Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered

Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered PDF

Author: Peter S. Wells

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2009-08-24

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0393335399

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A rich and surprising look at the robust European culture that thrived after the collapse of Rome. The barbarians who destroyed the glory that was Rome demolished civilization along with it, and for the next four centuries the peasants and artisans of Europe barely held on. Random violence, mass migration, disease, and starvation were the only ways of life. This is the picture of the Dark Ages that most historians promote. But archaeology tells a different story. Peter Wells, one of the world’s leading archaeologists, surveys the archaeological record to demonstrate that the Dark Ages were not dark at all. The kingdoms of Christendom that emerged starting in the ninth century sprang from a robust, previously little-known European culture, albeit one that left behind few written texts.

Waiting for the Barbarians

Waiting for the Barbarians PDF

Author: J. M. Coetzee

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2017-01-03

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 1524705470

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A modern classic by Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee. His latest novel, The Schooldays of Jesus, is now available from Viking. Late Essays: 2006-2016 will be available January 2018. For decades the Magistrate has been a loyal servant of the Empire, running the affairs of a tiny frontier settlement and ignoring the impending war with the barbarians. When interrogation experts arrive, however, he witnesses the Empire's cruel and unjust treatment of prisoners of war. Jolted into sympathy for their victims, he commits a quixotic act of rebellion that brands him an enemy of the state. J. M. Coetzee's prize-winning novel is a startling allegory of the war between opressor and opressed. The Magistrate is not simply a man living through a crisis of conscience in an obscure place in remote times; his situation is that of all men living in unbearable complicity with regimes that ignore justice and decency. Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall, Bridge of Spies), Ciro Guerra and producer Michael Fitzgerald are teaming up to to bring J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians to the big screen.

Barbarian: Explorations of a Western Concept in Theory, Literature, and the Arts

Barbarian: Explorations of a Western Concept in Theory, Literature, and the Arts PDF

Author: Markus Winkler

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-07-31

Total Pages: 501

ISBN-13: 3476046117

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Since Greek antiquity, the ‘barbarian’ captivates the Western imaginary and operates as the antipode against which self-proclaimed civilized groups define themselves. Therefore, the study of the cultural history of barbarism is a simultaneous exploration of the shifting contours of European identity. This two-volume co-authored study explores the history of the concept ‘barbarism’ from the 18th century to the present and illuminates its foundational role in modern European and Western identity. It constitutes an original comparative, interdisciplinary exploration of the concept’s modern European and Western history, with emphasis on the role of literature in the concept’s shifting functions. Critically responding to the contemporary popularity of the term ‘barbarian' in political rhetoric and the media, and its violent, exclusionary workings, the study contributes to a historically grounded understanding of this figure’s past and contemporary uses. It combines overviews with detailed analyses of representative works of literature, art, film, philosophy, political and cultural theory, in which “barbarism” figures prominently.

The Path of Chaos

The Path of Chaos PDF

Author: H. T. Martin

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2011-02-09

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1456822551

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Born into a village whose foundations were forged from strength and destruction, Shadow is trained in the art of chakra manipulation from an early age to become a ruthless warrior. As Shadow matures, he unlocks a devastating power that has been hidden in the blood of his lineage for the past fi ve-hundred years. A power that has not been seen since Shadow’s great-grandfather, Lord Th eron, unleashed it upon the world in a black storm of fury and annihilation, earning him the title of the most ruthless warlord in all of history. Th e leader of the Village of Chaos sends Shadow on a deadly mission to the Forbidden Lands to train and master his newly acquired abilities. An unfortunate death forces Shadow to end his training early and return home to mourn for the lost life. An enormous war between rival clans is on the brink of erupting when the leader of the Village of Chaos approaches Shadow and informs him of his true role. Shadow is to lead a massive army into battle just like his great-grandfather did fi ve-hundred years ago. With this daunting task placed before him Shadow must decide whether to heed his great-grandfathers warning and stay away from a life of power and bloodlust or to do what is best for his home and unleash his inner strength, his inner demon.