Books published by EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS

This book examines the life of George Strachan (1572 - 1635), early 17th century Scottish Humanist scholar, Orientalist and traveller. The book draws on a wealth of newly discovered archival material to offer new insights into Strachan's life and work, as well as utilising recent scholarship on the relationship between the cultures and religions of East and West. The book explains the voyages that the Catholic exile took to many of the Catholic courts of Europe as a scholar and spy before turning eastwards to embark upon a 22 year journey around the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires. By becoming fully literate in Arabic and Farsi he was able to gain a unique knowledge of Eastern societies. Strachan's collection of Arabic and Farsi texts on Islam, philosophy and humanities, which he translated and sent to Europe for the advancement of European knowledge of Islam and Islamic societies, became Strachan's real intellectual legacy.

Argues that the Essais of Montaigne were a crucial factor in the composition of later Shakespearean dramaA new way of accounting for the different sorts of plays that Shakespeare wrote later in his careerA detailed history of the literary-critical interest in the Montaigne-Shakespeare connection, from the eighteenth century to the present dayCase studies that, through sustained close-readings of Montaigne's essays and Shakespeare's plays, shows the shared concerns of the authorsA new approach that differs from the more typical method of looking merely for verbal echoes, resulting in a deeper, richer sense of the way that Shakespeare's reading of Montaigne shaped his writingIn this revisionist study, Peter G. Platt provides a detailed history of the literary-critical interest in the Montaigne-Shakespeare connection from the eighteenth century to the present day. Through sustained close-readings of Montaigne's essays and Shakespeare's plays, Platt explores both authors' approaches to self, knowledge and form that stress fractures, interruptions and alternatives. While the change in monarchy, the revived interest in judicial rhetoric and the alterations in Shakespeare's acting company helped shape plays such as Measure for Measure, King Lear and The Tempest, this book contends that Shakespeare's reading of Montaigne is an under-recognised driving force in these later plays.

Analysing the ubiquity of the small town in fiction of the mid-century US South, Living Jim Crow is the first extended scholarly study to explore how authors mobilised this setting as a tool for racial resistance.

Argues against the repeated emphasis on literary form and for the artistic importance of literary contentAppeals to those interested in philosophy and literature, especially the philosophy of literatureBrings together thinkers from the analytic and continental traditions in aestheticsContains an updated and expanded version of the award-winning essay 'In Defence of Paraphrase'Makes a case for why Victorian literature and Victorian moral thought are worthy of attention Offers new readings of George Eliot, Anthony Trollope, and Augusta WebsterIt is natural to assume that if works of literature are artistically valuable, it's not because of anything they say but because of what they are: beautiful. Works of art try to say nothing, to use their content only as matter for realizing the beauty of complex form.a But what if appreciating the things a work of literature has to say is a way of appreciating it as a work of art? Often dismissed as too lengthy, messy, and preachy to qualify as genuine art, in fact Victorian narrative challenges our conceptions about what makes art worth engaging.

This book provides the first sustained study of women's literary representations of death and the culture of war commemoration that underlies British and American literary modernism.

Charts Scottish Romanticism's significant contribution to the making of collective memory in the transatlantic worldOffers an in-depth examination of Scottish Romantic literary ideas on memory and their influence among various cultures in the British Atlantic, broken down into distinct writing modes (memorials, travel memoir, slave narrative, colonial policy paper, emigrant fiction) and contexts (pre- and post-Revolution America, French-Canadian cultural nationalism, the slavery debate, immigration and colonial settlement).Looks at familiar Scottish writers (Walter Scott, John Galt) in new ways, while introducing less familiar ones (Anne Grant, Thomas Pringle).Brings Scottish Romantic literary studies into new engagements with other fields (such as transatlantic and memory studies).Opens up new dialogues between Scottish literature and culture and other literatures and cultures (for example, French-Canadian, Black Diaspora, Indigenous).Scots, who were at the vanguard of British colonial expansion in North America in the Romantic period, believed that their own nation had undergone an unprecedented transformation in only a short span of time. Scottish writers became preoccupied with collective memory, its powerful role in shaping group identity as well as its delicate fragility. McNeil reveals why we must add collective memory to the list of significant contributions Scots made to a culture of modernity.

Investigates how the cinematic tendency of Joyce's writing developed from media predating filmFirst comprehensive consideration of Joyce in the context of pre-filmic 'cinematicity'.Research and analysis based on recent 'media archaeology'.Examines the shaping of Joyce's fiction by late-Victorian visual culture and science.Shows that key aspects of his literary experimentation derive from 'forgotten' popular cultural practices and 'vernacular modernism'.Shows Joyce's interaction with and critique of Modernity's developing 'media cultural imaginary'.In this book, Keith Williams explores Victorian culture's emergent 'cinematicity' as a key creative driver of Joyce's experimental fiction, showing how Joyce's style and themes share the cinematograph's roots in Victorian optical entertainment and science. The book reveals Joyce's references to optical toys, shadowgraphs, magic lanterns, panoramas, photographic analysis and film peepshows. Close analyses of his works show how his techniques elaborated and critiqued their effects on modernity's 'media-cultural imaginary'.

A state of the field essay collection that offers new models for analysing time, space, self and politics in nineteenth-century American culture.

Rethinking objectivity and fiction in contemporary philosophy and psychoanalysis - beyond the realism-nominalism divide When it comes to the question of objectivity in current philosophical debates, there is a growing prominence of two opposite approaches: nominalism and realism. By absolutising intersubjectivity, the nominalist approach is moving towards the abandonment of the very notion of truth and objective reality. For its part, the realist approach insists on the category of the object-in-itself as irreducible to any kind of subjective mediation. Despite their seeming mutual exclusiveness, both approaches share a fundamental presupposition, namely, that of a neat separation between the spheres of subjectivity and objectivity as well as between fiction and truth. This collection offers a rethinking of the relationship between objectivity and fiction through engaging with a series of 'objective fictions', including such topics as fetishes, semblances, lies, rumours, sophistry, fantasies and conspiracy theories. It does so through engagement with modern and contemporary philosophical traditions and psychoanalytic theory, with all of these orientations being irreducible to either nominalist or realist approaches. Adrian Johnston is Distinguished Professor and Chair at the Department of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA. Bostjan Nedoh is a Research Fellow at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Philosophy, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Alenka Zupančič is a Research Advisor at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Philosophy, Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Professor at the European Graduate School, Saas-Fee, Switzerland.

The first in-depth look at the work of Indian cinema director, screenwriter, and producer Zoya Akhtar, this book celebrates Akhtar's art while examining her position within popular film and how she is contributing to a shift in one of the world's leading film industries. Through Akhtar's work, it also explores larger trends in the Mumbai-based Hindi film industry -- Bollywood -- ranging from the changing form and distribution of mainstream films to gender politics. It highlights how Akhtar's unique position exemplifies the contradictions and possibilities of the present moment in Bollywood; it also explores the impact of female filmmakers in global industries Edited by Aakshi Magazine is a writer and academic based in India. She received her PhD in Film Studies from the University of St Andrews in 2020. Her doctoral thesis, The 1950s Hindi film song: Between transgression and memory, is on the relationship of the film song to the contradictions of the Indian nationalist discourse. She has published several journal articles, a book chapter and film criticism in popular publications. Amber Shields received her PhD in Film Studies from the University of St Andrews where she focused on how fantasy is used to tell stories of individual and collective trauma in films from around the world. She has taught Film and English courses at Mount Tamalpais College and currently works with nonprofits reimagining education and supporting the development of young leaders. She has published several journals articles and book chapters.

Greek Film Noir offers a fresh look at underrated and neglected cultural products that provide insights into the workings of the genre within the Greek context, while simultaneously revealing the affinities between established Greek auteurs and the tradition of film noir. This collection explores the influence of American and European film noir in Greece, discussing noir and neo-noir within Mediterranean and European cinematic framework, with the aim of putting Greece on the international film noir map. Readers will enrich their knowledge of Greek cinema, while confirming the long-lasting influence of a genre that transcends national and cultural boundaries. Anna Poupou teaches film history and theory at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens. She is co-editor of three collective volumes: City and Cinema: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches (2011), Athens: World Film Locations (2014), The Lost Highway of Greek Cinema 1960-1990 (2019). Her research interests focus on the history of Greek cinema, film and history, urban spaces and cinema, and film noir. Nikitas Fessas holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences: Communication Sciences from Ghent University, Belgium. He has published numerous cultural criticism essays in both Greek and English-language media, as well as academic articles on Greek film noir in peer-reviewed journals. Maria Chalkou is the principal editor of Filmicon: Journal of Greek Film Studies. She holds a PhD in film theory and history from University of Glasgow. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher at Panteion University, while teaching film history, theory and documentary at Ionian University. She has published on Greek cinema, film censorship, film criticism and cinematic representations of the past.

The definitive text on floating charges by Scotland's leading experts The floating charge is vital to secured transactions in Scotland and plays a key role in access to finance and corporate insolvency. Bringing together leading commentators at the forefront of the topic, this book delivers wide-ranging coverage of the history, theory, practice, and potential reform of the floating charge. It presents diverse approaches, including examining floating charges from 'black letter', socio-legal, law and economics, and comparative perspectives. Key Features: - Covers the history, current law, practice and reform of this important area - Examines floating charges from a wide range of different perspectives, including doctrinal, policy-focused, theoretical and comparative approaches - Contributions from Ross G Anderson, Jennifer L L Gant, George L Gretton, Jonathan Hardman, Alisdair D J MacPherson, Donna McKenzie Skene, Magda Raczynska and Andrew J M Steven - Includes a foreword by Lord Drummond Young Jonathan Hardman is Lecturer in International Commercial Law at the University of Edinburgh Alisdair D J MacPherson is Lecturer in Commercial Law at the University of Aberdeen

The first systematic, critical and comparative assessment of new authoritarian practices in the MENA region This collection examines new authoritarian practices that 16 MENA countries have developed in the aftermath of major uprisings across the region. These span new forms of digital surveillance, new protest policing practices, new forms of control over the judiciary, civil society and media, through to new security and communication laws and state of emergencies. The book also emphasises continuities with past authoritarian practices such as intimidation, imprisonment, torture, extrajudicial killing and ill treatment of dissidents, as well as other practices to suppress dissents and control activists, opposition parties, the judiciary and the media. By focusing on micro-practices of repression, New Authoritarian Practices in the Middle East and North Africa balances macro-structural explanations of authoritarian persistence alongside widespread social discontent and opposition. Key Features - Identifies the continuities and discontinuities in the practice of authoritarianism in the MENA region - Promotes a comparative approach when analysing new forms of authoritarian control in 16 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen - Brings together contributions from 18 academics specialising in different countries of the region Özgün E. Topak and Merouan Mekouar are both Associate Professors in the Department of Social Science at York University, Canada. Francesco Cavatorta is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur l'Afrique et le Moyen Orient (CIRAM) at Laval University, Canada.

Provides an in-depth study of Hong Kong directors' participation in Chinese 'main-melody' blockbusters in the 2010s.

Lucrecia Martel has made only four feature films to date, but has nonetheless become one of the world's most admired directors. Her work is extraordinarily sensitive to the limits of sensory perception, the limits imposed by gender roles, and the limits of empathy and affect across social divisions. This edited collection broadens the critical conversation around Martel's work by integrating analyses of her features with the less frequently studied short films and her other artistic projects. This volume's fresh, holistic approach to Martel's career includes contributions from scholars in Latin America, Europe and the United States, and ends with a new interview with Martel herself. Edited by Natalia Christofoletti Barrenha is an independent film researcher and programmer specialising in Latin American cinema. She is the author of Espaços em conflito. Ensaios sobre a cidade no cinema argentino contemporâneo (2019) and A experiência do cinema de Lucrecia Martel: Resíduos do tempo e sons à beira da piscina (2014. Translation into Spanish: 2020). Julia Kratje is a researcher at Argentina's National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), and teaches at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. She is the author of Al margen del tiempo. Deseos, ritmos y atmósferas en el cine argentino (2019) and editor of El asombro y la audacia. El cine de María Luisa Bemberg (2020), among others. Paul R. Merchant is Senior Lecturer in Latin American Film and Visual Culture at the University of Bristol. He is the author of Remaking Home: Domestic Spaces in Argentine and Chilean Film, 2005-2015 (2022) and the co-editor of Latin American Culture and the Limits of the Human (2020).

The first anthology to bring together Anglophone transatlantic writing across the period of the long nineteenth century This anthology provides a single, convenient volume of diverse primary texts supporting the teaching and research field of Anglophone Transatlantic literatures and print culture. Focusing on ongoing and shared concerns and social practices across the long nineteenth century, the book's thematically-organised sections mark major Transatlantic social movements of that era as expressed, negotiated, and recorded through literary production. The anthology offers a range of tools and texts for innovative thinking, teaching, and exploration. Headnotes provide guidance on how individual selections arose from social and historical contexts. Annotations create student-friendly identification of key terms or allusions. Key Features: - Includes a diverse range of Anglophone primary texts from across the Atlantic basin - Presents textual headnotes to contextualise the primary material - Provides ten introductions to guide students through the different thematic sections of the Anthology - Offers diverse approaches for use as a core text in classroom teaching - Allows students to navigate their way through a wide range of writing from both familiar and less well-known authors Linda K. Hughes is Addie Levy Professor of Literature at TCU. Sarah R. Robbins is Lorraine Sherley Professor of Literature at TCU. Andrew Taylor is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. Adam Nemmers is an Assistant Professor of English at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Heidi Hakimi-Hood is Associate Director of International Student Services and the Intensive English Language Institute at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Remaps the state of Scottish writing in the contemporary moment, embracing its uncertainty and the need to reconsider the field's founding assumptions and exclusions A provisional re-mapping of Scotland's post-devolution literary culture, these fifteen essays explore how literature, theatre and visual art have both shaped and reflected the 'new Scotland' promised by parliamentary devolution. Chapters explore leading figures such as Alasdair Gray, David Greig, Kathleen Jamie and Jackie Kay, while also paying particular attention to women's writing by Kate Atkinson, A. L. Kennedy, Denise Mina, Ali Smith, Louise Welsh, and writers of colour such as Bashabi Fraser, Annie George, Tendai Huchu, Chin Li and Raman Mundair. Tracing continuities with 1990s debates alongside 'edges of the new' visible since Indyref 2014, these critics offer an in-depth study of Scotland's vibrant literary production in the period of devolution, viewed both within and beyond the frame of national representation. Marie-Odile Pittin-Hedon is a Professor of Scottish Literature at Aix-Marseille University (AMU). Camille Manfredi is a Professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Western Brittany (UBO). Scott Hames is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Stirling, where he led the MLitt programme in Scottish Literature.

This book problematises how the sense of self and subjectivities are understood in contemporary China, and provides illuminating new insights on the changing notion of the individual through cinema.

This is a comprehensive study of the surviving monuments of the Qarakhanids an important yet little-known medieval dynasty that ruled much of Central Asia between the late 10th and early 13th centuries.

Considers the technological, economic and aesthetic histories of the early British video industry as part of the broader global film industry.

Modernism and Time Machines places the fascination with time in canonical works of twentieth-century literature and art side-by-side with the rise of time-travel narratives and alternate histories in popular culture.

The first translation into English of Mother Homer is Dead, written in the immediate aftermath of the death of the Cixous's mother in the 103rd year of her life.

Examines the bicycle as a literary device and a cultural phenomenon at the turn of the century in Britain and France This book engages with the long-overlooked bicycle as a crucial literary and cultural object. In a selection of turn-of-the-century fiction, travel writing and non-fiction, cycling is revealed to be a favoured literary device, allowing writers to structure their narratives in new ways or depict a fresh sensory and aesthetic experience. Moreover, this study reveals that from its earliest days, the bicycle played a compelling counter-cultural role, proposing an alternative modernity that directly challenged bourgeois, patriarchal, capitalist society. From blurring gender and class divisions, to offering a more empowering interaction with the machine and allowing an embodied and social experience of space, the bicycle pointed a human-powered route to progress amidst increasingly mechanised visions of the future. Una Brogan is an independent researcher and translator and received her PhD at Université Paris 7-Diderot.

Explores advances in the fields of language documentation, language change and historical linguistics, focusing on lesser known and endangered languages Professor Lyle Campbell has had a long and distinguished career and his extensive work on the languages of Mesoamerica have inspired research and researchers. In this volume, contributors come together to present new data, analyses and theoretical perspectives on how understanding language change raises questions for language documentation, description and even revitalization. Coverage ranges from the linguistic isolates Basque and Mapundungun to large families such as Tupian and Austronesian and spans a range of theoretical issues including ongoing language change, etymological opacity, word order, alignment systems and grammatical relations, language contact, onomastics and the study of pre-history. The book shows that linguistic fieldwork, when carried out and used appropriately, allows for a more consistent understanding of language change, and for a better understanding of the ethnographic record. It also explores the junctures between language change, linguistic diversity and other related fields that draw on primary linguistic fieldwork. Key features: - 13 chapters presenting case studies of research in the fields of historical linguistics, typology, language description and documentation - Broad geographical and theoretical scope, focusing especially on lesser known and endangered languages - Brings together original research by well-established scholars in linguistics including Robert Blust, Amy Dahlstrom, Ives Goddard, Alice Harris and Raina Heaton Thiago Costa Chacon is Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the Universidade de Brasília Nala H. Lee is Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the National University of Singapore Wilson de Lima Silva is Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona