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ActuaLitté

Histoire et Philosophiesophie

The Undergrowth of Science. Delusion, self-deception and human frailty

Walter Gratzer's themes in the stories he relates in The Undergrowth of Science are collective delusion and human folly. Science is generally seen as a process bound by rigorous rules, which its practitioners must not transgress. Deliberate fraud occasionally intrudes, but it is soon detected, the perpetrators cast out and the course of discovery barely disturbed. Far more interesting are the outbreaks of self-delusion that from time to time afflict upright and competent researchers, and then spread like an epidemic or mass-hysteria through a sober and respectable scientific community. When this happens the rules by which scientists normally govern their working lives are suddenly suspended. Sometimes these episodes are provoked by personal vanity, an unwillingness to acknowledge error or even contemplate the possibility that a hard-won success is a will o' the wisp; at other times they stem from loyalty to a respected and trusted guru, or even from patriotic pride; and, worst of ail, they may be a consequence of a political ideology which imposes its own interpretation on scientists' observations of the natural world. Unreason and credulity supervene, illusory phenomena are described and measured, and theories are developed to explain them - until suddenly, often for no single reason, the bubble bursts, leaving behind it a residue of acrimony, recrimination, embarrassment and ruined reputations. Here, then, are radiations, measured with high precision yet existing only in the minds of those who observed them; the Russian water, which some thought might congeal the oceans: phantom diseases which called for heroic surgery; monkey testis implants that restored the sexual powers of ageing roués and of tired sheep; truths about genetics and about the nature of matter, perceptible only to Aryan scientists in the Third Reich or Marxist ideologues in the Soviet Union; and much more. The Undergrowth of Science explores, in terms accessible to the lay reader, the history of such episodes, up to our own time, in ail their absurdity, tragedy and pathos.

01/2000

ActuaLitté

Autres collections (9 à 12 ans

Les enquêtes de Tom et Lola : Le mystère du kidnapping de la princesse. Edition bilingue français-anglais

Du haut de la grande roue de Londres, London Eye, nos héros sont les témoins involontaires du kidnapping de la princesse royale Wendy. Réussiront-ils à la retrouver et à aider la police anglaise ? - From the London Ferris Wheel, our heroes are the witnesses of the Royal Princess Wendy Kidnapping. Will they manage to help the police to find her ?

11/2021

ActuaLitté

Monographies

Hilma af Klint. The Five Notebook 1

In 1896, Hilma af Klint and four other like-minded women artists left the Edelweiss Society and founded the "Friday Group", also known as "The Five". They met every Friday for spiritual meetings, including prayers, studies of the New Testament, meditation and séances. The medium exercised automatic writing and mediumistic drawing. Eventually they established contact with spiritual beings whom they called "The High Ones". In 1896, the five women began taking meticulous notes of the mediumistic messages conveyed by the spirits. In time, Hilma af Klint felt she had been selected for more important messages. After ten years of esoteric training with "The Five", aged 43, Hilma af Klint accepted a major assignment, the execution of The Paintings for the Temple. This commission, which engaged the artist from 1906 to 1915, changed the course of her life. In 1908, Rudolf Steiner, leader of the German Theosophical Society, held several lectures in Stockholm. He also visited af Klint's studio and saw some of the early Paintings for the Temple. In 1913, Steiner founded the Anthroposophical Society, which af Klint joined in 1920 and remained a member for the rest of her life.

01/2022

ActuaLitté

Sciences politiques

The Structure of Political Communication in the United Kingdom, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany

Political Communication in The United Kingdom, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany differs in terms of what the peoples expect to take issue with, how they are prepared to talk about them, which choices they can make to solve problems and, finally, whom or which organizations they delegate to resolve them. This comparative media study of The Economist, Time and Der Spiegel attempts to extract the differences in politics of the three societies.

11/1987

ActuaLitté

Ethnologie et anthropologie

The Wolves Rise Again. New elites born out of chaos

The successive shocks that strike our time have acted as an indicator of men : the bland elites of yesteryear, suddenly rejected by the masses, went back silently into the void where they had first come from. This opportunist plutarchy, that maintained itself so far, thanks to the industry of lying, the targeted elimination of creative people, will soon be engulfed. Around these illusionists with no audience, the hidden alphas will begin to rise. Within a few months, alphas, forged in a new metal, invaded public space. How can it be explained ? In troubled times, the hierarchies of peacetime had left, suddenly, a place to the atomisation of individuals. Chaos then allows the individual alphas to rise to power. Like a pack of wolves, these alphas quickly take the lead of small human groups organising themselves into rival packs. The French Revolution is a striking example of this evolution : the masters of yesterday were relegated because of their unsuitability.

06/2022

ActuaLitté

Documentaires jeunesse

Paris au fil du temps

Who made Paris the way it is ? What were the major phases of its construction ? How did Paris adapt to modern times and its growing population ? Discover the Gallo-Roman city of Lutetia, explore the filthy alleys of medieval Paris, admire the royal squares classical era, join the crowds in the Belly of Paris, stroll down the spacious Haussmanian boulevards... This book is an invitation to wander through the different eras that have made Paris the city it is today. With flaps that fold down, panels that open up, wheels to turn, mini-books to flip through, and panoramas to behold on every page !

05/2015

ActuaLitté

BD jeunesse

Clifton Tome 8 : Sir Jason

Ex-agent of the Secret Service and colonel to Her Most Gracious Majesty, Sir Harold Wilberforce Clifton has become an amateur detective. Scotland Yard consider this excellent old hand as insightful as the illustrious Sherlock Holmes ! Without ever losing an ounce of his "British" touch, he resolves complex enigmas for the police and thwarts the plans of unscrupulous crooks. At the wheel of his famous MG convertible, Clifton punctuates his cases with the indispensable "teatime," cheeky remarks, his devoted housekeeper Miss Partridge and the attention demanded by his cats. Rich in twists and turns, the adventures of Clifton are presented by some of the biggest names in humorous comics.

06/2018

ActuaLitté

Non classé

The Concept of Man in Igbo Myths

In the vast silence of their isolation, the traditional Igbos have learnt the ways of living in harmony with nature. From their origin in distant time, they have kept a sacred perspective on the natural world. In our age, there is the need for traditional wisdoms to retain their validity and be intrinsic to our philosophic and scientific perceptions of the cosmos. We cannot do without their knowledge, their spiritual perspective, and their deep faith in the harmony of all nature. Ignoring these qualities has profound environmental implications. Global warming, environmental pollution, and the exhaustion of nature's resources are but a few of the symptoms of the nature's experiences as we continue to mistreat it in order to satisfy our own ends. This work helps us to realise that wherever we are, we are a part of nature. All the things around us are as presences, representing forces and powers of life that are not ours and yet are all part of us. Then we find them reflecting in ourselves, because we are nature, though not identical with it.

11/1999

ActuaLitté

Littérature française

Novellas. Tome 3

Avez-vous lu Daeninckx ? Ces Novellas 3 constituent la suite et la fin d'une Intégrale qui réunit toutes les "nouvelles longues" d'un écrivain à part. A ne pas manquer ! Sur cette distance peu commune – ni nouvelle courte, ni roman –, ses récits traversent le temps et l'espace à la vitesse de la lumière... noire ! Fulgurant ! Sa manière de raconter lui est toute particulière : il n'en finit pas de faire ressurgir le passé pour mieux déchiffrer le présent. Explosif ! Ses histoires comme ses personnages agissent sur ses lecteurs comme autant de révélateurs : les vies saccagées et les rêves enfouis sortent de l'ombre pour mieux faire comprendre l'état du monde. Décapant ! Et il ne se gêne pas pour " chatouiller les consciences " : alors, à quand les beaux jours ? Provocateur ! Comme Jacques Prévert, il pourrait dire : " J'écris pour faire plaisir à beaucoup et pour en emmerder quelques-uns. " Didier Daeninckx ? Incontournable ! N'oubliez pas de lire aussi Novellas 1 et Novellas 2.

10/2017

ActuaLitté

Anglais apprentissage

Tales from Longpuddle

Tony Kytes is a favourite with the girls but he's not terribly clever. If you meet an old girlfriend and she asks fora ride home in your wagon, do you say yes? And then if you meet the girl you are planning to marry, what do you do? Very soon, Tony is in a great muddle, and does not know how to escape from it. These stories are set in an English country village of the nineteenth century, but Hardy's tales of mistakes and muddles and marriages belong in any place, at any time.

07/2010

ActuaLitté

Littérature française

Novellas

Les onze nouvelles de ce recueil représentent les plus noirs et les meilleures aspects de la vie humaine : des marginaux oubliés, des révoltes teintées d'utopie, des droits rétablis, etc.

05/2015

ActuaLitté

Littérature anglo-saxonne

La traduction. Novella

Auteure canadienne en résidence à Grenoble pour quelques mois, Lila se voit commander une oeuvre de fiction, destinée à être traduite par une personnalité locale, Laura Leblanc. Réflexion, par le biais de la fiction, sur l'activité de création et sur l'activité de traduction qui l'accompagne, le texte de Lisa Moore, que l'on peut qualifier d'autofiction, met en relation l'expérience du voyage et du séjour à l'étranger et l'expérience de la traduction, telle qu'elle peut être vécue par une autrice, en particulier quand elle ne connait pas la langue dans laquelle son oeuvre est traduite. Il s'agit d'une expérience de mise en danger et de déséquilibre, nécessaire pour rencontrer et découvrir l'Autre, et finalement se retrouver, augmentée, enrichie. Une expérience de l'Unheimlich, selon l'expression freudienne, qui se dit aussi, dans cet ouvrage, à travers les pullulantes figures du double et la tonalité discrètement fantastique de certaines pages.

01/2022

ActuaLitté

Histoire et Philosophiesophie

Thinking about Physics

Physical scientists are problem solvers. They are comfortable "doing" science: they find problems, solve them, and explain their solutions. Roger Newton believes that his fellow physicists might be too comfortable with their roles as solvers of problems. He argues that physicists should spend more time thinking about physics. If they did, he believes, they would become even more skilled at solving problems and "doing" science. As Newton points out in this thought-provoking book, problem solving is always influenced by the theoretical assumptions of the problem solver. Too often, though, he believes, physicists haven't subjected their assumptions to thorough scrutiny. Newton's goal is to provide a framework within which the fundamental theories of modem physics can be explored, interpreted, and understood. "Surely physics is more than a collection of experimental results, assembled to satisfy the curiosity of appreciative experts," Newton writes. Physics, according to Newton, has moved beyond the describing and naming of curious phenomena, which is the goal of some other branches of science. Physicists have spent a great part of the twentieth century searching for explanations of experimental findings. Newton agrees that experimental facts are vital to the study of physics, but only because they lead to the development of a theory that can explain them. Facts, he argues, should undergird theory. Newton's explanatory sweep is both broad and deep. He covers such topics as quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, field theory, thermodynamics, the role of mathematics in physics, and the concepts of probability and causality. For Newton the fundamental entity in quantum theory is the field, from which physicists can explain the particle-like and wave-like properties that are observed in experiments. He grounds his explanations in the quantum field. Although this is not designed as a standalone textbook, it is essential reading for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, and researchers. This is a clear, concise, up-to-date book about the concepts and theories that underlie the study of contemporary physics. Readers will find that they will become better-informed physicists and, therefore, better thinkers and problem solvers, too.

01/2000

ActuaLitté

Philosophie

«Phädon», or «On the Immortality of the Soul»

This is the first modern translation of Moses Mendelssohn's classic work of 1767, the Phädon. It includes Mendelssohn's own introduction and appendix, as well as footnotes and explanatory introduction by David Shavin. (Charles Cullen's translation of 1789 is the only other extant translation.) The "modern Socrates" of the German classical period, Mendelssohn has created a beautiful translation and elaboration of Plato's Phädo led to a revolution in thought, and a subsequent renaissance in Germany. The debt of the German classical period to ancient Greece is embodied in Mendelssohn's Phädon, as is the promise of the American Revolution. The translation and accompanying notes recapture Mendelssohn's unique marriage of depth of thought and breadth of appeal.

12/2006

ActuaLitté

Non classé

Henry VIII in History, Historiography and Literature

If this anthology on the literary appreciation of the life and times of Henry VIII can show how history, historiography and the history of literature are woven together as threads in a tapestry, if this book can show how varied the sources are from which historical images are fed, especially those of significant historical figures, then it will have surely fulfilled its purpose.

01/1993

ActuaLitté

Lecture 6-9 ans

L'énigme du sabre. Edition bilingue français-anglais

C'est dimanche et comme souvent Louise et Arthur viennent rendre visite à leur grand-mère. Ils aiment bien y aller, elle joue avec eux et leur raconte plein d'histoires. Mais aujourd'hui, elle n'a pas le temps et les deux cousins s'ennuient. Alors, ils décident de grimper dans le grenier où sont entreposés de vieux souvenirs et objets abandonnés. Ils y ont déjà été, mais maintenant ils sont plus grands et peut-être trouveront-ils un trésor qu'ils n'avaient pas aperçu, lors de la dernière visite. Après un long moment de recherche, dans un coin, Louise découvre une malle poussiéreuse. Les deux cousins, l'ouvrent et entrevoient un sabre avec une inscription. Une trouvaille qui va les mener jusqu'à l'école militaire de Saint Cyr de Coëtquidan, sur les traces de leur grand père. It's a Sunday and often as not, Louise and Arthur go and visit their grandmother. They like to go there, she plays with them and tells them lots of stories. But this Sunday she does not have the time, so the two cousins are bored. They decide to climb up into the attic, where old memorabilia and abandoned objects are stored. They have been there before, but now that they are taller, maybe they will find a treasure they did not see during their last visit. After a long moment of searching, in a corner, Louise discovers a dusty trunk. The two cousins open it and see a sword with an inscription. A discovery that will lead them to the military school at Saint Cyr de Coëtquidan, in the footsteps of their grandfather.

06/2018

ActuaLitté

Critique littéraire

To catch the sun in the water

Marie was born around the end of World War II in a small village near Chaveniac-Lafayette where General Lafayette lived. It is the mountainous region of Auvergne known as the heart of France. Take Marie's hand and she will guide you through her humble childhood. Through her eyes you will see what it was like to live in the country in France. With Marie's many brothers end sisters you will participate in hay making, harvesting... At this time, they used traditional methods and tools. Her parents will demonstrate the making of bread, butter and cheese... It's here that you meet Mathias, a boy her age, who becomes her best friend. Later, their love story unfolds... Just after the war, it was a time when the French countryside was populated with farmers that still lived in economic self-sufficiency. In the story, the author makes these peasants from depths of France come alive. The feeling, the candor, and the authenticity of the book will remind you of the Little House on the Prairie

07/2001

ActuaLitté

Non classé

Living in Two Worlds

This is a study of Singapore pastors' worldview & understanding of the epidemiology, symptomatology and management of possession behaviour. The pastors' accounts are compared with those from the scientific disciplines, and convergences and divergences noted. Factors shaping both the pastors' and the scientific discourses are examined. The pastors are shown to respond to competing scientific paradigms by reinforcing their two-worlds worldview. They either live mainly in the other world, or in each world at a time, or between the two worlds. Based on theological reflection focusing on epistemology, theodicy & cosmology, the author shows that the paradigm of living in both worlds simultaneously is the most appropriate pastoral response. The theological vision of the coexisting worlds and the pastoral task of unmasking and resisting evil in all its varieties and depths are then discussed.

05/1994

ActuaLitté

Littérature française

Adieu, la compagnie - Livre 1.5. 1

Avertissement Ce récit contient des spoilers sur le dénouement du livre 1, intitulé Jusqu'à la fin du monde. Il est donc recommandé de lire ce roman avant de vous lancer dans Adieu, la compagnie. A moins que vous aimiez commencer un livre par la dernière page. Dans ce cas, faites-vous plaisir ! Après avoir vu disparaitre au loin la camionnette et sa nouvelle famille, Peter était sûr qu'il ne les reverrait jamais plus. Mais parfois la chance est au rendez-vous. Et maintenant, il est prêt à aller retrouver son clan. Sauf que parfois, aussi, la chance n'est pas au rendez-vous. Et parfois, la seule issue, c'est de croire dur comme fer que tout ira bien, même dans les situations les plus inextricables. "I was consumed by this series for 3 days and could not put them down ! I have to say I really did not like Peter in the beginning of Until the End of the World but he definitely grew on me. . kind of like mold. When he stayed behind to save his friends, he redeemed himself in my eyes and I even cried for him. Of course, I was stunned and elated when he showed back up at the end of the book. So Long, Lollipops is a great novella about everything Peter went through during his time away from his misfit family. I love Sarah's ability to weave a story and make you feel like you are smack dab in the middle of the action. This book was definitely a nice addition the the series and I highly recommend it ! " AMAZON READER -

02/2023

ActuaLitté

Lectures graduées

Death of a Salesman

Willy Loman is a salesman who believes in the American Dream. He has spent his whole career on the road, going all over New England to sell products. At sixty, he is far from retiring : he needs to keep on working to earn money in order to pay his mortgage and loans. But he does not sell as much as he used to and struggles to make ends meet. His relationship with his elder son, Biff, is chaotic : he does not understand why his son does not live up to his expectations. Thus, they fight all the time. But at the heart of the tension between them lies a secret that only the two of them know... Death of a Salesman explores the depth and complexity of human relationships and shows what happens when a man gets lost in his own dreams.

08/2021

ActuaLitté

Informatique

Flash .Net. Dynamic content for designers with Flash remoting MX and ASP.NET

Flash.NET is the book which is your ticket to the future of application design. Two cutting-edge technologies, joined in union to provide the perfect marriage. Macromedia Flash MX really excels when it comes to presenting graphical, interactive content. It's a superb tool for building user interfaces and for presenting content that changes over time. Microsoft's NET Framework is a suite of tools for building powerful applications, both on and off the Web. Put them together, and a whole raft of new possibilities opens up for both: powerful logic and functionality with a rich, flexible interface on the front. Put them together, and you get Flash.NET. In this book, a team of expert designers and developers show you how to add dynamic NET content and turbocharged server-side functionality to your Flash MX projects. In short, you need this book if you're a Flash designer who wants a cutting-edge advantage and doesn't want to get left behind when ail the cool people have started utilizing the power of NET with their applications. To run the examples in this book for yourself, you'll need: • Microsoft Windows 2000/XP • Macromedia Flash MX • Microsoft NET Framework SDK (free download from Microsoft) The book also covers Macromedia Flash Remoting MX

11/2002

ActuaLitté

Histoire internationale

On the Border - The Otherness of God and the Multiplicity of the Religions

The Christian theology of religions at present faces a crisis. What precisely is the task of the theology of religions ? Does it merely consist in interpreting the non-Christian religions as steps, phases or contributions in the light of Christianity ? Has one from the theological side conceded the maximum to the non-Christian religions by acknowledging them as anonymous Christianity (Karl Rahner)? This study is an exploration on how one shall liberate the religion of the other from anonymity : how one shall leave the other with his/her own name. The model of thought employed in this study is gained through an analysis of the intercultural process of understanding, explained with instances from Africa and South America.

01/1994

ActuaLitté

Beaux arts

New worlds

"New Worlds" presents a selection of five outstanding nautical atlases known as portolan charts, or "portalans".These historic documents are the work of eminent scholars from Majorca, Lisbon, Le Havre, and Amsterdam. Cartographers by trade, and sometimes also skilled illuminators, they mapped what was the most probable imago mundi for their time, each exemplar crafting a fascinating visual chronicle. Jean-Yves Sarazin, head of Charts and Maps at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, scrutinizes thèse charts or atlases, and situates them in the great history of European discoveries and voyages from the early 14th to the late 17th century, from the Portuguese reconnaissance of the coasts of Africa, through the adventures of Columbus,Vespucci, and Magellan, to the Dutch voyages in the Pacific and Australia.The book's many colour reproductions are alive with picturesque details: camel caravans in the heart ofAsia, Portuguese andArab ships sailing in the Indian Ocean, wild beasts or chimaera, countless exotic plants, naval battles, and not least the frequent strangeness of the indigenous people.

10/2012

ActuaLitté

Mouvements artistiques

Frank Auerbach. The Charcoal Heads

Accompanying an exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, London, Frank Auerbach : The Charcoal Heads presents a remarkable series of hauntingly beautiful largescale drawings by the artist. The catalogue includes a new piece of writing on one of the drawings from critically acclaimed novelist Colm Tóibín. This catalogue explores one of Frank Auerbach's most remarkable bodies of work - a series of large-scale portrait heads made in charcoal, produced during his early years as a young artist in postwar London. Auerbach (b. 1931) spent months on each drawing, working and reworking them during numerous sessions with his sitters. This prolonged and vigorous process of creation is evident in the finished drawings, which are richly textured and layered. Auerbach would sometimes even break through the paper and patch it up before carrying on. His heads thus emerge from the darkness of the charcoal with burning vitality, born of an artistic as well as a physical struggle with the medium. The process of repeated creation and destruction, of which these images bear the visible scars, speaks profoundly of their times, as people rebuilt their lives after the ruination and upending of the war. The exhibition will be the first time Auerbach's extraordinary drawings, made in the 1950s and early 1960s, have been brought together as a comprehensive group. They will be shown together with a selection of paintings he made of the same sitters ; for the artist, painting and drawing have always been deeply entwined. The accompanying catalogue - by Deputy Head of The Courtauld Gallery, Barnaby Wright, and with an essay by one of the greatest contemporary voices in the English language, Colm Tóibín - is the first publication to explore in depth this magnificent series. Tóibín spent several hours one afternoon in front of Auerbach's Self-Portrait (1958), which features on the front cover of the book, looking closely and taking notes. His essay is an account of his experience and offers new insights into the work and the nature of self-portaiture.

03/2024

ActuaLitté

Critique littéraire

Ancient Greek by Its Translators

When not familiar with the language itself, most readers over the centuries have had access to the ancient Greek texts only or mostly through (Latin or vernacular) translations. Such an approach is not only indirect and mediated, but also distorted and even impoverishing : meaning then prevails over the linguistic form and substance of the texts themselves. What do later or modern readers read when they read translated texts written in an ancient so-called dead language ? They read a given meaning - sometimes unfaithful, often inaccurate - dictated by a genuine understanding, the blind continuation of tradition, or an untold hidden intention. The complex range of significances conveyed by meaning simultaneously reflects the time and space (called synchrony) of when and where a text has been translated, the historical learning and linguistic skills of the translators, as well as their ideas and style. As a contribution to the perennial debate about translation (mere literary transliteration vs. creative transposition), this volume aims at analyzing some striking cases of various (literary or not) texts translated from ancient Greek showing how much for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries aesthetics and ideology matter as much as - and often even more than - rigorous philology.

02/2022

ActuaLitté

Mouvements artistiques

The Artist Helen Coombe (1864–1937). The Tragedy of Roger Fry's Wife

This fascinating book presents the ? rst biography of Helen Coombe, a woman admired not only for her artistic skill, but also for her intellect, personality and wit. It reveals her family background and education, her place in the Arts and Crafts Movement and her outstanding artistic output. Helen Coombe was married to Roger Fry, an artist who was to achieve most fame as an art critic, historian and protagonist of the Bloomsbury Group. Soon after their marriage in 1896, she displayed symptoms of schizophrenia. After the ? rst episode, she temporarily resumed her career and had two children with Fry, but for the last thirty years of her life she was sectioned under the Lunacy Act and committed to an institution. This thoroughly researched book makes full use of archival material, including correspondence, diaries and medical records. It illuminates late Victorian and Edwardian society and culture. It throws new light, by no means all of it favourable, on Roger Fry. It is a 'must' for all interested in the Bloomsbury Group, art history, and the handling of mental illness at a time before ef ? cacious antipsychotic drugs were available.

11/2023

ActuaLitté

Anglais apprentissage

LA VIERGE ET LE GITAN : THE VIRGIN AND THE GIPSY

When the vicar's wife went off with a young and penniless man the scandal knew no bounds. Her two little girls were only seven and nine years old respectively. And the vicar was such a good husband. True, his hair was grey. But his moustache was dark, he was handsome, and still full of furtive passion for his unrestrained and beautiful wife. Why did she go ? Why did she burst away with such an éclat of revulsion, like a touch of madness ? Nobody gave any answer. Only the pious said she was a bad woman. While some of the good women kept silent. They knew. The two little girls never knew. Wounded, they decided that it was because their mother found them negligible. The ill wind that blows nobody any good swept away the vicarage family on its blast. Then lo and behold ! the vicar, who was somewhat distinguished as an essayist and a controversialist, and whose case had aroused sympathy among the bookish men, received the living of Papplewick. The Lord had tempered the wind of misfortune with a rectorate in the north country. [...] "Lorsque la femme du pasteur s'enfuit avec un jeune homme sans le sou, le scandale ne connut pas de bornes. Ses deux fillettes n'avaient que sept et neuf ans respectivement. Et le pasteur était un si bon mari. Certes, il avait les cheveux gris, mais sa moustache était restée noire, il était bel homme et brûlait encore d'une passion furtive pour sa belle épouse immodeste. Pourquoi était-elle partie ? Pourquoi s'était-elle arrachée à lui, dans un tel éclat de dégoût, comme un grain de folie ? Personne n'apporta de réponse. Seules, les dévotes dirent que c'était une mauvaise femme. Cependant que certaines femmes de bien gardaient le silence. Elles comprenaient, elles. Les deux fillettes ne comprirent jamais. Blessées, elles jugèrent que c'était parce que leur mère les tenait pour quantité négligeable. Le vent du malheur qui est censé être bon à quelque chose balaya de son souffle les habitants de la cure. Puis, miracle, le pasteur, qui avait une certaine éminence comme essayiste et polémiste, et dont la situation avait su émouvoir certains intellectuels, fut nommé à la paroisse de Papplewick. Le Seigneur avait adouci l'ouragan du malheur par un bénéfice de recteur dans le nord du pays. " [...]

02/1993

ActuaLitté

Musique classique

Songs of Love. 12 Romances. 12 Lieder. Soprano (tenor) and piano.

Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940), hitherto consigned to a footnote in musical history as Stravinsky's piano teacher, is undergoing rediscovery. A double graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatoire, she emerged as a virtuoso pianist and composer in the romantic tradition. She was associated with some of the great musicians of her day, including Balakirev and Auer. She performed in both Germany and the UK in the 1900s, but her career petered out after 1920. Songs of Love was first published in 1904. No evidence survives of any public performance in Kashperova's lifetime although it is very likely that they were performed at her regular 'musical evenings at home on Tuesdays' mentioned in her Memoirs. The transparency of the piano writing strongly suggests that she would accompany herself singing. Kashperova, by all accounts, possessed a fine voice, and in the summer of 1906 she decided 'to learn from the artistry', as she put it, of the tenor Raimond von Zur-Mühlen who was widely celebrated for having developed (with Clara Schumann) the Lieder-Abend tradition. His summer-schools on the Baltic coast were frequented by aspiring singers from all over Europe, even Japan and India. Kashperova herself was responsible for the poetic lyrics of Songs of Love (in both Russian and German), which may well have emerged from her own bittersweet experience of life and love ; she was not to marry until 1916 at the age of forty-four. That Kashperova is the author of both the music and the lyrics of Songs of Love would suggest that they express very personal sentiments. Instrumentation : soprano (tenor) and piano

12/2023

ActuaLitté

Anglais apprentissage

THE CANTERBURY TALES. Avec cassette audio

'In April when the sweet showers fall... then people want to go on pilgrimages.' A group of pilgrims travelling from London to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury decide that each traveller should tell a story. The Knight tells a tale of high romance. The Pardoner tells a story of death. And the Wife of Bath tells the story of her five husbands and her fight to control the men in her life. But The Tales end with the story of the perfect marriage and how, if we are generous to one another, we can find the perfect society. A selection of stories from Chaucer's masterpiece depicting life in fourteenth century England is presented here in modern English. There is a wide range of activities and special informative sections on Chaucer and his times. The accompanying cassette contains the complete story and the extra listening activities.

06/1999

ActuaLitté

Tourisme étranger

Moroccan tracks Volume 11. The sagho djebel

The Sagho djebel is the eastern extension of the Anti-Atlas, a volcanic mountain with granitic mamelons, basaltic organs, chaos of black shales, pink sandstones... at the gates of the Sahara. As far as the eye can see, large wild, arid spaces. A desolate land made for the lonely DPM. And for a thousand miles around, silence is the only companion. Absolute plenitude and the desire to take to the track. From flat expanses to rolling hills, from sharp relief to steep canyons : pure, original nature. The character is strong, rustic but the heart is soft. The colours are soft and gentle. Ochre, pink, brown, violet, the colour chart stretches in a gradation of shimmering pastels, sometimes accompanied by an overwhelming heat. Eldorado in the heart of the desert, rare are the oases ; modest green spots in the infinitely large, they are the reminders that we are on African soil. The wild charm of the Sagho is due to its exceptional geology : high cliffs and steep peaks, tabular escarpments and deep canyons in the middle of which caravans of camels and mules circulate. When you arrive on these immense plateaus, the lunar horizon is so vast that you want to go everywhere at once to see if it is really as beautiful elsewhere ! The Sagho also surprises by the richness of its lights : limpid like those of the nearby Sahara, or sometimes in half-tone, as in the neighbouring Dades valley. The Sagho is also the Morocco of the last Berber nomads, descendants of the ancient lords Aït Atta. In autumn, after leaving the snows of the High Atlas, they set up their dark wool tents on the slopes of the jebel until spring. They can neither read nor write, but they are sure of their way through the Atlas Mountains and the Moroccan desert. In the Sagho, they have built houses of unbaked stone, dug wells, planted almond trees, grown wheat, barley and various vegetables. Others built herds of goats and sheep, and caravans of camels. Most of them are now sedentary, semi-nomadic or nomadic...

08/2022