Reporter | Pan Wenjie
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1 Snowy Ridge: Legends of Ireland
Written by Qiu Fangzhe
Rouge + Yan (YY) PROJECT | Lijiang Publishing House 2022-1
Although Ireland has a population of only 4 million, it has produced many well-known writers such as Swift, Yeats, Shaw, Wilde, Joyce, Beckett and so on. Where did they get their inspiration for writing? "Snow Ridge Chasing Deer: Legends of Ireland" is the work of Qiu Fangzhe, assistant professor of the early Irish Language Department at University College Dublin, based on years of study and teaching ancient Irish literature, the author selected 25 of them and wrote them moderately to adapt to the reading habits of Chinese readers.
In 2015, Qiu Fangzhe wrote the book "Dear Old Ireland", which analyzes the most representative elements of Irish society from the perspectives of mythology, history, linguistics and literature, and explains the customs and customs of Ireland from the perspective of ancient legends and unique folk traditions. In the new book, Qiu Fangzhe tends to include as many kinds of legends as possible: some stories are actually derived from legal "cases", some are originally intended to be political propaganda; there are ancient Irish texts from the 7th century AD, and there are also early modern Irish romance stories from the 14th century.
Some Poetics and the General Reader
Written by Xu Zhiqiang
Kaijinkan | Zhejiang University Press, 2021-12
The book contains 23 literary reviews by Xu Zhiqiang, a professor at the Institute of World and Comparative Literature at Zhejiang University, on the works of Carver, Couche, Orwell, Brodsky, Tokarczuk, Borges, Andraño, and other writers. The title of the book comes from Virginia Woolf: "After all those elegant and subtle, pedantic dogmas, the honor of all poets is ultimately determined by the common sense of the reader, who is not corrupted by literary prejudices." This means that ordinary readers are able to break free from the prison of professionalism when commenting on literary works, and they are humble enough to acknowledge and respect the novel's "ultimate unspeakability" (i.e., "partial poetics").
In the book, the author endorses James Wood's critical writing, arguing that he seems to be "untouched by academic trends and critical theories"; "tells us that what is more important than method is the upbringing, that is, the familiarity of the writer's work, and that all the details, images, and motifs, such as a number of family treasures, are the upbringing of the critics". In fact, the author of this book himself is not writing such a review, and he opposes the "summary" of the work with an authoritative position and an objectified eye in his own writing.
"The Bottom of Fracking"
Translated by Eliza Grieswold
New Classic Amber | Wenhui Publishing House 2022-1
Does having advanced technology mean progress? For energy demand, the U.S. response is to keep digging down. Over the past few decades, a technique called "fracking" has been popularized in the United States so that people can extract natural gas in deep rocks. For some, the advent of fracking has solved decades of recession. This is not the case for others.
As environmental historian Donald Worcester has discovered, "The conquest of nature inevitably ends up becoming the conquest of some to others, and nature to the instrument of conquest." "Energy opening up often means exploitation and plundering of local populations. Fracking has also caused a division in society, with people who have made money and made a fortune on the one hand, and ordinary people whose water, air, and health have been compromised. In this book, Eliza Grieswold documents the damage to many low-class families – one after another of dead livestock and pets, arsenic poisoned children, nights spent on the bathroom floor... These people, in the author's view, are people who really gave their lives for the cause of Energy in the United States.
Meeting China: A Dialogue between Chinese and Western Philosophy
[American] Michael Sandor [American] De Ambo, ed
CITIC Publishing Group 2022-1
The book is the result of the 2016 International Conference on "Sandel and Chinese Philosophy". The editors are Michael Sandel, professor of political philosophy at Harvard University, and De Ambo, associate professor of philosophy at East China Normal University and one of the authors of The Wandering Heart: And Modern Western Philosophy. In addition to the above two authors, there are nine other scholars.
Sandel gained some popularity in China because of the spread of the Harvard Open Class "Justice," and after visiting China in 2007, he was described by a media outlet as "a popularity that is usually enjoyed only by Hollywood stars and NBA players." In this book, contemporary Chinese thinkers (mainly Confucian and Taoist scholars) engage in an equal dialogue with him. Experts in the field of Chinese philosophy respond to Sandel's political philosophy from some concepts of Chinese philosophy, pointing out its possible connection and conflict with Chinese philosophical thought. Sandor was also involved in the discussion. Through this book, readers can see that the Confucian philosophy of community has a lot in common with Sandel's concept of community.
A History of Stations in Japan: Modern Railways as Public Spaces
[Japanese] Katsumasa Harada by Ye Xiaoyao translated
Social Science Literature Publishing 2022-1
Remember the industrial romanticism of Galactic Railway Night? Such works are full of the imagination and enthusiasm of the Japanese people at that time for modernization. In the early years of the Meiji era, the whistle of Shimbashi Station heralded the beginning of Japan's modernization. Natsume Soseki once examined the interpersonal relations and forms of civilization in modern society from the perspective of stations and trains and people's social actions. In public spaces such as stations, people meet and meet and separate, and in this way, the stations not only affect the appearance of the city, but also cultivate the public consciousness of modern society.
How have railway stations in Japan evolved from scratch? In this book, Katsuhara, the first president of the Japan Railway History Society, considers the station in the context of Japan's modernization process. This book focuses on representative stations such as Shimbashi Station, the starting point of Japan's first railway line, Tokyo Station, Osaka Station and Nagoya Station, Shimonoseki Station connected to the seaport, and Hakata Station. In addition to using official early historical sources, the author also used materials such as literary works of the relevant period, social news, and memoirs.
Gluttony: The History of Gluttony
[French] Florent Kellie by Huang Xun translation
Yilin Publishing House 2022-1
From the Elysium of Greek mythology to the overeating of the devil in the Middle Ages when the devil tempted the depraved. In the 17th and 18th centuries, "gluttony" had the characteristics of frankness, greed, and attention to food. Today, healthy eating and the fanatical pursuit of slender fashion have also allowed gluttony to spread from the 20th century to our surroundings in another secularized form. Is gluttony a vain art of gastronomy, or a despised overeating? Why is a love of good food seen as indulgent selfishness?
The author of this book, the French writer and historian Florent Kellie, talks about "gluttony" and "food" from a historical perspective, leading the reader to peek into the strange and strange gluttony scenes in history. From Greek mythology to fairytale worlds, from the Middle Ages to modern times, the author takes us on an exploration of gluttony and cultural change.
Jazz Chronicles
[English] Mervyn Cook by Lu Zhongyi, translated
China Pictorial Publishing House 2021-10
Like cinema, jazz, as one of America's major contributions to 20th-century culture, is now in its second hundred years of existence. Previously, jazz quickly absorbed many of the technological innovations that transformed early classical music, translating past knowledge into its own dazzling style and structure. Its audience is also quite broad, including both the mass pop market and the intellectual class.
The author of the book is Mervyn Cooke, pianist, composer and professor of music at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. In the book, he begins with the origins of jazz, and tells in chronological order how jazz, from its infamous reputation at the beginning, has gradually evolved into a serious art form after the boom of the swing era. In this process, he not only listed the important time points, people and events in the development of jazz, but also linked the development of jazz with the development of world history. The book is interspersed with sections explaining the various elements of jazz, with appendices including musicians, musical terminology, recommendations for international jazz festivals, and recommended listening tracks and recommended reading lists from the author.
The Story of An Address: The Code of Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power Hidden in the Address Book
Deldrick Musk by Xu Ping, translated by Tan Xinmu
Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press 2022-1
While browsing the Universal Postal Union website, the author learned for the first time that most of the world's homes do not have street addresses. According to the Universal Postal Union's website, addresses are one of the cheapest ways to lift people out of poverty, helping them gain access to credit, voting rights and global markets. But it is not just a problem for developing countries. Soon, the author learned that some areas of the Rural America did not have street addresses, so she drove to West Virginia and decided to find out for herself the specifics of the matter.
Why do we have an address? Is it just for the convenience of sending mail and delivering packages? The author of this book sees that behind the actions we name streets and number houses and buildings, there is an unknown history and significance. As the book's subtitle suggests, the address book hides passwords for identity, race, wealth, and power. Behind the naming power of streets is power, "whoever has the power to name streets has the power to shape history and decide who is important or who is not." And if we seriously investigate the law of address change, we can also find a piece of historical story, including major historical events and traces left by historical figures. Whether it is the entanglement of retro and innovation, or the confrontation between old-fashioned and revolutionary, history has silently left its mark in similar or completely different street naming.