representations of the body in middle english biblical drama combines epistemological enquiry, gender theory and foucauldian concepts to investigate the body as a useful site for studying power, knowledge and truth. intertwining the conceptualizations of violence and the performativity of gender identity and roles, estella ciobanu argues that studying violence in drama affords insights into the cultural and social aspects of the later middle ages. the text investigates these biblical plays through the perspective of the devil and offers a unique lens that exposes medieval disquiets about christian teachings and the discourse of power. through detailed primary source analysis and multidisciplinary scholarship, ciobanu constructs a text that interrogates the significance of performance far beyond the stage.

in this fascinating reappraisal of the non-literary drama of the late 19th - early 20th century, christopher fitz-simon discloses a unique world of plays, players and producers in metropolitan theatres in ireland and other countries where ireland was viewed as a source of extraordinary topics at once contemporary and comfortably remote: revolution, eviction, famine, agrarian agitation, political assassination.

the form was the fashionable one of melodrama, yet irish melodrama was of a particular kind replete with hidden messages, and the language was far more allusive, colourful and entertaining than that of its english equivalent. there was much diversity, as shown in plays as different as murray & shine's an irish gentleman, hubert o'grady's the priest hunter, j.w.whitbread's the victoria cross and edward selden's mckenna's flirtation.

the material and intellectual presence of egypt is at the heart of western culture, religion and art from antiquity to the present. this volume aims to provide a long term and interdisciplinary perspective on egypt and its mnemohistory, taking theories on objects and their agency as its main point of departure. the central questions the book addresses are why, from the first millennium bc onwards, things and concepts egyptian are to be found in such a great variety of places throughout european history and how we can account for their enduring impact over time. by taking a radically object-oriented perspective on this question, this book is also a major contribution to current debates on the agency of artefacts across archaeology, anthropology and art history.

these essays by critics, theorists and artists explore the allusive nexus of the dark in contemporary mexican literature and visual culture. they chart the poetics of 'negrura-oscuridad' in creative media during decades of deepening crisis marked by the high-profile staging of atrocities, the re-emergence of an ironic noir aesthetic and the consolidation of forensically inspired art-making.

in the wake of walter benjamin's 'unfinished' thinking structures, this volume operates through contiguous directions, transitions and regressions, incorporating images as part of the discussion of a ruinous visuality. its polycentric mesh covers a wide range of art, writing, photography and film: from ritual uses of the 'darksome' and its legacies in pre-hispanic cultures to colonial religious iconography of penitential blindness; from narco-noir in the novels of roberto bola o and yuri herrera to techno-noir in dystopian border films; from the quotidian taxonomy of horror expurgated in art practice to the haunted 'other darkness' of the photographic blink. it also explores how we can contest the threat of dark ecology and 'horrorism' through sense expansion within new media and by positing fruitful blind spots in text and art.

this is a book of insight and imagination. it is a literary tour de force, where 28 irish plays are examined and their rich cultural context exposed in a way that educates and excites. to read anne o'reilly's analysis leaves one longing to return to theatre and to play. while the text is utterly readable, the ideas shared are profound.

the theme 'journey' is common in every play but it is explored from different angles; we glimpse understandings of the journey in search of soul, of self, of healing, of sacred meaning, of the possible, even of transformation.　

one of the captivating aspects of this book is that, while it's about plays and their stories, it also challenges the reader to rethink and re-imagine his/her own story. it is indeed a literary work of art. -ann louise gilligan