Strange Eventful Histories

An immersive, masterful story of a family born on the wrong side of history, from one of our finest contemporary novelists.

All of us must seek at a personal and a general level for a philosophy of meaning in life, "this strange eventful history," to borrow a descriptive phrase for our existence from Shakespeare. A sense of meaning is essential for peace of mind, yet meaning may appear elusive in our present-day divided world. This book sets out to survey our options concisely, drawing on philosophy, religion, science and art, across the gamut from classical philosophers to atheists, mystics, sensualists, agnostics, primatologists, neuroscientists, Unifaith believers, Interfaith, Multifaith and lastly Transfaith, to seek a religious attitude freed from myth and magic. A new concept of intelligent design is examined, linked with Panspermia, independent of the concept of anthropomorphic creation. Each chapter draws on the opinions of two (or more) prominent inter-related thinkers, including Sartre, Foucault, and Frankl, Freud and Richard Dawkins, Carl Jung and Mircea Eliade, the Greeks and the Buddha, Van Gogh and Gauguin, and many others, to help us form an opinion, often provocatively, with no holds barred! The stimulating inter-relationship between these stars steers us on a path towards a viewpoint of Cosmic Compassionate Plurality. The Existentialist philosophers cautioned that life is essentially meaningless - but they allowed that we may choose ourselves. Certainly, our choices are many and various in this current era. Often, however, we bemoan the lack of time to read and research those possibilities. This book sets out to provide the needed background material.

In 1899, when film projection was barely three years old, Herbert Beerbohm Tree was filmed as King John. In his highly entertaining history, Robert Hamilton Ball traces in detail the fate of Shakespeare on silent films from Tree’s first effort until the establishment of sound in 1929. The silent films brought Shakespeare to a wide public who had never had the chance to see his plays in the theatre. And Shakespeare gave the film makers an air of respectability that was badly needed by a medium with a reputation for frivolity. This work, first published in 1968, brings history to life with excerpts from scenarios, from reviews and from contemporary film journals, and with reproduction of stills and frames from the films themselves, including unusual shots of leading screen actors. This is a valuable source book for film experts, enhanced by full notes, bibliography and indexes; a fresh approach for Shakespeareans; and a vivid sketch of a world that has passed for all.

In Four Cries of a Gibbon by the late-Ming dynasty playwright Xu Wei, characters move between life and death, and male and female, as they seek to articulate who they truly are. In this first critical study and annotated translation, Kwa considers how Wei's exploration of identity paved the way for further reflection in later fiction and drama.