A Village Life

A Village Life PDF

Author: Louise Glück

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2014-07-08

Total Pages: 80

ISBN-13: 1466875631

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A Village Life, Louise Glück's eleventh collection of poems, begins in the topography of a village, a Mediterranean world of no definite moment or place: All the roads in the village unite at the fountain. Avenue of Liberty, Avenue of the Acacia Trees— The fountain rises at the center of the plaza; on sunny days, rainbows in the piss of the cherub. —from "tributaries" Around the fountain are concentric circles of figures, organized by age and in degrees of distance: fields, a river, and, like the fountain's opposite, a mountain. Human time superimposed on geologic time, all taken in at a glance, without any undue sensation of speed. Glück has been known as a lyrical and dramatic poet; since Ararat, she has shaped her austere intensities into book-length sequences. Here, for the first time, she speaks as "the type of describing, supervising intelligence found in novels rather than poetry," as Langdon Hammer has written of her long lines—expansive, fluent, and full—manifesting a calm omniscience. While Glück's manner is novelistic, she focuses not on action but on pauses and intervals, moments of suspension (rather than suspense), in a dreamlike present tense in which poetic speculation and reflection are possible.

Scenes from Village Life

Scenes from Village Life PDF

Author: Amos Oz

Publisher: HMH

Published: 2011-10-18

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0547519419

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Linked short stories set in a town in the midst of change: “One of the most powerful books you will read about present-day Israel.” —The Jewish Chronicle “‘Scenes from Village Life’ is like a symphony, its movements more impressive together than in isolation. There is, in each story, a particular chord or strain; but taken together, these chords rise and reverberate, evoking an unease so strong it’s almost a taste in the mouth . . . ‘Scenes from Village Life’ is a brief collection, but its brevity is a testament to its force. You will not soon forget it.” —The New York Times Book Review Strange things are happening in Tel Ilan, a century-old pioneer village. A disgruntled retired politician complains to his daughter that he hears the sounds of digging at night. Could it be their tenant, that young Arab? But then the young Arab hears the digging sounds too. And where has the mayor’s wife gone, vanished without a trace, her note saying “Don’t worry about me”? Around the village, the veneer of new wealth—gourmet restaurants, art galleries, a winery—barely conceals the scars of war and of past generations: disused air-raid shelters, rusting farm tools, and trucks left wherever they stopped. Scenes From Village Life is a memorable novel in stories by the inimitable Amos Oz: a brilliant, unsettling glimpse of what goes on beneath the surface of everyday life. Translated from Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange “Finely wrought . . . Oz writes characterizations that are subtle but surgically precise, rendering this work a powerfully understated treatment of an uneasy Israeli conscience.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Informed by everything, weighed down by nothing, this is an exquisite work of art.” —The Scotsman

The Girls

The Girls PDF

Author: John Bowen

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2023-11-14

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1946022713

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A wry, macabre tale of simple living, brutal murder, and a reasonably happy couple. In their lovely old Cotswolds village, Janet and Susan are known to all the other villagers as “the girls”—a fixture. Partners in love and work, co-proprietors of a picturesque shop specializing in the work of local artisans and farmers, they lead an enviable, enviably settled life. So it’s no catastrophe when Sue, the younger of the two, feels the need to take a month to travel on her own, leaving Jan alone to run their stall at the Inland Waterways Rally Craft Fair. Nor is it any real threat when a kindly gay man named Alan lends Jan a hand in Sue’s absence, or when the two wind up sharing some wine and even a bunk for the night. If Jan turns out to be pregnant some weeks after Sue’s return to the nest, what’s that but cause for joy? And when Alan happens to come visiting, by and by, finding the delighted girls raising a beautiful baby boy, who can blame him for wanting to share in a small part of their bliss? Yes, theirs is an enviable, enviably settled life. And the girls will defend it with every tool at their disposal.

Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia

Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia PDF

Author: Olʹga Petrovna Semenova-Ti︠a︡n-Shanskai︠a︡

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9780253347978

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Ò . . . a marvelous source for the social history of Russian peasant society in the years before the revolution. . . . The translation is superb.Ó ÑSteven Hoch Ò . . . one of the best ethnographic portraits that we have of the Russian village. . . . a highly readable text that is an excellent introduction to the world of the Russian peasantry.Ó ÑSamuel C. Ramer Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia provides a unique firsthand portrait of peasant family life as recorded by Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, an ethnographer and painter who spent four years at the turn of the twentieth century observing the life and customs of villagers in a central Russian province. Unusual in its awareness of the rapid changes in the Russian village in the late nineteenth century and in its concentration on the treatment of women and children, SemyonovaÕs ethnography vividly describes courting rituals, marriage and sexual practices, childbirth, infanticide, child-rearing practices, the lives of women, food and drink, work habits, and the household economy. In contrast to a tradition of rosy, romanticized descriptions of peasant communities by Russian upper-class observers, Semyonova gives an unvarnished account of the harsh living conditions and often brutal relationships within peasant families.

Chinese Village Life Today

Chinese Village Life Today PDF

Author: Gonçalo Santos

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2021-08-22

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 0295747390

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China has undergone a remarkable process of urbanization, but a significant portion of its citizens still live in rural villages. To gain better access to jobs, health care, and consumer goods, villagers often travel or migrate to cities, and that cyclical transit and engagement with new technoscientific and medical practices is transforming village life. In this thoughtful ethnography, Gonçalo Santos paints a richly detailed portrait of one rural township in Guangdong Province, north of the industrialized Pearl River Delta region. Unlike previous studies of rural-urban relations and migration in China, Chinese Village Life Today—based on Santos’s more than twenty years of field research—starts from a rural community’s point of view rather than the perspective of major urban centers. Santos considers the intimate choices of village families in the face of larger forces of modernization, showing how these negotiations shape the configuration of daily village life, from marriage, childbirth, and childcare to personal hygiene and public sanitation. Santos also outlines the advantages of a rural existence, including a degree of autonomy over family planning and community life that is rare in urban China. Filled with vivid anecdotes and keen observations, this book presents a fresh perspective on China’s urban-rural divide and a grounded theoretical approach to rural transformation.

Village Life in Hong Kong

Village Life in Hong Kong PDF

Author: James L. Watson

Publisher: Chinese University of Hong Kong Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13:

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This book is a collection of revised articles based on the authors'fieldwork on two villages in Yuen Long, a rural district of Hong Kong. It presents the authors'observations and their interpretation of life in a southern Chinese village under the process of urbanization.

Silent Village

Silent Village PDF

Author: Robert Pike

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2021-04-30

Total Pages: 510

ISBN-13: 0750997605

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'Based on eye-witness accounts, Robert Pike's moving book vividly depicts the lives of the villagers who were caught up in the tragedy of Oradour-sur-Glane and brings their experiences to our attention for the first time.' - Hanna Diamond, author of Fleeing Hitler On 10 June 1944, four days after Allied forces landed in Normandy, the picturesque village of Oradour-sur-Glane in the rural heart of France was destroyed by an armoured SS Panzer division. Six hundred and forty-three men, women and children were murdered in the nation's worst wartime atrocity. Today, Oradour is remembered as a 'martyred village' and its ruins are preserved, but the stories of its inhabitants lie buried under the rubble of the intervening decades. Silent Village gathers the powerful testimonies of survivors in the first account of Oradour as it was both before the tragedy and in its aftermath. A lost way of life is vividly recollected in this unique insight into the traditions, loves and rivalries of a typical village in occupied France. Why this peaceful community was chosen for extermination has remained a mystery. Putting aside contemporary hearsay, Nazi rhetoric and revisionist theories, in this updated third edition Robert Pike returns to the archival evidence to narrate the tragedy as it truly happened – and give voice to the anguish of those left behind.

If It Takes a Village, Build One

If It Takes a Village, Build One PDF

Author: Malaak Compton-Rock

Publisher: Crown Archetype

Published: 2010-04-06

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0307590062

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A must have book for anyone has ever wanted to make a difference in the world. ________________________________________________ Service is the rent we pay for living" says preeminent children's advocate Marian Wright Edelman and this is the motto by which Malaak Compton Rock, dedicated humanitarian and wife of comedian Chris Rock, lives her life. From a childhood grounded in the importance of giving back to her work in public relations at The U.S. Fund for UNICEF to becoming a full-time mother and humanitarian, Malaak's life has fully embodied this sentiment. Part memoir, part practical guide, If It Takes a Village, Build One offers readers insightful advice on everything from how to find just the right volunteer opportunity, how to get kids involved in a life of service, how to research charities, and even how to start a nonprofit, as Malaak did several years ago. All of this practical wisdom is grounded in inspirational anecdotes about her own experience with service, including her work with Katrina rebuilding and her recent brainchild, Journey for Change: Empowering Youth Through Global Service, a program for at-risk kids from Bushwick, Brooklyn, which takes teens on a two week service mission to South Africa to volunteer and experience the world. The book also features interviews with other well known humanitarians, like PR powerhouse Terrie M. Williams, activist Bobby Shriver, and journalist Soledad O'Brien and engaging sidebars with interesting facts about service and nuggets of advice. At the end of the narrative readers will find a compendium of information including Malaak's favorite charities, unique service ideas, and suggested reading and web resources, which will make this a book to be visited time and time again. Far from being preachy or sanctimonious, Malaak's warm voice reminds us all that giving back is ultimately easier and infinitely more fulfilling than we thought it could be. Warm, honest, and accessible, If it Takes a Village, Build One will be the must-have book (and perfect gift!) for aspiring do-gooders.