Book Description: Magical realism has become almost synonymous with Latin American fiction, but this way of representing the layered and often contradictory reality of the topsy-turvy, late-capitalist, globalizing world finds equally vivid expression in U.S. multiethnic and British postcolonial literature and film. Writers and filmmakers such as Oscar "Zeta" Acosta, Ana Castillo, Julie Dash, Hanif Kureishi, and Salman Rushdie have made brilliant use of magical realism to articulate the trauma of dislocation and the legacies of colonialism that people of color experience in the postcolonial, multiethnic world. This book seeks to redeem and refine the theory of magical realism in U.S. multiethnic and British postcolonial literature and film. The author engages in theoretically sophisticated readings of Ana Castillo's So Far from God, Oscar "Zeta" Acost's Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo, Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Shame, The Satanic Verses, and The Moor's Last Sigh, Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust, and Stephen Frears and Hanif Kureishi's Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. Coining the term "magicorealism" to characterize these works, Aldama not only creates a postethnic critical methodology for enlarging the contact zone between the genres of novel, film, and autobiography, but also shatters the interpretive lens that traditionally confuses the transcription of the real world, where truth and falsity apply, with narrative modes governed by other criteria.

Reviews:
"In this exciting new book, Frederick Luis Aldama has done an outstanding job of remapping 'magical realism"--Werner Sollors, Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English Literature and Professor of Afro-American Studies, Harvard University.

"Frederick Luis Aldama offers a vigorous revisionary perspective on postcolonial literature and, more specifically, on the much discussed phenomenon of magicorealism. He has a commanding knowledge of postcolonial theory, and he performs a welcome critical task in demonstrating how it tends to confuse the confines of the academy with the contours of the real world, textuality with ontology. Aldama himself is a political critic, but he sanely argues that the arena of any serious politics is the world of living people and not a text"--Robert Alter, Professor of Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley and author of Canon and Creativity.

"Providing a lucid and cogent critique of the tendency in contemporary criticism to ontologize "magical realism," a tendency that implicitly articulates a relatively simple mimetic relationship between "magical realism" and various postcolonial cultures, Frederick Aldama instead posits a theory of what he calls "rebellious mimetics" that introduces a complex aesthetic and political mediation in that relationship. In doing so, he weaves together a series of excellent analyses of novels and films by authors and artists as diverse as Salman Rushdie, Ana Castillio, Oscar Zeta Acosta, Julie Dash, and Hanif Kureishi. This is a very significant contribution to the study of this genre"--Abdul R. JanMohamed, Professor of English, University of California, Berkeley.

"In this insightful and forceful study of magical realism, Aldama successfully argues that a true postethnic and postcolonial criticism should not (con)fuse the world with the text. His commentaries on Castillo, Dash, Kureishi, Acosta, and Rushdie force the readers to see these artists' magicorealist works in a new light, thus revealing all of their splendid and contradictory complexities. Aldama's book is a must for anyone who wishes to understand the intricacies of magical realism and the vitality of this genre in contemporary European postcolonial and ethnic American literature and scholarship"--Emilio Bejel, Professor of Spanish American Literature, University of Colorado at Boulder and author of Gay Cuban Nation.

"Through a study of the playful narrative techniques of writers and film-makers such as Dash, Garcia Marquez, Rushdie and Kureishi, Frederick Luis Aldama offers a powerful critique of those who view magical realism as either a means toward postcolonial resistance or as a depiction of some exotic real world. Proposing a "postethnic" approach, Aldama argues convincingly that a reader's or viewer's understanding of the aesthetic dimensions of what he calls "magicorealism" can lead to greater political understanding than older, more ideologically oriented interpretations"--Herbert Lindenberger, Avalon Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, Stanford University.

"It is rare that we come across a truly great book, one in which fierce intelligence asserts itself in pages that truly matter. Such a book assigns us the task of reordering what we have taken as true on the promise of an understanding more profound. In such a book, we are guided by extraordinary vision, by an author with keen insight. In the rarest of occasions, we read words that are wise, words that make broad connection and interrogate a range of thought that afterwards we deem necessary. Postethnic Narrative Criticism is such a book; Frederick Aldama is such an author"--Alfred Arteaga, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

This work offers a highly valuable rethinking of magical realism, one that assesses previous work in new ways, one that extends the historical reach of arguments about magical realism, and one that brings a new level of sophistication to arguments about it"--Carl Guitierrez-Jones, Professor and Chair, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Enfin! Postethnic Narrative Criticism is the first book in ethnic and postcolonial literary and film studies that cuts through Gordian knots that arise from confusing narrative fiction (a complexly organized aesthetic that uses point of view, style, and genre to engage readers) with the facts that make up our reality outside of the text.
This is a must read for any reader interested in moving away from studies--poststructrualist or otherwise--that lead to dead ends.
It is a must read for readers tired of jargon and fundamental misconceptions of what novels and films can do in the world at large.

Calling for active participation from knowledgeable and intelligent readers, Post-Ethnic Narrative Criticism serves as a well drawn out map for literary exploration through an innovative approach to understanding complicated literature and films. Thought his engagement as an author, Aldama speaks directly to his audience in a manner that is candid, forthright, and compelling. Although this is a difficult text- one that must not be taken lightly, this work acknowledges real dilemmas of real peoples, and offers up a critically and emotionally balanced understanding of the often-subtle dilemmas of contemporary narratology confronting such peoples.
As a result of my own time spent with this text I have walked away with a greater understanding of how narrative techniques inform textual spaces of those who are often placeless, and how this (dis)location functions both inside and out of the academy.

Essential for any lover of great poetry, and certainly for any fan of Oscar Wilde is his great poem, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol." Scarcely the only thing he wrote after his return from his notorious 2-year prison term, The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a moving and tragic account of one man's suffering. One could go on and on - writing hundreds of pages in essay form - about the indignities and injustices of prison life, but this goes toward saying it much better than any ivory tower intellectual argument ever could. Wilde, winner of the infamous Newdigate Prize For Poetry at Oxford University, had long been an immaculate poet - an a born writer - but he practically anandoned the form after his marriage and the start of his career as a playwright in the early 1890's (aside from that strange amalgram of a poem, The Sphinx.) And yet, this is almost exclusively the only thing Wilde wrote after his release before his untimely death in 1900. Thankfully, the great artist went out with a bang. The Ballad fuses some of the best and clearest writing I have ever read in the English language with a poetic sensibility and a true and tragic sense of real suffering, thereby creating one of the great poems of all-time.

Many anthologies of Wilde's writings are available, and perhaps buying a book that simply includes this lone poem is questionable. I definitely suggest that you go for a Complete Works if you are new to the author; however, if you'd like a travel-worthy copy of certain smaller works - such as this poem - then editions such as this will serve you well. Besides, this edition has as well those beautiful paintings to go along with it - something I'm sure Oscar himself would've loved.

As a student of Wilde's life and works, I find this is essential reading. Who needs Shakespeare to outline tradgey? Wilde was imprisoned after a second trial (the first was a no decision). He was confined in the horrid English jails for two years. "The wretched prisoner is then left a prey to the most weakening, depressing and humiliating malady.... punished with the greatest severity and brutality. Each and all these things I had to transform into a spirtual experience." The ballad

outlines the horrors he and others endure who are prisoners of conscience. A terrible tragedy.

The book itself is nicely done. It has a lot of interestingpictures and facts. It is a must for anybody who is even mildlyinterested in Wilde. A wonderful account of his life, complete with quotes and photos.

This book is nicely done - lots of pictures and illustrations, with a narrative that moves well, and is plenty comprehensive - Wilde was an in interesting man, but - like Truman Capote - a superficial thing. One doesn't need more detail than this book offers.

just buy this book. beautiful pictures of beautiful buildings of one of the great european architects (but unfortunately still unknown in the netherlands)

Alberto Campo Baeza, one of Spain's outstanding modern architects and professor of architecture at American and European universities, has his elegant designs reviewed in Kenneth Frampton's book.

I've taught an undergraduate statistics class in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Florida for a few years and found that this book works the best. Even students who tell me they have high math anxiety have enjoyed the text because it explains complex things in a simple and easy to understand way.

I have been taking and teaching statistical concepts for almost 10 years now and have never found a better, more concise intro to modern statistics. I sugggest that anyone trying to learn statistics have a copy of this valuable text.

Although this is an intro text, it is a programming text that trains the reader to comprehend basic statistical concepts. This is especially important if the users "think" they have a "math" problem. It clearly explains in a step by step fashion "how to do it".

Morrison and Zabusky have outdone themselves by gathering stories in immigrants own words and compiling them in this delightful book. It has been a long time since I've read any nonfiction, but because of this book and how well it captivated me, nonfiction is what I crave most. The stories are so detailed and I can honestly say that at times I actually felt the story-tellers pain. This should be required reading for all high school students. I am so glad I stumbled on to this gem!

This is a great resource and a priceless record of the immigrant experience in America. Morrison and Zabusky collected stories in people's own words and sets them down here, so we can all see first-hand just how the USA came to be such a melting pot. Stories of hardship and pride leap off the page. A terrific book to wave in the face of people who don't seem to remember that we were all immigrants at one point or another

This book is wonderful for several reasons. The big,bright pictures hold my childrens interest,they are 2& 1/2 and 1 years old. The text is short enough on each page to let me read it all before they turn the page. The story explaines all the "things" kids see with the christmas season, and tells them that these "things" are ways to celebrate the real reason for christmas,the birth of Christ!

This is an intriguing story about a curious pet lizard who escapes his cage on Christmas Eve and ventures up the Christmas tree. He is greeted by an array of ornaments who proceed to tell him their definition of Christmas. Holiday parties, family and friends, Santa and presents are a few of the explanations he receives but when he reaches the top he is greeted by the angel who shares with him the real meaning of christmas. This story is both funny and heartwarming as it unifies all of the different christmas themes into one. My children (4 & 7 ) loved it!

This is a wonderful guide to the Bible for Catholics! It is very orthodox in its content, and it really helped to open up the Sacred Scriptures for me!

Finding yourself wanting to read The Bible, but it's just too difficult to understand? I, too, had difficulties, but no longer. Father Luke's, "A Catholic Guide To The Bible" takes you on a prayerful journey from Genesis to Revelation with ease! A word of warning however ; do not think you'll sail right through The Bible in a few days. It will take time and understanding, but believe me, there is no other Guide to The Bible i've found to be so easy to understand, and so Catholic! Discover The Bible today! Order now!

This is the finest collection of Jazz Photography ever assembled! If you're a fan of jazz, or Blue Note Records, you must own this book. As a co-owner of Blue Note, Francis Wolff had the opportunity to arrest time with his lens while the titans of jazz created quintessential music. All the faces you would expect are here, Thelonious Monk, Miles, Coltrane, etc. Yet so are others whose names have been unfairly excluded from the roster of jazz immortals, men like Hank Mobley, Sonny Clark, Lee Morgan and many more. This collection is tastefully assembled, carefully balancing a trove of color and black & white prints with aesthetic perfection. Its 176 pages are bursting with images that inebriate the eyes; many are published here for the first time. Along the way, written snapshots built on the visual perspective. You can hear the music pouring from these images. You can feel the excitement of it's genesis. The musicians were comfortable with Wolff and his lens. He captured their essence in a way that no other could. Pick this up before it goes out of print.

Even if you haven't heard the name Francis Wolff before you have probably seen many of his photos already. They can be found on many Blue Note albums. Some of them also became classics on their own. Francis Wolff is the co-founder of the Blue Note record label. Before becoming a full-time producer by the end of the Sixties, he spent a lot of his time taking photos of the artists while they were recording. All these photos are taken with a sort of simple equipment (just a camera and one flash) without posing. The photos were taken while the musicians were playing or composing of resting. There is an enormous depth and clarity in the pictures and you can nearly sense the personalities of the musicians. This collection of Wolff's photography is a must for every fan of classical photography and, of course, it's a must for die-hard Blue Note fans.

This is a wonderful children's version of "South Pacific". (Not the score of South Pacific as mentioned in the paperback reviews.) The illustrations in my first edition of 1992 are wonderful muted tones done in a charming old-fashioned style - not sepia as mentioned in the two professional reviews. A wonderful introduction to South Pacic, the literature of James Michner, or World War II history. Altogether highly recommended. (Refers to the Hardback version.)

If you're interested in this, then don't hesitate to get it! This Vocal Score contains all music from the show (from the Overture to bows and exit music).

Although "The Sound of Music" is their most popular collaboration, "South Pacific" is arguably Rodgers and Hamerstein's finest work. It is also the best scored. This is evidenced by the fact that when the film version was recorded, much of the scoring was kept as it was originally performed on Broadway. Unlike many conductor's scores, most of "South Pacific" is entirely playable on the piano. The occasional omission of a harp, woodwind, or string line from the reduction will not detract from rehearsal. For fans of musicals, conductors, arrangers, and singers, this is a "must-add" to your collection.