The Inheritance Of Animal Symbols In Modern Literature And World Culture

This book argues that the seemingly eclipsed traditional use of animal symbols as a functioning grammar in world art, literature and culture has been effectively adopted by exponents of modern literature and that cultures such as India and China apprehend reality through such symbols. The book examines the animal symbols of the fable, the bestiary, the beast satire and myth and ritual as revivified in the work of Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, T.S. Eliot and Franz Kafka and as evoked in Hinduism and traditional Chinese culture.

Written by leading scholars from around the world, the articles in this volume range from sin, Sufism and terrorism to theology in the 19th and 20th centuries, Vatican I and II and the virgin birth.

Annotation A look at the tradition of Indian writing in English from the perspective of counterrealism. The departure from the conventions of mimetic writing not only challenges the limits of realism but also enable Indo-Anglian authors to access formative areas of colonial experience.

The book develops a Theory of the Figurative Lexicon. Units of the figurative lexicon (conventional figurative units, CFUs for short) differ from all other elements of the language in two points: Firstly, they are conventionalized. That is, they are elements of the mental lexicon – in contrast to freely created figurative expressions. Secondly, they consist of two conceptual levels: they can be interpreted at the level of their literal reading and at the level of their figurative meaning – which both can be activated simultaneously. New insights into the Theory of Figurative Lexicon relate, on the one hand, to the metaphor theory. Over time, it became increasingly clear that the Conceptual Metaphor Theory in the sense of Lakoff can only partly explain the conventional figurativeness. On the other hand, it became clear that “intertextuality” plays a far greater role in the CFUs of Western cultures than previously assumed. The book’s main target audience will be linguists, researchers in phraseology, paremiology and metaphor, and cultural studies. The data and explanations of the idioms will provide a welcome textbook in courses on linguistics, culture history, phraseology research and phraseodidactics.

A comprehensive guide to the history of human interaction with the creatures of the earth, air, and water. This book provides historical perspective on mankind's complicated relationship with all creatures, from tiny insects to larger beasts. From the alligator to the wryneck, key animals from every continent are profiled, with articles focusing on how different cultures viewed the creatures with which they shared land, and the ones they considered omens of gods and devils. In addition to the numerous articles on specific animals, there are also entries on the role of animals in Christian art, and how shamans took the form and power of animals in key ceremonies. The work is highly illustrated, and subjects of major interest are provided with individual bibliographies of further reading on the subject at the end of each article.

Chinese literature, one of the world's oldest and richest, and consisting originally of poetry and later of drama and fiction, may be divided into three major historical periods that roughly correspond to those of Western literary history: the classical period, from the 6th century BC to the 2nd century AD; the medieval period, from the third century to the late 12th century; and the modern period, from the 13th century to the present. This book presents an overview of Chinese literature as well as a comprehensive bibliography, primarily of English language sources, accessed by subject, author and title indexes.

A fresh assessment of the workings of animal symbolism in diverse cultures. Reconsiders the concept of totemism and exposes common fallacies in symbolic interpretation.