Download or read book Wit written by Margaret Edson and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2014-05-20 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, and the Oppenheimer Award. Adapted to an Emmy Award-winning television movie, directed by Mike Nichols, starring Emma Thompson. Margaret Edson's powerfully imagined Pulitzer Prize–winning play examines what makes life worth living through her exploration of one of existence's unifying experiences—mortality—while she also probes the vital importance of human relationships. What we as her audience take away from this remarkable drama is a keener sense that, while death is real and unavoidable, our lives are ours to cherish or throw away—a lesson that can be both uplifting and redemptive. As the playwright herself puts it, "The play is not about doctors or even about cancer. It's about kindness, but it shows arrogance. It's about compassion, but it shows insensitivity." In Wit, Edson delves into timeless questions with no final answers: How should we live our lives knowing that we will die? Is the way we live our lives and interact with others more important than what we achieve materially, professionally, or intellectually? How does language figure into our lives? Can science and art help us conquer death, or our fear of it? What will seem most important to each of us about life as that life comes to an end? The immediacy of the presentation, and the clarity and elegance of Edson's writing, make this sophisticated, multilayered play accessible to almost any interested reader. As the play begins, Vivian Bearing, a renowned professor of English who has spent years studying and teaching the intricate, difficult Holy Sonnets of the seventeenth-century poet John Donne, is diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. Confident of her ability to stay in control of events, she brings to her illness the same intensely rational and painstakingly methodical approach that has guided her stellar academic career. But as her disease and its excruciatingly painful treatment inexorably progress, she begins to question the single-minded values and standards that have always directed her, finally coming to understand the aspects of life that make it truly worth living.

Download or read book Essays on Wit No 2 written by Richard Flecknoe and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2023-08-19 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays on Wit No. 2 emerges as a pivotal collection in the exploration of wit, traversing a broad literary landscape from subtle humor to sharp social commentary. The anthology encapsulates a rich variety of styles and themes, reflecting the breadth and complexity of wit as a literary device across different epochs. The curatorial effort shines in the selection of works, promising a thoughtful journey through the nuances of wit, with contributions that stand as testament to both the enlightenment and decadence of human intellect. The diversity within this collection not only celebrates the ingenuity of authors but also invites readers into a deeper appreciation of wit's versatile nature in literature. The contributors, Richard Flecknoe and Joseph Warton, bring together an exceptional assemblage of insight and perspective. Collectively, their backgrounds span a crucial period in literary history, touching on the evolution of English literature and its engagement with wit. Their anthology aligns with significant literary movements, including the Augustan age and the burgeoning of neoclassical literature, offering a reflective look at the era's intellectual currents. This amalgamation of works serves not only as a historical snapshot but enriches the reader's understanding by juxtaposing contrasting interpretations of wit. Essays on Wit No. 2 is recommended for readers eager to immerse themselves in the complexity and evolution of literary wit. This collection provides a unique lens through which to explore varied expressions of intellect and humor, delivering an educational journey through the art of wit. It promises not merely an encounter with historical perspectives but an ongoing dialogue with the enduring power of words to entertain, critique, and enlighten.

Download or read book Style Wit and Word Play written by Tao Tao Liu and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2011-12-08 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays is dedicated to the memory of David Hawkes (1923–2009), who is remembered as a pre-eminent translator and interpreter of Chinese literature into English, his most famous work being the translation of the classic eighteenth-century Chinese novel, the Hongloumeng or The Story of the Stone. The first part of the collection consists of studies on him and his works; the second part on the art of translation into English from Chinese literature. All the essays are written by scholars in the field from Britain, America, Australia and Hong Kong.

Download or read book Essay upon Wit written by Richard Sir Blackmore and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-09-16 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Essay upon Wit" by Richard Sir Blackmore. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Download or read book Essays One written by Lydia Davis and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A selection of essays on writing and reading by the master short-fiction writer Lydia Davis Lydia Davis is a writer whose originality, influence, and wit are beyond compare. Jonathan Franzen has called her “a magician of self-consciousness,” while Rick Moody hails her as "the best prose stylist in America." And for Claire Messud, “Davis's signal gift is to make us feel alive.” Best known for her masterful short stories and translations, Davis’s gifts extend equally to her nonfiction. In Essays One, Davis has, for the first time, gathered a selection of essays, commentaries, and lectures composed over the past five decades. In this first of two volumes, her subjects range from her earliest influences to her favorite short stories, from John Ashbery’s translation of Rimbaud to Alan Cote’s painting, and from the Shepherd’s Psalm to early tourist photographs. On display is the development and range of one of the sharpest, most capacious minds writing today.

Download or read book Social Constructionism written by Vivien Burr and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-11-15 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fourth edition of this seminal work introduces students to social constructionism. Using a variety of examples from everyday experience and from existing research in areas such as personality, sexuality and health, it clearly explains the basic theoretical assumptions of social constructionism. Drawing on a range of empirical studies, the book clearly defines the various approaches to social constructionist theory and research and explores the theoretical and practical issues they raise. It presents and analyses key debates, such as the nature and status of knowledge, truth, reality, and the self, in an accessible style. The new edition has been updated with relevant and contemporary references to aid understanding of key theoretical and methodological issues. The author additionally utilises new illustrative examples from research and contemporary life, such as the #MeToo movement, BlackLivesMatter, and Post-Truth politics. The updated work has also been expanded to include an extended discussion of affect and embodiment and a number of exercises to help illustrate important concepts. Social Constructionism extends and updates the material covered in previous editions and will be an invaluable and informative resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Psychology, Sociology, Education, and other related disciplines.

Download or read book Voltaire s Alphabet of Wit written by Voltaire and published by . This book was released on 2013-10 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book You Feel So Mortal written by Peggy Shinner and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-03-19 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[A] smart, witty, bittersweet book of writings about her own body . . . the author examines the journey of life inside that most imperfect of vessels.” —Chicago Tribune Feet, bras, autopsies, hair—Peggy Shinner takes an honest, unflinching look at all of them in this collection of searing and witty essays about the body: her own body, female and Jewish; those of her parents, the bodies she came from; and the collective body, with all its historical, social, and political implications. What, she asks, does this whole mess of bones, muscles, organs, and soul mean? Searching for answers, she turns her keen narrative sense to body image, gender, ethnic history, and familial legacy, exploring what it means to live in our bodies and to leave them behind. Over the course of twelve essays, Shinner holds a mirror up to the complex desires, fears, confusions, and mysteries that shape our bodily perceptions. Driven by the collision between herself and the larger world, she examines her feet through the often-skewed lens of history to understand what makes them, in the eyes of some, decidedly Jewish; considers bras, breasts, and the storied skills of the bra fitter; asks, from the perspective of a confused and grieving daughter, what it means to cut the body open; and takes a reeling time-trip through myth, culture, and history to look at women’s hair in ancient Rome, Laos, France, Syria, Cuba, India, and her own past. Some pieces investigate the body under emotional or physical duress, while others use the body to consider personal heritage and legacy. Throughout, Shinner writes with elegance and assurance, weaving her wide-ranging thoughts into a firm and fascinating fabric.

Download or read book Sensus Communis written by Anthony Ashley Cooper Earl of Shaftesbury and published by . This book was released on 1709 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Wit s End What Wit Is How It Works and Why We Need It written by James Geary and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Entertaining, illuminating, and entirely unique, Wit’s End “convey[s] the power of wit to refresh the mind” (Henry Hitchings, Wall Street Journal). In “this inventive and playful book” (Tom Beer, Newsday), James Geary explores every facet of wittiness, from its role in innovation to why puns are the highest form of wit. Adopting a different style for each chapter—from dramatic dialogue to sermon, heroic couplets to a barroom monologue—Geary embodies wit in all its forms. Wit’s End agilely balances psychology, folktale, visual art, and literary history with lighthearted humor and acute insight, demonstrating that wit and wisdom are really the same thing.

Download or read book Selected Literary Essays written by C. S. Lewis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume includes over twenty of C. S. Lewis's most important literary essays, written between 1932 and 1962. The topics discussed range from Chaucer to Kipling, from 'The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version' to 'Psycho-Analysis and Literary Criticism,' from Shakespeare and Bunyan to Sir Walter Scott and William Morris. Common to each essay, however, is the lively wit, the distinctive forthrightness and the discreet erudition which characterizes Lewis's best critical writing.

Download or read book Essays written by Wallace Shawn and published by Haymarket Books. This book was released on 2009-09-01 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of “deceptively simple, profoundly thoughtful, fiercely honest” essays on art, life, and politics by the acclaimed actor and playwright (Howard Zinn, author of Political Awakenings and Indispensable Zinn). Whether writing about the genesis of his plays, such as Aunt Dan and Lemon; discussing how the privileged world of arts and letters takes for granted the people who serve our food and deliver our mail; describing his upbringing in the sheltered world of Manhattan’s cultural elite; or engaging in a fascinating interview with Noam Chomsky, Wallace Shawn has a unique ability to step back from the appearance of things to explore their deeper social meanings. In these essays, Shawn grasps the unpleasant contradictions of modern life and challenges us to look at our own behavior in a more honest light. He also finds the pathos in the political and personal challenges of everyday life. With the same sharp wit and remarkable attention to detail that he brings to his critically acclaimed plays, Shawn invites us to look at the world with new eyes, the better to understand—and change it. “Full of what you might call conversation starters: tricky propositions about morality . . . politics, privilege, runaway nationalist fantasies, collective guilt, and art as a force for change (or not) . . . It’s a treat to hear him speak his curious mind.” —O Magazine “Lovely, hilarious and seriously thought provoking, I enjoyed it tremendously.” —Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

Download or read book Vectors written by James Richardson and published by Ausable Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James Richardson is one of the finest poets now writing, and the best contemporary practitioner of the art of aphorism."--Publishers Weekly "Not since the appearance of W. S. Merwin's translations and adaptations of aphorisms in Asian Figures, some thirty years ago, has an American poet managed to put down so much delightful and compelling wisdom."--American Literary Review "No one theme or moral pervades these tesserae of specificity. Rather, Richardson's elegant compression invites the reader to fill in the blanks with personal experience... Richardson's knack for the quintessential, sustained for more than a hundred pages, left me satisfied yet hungry for more."-- Times Literary Supplement "Readers will be obsessed by this book; they will memorize passages, give copies to friends, proselytize. That's because Vectors so generously provides the best that poetry can offer. It is a masterpiece of practicality, beauty, and solace."-- Boston Review "James Richardson's Vectors... penetrates to the very heart of human nature. I stand looking in the mirror, alert to my own foibles, shaking my head as I tolerate what I know he knows about who I am."-- The Georgia Review "Almost every entry... introduces a new insight, provides a revelation, supplies a surprise... it is a book one wants to spend time with, a wonderfully friendly book, generous, witty and entertaining."-- Gulf Coast "Vectors is the kind of book you read, reread, thumb through, and pick up several extra copies because you want to share the joy you found in perusing it with friends."-- Barrow Street "James Richardson's Vectors is a book of subversive wonders. Stunningly precise, these brilliant aphorisms and ten-second essays show a mind assessing, reassessing, discovering, and interrogating assumptions in ways that feel diamond-sharp, at once good-natured, quietly sly at times, and always, always, very shrewd. 'It can never be satisfied, the mind, never,' wrote Wallace Stevens. Vectors is a remarkable testament to such questing, vivid minding, as these aphorisms alight on everything from the nature of perception, to God, success, fear, shame, self-consciousness, love and friendship."--Laurie Sheck

Download or read book The Writings of George Eliot Essays and leaves from a notebook written by George Eliot and published by . This book was released on 1908 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book An Essay on Criticism written by Alexander Pope and published by . This book was released on 1711 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Writings of George Eliot Essays and Leaves from a note book written by George Eliot and published by . This book was released on 1908 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Essays of E B White written by E. B. White and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-02-25 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Some of the finest examples of contemporary, genuinely American prose. White's style incorporates eloquence without affection, profundity without pomposity, and wit without frivolity or hostility. Like his predecessors Thoreau and Twain, White's creative, humane, and graceful perceptions are an education for the sensibilities." — Washington Post The classic collection by one of the greatest essayists of our time. Selected by E.B. White himself, the essays in this volume span a lifetime of writing and a body of work without peer. "I have chosen the ones that have amused me in the rereading," he writes in the Foreword, "alone with a few that seemed to have the odor of durability clinging to them." These essays are incomparable; this is a volume to treasure and savor at one's leisure.