An Imperialist Love Story: Desert Romances and the War on Terror by Amira Jarmakani (NYU Press) (1 Review)    Price verified 3 hours ago

A curious figure stalks the pages of a distinct subset of mass-market romance novels, aptly called "desert romances." Animalistic yet sensitive, dark and attractive, the desert prince or sheikh emanates manliness and raw, sexual power. In the years since September 11, 2001, the sheikh character has steadily risen in popularity in romance novels, even while depictions of Arab masculinity as backward and violent in nature have dominated the cultural landscape. An Imperialist Love Story contributes to the broader conversation about the legacy of orientalist representations of Arabs in Western popular culture. Combining close readings of novels, discursive analysis of blogs and forums, and interviews with authors, Jarmakani explores popular investments in the war on terror by examining the collisions between fantasy and reality in desert romances. Focusing on issues of security, freedom, and liberal multiculturalism, she foregrounds the role that desire plays in contemporary formations ...

Genre: World Literature

Intellectuals in the Modern Islamic World: Transmission, Transformation and Communication (New Horizons in Islamic Studies) by Stephane Dudoignon (Routledge) (10 Reviews)    Price verified 22 hours ago

Incorporating a rich series of case-studies covering a range of geographical areas, this collection of essays examines the history of modern intellectuals in the Islamic world throughout the twentieth century. The contributors reassess the typology and history of various scholars, providing significant diachronic analysis of the different forms of communication, learning, and authority. While each chapter presents a separate regional case, with an historically and geographically different background, the volume discloses commonalities, similarities and intellectual echoes through its comparative approach. Consisting of two parts, the volume focuses first on al-Manar, the influential journal published between 1898 and 1935 that inspired much imagination and arguments among local intelligentsias all over the Islamic world. The second part discusses the formation, transmission and transformation of learning and authority, from the Middle East to Central and Southeast Asia. Constituting ...

Genre: World Literature

The Story of Han Xiangzi: The Alchemical Adventures of a Daoist Immortal (China Program Books) by Erzeng Yang (University of Washington Press) (4 Reviews)    Price verified 21 hours ago

In this seventeenth-century Chinese novel, Han Xiangzi, best known as one of the Eight Immortals, seeks and achieves immortality and then devotes himself to converting his materialistic, politically ambitious Confucian uncle -- Han Yu, a real historical figure -- to Daoism. Written in lively vernacular prose interspersed with poems and songs, the novel takes its readers across China, to the heavens, and into the underworld. Readers listen to debates among Confucians, Daoists, and Buddhists and witness trials of faith and the performance of magical feats. In the mode of the famous religious novel Journey to the West, The Story of Han Xiangzi uses colorful characters, twists of plot, witty dialogue, and action suitable for a superhero comic book to convey its religious message -- that worldly life is ephemeral and that true contentment can be found only through Daoist cultivation. This is the first translation into any Western language of Han Xiangzi quanzhuan (literally, The Complete ...

Genre: World Literature

The Nuosu Book of Origins: A Creation Epic from Southwest China (Studies on Ethnic Groups in China) by Mark Bender (University of Washington Press) (5 Reviews)    Price verified 5 hours ago

The Nuosu people, who were once overlords of vast tracts of farmland and forest in the uplands of southern Sichuan and neighboring provinces, are the largest division of the Yi ethnic group in southwest China. Their creation epic plots the origins of the cosmos, the sky and earth, and the living beings of land and water. This translation is a rare example in English of Indigenous ethnic literature from China. Transmitted in oral and written forms for centuries among the Nuosu, The Book of Origins is performed by bimo priests and other tradition-bearers. Poetic in form, the narrative provides insights into how a clan- and caste-based society organizes itself, dictates ethics, relates to other ethnic groups, and adapts to a harsh environment. A comprehensive introduction to the translation describes the land and people, summarizes the work's themes, and discusses the significance of The Book of Origins for the understanding of folk epics, ethnoecology, and ethnic relations.

Genre: World Literature

Modeling Citizenship: Jewish and Asian American Writing (American Literatures Initiative (Temple University Press)) by Cathy Schlund-Vials (1 Review)    Price verified 2 hours ago

Navigating deftly among historical and literary readings, Cathy Schlund-Vials examines the analogous yet divergent experiences of Asian Americans and Jewish Americans in Modeling Citizenship. She investigates how these model minority groups are shaped by the shifting terrain of naturalization law and immigration policy, using the lens of naturalization, not assimilation, to underscore questions of nation-state affiliation and sense of belonging. Modeling Citizenship examines fiction, memoir, and drama to reflect on how the logic of naturalization has operated at discrete moments in the twentieth century. Each chapter focuses on two exemplary literary works. For example, Schlund-Vials shows how Mary Antin's Jewish-themed play The Promised Land is reworked into a more contemporary Chinese American context in Gish Jen's Mona in the Promised Land. In her compelling analysis, Schlund-Vials amplifies the structural, cultural, and historical significance of these works and the themes they ...

Genre: World Literature

Breaking Her Defenses by Bailie Hantam (47 Reviews)    Price verified 6 hours ago

Johannesburg... City of Gold. City of Love? Adam Cooper can't do relationships, and has two failed engagements to prove it. His work as a lawyer, a shark in the courtroom, brings out a side of him that women don't like or understand. With his last breakup, he was left so disillusioned he not only swore off relationships but even took an extended break from the work he loves. And then Holly Monroe, arrives in Johannesburg. She has been on her own since she was fifteen. With a past she's trying to forget and a future she's afraid to hope for, Adam and his big, loving family are exactly what she cannot allow herself to trust. She is determined to maintain her defences and rely only on herself. It's safer that way. The more Adam gets to know Holly, the more he wants to break his no relationship rule. But his killer instinct that's been honed for cross-examining witnesses in the courtroom rears its head in their romance. He can't shake the feeling she's keeping secrets from him. And Adam ...

Genre: World Literature

The Consorts (Forbidden City Book 1) by Melissa Addey (Letterpress Publishing) (1,283 Review)    Price verified 11 hours ago

Lonely. Used as a pawn. One last bid for love. 18th century China. Imperial concubine Qing yearns for love and friendship. Neglected by the Emperor, passed over for more ambitious women, Qing lives a lonely existence. But when a new concubine comes to court, friendship blooms, bringing with it a taste of happiness. For the first time in her life, Qing has a friend and perhaps even a chance at loving and being loved. But when the Empress' throne suddenly becomes available, Qing finds herself being used as a pawn by the highest ranked women of the court. Caught up in their power games, on one devastating night everything she holds dear is put at risk. As the power players of the Forbidden City make their moves, can Qing find the courage to make one last bid for love? Can an insignificant pawn snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? The Consorts is the captivating prequel novella to the Forbidden City historical fiction series. If you enjoy slow-burn romance, courtly intrigues and the ...

Genre: World Literature