The Romance Of Authenticity

To what extent has the demand for a vicarious experience of other cultures fuelled the expectation that the most important task for writers is to capture and convey authentic cultural material? This text argues that authenticity is in fact a restrictive category of literary judgment.

Exposing the complicity of social practices, identities, and communities with capitalism, this critique opens the possibility of genuine alliances across differences among groups such as gay consumers in the United States and Mexian maquiladora workers, Christian right "family values" and Asian "crony capitalism". [back cover].

The romance novel has the strange distinction of being the most popular but least respected of literary genres. While it remains consistently dominant in bookstores and on best-seller lists, it is also widely dismissed by the critical community. Scholars have alleged that romance novels help create subservient readers, who are largely women, by confining heroines to stories that ignore issues other than love and marriage. Pamela Regis argues that such critical studies fail to take into consideration the personal choice of readers, offer any true definition of the romance novel, or discuss the nature and scope of the genre. Presenting the counterclaim that the romance novel does not enslave women but, on the contrary, is about celebrating freedom and joy, Regis offers a definition that provides critics with an expanded vocabulary for discussing a genre that is both classic and contemporary, sexy and entertaining. Taking the stance that the popular romance novel is a work of literature with a brilliant pedigree, Regis asserts that it is also a very old, stable form. She traces the literary history of the romance novel from canonical works such as Richardson's Pamela through Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Brontë's Jane Eyre, and E. M. Hull's The Sheik, and then turns to more contemporary works such as the novels of Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Janet Dailey, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Nora Roberts.

What draws people to study abroad or volunteer in far-off communities? Often the answer is romance – the romance of landscapes, people, languages, the very sense of border-crossing – and longing for liberation, attraction to the unknown, yearning to make a difference. This volume explores the complicated and often fraught desires to study and volunteer abroad. In doing so, the book sheds light on how affect is managed by educators and mobilized by students and volunteers themselves, and how these structures of feeling relate to broader social and economic forces.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Globe and Mail bestseller Toronto Star bestseller A Washington Post “FEEL-GOOD BOOK guaranteed to lift your spirits” "I loved The Authenticity Project. It's a clever, uplifting book that entertains and makes you think."--Sophie Kinsella, #1 New York Times bestselling author The story of a solitary green notebook that brings together six strangers and leads to unexpected friendship, and even love Julian Jessop, an eccentric, lonely artist and septuagenarian believes that most people aren't really honest with each other. But what if they were? And so he writes--in a plain, green journal--the truth about his own life and leaves it in his local café. It's run by the incredibly tidy and efficient Monica, who furtively adds her own entry and leaves the book in the wine bar across the street. Before long, the others who find the green notebook add the truths about their own deepest selves--and soon find each other In Real Life at Monica's Café. The Authenticity Project's cast of characters--including Hazard, the charming addict who makes a vow to get sober; Alice, the fabulous mommy Instagrammer whose real life is a lot less perfect than it looks online; and their other new friends-is by turns quirky and funny, heartbreakingly sad and painfully true-to-life. It's a story about being brave and putting your real self forward--and finding out that it's not as scary as it seems. In fact, it looks a lot like happiness. The Authenticity Project is just the tonic for our times that readers are clamoring for--and one they will take to their hearts and read with unabashed pleasure.

Embrace individuality and being your authentic self in I Am Me, a picture book companion to New York Times bestsellers I Am Human and I Am Love! Sometimes I stand out in a crowd. Sometimes I am not seen at all, and I feel alone. I start to ask myself, why can’t I blend in? Fit the mold? But when I stop and look, I see nothing in this world is exactly the same. Sometimes we hide who we really are to conform to the way we think we are supposed to be in the world. Sometimes we compare ourselves to others and feel we don’t fit in. But when we realize we are something to be celebrated and we proudly live out loud as our true selves, we can make our unique mark on the world—and share our joy! From author Susan Verde and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds, the #1 New York Times bestselling team behind the I Am series, comes a bighearted celebration of individuality, of being comfortable in our own skin, respecting others for who they are, living authentically, and loving ourselves. For anyone who’s ever felt like too much or not enough, I Am Me is an affirming reminder that difference is what makes life beautiful—and that each of us matters, just as we are.

Discover The Secrets To Building Healthy, Happy and Rewarding Relationships We all want that special 'someone' who's going to love us unconditionally, honour us and accept us for just being who we are. Authentic love and connection are enormously powerful bonds between two people. Unfortunately though, if we've had more than our fair share of bad relationships through our lifetime. Then it can become easy to suspect there's no right person, just many different alternatives of wrong. We have a staggering divorce rate which causes untold damage to the partners and even more so to their children. It is common, perhaps expected, for relationships to suffer from maladaptive patterns over time (it's like a car that needs maintenance) and these are fixable when both partners do the work. Our interpersonal relationships start forming as soon as we're born, and psychologists have studied how those early connections can set the stage for the other relationships we form later in life. The attachment theory argues that a strong emotional and physical bond to one primary caregiver in our first years of life, is critical to our development. Change the way you view every type of relationship you have ever had, and will ever have. Make healthier choices in choosing who to date, and discover a new dimension of connection, where relationships can become an institution for unlimited creativity, fulfilment, intimacy, and love. If you are in a relationship, this book will show you how to examine the unknown path that you'll travel with your spouse, and carefully evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your relationship. If you are single, this book will help you to become clear and define what you want in your ideal future partner - and also what you don't want! The key ingredient to happy and fulfilled people is the quality of their intimate, social, family and professional relationships - nothing else in life comes even remotely close. Go Ahead, Transform The Quality of Your Relationships and Make Love Work For You, Just Scroll Up and Click Add to Cart

Sigrid Anderson focuses on the Southern California magazine Land of Sunshine, a publication that featured authors such as Edith Eaton, Mary Austin, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, to explore how regional periodical fiction offered agency to women--and the implications for the region and its populace.