by
Leibovitz, Liel, author
Call Number
741.5973 23
Publication Date
2020
Summary
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a meditation on the deeply Jewish and surprisingly spiritual roots of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics Few artists have had as much of an impact on American popular culture as Stan Lee. The characters he created--Spider-Man and Iron Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four--occupy Hollywood's imagination and production schedules, generate billions at the box office, and come as close as anything we have to a shared American mythology. This illuminating biography focuses as much on Lee's ideas as it does on his unlikely rise to stardom. It surveys his cultural and religious upbringing and draws surprising connections between celebrated comic book heroes and the ancient tales of the Bible, the Talmud, and Jewish mysticism. Was Spider-Man just a reincarnation of Cain? Is the Incredible Hulk simply Adam by another name? From close readings of Lee's work to little-known anecdotes from Marvel's history, the book paints a portrait of Lee that goes much deeper than one of his signature onscreen cameos. About Jewish Lives: Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award. More praise for Jewish Lives: "Excellent."--New York times "Exemplary." - Wall St. Journal "Distinguished." - New Yorker "Superb." - The Guardian
Format:
Electronic Resources
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0.0577
by
Ormandy, Leslie, editor.
Call Number
809.89282 23
Publication Date
2017
Format:
Electronic Resources
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0.0447
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by
Brown, Jeffrey A., 1966- author.
Call Number
809.93352042 23
Publication Date
2015
Summary
"Beyond Bombshells analyzes the cultural importance of strong women in a variety of current media forms. Action heroines are now more popular in movies, comic books, television, and literature than they have ever been. Their spectacular presence represents shifting ideas about female agency, power, and sexuality. Beyond Bombshells explores how action heroines reveal and reconfigure perceptions about "how" and "why" women are capable of physically dominating roles in modern fiction, indicating the various strategies used to contain and/or exploit female violence. Focusing on a range of successful and controversial recent heroines in the mass media, including Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games books and movies, Lisabeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo novels and films, and Hit-Girl from the Kick-Ass movies and comic books, Brown argues that the role of action heroine reveals evolving beliefs about femininity. While women in action roles are still heavily sexualized and objectified, they also challenge preconceived myths about normal or culturally appropriate gender behavior. The ascribed sexuality of modern heroines remains Brown's consistent theme, particularly how objectification intersects with issues of racial stereotyping, romantic fantasies, images of violent adolescent and preadolescent girls, and neoliberal feminist revolutionary parables. Individual chapters study the gendered dynamics of torture in action films, the role of women in partnerships with male colleagues, young women as well as revolutionary leaders in dystopic societies, adolescent sexuality and romance in action narratives, the historical import of non-white heroines, and how modern African American, Asian, and Latina heroines both challenge and are restricted by longstanding racial stereotypes"--
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Electronic Resources
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0.0343
by
Burnham, Karen, 1979-
Call Number
823.914 23
Publication Date
2014
Summary
"Greg Egan (1961- ) publishes works that challenge readers with rigorous, deeply-informed scientific speculation. He unapologetically delves into mathematics, physics, and other disciplines in his prose, putting him in the vanguard of the hard science fiction renaissance of the 1990s. A working physicist and engineer, Karen Burnham is uniquely positioned to provide an in-depth study of Egan's science-heavy oeuvre. Her survey of the author's career covers novels like Permutation City and Schild's Ladder and the Hugo Award-winning novella "Oceanic," analyzing how Egan used cutting-edge scientific theory to explore ethical questions and the nature of humanity. As Burnham shows, Egan's collected works constitute a bold artistic statement: that narratives of science are equal to those of poetry and drama, and that science holds a place in the human condition as exalted as religion or art. The volume includes a rare interview with the famously press-shy Egan covering his works, themes, intellectual interests, and thought processes"-- "Greg Egan is one of the "hardest" hard science fiction writers of the last two decades. Contemporary mathematics, physics, and computer science inspire his work, which extends from the near future to times millions of years hence and from distant galaxies to particle physics. Egan is perhaps best known for his novels in which some or all of the main characters are software constructs. In Permutation City (1992), Diaspora (1999) and Schild's Ladder (2002), Egan presses hard on questions of consciousness and self-identity by presuming that computers can successfully replicate all the parts and functions of a human brain, but without all the messy biology. Persons can then "copy" themselves, diverge, and if necessary, reboot. Even flesh-and-blood humans have a "qusp" in their skull, a quantum computer that encodes themselves. If something happens to their bodies, the qusp is used to transfer them into a new one. The extent to which people choose to be physical or to exist in purely digital forms becomes a lifestyle choice. Questions of ethics are as fundamental to Egan's writing as questions of science. He has written a host of stories set in the relatively near future investigating questions of genetic engineering, immigration, government surveillance, drug control, implants, racism, media manipulation, corporate warfare, bioterrorism, and the right to die. Egan is also famously reclusive. He does not allow photographs and takes extensive precautions to protect his privacy. This adds to interest in him and his work. He has won or been nominated for most of the awards available to science fiction writers"--
Format:
Electronic Resources
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0.0617
by
Mack, Tom, editor.
Call Number
810.9975703 23
Publication Date
2014
Summary
"The South Carolina Encyclopedia Guide to South Carolina Writers expands the range of writers included in the landmark South Carolina Encyclopedia. This guide updates the entries on writers featured in the original encyclopedia and augments that list substantially with dozens of new essays on additional authors from the late eighteenth century to the present who have contributed to the Palmetto State's distinctive literary heritage. Each profile in this concise reference includes essential biographical facts and critical assessments to place the featured writers in the larger context of South Carolina's literary tradition. The guide comprises 127 entries written by more than seventy literary scholars, and it also highlights the sixty-five writers inducted thus far into the South Carolina Academy of Authors, which serves as the state's literary hall of fame. Rich in natural beauty and historic complexity, South Carolina has long been a source of inspiration for writers. The talented novelists, essayists, poets, playwrights, journalists, historians, and other writers featured here represent the countless anonymous individuals who have shared tales and lore of South Carolina"--
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Electronic Resources
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0.0436
by
Edugyan, Esi, author.
Call Number
813.6 23
Publication Date
2014
Summary
Esi Edugyan interlaces fact and fiction, storytelling and dreaming to capture the essence of belonging.
Format:
Electronic Resources
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0.0603
by
Socken, Paul, 1945- editor.
Call Number
809.911 23
Publication Date
2013
Format:
Electronic Resources
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0.0500
by
Carter, William C.
Call Number
843.912 23
Publication Date
2013
Format:
Electronic Resources
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0.0544
by
Burbidge, John, author
Call Number
A823.3 23
Publication Date
2013
Summary
Gerald Glaskin (1923-2000) pushed the boundaries of acceptability in what he wrote and how he wrote it. His 20 major publications - novels, short stories, travelogues, memoirs, plays, and more - tackled such taboo subjects as homosexuality, incest, and parapsychology. In the aftermath of World War II, Glaskin challenged white Australians to re-examine their attitudes toward Asians and Aboriginal people; and his 1965 novel, No End to the Way - initially banned in his home country - was groundbreaking in its frank and honest portrayal of a homosexual relationship. Outside Australia, Glaskin's bo.
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Electronic Resources
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0.0516
10.
by
McClanahan, Rebecca.
Call Number
977.0330922 23
Publication Date
2013
Summary
Are we responsible for, and to, those forces that have formed us-our families, friends, and communities? Where do we leave off and others begin? In The Tribal Knot, Rebecca McClanahan looks for answers in the history of her family. Poring over letters, artifacts, and documents that span more than a century, she discovers a tribe of hardscrabble Midwest farmers, hunters, trappers, and laborers struggling to hold tight to the ties that bind them, through poverty, war, political upheavals, illness and accident, filicide and suicide, economic depressions, personal crises, and global disasters.
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Electronic Resources
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0.0447
by
Kokkola, Lydia.
Call Number
809.39358
Publication Date
2013
Summary
First published in 2003.
Format:
Electronic Resources
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0.0471
by
Michon, Pierre, 1945- author.
Call Number
841.8 23
Publication Date
2013
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0500
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