The Master Of Chaos And Other Fables

A Nobel laureate struggles to write a convincing suicide note; a hobo sings of hope in the darkest hours after the Grenfell disaster; in a strange post-death waiting room, Anna Karenina and Emma Bovary exchange confidences, and a scientist finally discovers the appalling truth about a boyhood friendship. Unpredictable, haunting, with a streak of black humour, this collection ranges across the world, from Petersburg to Guyana, Syria to London, Argentina to Edinburgh. Its diverse characters are caught up in wars or revolution, escaping the past or finally returning to confront it.

Special Forces soldiers are daring, seasoned troops from America's heartland, selected in a tough competition and trained in an extraordinary range of skills. They know foreign languages and cultures and unconventional warfare better than any U.S. fighters, and while they prefer to stay out of the limelight, veteran war correspondent Linda Robinson gained access to their closed world. She traveled with them on the frontlines, interviewed them at length on their home bases, and studied their doctrine, methods and history. In Masters of Chaos she tells their story through a select group of senior sergeants and field-grade officers, a band of unforgettable characters like Rawhide, Killer, Michael T, and Alan -- led by the unflappable Lt. Col. Chris Conner and Col. Charlie Cleveland, a brilliant but self-effacing West Pointer who led the largest unconventional war campaign since Vietnam in northern Iraq. Robinson follows the Special Forces from their first post-Vietnam combat in Panama, El Salvador, Desert Storm, Somalia, and the Balkans to their recent trials and triumphs in Afghanistan and Iraq. She witnessed their secret sleuthing and unsung successes in southern Iraq, and recounts here for the first time the dramatic firefights of the western desert. Her blow-by-blow story of the attack on Ansar al-Islam's international terrorist training camp has never been told before. The most comprehensive account ever of the modern-day Special Forces in action, Masters of Chaos is filled with riveting, intimate detail in the words of a close-knit band of soldiers who have done it all.

These are the scenarios of just some of the stories in this generous new collection by Can Xue. Although rooted in the folk traditions of Chinese literature and the real conflicts of contemporary Chinese life, Can Xue's stories exist in a separate space and time where dreams and reality coalesce: tenderness quickly turns to violence, strange diseases are caught, and quaint landscapes become phantasmagorical.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1916.

First published in 1999, this volume re-examines narrative design in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Faerie Queene, King Lear and Paradise Lost. Written in a period newly set on finding practical application for available systems of reasoning, these texts confront in their different ways reason’s absolute limitation in the face of a Real which it cannot adequately represent to itself or recruit to its own purposes. An influential model for the staging of such a confrontation was the mythic, cosmological narrative of Plato’s Timaeus. In their rewriting of Plato’s narrative the English texts deploy but also destabilize the ancient conceptual polarization of the ‘rational’ and the ‘irrational’ or ‘chaotic’, rethought in the terms offered by their period’s innovatory practices of reasoning. The study establishes the critical importance of telling a story of chaos by comparing the narrative method of its chosen texts with that adopted by Freud and Lacan as a means of reflection on the psychoanalytic encounter with an ultimately chaotic Real. This book has unusual interdisciplinary scope, and offers historically grounded, theoretically informed new readings of four major early modern English literary texts.

"The Classic Collection of William Morris. Novels, Stories, Poetry" is an expansive literary treasury that gathers the remarkable works of the influential British author, artist, and designer, William Morris. This comprehensive anthology features a selection of Morris's celebrated novels, stories, and poetry, each thoughtfully illustrated to enhance the reader's experience. William Morris, a prominent figure of the Arts and Crafts Movement, was a visionary storyteller and poet. In this collection, readers can delve into a world of enchanting narratives and evocative verse, including renowned works like "News from Nowhere," "The House of the Wolfings," "The Well at the World's End," and "The Wood Beyond the World," among many others. "News from Nowhere" offers a utopian vision of a future society, while "The House of the Wolfings" immerses readers in a world of heroic sagas, ancient forests, and tribal conflicts. "The Well at the World's End" is an epic journey through mystical realms, and "The Wood Beyond the World" takes readers on a quest into realms of fantasy. This illustrated collection adds an extra layer of visual delight to Morris's lyrical prose and poetry, bringing to life the imaginative landscapes and characters that inhabit his works. "The Classic Collection of William Morris" is a literary treasure trove for those who appreciate the fusion of literature and art. Morris's writings, with their vivid storytelling and poetic depth, continue to resonate with readers and influence the fantasy and utopian genres. Immerse yourself in the works of a visionary writer and artist, and explore the boundless realms of imagination and creativity that William Morris has to offer. The Novels A DREAM OF JOHN BALL THE HOUSE OF THE WOLFINGS THE ROOTS OF THE MOUNTAINS NEWS FROM NOWHERE THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD CHILD CHRISTOPHER AND GOLDILIND THE FAIR THE WELL AT THE WORLD’S END THE WATER OF THE WONDROUS ISLES THE SUNDERING FLOOD THE NOVEL ON BLUE PAPER The Shorter Fiction INTRODUCTION TO THE FANTASY SHORT STORIES OF MORRIS THE HOLLOW LAND A KING’S LESSON GOLDEN WINGS AND OTHER STORIES THE FOLK OF THE MOUNTAIN DOOR The Poetry Collections THE DEFENCE OF GUENEVERE, AND OTHER POEMS THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JASON THE EARTHLY PARADISE LOVE IS ENOUGH THE STORY OF SIGURD THE VOLSUNG AND THE FALL OF THE NIBLUNGS THE PILGRIMS OF HOPE CHANTS FOR SOCIALISTS POEMS BY THE WAY UNPUBLISHED POEMS AND FRAGMENTS The Translations GRETTIS SAGA THE SAGA OF GUNNLAUG THE WORM-TONGUE AND RAFN THE SKALD VÖLSUNG SAGA THREE NORTHERN LOVE STORIES, AND OTHER TALES THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER DONE INTO ENGLISH VERSE THE AENEIDS OF VIRGIL DONE INTO ENGLISH THE TALE OF BEOWULF DONE OUT OF THE OLD ENGLISH TONGUE THE ORDINATION OF KNIGHTHOOD OLD FRENCH ROMANCES DONE INTO ENGLISH