rhetoric to be found in the prose literature of the world." Influence ''Urn Burial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Browne
Sir Thomas Browne ( "brown"; 19 October 160519 October 1682) was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. His writings display a deep curiosity towards the Nature (philosophy), natural world, influenced by the Scientific Revolution of Francis Bacon, Baconian enquiry and are permeated by references to Classics, Classical and Bible, Biblical sources as well as the idiosyncrasies of his own personality. Although often described as suffused with melancholia, Browne's writings are also characterised by wit and subtle humour, while his literary style is varied, according to genre, resulting in a rich, unique prose which ranges from rough notebook observations to polished Baroque eloquence. Biography Early life Thomas Browne was born in the parish of St Michael-le-Querne, St Michael, Cheapside, in London on 19 October 1605. He was the youngest child of Thomas Browne, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
"Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is a short story by the 20th-century Argentina, Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The story was first published in the Argentine journal ''Sur (magazine), Sur'', May 1940 in literature, 1940. The "postscript" dated 1947 is intended to be anachronism, anachronistic, set seven years in the future. The first English language, English-language translation of the story, by James E. Irby, was published in 1961 in literature, 1961 in ''New World Writing'' N° 18. In 1962 it was included in the short story collection Labyrinths (short story collection), ''Labyrinths'' (New Directions), the first collection of Borges' works published in English. Told in a first-person narrative, the story focuses on the author's discovery of the mysterious and possibly fictional country of Uqbar and its legend of Tlön, a mythical world whose inhabitants believe a form of subjective idealism, denying the reality of objects and nouns, as well as ''Orbis Tertius'', the secret ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Alwyn
William Alwyn (born William Alwyn Smith; 7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985), was a prolific English composer, Conducting, conductor, and music teacher who composed over 200 cinematic scores, of which some 70 were for full-length features, as well as number of operas, concertos and symphonies. A highly influential composer, Alwyn's wartime work in particular was to lead him to be placed on a Nazi death list. Life and music William Alwyn was born William Alwyn Smith in Northampton, England, the son of Ada Tyler (Tompkins) and William James Smith. He showed an early interest in music and began to learn to play the piccolo. At the age of 15, he entered the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied flute, piano and musical composition, composition. He was a virtuoso flautist and for a time was a flautist with the London Symphony Orchestra. Alwyn served as professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1926 to 1955.Mervyn Cooke, "Alwyn, William", ''The N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Garden Of Cyrus
''The Garden of Cyrus'', or ''The Quincuncial Lozenge, or Network Plantations of the Ancients, naturally, artificially, mystically considered'', is a discourse by Thomas Browne concerned with the quincunx—a pattern of five points arranged in an X (⁙), as on a dice, die —in art and nature. First published in 1658, along with its companion ''Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial, Urn-Burial'', in modern times it has been recognised as Browne's major literary contribution to Hermeticism, Hermetic wisdom. The book begins with the Genesis creation narrative, biblical creation, allusions to Plato's discourse the Timaeus (dialogue), ''Timaeus'' and speculation upon the location of the Garden of Eden. It continues on orchard planting patterns of the Ancient Persians, who used the quincunx pattern to ensure "a regular angularity, and through prospect, was left on every side". Browne explores the number 5, five and the quincunx pattern as seen in art and human design (chapters 1 and 2) as a patter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Title-page Of 1658 Edition Of 'Urn-Burial' And 'The Garden Of Cyrus'
The title page of a book, thesis or other written work is the page at or near the front which displays its title, subtitle, author, publisher, and edition, often artistically decorated. (A half title, by contrast, displays only the title of a work.) The title page is one of the most important parts of the "front matter" or "preliminaries" of a book, as the data on it and its verso (together known as the "title leaf") are used to establish the "title proper and usually, though not necessarily, the statement of responsibility and the data relating to publication". This determines the way the book is cited in library catalogs and academic references. The title page often shows the title of the work, the person or body responsible for its intellectual content, and the imprint, which contains the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication. Particularly in paperback editions it may contain a shorter title than the cover or lack a descriptive subtitle. Further ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known works, () and (), published in the 1940s, are collections of short stories exploring motifs such as dreams, labyrinths, Indeterminism, chance, infinity, archives, mirrors, fictional writers and mythology. Borges's works have contributed to philosophical literature and the fantasy genre, and have had a major influence on the magical realism, magical realist movement in 20th century Latin American literature.Theo L. D'Haen (1995) "Magical Realism and Postmodernism: Decentering Privileged Centers", in: Louis P. Zamora and Wendy B. Faris, ''Magical Realism: Theory, History and Community''. Duhan and London, Duke University Press, pp. 191–208. Born in Buenos Aires, Borges later moved with his family to Switzerland in 1914, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Status Anxiety
''Status Anxiety'' is a nonfiction book by Alain de Botton. It was first published in 2004 by Hamish Hamilton; subsequent publications have been by Penguin Books. Central thesis According to De Botton, "status anxiety" is a 21st-century phenomenon which is a result of capitalism, democracy, and an ostensibly egalitarian society, and is prevalent in countries where an inequality in income is evident. Status anxiety can be defined as the constant tension or fear of being perceived as "unsuccessful" by the society in materialistic terms. Today, every individual constantly tries to outsmart the others to climb up the social ladder. The effects of status anxiety can be impulse buying, status consumption etc. Meritocracy is a primary cause of status anxiety. Meritocracy is a society that believes that only the talented and the meritorious will end up at the top of the social ladder. Snobbery, envy, lovelessness are some other causes of status anxiety. De Botton first noticed this ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alain De Botton
Alain de Botton (; born 20 December 1969) is a Swiss-born British author and public speaker. His books discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. He published ''Essays in Love'' (1993), which went on to sell two million copies. Other bestsellers include ''How Proust Can Change Your Life'' (1997), '' Status Anxiety'' (2004), and '' The Architecture of Happiness'' (2006). He co-founded The School of Life in 2008 and Living Architecture in 2009. In 2015, he was awarded "The Fellowship of Schopenhauer", an annual writers' award from the Melbourne Writers Festival, for that work. Early life and family De Botton was born in Zürich, the son of Jacqueline (née Burgauer) and Gilbert de Botton. Gilbert was born in Alexandria, Egypt, but after being expelled under Nasser, he went to live and work in Switzerland, where he co-founded an investment firm, Global Asset Management; his family was estimated to have been worth £2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Yellow Birds
''The Yellow Birds'' is the debut novel from American writer, poet, and Iraq War veteran Kevin Powers. It was one of ''The New York Times'''s 100 Most Notable Books of 2012 and a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award. It was awarded the 2012 the Guardian First Book Award and the 2013 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. Background Much of the novel draws upon Powers's experience serving a year as a machine gunner in Mosul and Tal Afar, Iraq, from February 2004 to March 2005 after enlisting in the Army at the age of 17. After his honorable discharge, Powers enrolled in Virginia Commonwealth University, where he graduated in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in English. He holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in Poetry. Powers has said that the novel took him about four years to write. He also comes from a military family as "his father and grandfathers both served, and his uncle was a Marine." With regard to the autobiographical ele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kevin Powers
Kevin Powers (born 1980) is an American fiction writer, poet, and Iraq War veteran. Early life, tour, and education Powers was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, the son of a factory worker and a postman. He attended James River High School and enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of seventeen. Six years later, in 2004, he served a one-year tour in Iraq as a machine gunner assigned to an engineer unit. Powers served in Mosul and Tal Afar, Iraq, from February 2004 to March 2005. After his honorable discharge, Powers enrolled in Virginia Commonwealth University, where he graduated in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in English. He holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in Poetry. ''The Yellow Birds'' Powers's first novel ''The Yellow Birds'', which drew on his experiences in the Iraq War, garnered a lucrative advance from publisher Michael Pietsch at Little, Brown. It has been called "a classic of contemporary war fiction" by Michiko ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Murders In The Rue Morgue
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in ''Graham's Magazine'' in 1841. It has been described as the first modern detective fiction, detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of wikt:ratiocination, ratiocination". C. Auguste Dupin is a man in Paris who solves the mystery of the brutal murder of two women. Numerous witnesses heard a suspect, though no one agrees on what language was spoken. At the murder scene, Dupin finds a hair that does not appear to be human. As the first fictional detective, Poe's Dupin displays many traits which became literary conventions in subsequent fictional detectives, including Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. Many later characters, for example, follow Poe's model of the brilliant detective, his personal friend who serves as narrator, and the final revelation being presented before the reasoning that leads up to it. Dupin himself reappears in "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" and "The Purloined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as one of the central figures of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States and of early American literature. Poe was one of the country's first successful practitioners of the short story, and is generally considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre. In addition, he is credited with contributing significantly to the emergence of science fiction. He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living exclusively through writing, which resulted in a financially difficult life and career.. Poe was born in Boston. He was the second child of actors David Poe Jr., David and Eliza Poe, Elizabeth "Eliza" Poe. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and when Eliza died the following year, Poe was taken in by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
