Known for his exploration of the relationship between Buddhism and violent ethnic conflict in modern Sri Lanka, as well as his contribution to the study of Northern Ireland and the complex relationships among religion, literature, and ethnicity, Grant provides the reader with an analysis of the widespread rise of religious extremism across the globe. Referencing Plato, Van Gogh, Jesus, and the Buddha, he enlightens the reader with both succinct and original insights into human society. Imperfection is the result of an important Canadian public intellectual at work.

Vincent van Gogh's letters are frequently admired for their exceptional literary quality, but there is no extended critique of this aspect of his writing. Addressing key constellations of metaphors and ideas, The Letters of Vincent van Gogh shows the remarkable imaginative coherence underlying the painter's correspondence and charts van Gogh's evolving conception of himself as an artist.?

In Grant's earlier book, The Letters of Vincent van Gogh: A Critical Study, he followed a practical-critical analysis of the letters that dealt with key patterns of metaphors and concepts. This volume is a complement to the first book and provides an effective, theory-based reading of the letters that brings them more fully and successfully into the domain of modern literary studies. Each chapter addresses some significant aspect of Van Gogh's writing including a ?reading? of the letter-sketches and their narrative dimensions, a deconstruction of the binaries used in Van Gogh's...