Waxing Mythical

Madame Tussaud is a name known all over the world. The queue to her exhibition is a landmark. Such is its phenomenal success, it has eclipsed the woman who started it all. But Marie Tussaud led a remarkable life. With grit and audacity she overcame reversals of fortune and built an extraordinary spectacle. Of lowly birth and uncertain paternity, Marie became apprentice to a charismatic showman in Paris who taught her the art of wax modelling. They plied their trade among a colourful cast of 'Italian singers, pastry cooks, restaurant keepers, marionettes, acrobats, giants, dwarves, ferocious beasts'. In her memoir she also claimed friendship with royals and revolutionaries including Marie Antoinette and Voltaire. But, as a born entrepreneur, did Marie's flair for publicity extend to moulding her own story? After the Revolution, she came to England and took her show on the road. She pursued the punishing lifestyle of the travelling show for many years and secured a lasting reputation in the Dickensian world of 19th century popular entertainment. More than a biography, this captivating cultural history plunges the reader into popular culture of the past; the escapist delights of canine cabaret, living skeletons, phantasmagoria and of course waxworks. It reveals a truth that Madame Tussaud understood and harnessed from the outset - the mass-market appeal of glamour and gore is enduring and universal.

Comprehensive and cross-referenced, this informative volume is a rich introduction to the world of nature as experienced by ancient peoples around the globe. 51 halftones.

Orientalism is a central factor within the fashion system, both subtle and overt. In this groundbreaking book, the author shows the extent of the influence that the Orient had, and continues to have, on fashion. Our concept of Western fashion is unthinkable without it, whether in terms of the growth of the cotton industry or of garments we take for granted, such as the dressing gown. From pre-modern to contemporary times, this book demonstrates that, in the realms of fashion, the Orient is not simply a construction or a fascination of the imperial West with its eastern other. Rather, it reveals the extent of cross-pollination, exchange and multiple translation that has taken place between East and West for the last 500 years. Exploring topics including Chinoiserie, masquerade, bohemianism, Japonisme, the "de-Orientalization" of the Orient, perfume and the birth of couture, Fashion and Orientalism is an essential read for students and scholars of fashion, cultural studies and history.

Kate Berridge’s Madame Tussaud: A Life in Wax “celebrates a great pioneer of mass-market illusion, whose illusions eventually included herself.”* Millions have visited the museums that bear her name, yet few know much about Madame Tussaud. A celebrated artist, she had both a ringside seat at and a cameo role in the French Revolution. A victim and survivor of one of the most tumultuous times in history, this intelligent, pragmatic businesswoman has also had an indelible impact on contemporary culture, planting the seed of our obsession with celebrity. Kate Berridge tells this fascinating woman’s complete story for the first time, drawing upon a wealth of sources, including Tussaud’s memoirs and historical archives. It is a grand-scale success story, revealing how with sheer graft and grit a woman born in 1761 to an eighteen-year-old cook overcame extraordinary reversals of fortune to build the first and most enduring worldwide brand identified simply by reference to its founder’s name: Madame Tussaud’s. “A good story, like Berridge’s biography, is a blessing.” —Miami Herald “A rousing good read . . . [Berridge] presents us with a thorough understanding of the beginnings of popular culture.” —Vancouver Sun “Fascinating. . . . A vividly recreated history of an extreme time and the unusually determined woman who capitalized so effectively on it.” —Globe and Mail “Spectacular and spellbinding. . . . Thoughtful, original, never condescending, erudite, and packed with vivid and sometimes horrifying detail, it is a model of how cultural history should be written.” —*Sunday Times (London)

Myth: A New Symposium offers a broad-based assessment of the present state of myth study. It was inspired by a revisiting of the influential mid-century work Myth: A Symposium (edited by Thomas Sebeok). A systematic introduction and 15 contributions from a wide spectrum of disciplines offer a range of views on past myth study and suggest directions for the future. Contributors blend theoretical analysis with richly documented historical, ethnographic, and literary illustrations and examples drawn from Native American, classical, medieval, and modern sources.

Enter a new dimension of spiritual self-discovery when you probe the mythic archetypes represented in your astrological birth chart. Myth has always been closely linked with astrology. Experience these myths and gain a deeper perspective on your eternal self. Learn how the characteristics of the gods developed into the meanings associated with particular planets and signs. Look deeply into your own personal myths, and enjoy a living connection to the world of the deities within you. When you finally stand in the presence of an important archetype (through the techniques of dreamwork, symbolic amplification, or active imagination described in the book), the god or goddess will have something to tell you.

New fiction from: Haruki Murakami Ben Lerner Amor Towles David Means Julia Armfield Te-Ping Chen Magogodi OaMphela Makhene Sara Majka Thomas Pierce Adam O'Fallon Price Jem Calder Plus poetry from Nuar Alsadir, and a photoessay on transhumanism by Matthieu Gafsou with an introduction by Daisy Hildyard

This book reveals the true story of what was unfolding in the Middle East in the centuries leading up to the emergence of Christianity as accurately as possible. It will upset some, but that is not my goal. The true history of events is always suppressed and this is an attempt to revive the actual story as it occurred, as faithfully as possible. A long-lost prophecy in the Dead Sea Scrolls reveals that Judas Maccabeus was the original Messiah, and he did do amazing things, including liberating Israel from the oppressive Greeks. He gave Israel independence for the first time in 400 years and began a golden period. However, in the centuries to come, the spectre of the Roman army began to manifest. The Jews needed hope and so the prophecy was revamped and extended. This resulted in a whole swathe of messianic contenders and in the 70's AD, after Rome defeated the Jews in a bloody war, a relatively unknown man was extolled as the Messiah. The reason why Jesus was chosen? He was the most Western of all the contenders; he preached tolerance at a time when few Jews would. This suited Rome, and so in Rome, in a foreign tongue, his story was written. A lot of it was made up (I don't say these words lightly, I will prove this). This book answers many more questions too, questions that have vexed us for millennia such as: 'Where is the Garden of Eden?' 'What happened to Noah’s Ark?' 'Who was the first man?' 'Who was the Devil?' The answers will surprise you and they’ll challenge everything that you think you know. We live in dangerous times, when fact is hard to discern from fiction. This book offers a glimmer of truth at a time when this is the rarest of commodities.