RodopiUSA / Canada
Tijnmuiden 7248 East 44th Street - 2nd floor
1046 AK AmsterdamNew York, NY 10017
The NetherlandsUSA
Tel. ++ 31 (0)20 - 611 48 21Tel: 1-800-225-3998
Fax ++ 31 (0)20 - 447 29 79Fax: 1-800-853-3881
New Publications
2011/2
New book series
Titleissne-issn
Critical Posthumanisms1872-09431879-5803
Experimental Practices1873-87881879-5943
Life sciences, ethics and democracy2211-44162211-4424
Studies in Environmental Humanities2211-58462211-5854
American Culture, Autobiography, 20th Century, Flight History
March 2011
Denice Turner
Writing the Heavenly Frontier.
Metaphor, Geography, and Flight Autobiography in America 1927-1954.
Amsterdam/New York, NY, 2011. X, 221 pp.
(Costerus NS 187)
ISBN: 978-90-420-3296-5Paper € 46,-/US$ 67,-
ISBN: 978-90-420-3297-2E-book € 46,-/US$ 67,-
Writing the Heavenly Frontiercelebrates the early voices of the air as it examines the sky as a metaphorical and
political landscape. While flight histories usually focus on the physical dangers of early aviation, this book introduces
the figurative liabilities of ascension. Early pilot-writers not only grappled with an unwieldy machine; they also
grappled with poetics that were extremely selective. Tropes that cast Charles Lindbergh as the transcendent hero of the
new millennium were the same ones that kept women, black Americans, and indigenous peoples imaginatively tethered
to the ground. The most popular flight autobiographies in the United States posited a hero who rose from the
mundane to the miraculous; and yet the most startling autobiographies point out the social factors that limited or
forbade vertical movement—both literally and figuratively. A survey of pilot writing, the book will appeal to flight
enthusiasts and people interested in American autobiography and culture. But it will also appeal strongly to readers
interested in the poetics and politics of place.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Writing the Heavenly Frontier
The Mundane to the Miraculous
Imaginative Geographies and the Invention of the Aerial Subject
From Pilot to Poet: The Transformation of Lindbergh
Polar Frontiers and Public Fictions: Skyward with Richard E. Byrd
The Colors of the Earth and the Sanctity of Space
Autobiographical Demands and Historical Realities
Jimmy Collins and the Tethers of Materiality
Flight as Emancipation: William J. Powell’s Dream of Black Wings
Masculine Spaces and Women Flyers
The Flying Boudoir
The Sound of Wings: Autobiographies by Amelia Earhart
Louise Thaden and the Tethers of Motherhood
Flight as Upward Mobility: Jackie Cochran and the Stars at Noon
Aerial Geographies and Imperial Discourses
Transcendence Abroad
Cultivating the Garden: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and the Noble Struggle
Escaping the Wilderness: Anne Morrow Lindbergh and the Epic Journey
Epilogue: Late Century Metaphors: Larry Walters and the Rich Man’s Wedding Cake
Index
American Literature, 20th Century, Spanish History, Chaos Theory
March 2011
Mónica Calvo-Pascual
Chaos and Madness.
The Politics of Fiction in Stephen Marlowe’s Historical Narratives.
Amsterdam/New York, NY, 2011. VII, 211 pp.
(Costerus NS 188)
Paper € 44,-/US$ 64,-
ISBN: 978-90-420-3302-3E-book € 44,-/US$ 64,-
In the 1950s prolific U.S. fiction writer Stephen Marlowe became a cult author for lovers ofnoirfiction mainly for
hisDrumbeatseries, which present his best-known character: private eye Chester Drum. Yet, the academia
never paid much attention to his multifaceted, extensiveoeuvre.Chaos and Madnessis the first volume
offering a critical approach to Marlowe’s riveting historical novels. Their relevance in the field of literary studies
derives from their well-wrought structure and captivating prose as well as from their portrayal of remote European
history – a distinctive feature that makes Marlowe a unique figure in the North American trend of historiographic
metafiction.
Chaos and Madnessprovides a comprehensive narratological and ideological analysis of three novels in which
Marlowe deals with Spanish history. Preceded by an in-depth if reader-friendly theoretical chapter that traces the
evolution of the historical novel as a genre, Calvo-Pascual’s meticulous investigation into Marlowe’s fiction proves
compelling for anyone interested in contemporary American fiction, in Spanish history, or in the interaction of
metafiction and the scientific discourse of chaos theory.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
History and the Novel: An Overview
Mastering the Art: The Historical Novel and Local Color
Between Magic and Madness: A Portrait of Spain and Its Neuroses
Postmodern Critique and the Hand of the Historian
Chaos, Complexity and Interpretation
Beyond Reference: Historiographic Metafiction Impinged by Science Fiction
The Novel Never Ends: On Alternative Worlds, Jewish Connections and Infinite Regress
Concluding Remarks
Appendix I
Appendix II
Bibliography
Index
American Literature, Word and Music, Avant-Garde, Postmodernism, 20th Century
April 2011
Edward S. Robinson
Shift Linguals.
Cut-Up Narratives from William S. Burroughs to the Present.
Amsterdam/New York, NY, 2011. XIII, 289 pp.
(Postmodern Studies 46)
ISBN: 978-90-420-3303-0Paper € 60,-/US$ 87,-
ISBN: 978-90-420-3304-7E-book € 60,-/US$ 87,-
Shift Lingualstraces a history of the cut-up method, the experimental writing practice discovered by Brion
Gysin and made famous by Beat author William S. Burroughs. From the groundbreaking works of Dada and Surrealism
that paved the way for Burroughs’ breakthrough, through the countercultural explosion of the 1960s,Shift Linguals
explores the evolution of the cut-ups within the theoretical frameworks of postmodernism and the avant-garde to
arrive at the present and the digital age.
Some 50 years on from the first ‘discovery’ of the cut-ups in 1959, it is only now that we are truly able to observe the
method’s impact, not only on literature, but on music and culture in a broader sense. The result of over nine years of
research, this study represents the first sustained and detailed analysis of the cut-ups as a narrative form. With
explorations of the works of Burroughs, Gysin, Kathy Acker, and John Giorno, it also contains the first critical writing
on the works of Claude Pélieu and Carl Weissner in English, as well as the first in-depth discussion of the writing of
Stewart Home to date.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction. Before Burroughs: The Prehistory of the Cut-Ups
The Origin and Theory of the Cut-Ups
Early Successors: Pélieu, Giorno, Weissner
Inter-Section. The Mutations of Burroughs: Revising the Cut-Up Technique
Kathy Acker: Plagiarism and Adaptation – From Cut-Up to Cut-and-Paste
Stewart Home: Pulp, Parody, Repetition and the Cut-Up Renaissance
Further Mutations: The Cut-Ups in the New Millennium
Works Cited
Index
Baltic Studies, History, 20th Century, Political Identity
April 2011
Edited by Martyn Housden and David J. Smith
Forgotten Pages in Baltic History.
Diversity and Inclusion.
Amsterdam/New York, NY, 2011. VIII, 332 pp.
(On the Boundary of Two Worlds: Identity, Freedom, and Moral Imagination in the Baltics 30)
ISBN: 978-90-420-3315-3Paper € 68,-/US$ 99,-
ISBN: 978-90-420-3316-0E-book € 68,-/US$ 99,-
The years from 1918 to 1945 remain central to European History. It was a breath-taking time during which the very best
and very worst attributes of Mankind were on display. In the euphoria of peace which followed the end of the First
World War, the Baltic States emerged as independent forces on the world stage, participating in thrilling experiments in
national and transnational governance. Later, following economic collapse and in the face of rising totalitarianism
among even Europe’s most cultured nations, Baltic communities succumbed to nationalism too. During wartime, Baltic
peoples became both victims and, sometimes, victimisers. Ultimately their victimhood lasted until the end of the Cold
War, yielding consequences still discernible at the start of the twenty first century.
Taking the period 1918 to 1945 as pivotal, this collection of essays examines some of the key themes in Baltic History
as they are emerging today. These include appreciations of identity, autonomy and the rights of national minorities; the
everyday and social foundations of international security; and the importance of historical memory to popular and
political identities.
Table of Contents
Martyn Housden and David J. Smith: Introduction
Frank Nesemann: A Special Baltic German Understanding about Finland’s Autonomy in the Russian Empire? Count Fabian Steinheil as
the Governor-General of the Grand Duchy of Finland (1810–1823)
Rimantas Miknys and Darius Staliūnas: The “Old” and “New” Lithuanians: Collective Identity Types in Lithuania at the Turn of the
Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Andrejs Plakans: Regional Identity in Latvia: The Case of Latgale
Marko Lehti: The Dancing Conference of Bulduri: A Clash of Alternative Regional Futures
Martyn Housden: Securing the Lives of Ordinary People. Baltic Perspectives on the Work of the League of Nations
Michael Garleff: The Historiography of Paul Schiemann
Jörg Hackmann: Werner Hasselblatt on Cultural Autonomy: A Forgotten Manuscript
Martyn Housden and David J. Smith: A Matter of Uniqueness? Paul Schiemann, Ewald Ammende and Mikhail Kurchinskii Compared
Valters Ščerbinskis: Leaders, Divided Society and Crisis. The Coup d’État of 1934 in Latvia, its Causes and Consequences
Joachim Tauber: The View from the Top: German Soldiers and Lithuania in the Two World Wars
Erwin Oberländer: Soviet Genocide in Latvia? Conflicting Cultures of Remembrance of Stalin’s Policy, 1940–1953
Eva-Clarita Pettai: The Convergence of Two Worlds: Historians and Emerging Histories in the Baltic States
David J. Smith: “You’ve got to know History!” Remembering and Forgetting the Past in the Present-Day Baltic
Leonidas Donskis: The Unbearable Lightness of Incessant Change: The Predicaments of Modernity in Lithuania
Contributors
Baltic Studies, Twentieth Century History, Politics
April 2011
Tina Tamman
The last ambassador.
August Torma, soldier, diplomat, spy.
Amsterdam/New York, NY, 2011. XVII, 251 pp. (Illustrated)
(On the Boundary of Two Worlds: Identity, Freedom, and Moral Imagination in the Baltics 29)
ISBN: 978-90-420-3313-9Paper € 54,-/US$ 78,-
ISBN: 978-90-420-3314-6E-book € 54,-/US$ 78,-
Estonian ambassador August Torma had a protracted and unconventional relationship with the British Foreign Office.
Appointed to the Court of St James’s in 1934, Torma lost his government in 1940 when the Soviet Union overran his
country, but continued to live at the legation in London and visit the Foreign Office. Gradually, however, his diplomatic
standing was eroded because of Soviet demands. For Torma there was the very real fear that Britain might recognise
the Soviet occupation of his homeland and he continued to reiterate his faith in international law in the hope that
Estonia’s stolen independence would be restored one day. He died in 1971, twenty years before the country regained
its lost freedom. This book is a biography of Torma who had a remarkable life: he assisted in the creation of the
Estonian state in 1918–20, worked for it during the inter-war period and struggled to keep its cause alive during and
after the Second World War; it is also a study of the awkward relationship between the ambassador and the Foreign
Office that lasted for more than three decades.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
David J Smith and John Hiden: Foreword: August Torma and the importance of small states
Introduction
The making of an “officer-diplomat” (1895–1930)
First World War and British intervention
Estonian military representative in Kaunas
Head of Foreign Ministry’s political department
Estonian relations with Russia
Estonian-Russian prisoner and spy exchanges
Estonia on the fringes of Europe (1931–1939)
Difficulties in Baltic cooperation
Estonian minister in London
Estonia in crisis (1939–1940)
Estonian-Russian mutual assistance pact
Russian-Finnish war and Estonian neutrality
Soviet occupation begins on 17 June 1940
Keep calm and carry on (1940–1944)
The question of an Estonian government
Baltic envoys demoted
Campaign for a fair deal for small nations
Maintaining the London legation (1944–1971)
Estonian refugees
Britain accords partial recognition to Soviet annexation
The London legation’s financial problems
The KGB identifies Torma as a British agent
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, Literary Theory
February 2011
Edited by Liviu Papadima, David Damrosch and Theo D’haen
The Canonical Debate Today.
Crossing Disciplinary and Cultural Boundaries.
Amsterdam/New York, NY, 2011. 355 pp.
(Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft 149)
ISBN: 978-90-420-3281-1Paper € 71,-/US$ 103,-
ISBN: 978-90-420-3282-8E-book € 71,-/US$ 103,-
The Canonical Debate Today. Crossing Disciplinary and Cultural Boundariesre-enacts the canonical issues
current in the ’90s from a new perspective, triggered by the changes that occurred worldwide in understanding the
concepts and the status of theory, in the legacy of literary studies within the field of humanities, and in cultural
production and reception. During the last decade discussions of globalization mostly took into account its impact on
the status of academic disciplines such as comparative literature or cultural studies, or the reconfiguration of national
literary fields. These debates do not dispense with canonicity altogether but make it more urgent and necessary.
Canons seen as sets of norms or regulatory practices are central to the formation of disciplines, to the recognition and
transmission of values, even to the articulation of discourses on identity on various levels.
The three sections of the volume deal with three interrelated subjects: theories and applicable contexts of the canon
(Canons and Contexts); recent transformations in the area of literary studies in response to the task of canon
formation (Reshaping Literary Studies); and the challenges brought to the understanding of the canon(s) by
the current process of re-defining literary and cultural boundaries (Transgressing Literary and Cultural
Boundaries).
This volume will appeal to researchers, teachers, and students of cultural studies, comparative literature, and literary
theory.
Table of Contents
Liviu Papadima:Introduction: A Can(n)on in Need Is a Can(n)on Indeed
Canons and Contexts
Theo D’haen: How Many Canons Do We Need? World Literature, National Literature, European Literature
Rodica Mihăilă: Opening the Boundaries of National Literatures: From a Multicultural to a Transnational Literary Canon. The American
Challenge
William Franke: The Canon Question and the Value of Theory: Towards a New (Non-) Concept of Universality
Caius Dobrescu: European Literary Canon-Building as Federalist Phenomenology
Delia Ungureanu: What to Do about Constructing the Literary Canon: Canonicity and Canonical Criteria
Adina Ciugureanu: From Art to Literature: Towards a Counter-Canonical Canon?
Simona Drăgan:Epistemeand Literary Canon. A Parallel between Michel Foucault and Harold Bloom
Zakaria Fatih: The Literary Canon and its Religious Precursor
Frédéric Canovas: Against the Canon: Jean Cocteau or the Rise of the Gay Cultural Icon
Magda Răduţă: The Day Before, the Day After. Canonic and Self-Legitimation Changes in the Romanian Literature Before and After the
Fall of the Communist Regime
Reshaping Literary Studies
David Damrosch: Comparative World Literature
Dumitru Radu Popa: Globalization and Comparative Literature Revisited – An Analytical Survey
Oana Fotache: ‘Global Literature’ – In Search of a Definition
Mihaela Irimia: The Classic Modern Canon and the Disciplinary Separation
Stefan H. Uhlig: Historiography or Rhetoric? A Road (Not) Taken in the Evolution of the Literary Field
Transgressing Literary and Cultural Boundaries
Elaine Martin: ‘Ceci tuera cela’? Literary Canons and the Challenge of Visual Imagery and Popular Culture
Ion Manolescu: Popular Culture and the Romanian Postmodernist Canon. The Case of Comics’ Authors
Alexandra Vrânceanu: National versus World Literature Seen as a Confrontation between Modernism and Balkanism
Ileana Orlich: Modernism and the Male World: The Crisis of Masculinity inThe Bed of Procrustes
Roumiana L. Stantcheva: To Label, to Compare, to Appropriate… As a Strategy of Foreign Literary Criticism
Cristina Balinte: National Enlisting / European Rallying. Access Criteria to the Continental Space for Romanian Literature
Ioana Both: A Romanian Product Refused for Export: Mihai Eminescu, National Poet
Mădălina Vatcu: Openings of the Romanian Poetry Anthologies Translated into French. Canonical Variations during the Communist
Period
About the Authors
Comparative Literature, Transnational Studies, Socio-Cultural Studies, Politics
April 2011
Edited by Pier Paolo Frassinelli, Ronit Frenkel and David Watson
Traversing Transnationalism.
The Horizons of Literary and Cultural Studies.
Amsterdam/New York, NY, 2011. VI, 280 pp.
(Textxet. Studies in Comparative Literature 62)
ISBN: 978-90-420-3307-8Paper € 57,-/US$ 83,-
ISBN: 978-90-420-3308-5E-book € 57,-/US$ 83,-
The recent dramatic expansion of the field of transnational studies has reshaped discourses across the humanities and
social sciences and created the opportunity for extensive multi-regional exchanges.Traversing Transnationalism
intervenes into these developments by offering essays from scholars working both within and outside the
metropolitan “centre”, and by reorientating the axis of research towards geopolitical and cultural formations located
beyond the normal sites of production of globalization discourse. This interdisciplinary collection has a broad scope: it
engages directly with a variety of literary and non-literary texts, diverse socio-cultural configurations, and the politics,
theorization and aesthetics of transnationalism. It is of interest to both readers interested in how transnational
discourses have been articulated in specific contexts and circumstances, and readers looking for an intervention into
debates on transnationalism that draws attention to its complex, plural character.
Contents
Pier Paolo Frassinelli, Ronit Frenkel and David Watson: Traversing Transnationalism
National Borders/Transnational Subjects
Pamila Gupta: Friction and Fragments: Local Cosmopolitanism in Postcolonial Mozambique
Amanda Lagerkvist: Velvet and Violence: Performing the Mediatized Memory of Shanghai’s Futurity
Bianca Kai Isaki: Towards an Aesthetic Politics of Transnational History: Asian Americans in a Decolonizing Hawai‘I
Sang Hea Kil: Immigration and “Operations”: The Militarization (and Medicalization) of the US-Mexico Border
Transnational Literary Routes
Shane Graham: “I had forgotten a continent”: Cosmopolitan Memory in Derek Walcott’sOmeros
Ronit Frenkel: Local Transnationalisms: Ishtiyaq Shukri’sThe Silent Minaretand South Africa in the Global Imaginary