Download or read book Quaternity Four Novellas from the Carpathians written by Maria Rybakova and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four thematically linked novellas that focus on obsessive relationships, stolen identities, and illusions of grandeur in the post-1989 Carpathian-Balkan region: ● An American expat in Europe appropriates the identity of a Romanian orphan in her desperate search for love. ● A dictator's daughter learns, while on a study trip to France, that her parents have been overthrown and are about to be executed. ● A minor character from a novel confronts her own insignificance. A wife announces to her husband of forty years that she's just been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Download or read book Quaternity written by Maria Rybakova and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Becoming Myself written by Irvin D. Yalom and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bestselling writer and psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom puts himself on the couch in a “candid, insightful” (Abraham Verghese) memoir​ Irvin D. Yalom has made a career of investigating the lives of others. In this profound memoir, he turns his writing and his therapeutic eye on himself. He opens his story with a nightmare: He is twelve, and is riding his bike past the home of an acne-scarred girl. Like every morning, he calls out, hoping to befriend her, "Hello Measles!" But in his dream, the girl's father makes Yalom understand that his daily greeting had hurt her. For Yalom, this was the birth of empathy; he would not forget the lesson. As Becoming Myself unfolds, we see the birth of the insightful thinker whose books have been a beacon to so many. This is not simply a man's life story, Yalom's reflections on his life and development are an invitation for us to reflect on the origins of our own selves and the meanings of our lives.

Download or read book Devils Lusts and Strange Desires written by Richard Bradford and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-21 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOMINATED FOR THE H.R.F. KEATING AWARD, 2022. 'My New Year's Eve Toast: to all the devils, lusts, passions, greeds, envies, loves, hates, strange desires, enemies ghostly and real, the army of memories, with which I do battle – may they never give me peace' – Patricia Highsmith (New Year's Eve, 1947). Made famous by the great success of her psychological thrillers, The Talented Mr Ripley and Strangers on a Train, Patricia Highsmith is renowned as one of the most influential and celebrated modern writers. However, there has never been a clear picture of the woman behind the books. The relationship between Highsmith's lesbianism, her fraught personality – by parts self-destructive and malicious – and her fiction, has been largely ignored by biographers in the past. As an openly homosexual writer, she wrote the seminal lesbian love story Carol for which she would be venerated, in modern times, as a radical exponent of the LGBTQ+ community. Alas, her status as an LGBTQ+ icon is undermined by her excessive cruelty towards and exploitation of her friends and many lovers. In this biography, Richard Bradford brings his sharp and incisive style to one of the greatest and most controversial writers of the twentieth century. He considers Highsmith's bestsellers in the context of her troubled personal life; her alcoholism, licentious sex life, racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny and abundant self-loathing.

Download or read book Gaudeamus written by Mircea Eliade and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this exuberant and touching portrait of youth, Eliade recounts the fictional version of his university years in late 1920's Bucharest. Marked by a burgeoning desire to "suck out all the marrow of life," the protagonist throws himself into his studies; engaging his professors and peers in philosophical discourse, becoming one of the founding members of the Student's Union, and opening-up the attic refuge of his isolated teenage years as a hotspot for political debate and romantic exploration. Readers will recognize in these pages the joy of a life about to blossom, of the search for knowledge and the desire for true love. This follow-up to Diary of a Short-Sighted Adolescent reveals a keen observer of human behavior, a seeker of truth and spiritual fulfillment whose path would eventually lead him to become the ultimate historian of 20th-century religions.

Download or read book The Esoteric Secrets of Surrealism written by Patrick Lepetit and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-04-24 with total page 549 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A profound understanding of the surrealists’ connections with alchemists and secret societies and the hermetic aspirations revealed in their works • Explains how surrealist paintings and poems employed mythology, gnostic principles, tarot, voodoo, alchemy, and other hermetic sciences to seek out unexplored regions of the mind and recover lost “psychic” and magical powers • Provides many examples of esoteric influence in surrealism, such as how Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon was originally titled The Bath of the Philosophers Not merely an artistic or literary movement as many believe, the surrealists rejected the labels of artist and author bestowed upon them by outsiders, accepting instead the titles of magician, alchemist, or--in the case of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo--witch. Their paintings, poems, and other works were created to seek out unexplored regions of the mind and recover lost “psychic” and magical powers. They used creative expression as the vehicle to attain what André Breton called the “supreme point,” the point at which all opposites cease to be perceived as contradictions. This supreme point is found at the heart of all esoteric doctrines, including the Great Work of alchemy, and enables communication with higher states of being. Drawing on an extensive range of writings by the surrealists and those in their circle of influence, Patrick Lepetit shows how the surrealists employed mythology, gnostic principles, tarot, voodoo, and alchemy not simply as reference points but as significant elements of their ongoing investigations into the fundamental nature of consciousness. He provides many specific examples of esoteric influence among the surrealists, such as how Picasso’s famous Demoiselles d’Avignon was originally titled The Bath of the Philosophers, how painter Victor Brauner drew from his father’s spiritualist vocation as well as the Kabbalah and tarot, and how doctor and surrealist author Pierre Mabille was a Freemason focused on finding initiatory paths where “it is possible to feel a new system connecting man with the universe.” Lepetit casts new light on the connection between key figures of the movement and the circle of adepts gathered around Fulcanelli. He also explores the relationship between surrealists and Freemasonry, Martinists, and the Elect Cohen as well as the Grail mythos and the Arthurian brotherhood.

Download or read book Cursed Beauty written by Valentina Tsoneva and published by First Edition Design Pub.. This book was released on 2022-01-12 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who is a strong woman? The One who bravely leaves or the One who stoically stays? Find Out! Cursed Beauty is a collection of twelve short stories set in Bulgarian cities and villages during the socialist era of the 1980s. In these stories, Bulgarian women—girls, mothers, grandmothers—push up against, resign themselves to, subvert and flee the rigid moral codes of the patriarchal society. The unifying character of the short stories is the Bulgarian woman, as a girl, as a mother, and as a grandmother. She is vibrant, loving, devoted, but sometimes abandoned and abused. Some women find a solution, some temporary peace, some leave for new horizons, but some continue their old lives, trusting their inner strength to be stronger than the circumstances. The tone is uplifting—pain and hope unite these female characters in their pursuit of love and happiness. Valentina Tsoneva is a native Bulgarian. She lives and teaches composition and literature classes in the Sunshine State, Florida, which has two seasons: hot and hotter. She holds an MA from Bulgaria and MA from the USA. She published a poetry book Shelter in Bulgarian and a few other poems in English in the literary journals Sand and River of Grass. In 2017, her poem “Causa Perduta” won second prize in the National League of American Pen Women, Tampa, FL. In 2021, her collection of short stories Cursed Beauty was the winner for the unpublished book at San Francisco Book Festival. She enjoys traveling, jogging, and taking care of her adorable Dutch Shepherd, Myla. Bulgaria, Socialist Era, 1980s, Strong Women, Rigid Moral Codes, Patriarch Society, Abused, Uplifting Tone, Pursuit of Love, Historical Fiction, Cultural Fiction www.ValentinaTsoneva.com

Download or read book The Stroke Artist written by Bevan Choate and published by Greenleaf Book Group. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finalist in the 2021Eyelands Book Awards At thirty-five, Dr. Bevan Choate, was a successful surgeon and the captain of his own ship. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, he was alone and adrift, the victim of a massive stroke. “Your thinking self begins to panic. You’re revving the engine with the pedal to the floor, but the clutch is still in first gear. You have been told by every impassioned therapist that the brain is an amazing thing, and they all have a story of Methuselah returning to rollerblading at six months after his stroke that was worse than mine. So, you ask of yourself the impossible. You say, ‘Look you son of a bitch. We are going to do this if it kills us both.’ And you make something happen. The first few times you look like an absolute fool. You stumble. You literally drop the ball. You are failing but at least you are doing it in style. Then, after lots of failing, you begin to start succeeding. You accomplish the impossible. Your soul, your being, your ‘amazing brain’ just won a battle that puts you that much closer to winning the war.” Brave and irreverent, The Stroke Artist is an unforgettable, first-hand divulgence of facing an unthinkable tragedy and emerging victorious to tell the tale. ​ “Young Dr. Choate had it made. At thirty-five, he had survived medical school and a long residency, and it was time to start living the Good Life and pay off his student loans. Then, something happened inside his skull and the music stopped. He had suffered a massive stroke. It wasn’t fair. Some writers are good at putting words together but don’t have good stories to tell. Others have good stories but lack the skills to tell them. Bevan Choate has both, and this is a very fine book about experiences that most of us pray will never happen. I read it at one sitting. Well done, Dr. Choate!” —John R. Erickson, author of Hank the Cow Dog Series “Readers of the Western genre are sometimes surprised and very much entertained by writers who bring their life experiences to pen and paper. From Edna Ferber’s Giant to McCarthy’s, Kelton’s, and McMurtry’s sweeping sagas, the storytellers of the West have given the reader an honest approach in writing about life’s ongoing obstacles and struggles. Soon, to be counted amongst them will be this young son of a Texas rancher, who becomes a doctor, a painter and now a novelist . . . Bevan Choate. This short self-penned story, The Stroke Artist, speaks to all who have at one time or another faced and then overcome life’s unplanned obstacles.” —Allan Harris, jazz vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter from Harlem, New York Dr. Choate received his medical doctorate from Texas Tech Health Sciences Center and completed a five-year residency through the University of New Mexico Hospitals. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his wife and dog, Indi, and pursues painting, fly fishing, and urology.

Download or read book For Two Thousand Years written by Mihail Sebastian and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2016-02-25 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Absolutely, definitively alone', a young Jewish student in Romania tries to make sense of a world that has decided he doesn't belong. Spending his days walking the streets and his nights drinking and gambling, meeting revolutionaries, zealots, lovers and libertines, he adjusts his eyes to the darkness that falls over Europe, and threatens to destroy him. Mihail Sebastian's 1934 masterpiece, now translated into English for the first time, was written amid the anti-Semitism which would, by the end of the decade, force him out of his career and turn his friends and colleagues against him. For Two Thousand Years is a prescient, heart-wrenching chronicle of resilience and despair, broken layers of memory and the terrible forces of history.

Download or read book Creatures of a Day written by Irvin D. Yalom and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The publication of Creatures of a Day is reason to celebrate." -- Steven Pinker In this stunning collection of stories, renowned psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom describes his patients' struggles -- as well as his own -- to come to terms with the two great challenges of existence: how to have a meaningful life yet reckon with its inevitable end. We meet a nurse who must stifle the pain of losing her son in order to comfort her patients' pains, a newly minted psychologist whose studies damage her treasured memories of a lost friend, and a man whose rejection of psychological inquiry forces even Yalom himself into a crisis of confidence. Creatures of a Day is a radically honest statement about the difficulties of human life, but also a celebration of some of the finest fruits -- love, family, friendship -- it can offer. Marcus Aurelius has written that "we are all creatures of a day." With Yalom as our guide, we will find the means to make our own day not only bearable, but also meaningful and joyful.

Download or read book Philostratus written by Philostratus (the Athenian) and published by . This book was released on 1912 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Milosz written by Andrzej Franaszek and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-24 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Andrzej Franaszek’s award-winning biography of Czeslaw Milosz—winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature—recounts the poet’s odyssey through WWI, the Bolshevik revolution, the Nazi invasion of Poland, and the USSR’s postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. This edition contains a new introduction by the translators, along with maps and a chronology.

Download or read book How to Think Like Shakespeare written by Scott Newstok and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book offers a short, spirited defense of rhetoric and the liberal arts as catalysts for precision, invention, and empathy in today's world. The author, a professor of Shakespeare studies at a liberal arts college and a parent of school-age children, argues that high-stakes testing and a culture of assessment have altered how and what students are taught, as courses across the arts, humanities, and sciences increasingly are set aside to make room for joyless, mechanical reading and math instruction. Students have been robbed of a complete education, their imaginations stunted by this myopic focus on bare literacy and numeracy. Education is about thinking, Newstok argues, rather than the mastery of a set of rigidly defined skills, and the seemingly rigid pedagogy of the English Renaissance produced some of the most compelling and influential examples of liberated thinking. Each of the fourteen chapters explores an essential element of Shakespeare's world and work, aligns it with the ideas of other thinkers and writers in modern times, and suggests opportunities for further reading. Chapters on craft, technology, attention, freedom, and related topics combine past and present ideas about education to build a case for the value of the past, the pleasure of thinking, and the limitations of modern educational practices and prejudices"--

Download or read book Fletcherism what it is written by Horace Fletcher and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Perishable World written by Alicia Hokanson and published by Pleasure Boat Studio: A Literary Press. This book was released on 2021-10-21 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Who knows if the grief / I squeeze through my lips can be borne?" says an ancient Aztec singer. In this collection, prize-winning poet Alicia Hokanson sets out to map the raw boundaries of grief by ruthlessly examining occasions and consequences of loss, offset by close and affectionate attention to the smallest nuances of the sensual universe. We learn that what perishes from this world is not only bearable but inseparable from what we celebrate. -Samuel Green, former Washington Poet Laureate, author of Disturbing the Light.

Download or read book Slight Exaggeration written by Adam Zagajewski and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new essay collection by the noted Polish poet For Adam Zagajewski—one of Poland’s great poets—the project of writing, whether it be poetry or prose, is an occasion to advance what David Wojahn has characterized as his “restless and quizzical quest for self-knowledge.” Slight Exaggeration is an autobiographical portrait of the poet, arranged not chronologically but with that same luminous quality that distinguishes Zagajewski’s spellbinding poetry—an affinity for the invisible. In a mosaic-like blend of criticism, reflections, European history, and aphoristic musings, Zagajewski tells the stories of his life in glimpses and reveries—from the Second World War and the occupation of Poland that left his family dispossessed to Joseph Brodsky’s funeral on the Venetian island of San Michele—interspersed with intellectual interrogations of the writers and poets (D. H. Lawrence, Giorgos Seferis, Zbigniew Herbert, Paul Valéry), composers and painters (Brahms, Rembrandt), and modern heroes (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke) who have influenced his work. A wry and philosophical defense of mystery, Slight Exaggeration recalls Zagajewski’s poetry in its delicate negotiation between the earthbound and the ethereal, “between brief explosions of meaning and patient wandering through the plains of ordinary days.” With an enduring inclination to marvel, Zagajewski restores the world to us—necessarily incomplete and utterly astonishing.

Download or read book Tears in My Bread written by Maria Papageorgiou Foroudi and published by Arcadia. This book was released on 2020-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tears in My Bread embraces the joy and devastation of life in poems rich with rhythm and brutal honesty. Travel through continents, generations, death, womanhood, love, yearning, trauma, memory and the search for self through words filled with sharp, unforgettable imagery.