Books published by Verlag Peter Lang

Evolutionary psychology¿s ultimate goal is to understand the design of the human mind. It is a new approach in psychology, founded upon evolutionary theory and cognitive science. Evolutionary psychologists¿ insistence on evolutionary theory has given rise to both controversy and transformations in theoretical models of human cognition. It is still a minority position in the field of psychology, but evolutionary psychology¿s implications are far reaching. This book examines the arguments put forth by evolutionary psychologists and the objections levelled against them by their critics. Can evolutionary psychology offer a promising strategy in psychology that should be taken seriously and which can be defended against its critics? That is one question this book investigates. But the book also proposes a new approach to tackle the evolution of general-purpose cognitive mechanisms, which is the main matter of dispute between traditional and evolutionary psychology. Is a credible evolutionary account of the development of general-purpose cognitive mechanisms possible? Evolutionary psychologists have scarcely addressed this question in their current research, this book proposes a new way of thinking about the question.

The journal, periodical or revue has a long and largely unexplored history. This volume aims, through a series of focused case studies, to explore the twentieth-century periodical publication in French, offering an overview of some of its most important manifestations and providing a general reflection on this complex textual form.

This collection originates in papers presented at an international conference held at the University of Sussex in September 2004. It brings together academic contributions from specialists working in a newly emergent area of study, that of education in situations of conflict. It seeks to promote understanding of the complex ways in which education can play both a reproductive and a transformative role in such circumstances. To this end, it offers two broad perspectives, one around education in conflict and post-conflict settings, and the other around education for reconciliation and social inclusion. The book is organised into thematic sections, with material drawn from countries undergoing, or emerging from, conflict as well as from more stable societies. The first set of chapters examines different facets of the impact of armed conflict on education, while the second set explores the ways in which education can contribute to reconstruction and reconciliation and the particular challenges of rebuilding educational systems after protracted conflict. The following set of chapters examines issues of conflict associated with everyday school contexts, in which violence may be perpetrated by students, teachers or outsiders to the school. The last two sections turn to the role of education in promoting reconciliation and social inclusion.

This book provides the first complete account of Patrick Pearse¿s educational work at St. Endäs and St. Itäs schools (Dublin). Extensive use of first-hand accounts reveals Pearse as a humane, energetic teacher and a forward-looking and innovative educational thinker. Between 1903 and 1916 Pearse developed a new concept of schooling as an agency of radical pedagogical and social reform, later echoed by school founders such as Bertrand Russell. This placed him firmly within the tradition of radical educational thought as articulated by Paulo Freire and Henry Giroux. The book examines the tension between Pearse¿s work and his increasingly public profile as an advocate of physical force separatism and, by employing previously unknown accounts, questions the perception that he influenced his students to become active supporters of militant separatism. The book describes the later history of St. Endäs, revealing the ambivalence of post-independence administrations, and shows how Pearse¿s work, which has long been neglected by historians, has had a direct influence on a later generation of school founders up to the present.

Despite its popularity during the nineteenth century, regional literature has often been overlooked with regard to its role in the development of German national consciousness. By exploring various illustrations of geographic-historical landscapes in texts written before the 1848 revolutions and after the 1871 unification, this book investigates the vital polyphony generated by unique regional voices throughout the age of nationalism. Close readings of texts by Berthold Auerbach, Theodor Storm, Wilhelm Raabe, Fritz Reuter, Theodor Fontane, Gottfried Keller, and Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach examine recognizable and unfamiliar regions. Although this study concentrates on provincial writings, literary regionalism¿s fictionality and simultaneous referentiality raise broader questions for the programmatic aesthetics of Poetic Realism and for inquiries into identity formation.

This book takes a fresh look at English fiction produced in the 1950s. By looking at a range of authors, some canonical, some less well known, it shows that the novel of the period was far more diverse and formally experimental than previous accounts have suggested. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary literary and cultural theories, the author examines the way in which issues and anxieties in 1950s society were articulated and addressed in fiction. These issues include the reformulation of Englishness in a rapidly decolonizing world; anxieties about immigration, racism, class and classlessness; new configurations of gender; and the fear of the Americanization of working-class culture, especially in the way it appeared to be influencing English youth. The first part of the book identifies some of these anxieties, and the response to them in non-fiction and writing by the emerging New Left. The second part contains a theoretically informed reading of important Fifties novels by Kingsley Amis, John Wain, Muriel Spark, Alan Sillitoe, Colin MacInnes and Sam Selvon.

What do we mean by ¿the gay community¿? What is the state of ¿gay and lesbian politics¿ in contemporary Britain? Have ¿communitarian¿ ideas provided a framework for change? And what is the view from outside the capital? Recent years have seen both signi¿cant legal and social reform bene¿ting lesbian and gay people under a government whose communitarian political credo has stressed the importance of ¿community¿ and ¿rights and responsibilities¿. What effect has this had? What is the influence of identity, space and location, politics, and community itself? On the basis of qualitative research with gay men and lesbians working for change in Liverpool and Manchester, the author examines whether gay and lesbian equality and the idea of ¿the gay community¿ can be understood and furthered within a framework of communitarian ideas.

This Festschrift for Ronald Speirs, Professor of German at the University of Birmingham, contains twenty-four original essays by scholars from Great Britain, Germany, Austria, and Norway. Between them they encompass the entire modern period from the later eighteenth century onwards, and focus on a wide range of German-speaking environments. Several essays throw new light on authors to whom Professor Speirs himself has devoted particular attention (such as Brecht, Thomas Mann, Nietzsche, and Fontane), whilst others discuss writers such as Lenz, Büchner, Böhlau, C. F. Meyer, Keyserling, Jahnn, and Huch. Above all, however, the contributions address the complexities of writing in ideologically diverse contexts, including the Third Reich and the former German Democratic Republic. This interplay between text and context is the cornerstone which links all the essays, as it has consistently informed Ronald Speirs¿s own work ¿ which combines a scrupulous attention to textual detail with an acute awareness of the socio-political milieux and philosophical influences that shape creative literature.

This original collection of articles, derived in part from the papers presented at the twenty-sixth biennial conference of the Classical Association of South Africa held at Durban and Pietermaritzburg 5-7 July 2005, explores a wide range of receptions of Classical ideas in the fiction, drama, poetry, history, opera, and popular culture of a number of countries from South Africa to Cuba. There is a strong emphasis on the use of Greek and Roman tragedy, especially Aeschylus Seven against Thebes, the Electra plays of Sophocles and Euripides, various reworkings of the figures of Antigone and Medea, and the dramatic style of Seneca, but the compendium also includes chapters on Platonism, Horatian Satire, Mythology, Roman Civilization, Roman Historiography, and Greek erotic spells. Chronologically, the scope of reception extends from the contemporary (the problem of HIV/AIDS in South Africa), to the twentieth century (Soyinka, Walcott, Forster, Seth, Campbell), and the Renaissance (Daniel Heinsius). The book illustrates the depth, diversity, and complexity of the interconnections between the Classical past and the present. It provides a refreshingly different perspective on a vitally important and vibrant field of research.

This first biography of Racine in over half a century for an English-language readership also traces the impact of Racine over three centuries in England as well as France. The plays and their reception are reviewed, using contextual approaches as part of each phase of Racine¿s life-story, with excerpts and quotations translated. Racine¿s upbringing and work as poet and historiographer are related to the France of Louis XIV, to audiences and to advancement for this ¿man from nowhere¿, with parallels in Britain and elsewhere. Changing attitudes to Racine are traced across the centuries, across literary movements and on stage, including recent productions. The book provides insights in the specialist field of Racine studies and seventeenth-century French literature and theatre, in comparative literary studies, particularly between France and Restoration England, and to the interaction of Racine and European cultural movements to the present day.

This book considers how Early Modern England was transformed from a turbulent and rebellious kingdom into a peaceable land. By considering the history of Taunton, Somerset, the most rebellious town in the kingdom, it is possible to see how the emerging features of the Enlightenment ¿ moderation, reason and rational theology ¿ effected that transformation. The experience of Taunton in the seventeenth century was marked by economic fluctuations of the cloth trade and military struggles in the Civil War, the Monmouth Rebellion and the Glorious Revolution. The primary motivation for the citizens was zealous Puritanism. It inspired support for Parliament and rebellion against James II. But in the final quarter of the century a new rational and moderate Protestantism emerged from the largest Nonconformist congregation in the country and from a distinguished dissenting academy. The study shows that both the militancy of the seventeenth century and the enlightened moderation of the eighteenth century were principally inspired by religious rather than secular values. This book contributes to our understanding of England¿s transformation and of the religious factors that stimulated it.

One of the striking features of the twentieth century has been the rapid growth of the pharmaceutical industry and the large increases in the use and consumption of its products. This book brings together a collection of papers exploring and reflecting upon some of the significant strands in the studies of pharmaceuticals in the twentieth century.

This book breaks new ground in considering the nature and function of anthologies of poetry and short stories in twentieth-century Portugal. It tackles the main theoretical issues, identifies a significant body of critical writing on the relationship between anthologies, literary history and the canon, and proposes an approach that might be designated Descriptive Anthology Studies. The author aims to achieve a full understanding of the role of anthologies in the literary polysystem. Moreover, this study considers anthologies published in Portugal in the early years of the twentieth-century, the influential figures who made them, the works they selected, and who read them. It also focuses on the principal publishing houses of the 1940s and 50s, and how their literary directors shaped public taste and promoted intercultural transfer. The author reveals tensions between conservative, nostalgic anthologies that promote an idyllic vision of rural Portugal, and collections of poems that question and challenge the status quo, whether in respect of the colonial wars or repressed female sexuality. The last part of the book explores anthology production in the period following the Revolution of 1974, observing the co-existence of traditional anthologising activity with new trends and innovations, and noting the role of women, both as anthologists and anthology items.

Includes a selection of the papers given during the international conference Patagonia: Myths and Realities, which was organised through the Centre of Latin American Cultural Studies at the University of Manchester.