8. Timing
Poole Adrian
in Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction
Tragedies are about timing, both good and bad. They are also about knowing the right time to act or to refrain from acting. This applies to many of the arts, including opera and song. ...
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9. Endings
Poole Adrian
in Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction
It is hard to determine when tragedies end. This does not stop us from trying to work it out. The ending is more than just a moment in time. It takes and needs time. We find comfort in ...
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Introduction
Poole Adrian
in Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction
What does the word tragedy mean and in what context is it used? It is used to confer dignity and value on bad news. The Introduction asks: is this word now bandied around so much that its ...
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3. The living dead
Poole Adrian
in Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction
Tragedy is full of ghosts. Ghosts in tragedy are invariably associated with judgement and retributive justice. ‘The living dead’ looks at why there are so many ghosts in tales of tragedy. A ...
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2. Tragedy: Birth, Death, Rebirth
Michael Tanner
in Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction
‘Tragedy’ considers Nietzsche's controversial first book, The Birth of Tragedy, and the many amendments he made to it throughout his life. The three main concerns of this book that drew ...
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4. Morality and its Discontents
Michael Tanner
in Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction
Nietzsche's fundamental concern throughout his life was to plot the relationship between suffering and culture, or cultures. ‘Morality and its Discontents’ shows that correlative with this ...
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1. History, genre, text
William Allen
in Classical Literature: A Very Short Introduction
‘History, genre, text’ introduces this overview of classical literature, a period spanning over 1,200 years (c.750 bc to ad 500) and explains how these texts survived to this day. The ...
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2. Once upon a time
Poole Adrian
in Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction
Does ‘real’ tragedy belong to the past? George Steiner stated in The Death of Tragedy (1961) that the 17th century marks the ‘great divide’ in the history of tragedy. From this point of ...
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6. No laughing matter
Poole Adrian
in Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction
What is the connection between comedy and tragedy? Why do we find tragedy in the arts comic? If the brute matter of tragedy consists of pain, grief, death, and bereavement, laughter brings ...
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Epilogue: why might we enjoy tragedies?
Stanley Wells
in Shakespeare's Tragedies: A Very Short Introduction
‘Epilogue: why might we enjoy tragedies?’ considers why we pay good money to subject ourselves to displays of misery, cruelty, suicide, murder—even cannibalism. Perhaps central to the ...
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William Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction
Stanley Wells
William Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction provides a guide to the life and writings of one of the world’s greatest and best-known dramatists: William Shakespeare. Looking ...
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4. Plotting mischief
Matthew Bevis
in Comedy: A Very Short Introduction
Good comedy has a knack of good timing and storytelling. It is the art of surprise, but established routine is what makes surprise possible. Jokes work because we expect the result, and our ...
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4. Conventions
Ken Binmore
in Game Theory: A Very Short Introduction
‘Convention’ explores the role of conventions in games and society. Conventions may be entirely arbitrary, but are extremely important in society. Humans will invent conventions in ...
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5. Marx
Andrew Bowie
in German Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction
‘Marx’ explains how in debates which form the context of the work of Karl Marx people begin to talk for the first time of the ‘end of philosophy’. From the 1830s onwards, philosophy became ...
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Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction
Adrian Poole
Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction addresses questions of tragedy about belief, blame, mourning, revenge, pain, witnessing, timing, and ending and demonstrates the age-old ...
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Environmental Law: A Very Short Introduction
Elizabeth Fisher
Environmental law is the law concerned with environmental problems. It is a vast area of law that operates from the local to the global, involving a range of different legal and regulatory ...
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10. Lessons
Elizabeth Fisher
in Environmental Law: A Very Short Introduction
We live in precarious times. The environmental problems of the Anthropocene are products of our interconnectedness. ‘Lessons’ explains that it is important to understand what environmental ...
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The Atmosphere: A Very Short Introduction
Paul I. Palmer
The atmosphere is the thin, diffuse fluid that envelops the Earth’s surface. Despite its apparent fragility, the existence of this fluid is vital for human and other life on Earth. The ...
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6. Our future atmosphere
Paul I. Palmer
in The Atmosphere: A Very Short Introduction
There is still much about Earth’s atmosphere we do not fully understand, which limits our ability to predict large-scale changes to the atmosphere. As Earth’s climate changes new scientific ...
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8. The future of development
Ian Goldin
in Development: A Very Short Introduction
‘The future of development’ considers some of the key challenges facing all countries: the sequencing of different policy reforms and investment efforts; the role of private investment and ...
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