Imperial Splendor

A highly-illustrated history and survey of centers of book production and use within the Holy Roman Empire over the course of seven hundred years.

An unprecedented tour of the most stunning and architecturally significant palatial homes of Russia's nobility, many not previously photographed and inaccessible to visitors. This luxurious presentation takes the reader on a breathtaking tour through the most magnificent mansions in St. Petersburg, Russia, built by the prerevolutionary aristocracy. Palaces of St. Petersburg reflects the unparalleled access and meticulous research of the authors, showcasing private residences that are unsurpassed in their historical importance and artistic grandeur. From the world-renowned Yusupov Palace, where Count Yusupov, famous for killing Rasputin, carried out his courtly duties, to the Polovtsov Palace, its unassuming facade concealing one of the most spectacular interiors of St. Petersburg, these residences have been an integral part of Russian history. This volume gives readers a glimpse into the interiors of these family homes with their sweeping marble staircases and grand rooms with elaborate parquet floors, intricate moldings, and mosaic details, enriched with sculptures and tapestries. All-new photography--as well as archival images showing the rooms and art collections as they existed in the day--celebrate the enduring beauty and exquisite restorations of these masterpieces, which reflect a lost way of life.

Expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and honored with the Nobel Prize fifteen years later, poet Joseph Brodsky in many ways fit the grand tradition of exiled writer. But Brodsky’s years of exile did not render him immobile: though he never returned to his beloved Leningrad, he was free to travel the world and write about it. In Brodsky Abroad, Sanna Turoma discusses Brodsky’s poems and essays about Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, and Venice. Challenging traditional conceptions behind Brodsky’s status as a leading émigré poet and major descendant of Russian and Euro-American modernism, she relocates the analysis of his travel texts in the diverse context of contemporary travel and its critique. Turoma views Brodsky’s travel writing as a response not only to his exile but also to the postmodern and postcolonial landscape that initially shaped the writing of these texts. In his Latin American encounters, Brodsky exhibits disdain for third-world politics and invokes the elegiac genre to reject Mexico’s postcolonial reality and to ironically embrace the romanticism of an earlier Russian and European imperial age. In an essay on Istanbul he assumes Russia’s ambiguous position between East and West as his own to negotiate a distinct, and controversial, interpretation of Orientalism. And, Venice, the emblematic tourist city, becomes the site for a reinvention of his lyric self as more fluid, hybrid, and cosmopolitan. Brodsky Abroad reveals the poet’s previously uncharted trajectory from alienated dissident to celebrated man of letters and offers new perspectives on the geopolitical, philosophical, and linguistic premises of his poetic imagination.

In St. Petersburg on a mission to glean intelligence for the Prime Minister on the likely intentions of Czar Alexander with regard to the ongoing war in which both Russia and the UK are at war with Napoleon’s France, the dashing and eminently eligible bachelor Duke of Welminster is beset by diplomatic problems. The War aside, there is the issue the Princess who is pressing upon him the attractions of her daughter Tania. At thirty-three, the handsome Duke has vowed never to marry but has no choice but to agree to meet the young woman. But when he does, he finds Tania dancing with another young girl called Zoia. This other girl seems to him ‘as if she moves amongst trees covered with blossom and the whole world awakens with spring’. Instantly he is entranced. Then when he discovers she is the daughter of famous French composer Pierre Vallon and she plays for him, he is utterly smitten. But after he suffers a near-fatal injury and Zoia and her father are forced to flee the city or die, it seems that love is doomed by War.

Rasputin's is one of the most famous deaths in history. Now, his assassin's thrilling memoir is finally back in print. Born to great riches in the days before the Russian Revolution, and married to the niece of Czar Nicholas II, Prince Felix Youssoupoff observed at close range the rampant corruption and intrigues of the imperial court, which culminated in the rise to power of the sinister monk Rasputin. In 1916, Prince Felix and several aristocratic cohorts killed Rasputin, which more than any other single event brought about the cataclysmic upheaval of Tsarist Russia.

In this "guided" anthology, experts lead students through the major genres and eras of Chinese poetry from antiquity to the modern time. The volume is divided into 6 chronological sections and features more than 140 examples of the best shi, sao, fu, ci, and qu poems. A comprehensive introduction and extensive thematic table of contents highlight the thematic, formal, and prosodic features of Chinese poetry, and each chapter is written by a scholar who specializes in a particular period or genre. Poems are presented in Chinese and English and are accompanied by a tone-marked romanized version, an explanation of Chinese linguistic and poetic conventions, and recommended reading strategies. Sound recordings of the poems are available online free of charge. These unique features facilitate an intense engagement with Chinese poetical texts and help the reader derive aesthetic pleasure and insight from these works as one could from the original. The companion volume How to Read Chinese Poetry Workbook presents 100 famous poems (56 are new selections) in Chinese, English, and romanization, accompanied by prose translation, textual notes, commentaries, and recordings. Contributors: Robert Ashmore (Univ. of California, Berkeley); Zong-qi Cai; Charles Egan (San Francisco State); Ronald Egan (Univ. of California, Santa Barbara); Grace Fong (McGill); David R. Knechtges (Univ. of Washington); Xinda Lian (Denison); Shuen-fu Lin (Univ. of Michigan); William H. Nienhauser Jr. (Univ. of Wisconsin); Maija Bell Samei; Jui-lung Su (National Univ. of Singapore); Wendy Swartz (Columbia); Xiaofei Tian (Harvard); Paula Varsano (Univ. of California, Berkeley); Fusheng Wu (Univ. of Utah)

Fire is a defining element in Canadian land and life. With few exceptions, Canada's forests and prairies have evolved with fire. Its peoples have exploited fire and sought to protect themselves from its excesses, and since Confederation, the country has devised various institutions to connect fire and society. The choices Canadians have made says a great deal about their national character. Awful Splendour narrates the history of this grand saga. It will interest geographers, historians, and members of the fire community.

This cutting-edge collection of essays offers provocative studies of ancient history, literature, gender identifications and roles, and subsequent interpretations of the republican and imperial Roman past. The prose and poetry of Cicero and Petronius, Lucretius, Virgil, and Ovid receive fresh interpretations; pagan and Christian texts are re-examined from feminist and imaginative perspectives; genres of epic, didactic, and tragedy are re-examined; and subsequent uses and re-uses of the ancient heritage are probed with new attention: Shakespeare, Nineteenth Century American theater, and contemporary productions involving prisoners and veterans. Comprising nineteen essays collectively honoring the feminist Classical scholar Judith Hallett, this book will interest the Classical scholar, the ancient historian, the student of Reception Studies, and feminists interested in all periods. The authors from the United States, Britain, France and Switzerland are authorities in one or more of these fields and chapters range from the late Republic to the late Empire to the present.