20-50
A32=Dr. Charlotte Jones
A32=Dr. Hannah Silverblank
A32=Dr. Jonathan R. Olson
A32=Dr. Laura Seymour
A32=Dr. Margaret Kean
A32=Helen Appleton
A32=Jeya Ayadurai
A32=Lisa Dwan
A32=Professor Rachel Falconer
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
allegory
automatic-update
B01=Dr. Margaret Kean
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=DSBB
COP=United Kingdom
cultural history
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
hell representation
historical perspective
Language_English
literary markers
metaphorical material
PA=Available
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
religious narratives
softlaunch
underworld
Product details
- ISBN 9781843846093
- Weight: 314g
- Dimensions: 138 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 16 Jul 2021
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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Essays considering the representation and perception of hell in a variety of texts.
Narratives of a descent to the underworld, of the sights to be seen and the punishments meted out there, have kept a hold on the popular imagination for millennia. The legacy from doctrinal warnings and the deep-set literary markers that identify a place of suffering and alienation continue to stimulate creative exchange and critical thinking. Such work takes risks: it braves the dark and questions the past.
The contributions in this volume reflect on the exigency of hell in the stories that we tell. They consider the transfer and repurposing of motifs across genres and generational divides, and acknowledge the sustained immediacy of physical and psychological landscapes of hell. The essays span a wide chronological range and apply various contemporary critical approaches, including cognitive science, performance studies and narratology. This cross-period analysis is complemented by interviews with three creative practitioners: Jeya Ayadurai, director of "Hell's Museum" in Singapore, the actor Lisa Dwan, who is acclaimed for her dramatisation of Samuel Beckett's late works, and the writer David Almond. From ancient myth and early English sermons to mid-twentieth-century surrealism and current responses to terrorist activities and environmental damage, the literature of hell engages with issues of immediate relevance and asks its audiences to reflect on their cultural history, the meaning of social justice and the nature of embodied existence.
MARGARET KEAN is the Dame Helen Gardner Fellow in English at St Hilda's College, Oxford. MARGARET KEAN is the Dame Helen Gardner Fellow in English at St Hilda's College, Oxford.
