The rainbow bridge

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Anthony S. Mercatante

Who is Osiris? Which god was invoked by common folk to bring good luck? Who is the patron of childbirth? Such questions are answered in this updated and comprehensive dictionary of Egyptian mythology. This fascinating volume has alphabetically arranged entries on all the major gods, goddesses, myths, and themes of Egyptian mythology. In addition, there are entries on such topics as amulets, mummies, and pyramids; a chronology of Egyptian dynasties; a detailed introduction; and a complete annotated bibliography. Fifty pen-and-ink drawings by the author capture the spirit of ancient Egyptian art.

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Patrick Fuery and Nick Mansfield

Cultural Studies and Critical Theory explores questions of culture, representation, gender, power, sexuality, and the postmodern. What is culture? And why is it divided into high, middle, and popular? What is a text, and how does it work in the world? What issues fuel contemporary cultural politics? What is the subject, and why has it become such a burning issue in cultural studies? This book thoroughly revises and updates Cultural Studies and the New Humanities: Concepts and Controversies. Drawing on the strengths of the earlier edition, it provides a comprehensive overview of issues in the humanities at the turn of the new millennium, providing historical background, defining key terms, and introducing the ideas of influential thinkers. New chapters have been added on the rise of visual cultures and the fierce contemporary debate between identity politics and queer theory. Students at all levels will find this to be an accessible and thought-provoking text. - Back cover.

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Kathleen Nicholson

Now famous for their immediate impact of color, light, and atmostpheric effect, the landscapes of Romantic painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) were at first the object of opposing critical claims: from one side the British artist was charged with painting "pictures of nothing and very like," from the other, with allowing too much "content" to eclipse his presentation of nature. Taking this paradox as its starting point, Kathleen Nicholson's richly illustrated book proposes a thorough revision of how we understand the enigmatic artist who revolutionized landscape painting. Advancing the growing interest in Turner's handling of content, without ignoring questions of style, Nicholson shows how Turner used the themes of antiquity to explore the ways natural imagery can embody meaning, and how he came to view interpretation itself as a primary subject. Nicholson maintains that by seeking themes in ancient myth, culture, and history, Turner was able to reinvest nature with new values and concepts, thereby accomplishing a genuinely modern revision of classical landscape in an early nineteenth-century idiom. His inquiry into the nature of meaning, she argues, led him to articulate a narrative that engaged the viewer in "reading" or interpreting both symbolic and purely visual imagery - a narrative that finds its most striking enactment in his 1806 work The Goddess of Discord Choosing the Apple of Contention in the Garden of the Hesperides. Among the first to analyze systematically the themes treated in Turner's early sketchbooks, Nicholson traces the artist's understanding of a given legend, ancient author, or formal source as it developed over time, providing rare insight into the extent and character of his manipulation of subject matter. -- from dust jacket.

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Cristina Mazzoni

"In She-Wolf: The Story of a Roman Icon, Cristina Mazzoni examines the evolution of the she-wolf as a symbol in western history, art, and literature, from antiquity to contemporary times"--Provided by publisher. "Since antiquity, the she-wolf has served as the potent symbol of Rome. For more than two thousand years, the legendary animal that rescued Romulus and Remus has been the subject of historical and political accounts, literary treatments in poetry and prose, and visual representations in every medium. In She-Wolf: The Story of a Roman Icon, Cristina Mazzoni examines the evolution of the she-wolf as a symbol in western history, art, and literature, from antiquity to contemporary times. Used, for example, as an icon of Roman imperial power, papal authority, and the distance between the present and the past, the she-wolf has also served as an allegory for greed, good politics, excessive female sexuality, and, most recently, modern, multi-cultural Rome. Mazzoni engagingly analyzes the various role guises of the she-wolf over time in the first comprehensive study in any language on this subject"--Provided by publisher.