The story of the unfortunate fellow who had transmigrated to another world meeting two wolves...

This book places love and sex in Japan in social and historical context and includes four case studies A lot of Ryang's claims are potentially very controversial so the book is guaranteed to stir up debate It will be of interest to those in Japanese and East Asian studies, as well as anthropology, gender studies and feminist anthropology

Despite the growth of research on masculinity in both Gender and Classical Studies, and the resurgence of interest in ancient fiction, no volume has yet been devoted to exploring the representation of masculinity in ancient Greek novels. This ground-breaking study examines and contextualizes three key discourses of ancient Greek masculinity - paideia, andreia, and sexual ideology - as evidenced in the five 'ideal' Greek novels (namely those of Chariton, Xenophon of Ephesus, Achilles Tatius, Longus, and Heliodorus). Jones argues that while some of the narratives may be set in the classical past, the masculine concerns they display are inescapably symptomatic of the imperial present, reflecting some of the 'gender troubles' of the real world of their authors. Using modern theories of the 'performance' of gender as tools for analysis, the study finds that many of the novels' men betray an awareness that their masculine identities depend on the maintenance of their image before others - they are conscious of 'playing the man'. The book also puts forward the hypothesis that, while most of the authors uphold accepted scripts of masculinity, Achilles Tatius constructs Cleitophon as a 'misperformer' of masculinity as a means of challenging and subverting traditional codes of gender.

The modern idea of Victorians is that they were emotionless prudes, imprisoned by sexual repression and suffocating social constraints; they expressed love and affection only within the bounds of matrimony—if at all. And yet, a wealth of evidence contradicting this idea has been hiding in plain sight for close to a century. In Manly Love, Axel Nissen turns to the novels and short stories of Victorian America to uncover the widely overlooked phenomenon of passionate friendships between men. Nissen’s examination of the literature of the period brings to light a forgotten genre: the fiction of romantic friendship. Delving into works by Mark Twain, Henry James, William Dean Howells, and others, Nissen identifies the genre’s unique features and explores the connections between romantic friendships in literature and in real life. Situating love between men at the heart of Victorian culture, Nissen radically alters our understanding of the American literary canon. And with its deep insights into the emotional and intellectual life of the period, Manly Love also offers a fresh perspective on nineteenth-century America’s attitudes toward love, friendship, marriage, and sex.

For the Love of Nature is an intimate collection of essays written by a man whose love of nature dates back to his earliest days. These travel stories span a range of global ecosystems, with an emphasis on Alaska, a site of great delight for the author. Here is a love letter to the natural world that begins around the ponds, forests, and meadows of a childhood and journeys through a lifelong career as an educator keen on sharing not only passion for the living parts of our planet, but respect and knowledge, as well. Marty Dodge focuses on situations where he had the opportunity to share his informed appreciation for the complexity and beauty of actual places. He describes adventures where, as a college instructor, he led student groups through the Florida Everglades, Costa Rica, Belize, and Alaska. And his adventures didn’t stop when his working life did; Dodge’s post-retirement travel was just as vigorous, and his documented tributes include spirited descriptions of visits to Nepal, Chile, the western United States, and, as ever, his adored Alaska.

A prolific writer, bestselling novelist, and world-renowned philosopher, Ayn Rand defined a full system of thought--from epistemology to aesthetics. Her writing is so extensive and the range of issues she covers so enormous that those interested in finding her discussions of a given topic may have to search through many sources to locate the relevant passage. The Ayn Rand Lexicon brings together all the key ideas of her philosophy of Objectivism. Begun under Rand's supervision, this unique volume is an invaluable guide to her philosophy or reason, self-interest and laissez-faire capitalism--the philosophy so brilliantly dramatized in her novels The Fountainhead, We the Living, and Anthem.

Memory is our most treasured asset. Seldom has such a complex subject been presented in a compelling narrative, where the intellect, the curious, and the recipient of horrific memories can grasp its meaning. Mnemosyne: A Love Affair with Memory is such a story. The two main characters, Larry L. Franklin and Richard Semon, lived in different centuries on opposite sides of the world, with memory as the common obsession that ties the two stories together. Franklin was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder brought on by physical and sexual childhood abuse. He had lived for decades without knowing the cause of his misery. If not for his mother's revelations, he might never have seen the memories that nearly cost him his sanity. Long-term therapy, self-exploration, and an able psychotherapist brought him back from the dark side. Richard Semon was a world-renowned nineteenth-century evolutionary biologist. His reputation crumbled when he fell in love with a fellow professor's wife, who chose to leave her husband and children for a life with Richard. The university fired Richard, his peers turned away, and the one-time-professor turned private-thinker/philosopher dedicated the remainder of his life to the study of memory. Peer rejection and the later death of his wife drove Richard into a deep depression followed by suicide. This is a work of creative nonfiction written in the form of a hybrid memoir. The complexities of memory, together with the mysteries of a spiritual journey, yearned for an approach different from the strictly fact-based, nonmetaphorical strategies most common in nonfiction. Long before the written word, the ancient Greeks conveyed the complications of mortal life and left veiled advice for future generations through stories, myths, and legends. They brought human qualities and quests to life through the exploits of an assortment of gods, goddesses, and other mythological creatures. Even now, artists sometimes use Greek mythology to explain the seemingly unexplainable. I chose Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, as a conduit for the deeper, more abstract aspects of my own and Richard Semon's navigation of the spiritual world. Personifying memory as the Greeks did seemed appropriate to my quest, as it was to Richard Semon's. Writers of memoir depend on their relationship to memory, are smitten with it, are obsessed by it, and chase it down the halls of recollection, always in pursuit of an entity that disappears around every next corner, much like an elusive lover who bids the beloved to come hither, but who then flees, disappearing and reappearing in a seemingly endless chase. When memory finally turns to face the one chasing her, the embrace can be both wonderful and terrible. This was so for Richard Semon, and it was so for me. Memory reaches back in time and challenges the accuracy of what one recalls in that embrace. I wrote what I remember; nothing more, nothing less.

Eleven papers present broad discussions of a small group of sagas which chronicle the lives of Skalds, court poets, and provide a vivid and entertaining portrait of poetry, love and warfare. The contributors examine the typical features of the skald sagas, their date and authorship, the relationship between verse and prose, their composition, characterisation and their relationship with other Icelandic and European genres. The sagas discussed are Bjarnar saga, Gunnlaugs saga, Hallfredar saga and Kormaks saga .

Close study of Chaucer's most important works shows how he used gender issues to extend the range of romance. The paradox of romance as a genre is that it contains multiple possibilities, yet remains profoundly constrained by its own terms and conventions. Through a close reading of several of Chaucer's most important works, Dr Weisl examines Chaucer's use of gender issues to explore and challenge this genre. She argues that Chaucer's complex treatment of the romance, following both continental and Middle English traditions, experiments with and tests romance conventions. Each chapter looks indetail at one or more of Chaucer's works, examining their different approaches to the problems of gender, and showing how this is closely connected with genre. Subjects addressed include the feminised private spaces in Troilus and Criseydewhich protect Criseyde, but are inevitably penetrated by male power; the masculine imperatives of the epic which challenge the limits of the feminised romance in the Knight'sTale(and the speech of its heroine Emelye, who questions the assumptions of the genre itself); Canacee in the Squire's Tale, who rejects the stereotyped role of the heroine, and the romance world in the Tale of SirThopas, without a heroine at all.Dr ANGELA JANE WEISLis visiting assistant professor of English and Women's Studies at Wittenberg University, Ohio.

When life becomes one big drama, let history's greatest life coach help you rewrite it. Bard expert Laurie Maguire brings her knowledge and love of Shakespeare to bear on the great-and small-challenges that all readers face today. As she illustrates in this witty, accessible, and unique self-help book, all one really needs is Shakespeare when it comes to understanding life. Covering such universal subjects as identity, the battle of the sexes, family relationships, love, loss and death, Maguire shows how the dilemmas illustrated in Shakespeare's plays can help readers explore their own emotions and judgments. Together, Maguire and Shakespeare offer suggestions, comfort, empathy, and encouragement as they set out a timeless principle for living. To read Shakespeare is to understand what it means to be human. To read Where There's a Will There's a Way is to better understand how to deal with it.