At the point of its creation in 1873, Budapest was intended to be a pleasant rallying point of orderliness, high culture and elevated social principles: the jewel in the national crown. From the turn of the century to World War II, however, the Hungarian capital was described, variously, as: Judapest, the sinful city, not in Hungary, and the Chicago of the Balkans. This is the first English-language study of competing metropolitan narratives in Hungarian literature that spans both the liberal late Habsburg and post-liberal, 'Christian-national' eras, at the same time as the 'Jewish Question'...

This collection brings together textual commentaries on thirty representative works of literature in Portuguese -- either complete poems or extracts from longer works -- ranging from the medieval lyric of the 13th century, through the poetry and drama of the Portuguese Renaissance, the great Realist novels of the nineteenth century, early twentieth century Modernism and post-1974 writings through to the present day, while also including examples of 19th- and 20th- century Brazilian literature. The authors chosen -- poets, dramatists and novelists -- are generally regarded as iconic writers,...

This book addresses three key areas of intellectual enquiry: literary criticism, cultural critique, and philosophical theology. Once closely related, especially in the Catholic tradition, they often appear to be separate and unconnected domains in the modern university. The work of Nicholas Boyle is one of the most significant recent attempts to reconnect them. Responding to that initiative, The Present Word challenges this fragmentation of knowledge.
Several of the essays reflect a major change of emphasis in literary studies over the last two decades: the reconnection of an idea of...

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, philosophy and theology come under increasing pressure owing to the emergence of the modern sciences. The collection Gott und Welt is Goethe's poetic contribution to this conflict, in which an alternative to orthodox Christianity was being sought. Following the collection's various stages of composition and publication, this study offers new readings of some of Goethe's best known poems: 'Die Metamorphose der Pflanzen', 'Dauer im Wechsel', 'Urworte. Orphisch' and 'Wiederfinden'. Sachers shows that Gott und Welt is the long poem on nature which...

Poetry born of historical upheaval bears witness both to actual historical events and considerations of poetics. Under the duress of history the poet, who is torn between lamentation and celebration, seeks to achieve distance from his troubled times. Add to this a deep love for and commitment to the Irish and English poetic traditions, and a strong desire to search for models outside his culture, and you have the poetry of the Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney (1939-).
In this study, Carmen Bugan looks at how the poetry of Seamus Heaney, born of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, has...

Ana Clavel is a remarkable contemporary Mexican writer whose literary and multimedia oeuvre is marked by its queerness. The queer is evinced in the manner in which she disturbs conceptions of the normal not only by representing outlaw sexualities and dark desires but also by incorporating into her fictive and multimedia worlds that which is at odds with normalcy as evinced in the presence of the fantastical, the shadow, ghosts, cyborgs, golems and even urinals.
Clavels literary trajectory follows a queer path in the sense that she has moved from singular modes of creative expression in...

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), who died at the stake, is one of the best-known symbols of anti-establishment thought. The theme of this volume, which is offered as a collection of essays to honor the distinguished Bruno scholar Hilary Gatti, reflects her constant concern for the principles of cultural freedom and independent thinking. Several essays deal with Bruno himself, including an analysis of the Eroici furori, a study of his reception in relation to the group known as the Novatores, and discussions of several important aspects of his stay in England. The authors and texts discussed here...

Francophone writers from North Africa and the Middle East often choose to write within a sacred context, sometimes engaging directly with Islamist rhetoric. Novelists like Tahar Ben Jelloun (Morocco), Assia Djebar (Algeria) and Amin Maalouf (Lebanon) revisit scripture as a way to convey nuances which they believe have been stamped out by monolithic religious world-views. For them, fiction offers a way to break away from limited exegetical horizons, but to remain within the faith. Others, though, would go further, moving away from all religious practice, not just the excessively political or...