Rich Cultural Life Research Articles

Fighting till his Final Breath: Richard Demarco as a Public Intellectual

Richard Demarco has long been a prominent figure in the Scottish cultural sphere. He has been a significant cultural progenitor, raising the profile of the visual arts within Scotland. In his long cultural life he has often come into conflict with Scotland’s cultural ‘officialdom’ and is a strident critic of the present-day Edinburgh Festival and Fringe. This article examines Demarco the public intellectual, often overshadowed by Demarco the provocative, hyperbolic showman. It identifies and contextualises Demarco’s abiding themes, locating them in a belief that art has a unique ability to heal personal and societal wounds. It goes on to examine whether his ‘declinist’ dismissal of much contemporary culture stems from an elitist disdain and whether his cultural vision is nostalgic and narrow. The article also examines Demarco’s critiques of both commercialism and state-supported cultural institutions. It argues that underneath the public persona there lies a unique and challenging cultural vision; one which will survive after his rich cultural life ends.

Indo-Persian Identities in Medieval Muslim Deccan

Between the 14th and 17th centuries, the Deccan Plateau region saw the emergence of Muslim sultanates (Bahmani, Ahmednagar, Bidar, Golconda, Bijapur, Berar, Bijapur) whose political, religious, intellectual, and artistic elites are deeply imbued with the Persian language and culture. They thus continue a long tradition of the dynasties that appeared in the east of the Muslim world, since the 9th century (Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Khwarazmshahs, Ilkhanids, Timurids), as well as the Muslim political power ruling northern India, between the 13th and the 16th centuries (Delhi Sultanate). In all of this, regardless of the origin of the political-military elites who were in power (Turks, Afghans, Caucasians, Iranians, Indians converted to Islam), Persian becomes both the political-administrative language and the language of culture. Our study aims to provide an insight into the ways in which this Persian reference was disseminated, developed, assumed in the Bahmani Sultanate, and then in the other five sultanates that emerged after its dissolution (1527). For over three centuries, the dynasties in power patronized a very rich cultural life, where traditional Persian elements, brought here by scholars, religious people, Sufis, poets, artists coming from the Middle East and Central Asia, were shaped and adapted to the realities of the Indian environment. These symbioses were especially visible in art (primarily in miniatures) and in the development of new artistic expressions within what is called Indo-Islamic architecture.

Excellent Case of Building A "School-land" Co-construction and Sharing Pattern Network of School Aesthetic Education and Regional Culture

With the development of computer science, some of the excellence artworks of Henan Provence are very popular through network dissemination. To achieve the transformation of Henan cultural brand from "parts" to "whole" and from "internet celebrity" to "long-lasting", it is necessary to establish an active inheritance mechanism network for Henan regional cultural resources and enhance the endogenous and innovative capabilities of traditional regional culture. The modern school aesthetic education system that runs through all stages has a natural advantage in incubating regional cultural communities. However, in reality, the aesthetic and spiritual attributes shared by school aesthetic education and regional culture have not been sufficiently valued, and the connection between the two lacks active policy design and mechanism innovation. Through Literature, field research and interviewing professors, artists and persons in charge of regional culture, the Department of Public Art Education at Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics has recognized the value of integrating school aesthetic education with regional culture in terms of cultivating students and building a rich cultural life. Leveraging their connections with social artist groups and individuals online and offline, who have conducted research on the ecological conditions of Zhengzhou's art districts, intangible cultural heritage, and the current status and issues of various school aesthetic education programs in the province through various ways. The working mechanisms and platforms have been establishment online and offline. The establishment of a pattern of co-construction and sharing of art education and regional culture network in the school is essentially a practical and methodological issue. Some plans have been made for the future. Research has found that for school aesthetic education, curriculum, teaching staff, and internal and external collaborative mechanisms are key points for the reform and development of aesthetic education. Schools aesthetic education curriculum system should integrate regional culture from multiple dimensions with network. A collaborative art education framework should be formed which integrates social and cultural resources at the regional level.

S.V.Rachmaninov and his circle on the Southern Coast of Crimea: new pages of the history of Russian musical culture of the late XIX – early XX century.

The subject of the study is the personal history of the outstanding Russian composer S.V. Rachmaninov and other representatives of the national musical culture of the late XIX – early XX century in the historical space of the Southern coast of Crimea. The literature has repeatedly suggested that composers and musicians played a significant role in the formation of the "cultural landscape" of the Crimea of the late XIX – early XX century. However, as the authors of the article have seen studying the history of country resorts formed on the Southern Coast at the beginning of the XX century, there are still a lot of "white spots" on this "historical and cultural map". The elimination of these gaps makes it possible to fill in both the history of the Southern Coast of Crimea and biographical information about cultural actors. With the help of complex work with historical sources – documents from the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea, reference and bio-bibliographic literature, ego documents (memoirs, correspondence), including ones that have been poorly introduced into historiographical circulation, the history of S.V. Rachmaninov's stay on the Southern Coast of Crimea is reconstructed, his visits are placed in the context of the historical space in flux. The circumstances of S.V. Rachmaninov's stay on the Southern Coast of Crimea in the late XIX – early XX century have been clarified or re-established, and related historical monuments and places in Simeiz, Mishor and Yalta have been identified. The reconstructed pages of life and creative activity on the Southern Coast of Crimea by S.V. Rachmaninov, M.A. Stankevich (Golostenova), F.I. Chaliapin and their circle of colleagues, relatives, friends and acquaintances from among the creative intelligentsia, South Coast summerfolk, patrons and patrons of cultural life undoubtedly complement the picture of a rich cultural life in the historical space of the Southern Coast Crimea in the late XIX – early XX century, contributing to understanding Crimea as a important place of "historical memory" of Russia.

Second- and Third-Generation Holocaust Writing in Australia: Towards a Cultural History

Although Australia is home to a mid-sized Jewish community with a rich cultural life, the study of Australian Jewish literature lags far behind scholarship by historians and sociologists. In this paper, we begin to think about what might constitute a canon of Australian Jewish writing, focusing particularly on writing since the turn of the new century. We examine five texts by some of Australia’s most celebrated Jewish authors. In examining these works, we show the centrality of the Holocaust to Australian Jewish literature. This is not surprising, given that the Holocaust, as scholars have long established, serves as a kind of foundational narrative for the local Jewish community. The writers we examine—second- and third-generation authors whose works are consistent with many of the major features of second- and third-generation writing—clearly situate the Holocaust as the most defining experience in shaping what Australian Jewry has become.

Conversion in Depictions of Anthropomorphic Animals in Picture Books

Picture books are familiar media for children and have a great influence on children's development. Particularly, narrative picture books contribute to the development of children's imagination and provide the basis of rich cultural life throughout their lives. There are many animals depicted in picture books. Animals in narrative picture books for children often appear anthropomorphized, and depictions of animals sometimes mix real and anthropomorphic characteristics. This study focused on conversions of animals in picture books between anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic forms. In 591 picture books, 1,930 cases of conversion were observed. In stories with human characters, many conversions involved cats and dogs and changes from non-anthropomorphic animals to anthropomorphic forms. The main triggers of temporary conversions were human or animal-like behaviors and emotions of the characters, while the main causes of long-term conversions were the structures of the stories and character movement to different worlds or into space. The backgrounds of the conversions were deeply related to the social image of animals and to human-animal interactions. Conversion highlights the boundaries between animals and humans and conveys impressive scenes to children which should stimulate child development. The depiction related to children's development in picture books would be one of the reasons why animal picture books are so popular among children.

Of an Age, Not Just for All Time: Shakespeare’s Screen Traffic in a City and Time “Out of Joint”

ABSTRACT This essay will assess the extent to which screened broadcasts of Shakespeare plays in Hong Kong contribute to a sense of cosmopolitan cultural identity in the city, and engage with current issues and events, as Shakespearean presentist theory argues. I will discuss how this relatively recent digitally mediated traffic in transnational Shakespeare, functioning as it does as a simulacrum of the physical theatre-going experience, resonates with the sociocultural ethos of Hong Kong. Like the asynchronous – as opposed to simulcast – theatre broadcast of Western Shakespeare, the time seems palpably “out of joint” to many residents of the city. A major factor affecting the continuation of Hong Kong's hitherto rich cultural life is the rapidly accelerating erosion of its autonomy and supposedly guaranteed civic freedoms, following Beijing's imposition of sweeping national security legislation. The essay discusses the significance of Shakespeare theatre broadcast in this highly charged political atmosphere in Hong Kong, with its dwindling, but stubbornly residual, cultural links to the country of the dramatist's birth. The second part will explore the local resonances of four broadcast theatre productions of Shakespeare plays in Hong Kong, Coriolanus and Hamlet (both NT Live) and The Tempest and Titus Andronicus (both RSC Live).

The culture of pre-war Varna

The rеport presents the Varna’s culture during its 1940 pre-war period. The research includes versatile cultural events. The conclusion, which can be drawn from the study, is that pre-war Varna had a rich cultural life. Part of it became traditional, the other changed and developed. But the culture remains as a never failing and steady branch of the social life in town.

Exploring Ibn ‘Arabi’s Metaphysics of Time and Space in Sufi Ritual: the ‘Issawiya Dhikr of Sidi Bou-Sa‘id

This article examines the relationship between medieval Islamic philosophy and contemporary Tunisian Sufi ritual. Focusing on the metaphysics of time and space in the writings of the twelfth-century Andalusian saint Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, the author explores the dhikr ritual within the framework of Sufi ontology in order to highlight the relevance of Islamic intellectual history to the religious practices of the ‘Issawiya Sufi community. The dhikr is one example of many indigenous performance traditions that are part of the rich cultural life of Tunisia. These are spaces where adepts engage with complex philosophical ideas through embodied performances. Thus, Sufi rituals raise important questions about the relationship between theory and embodied practice, which, although grounded in a particular cultural context, could be of relevance to the broader range of theatre. Dia Barghouti is a playwright and PhD candidate in the Department of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her plays have been performed at the Ashtar Theatre, the SIN festival of video and performance art, and the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, all in Ramallah, Palestine.

Introduction: Being in Place

Austrian Studies 27 (2019), 1–12© Modern Humanities Research Association 2019 Introduction: Being in Place ANDREW J. WEBBER University of Cambridge It seems appropriate to begin this introduction with reference to a scholar who made some of the most important contributions to our thinking about Arthur Schnitzler and his contemporaries over the last decades: the late Edward Timms,1 who is remembered, not least as founding co-editor of Austrian Studies, in a tribute by Ritchie Robertson in this volume. In the wake of new attention in the 1980s to the cultural vibrancy of Vienna around 1900, most notably Carl E. Schorske’s hugely influential Fin-de-Siècle Vienna. Politics and Culture (1980), Timms accounted for that vibrancy with an appeal to a model of socio-cultural geometry. Extrapolating from the Vienna Circle of empiricist philosophy, he proposed — first in different iterations in the two volumes of his monumental study, Karl Kraus, Apocalyptic Satirist — that the rich cultural life of Vienna in the period around 1900 and until the hegemony of National Socialism could be understood as the product of a set of intersecting circles of intellectual and cultural activity. Schnitzler is given a prominent position in the constellations of circles in both volumes, albeit set somewhat apart from the political coordinates that frame the ‘cultural field’ in the second.2 In an article devoted to the transposition of that model of ‘Cultural Parameters’ to the interwar years, Timms drew upon the version of the circles mapped out in the second Kraus volume, thickening the description of the micro-circuitry of Viennese cultural life, in view of dimensions such as politics, economics, public life and gender relations. And he concluded his argument by acknowledging a matter that is of particular relevance for the present volume. While the geometric circuitry that he proposes, even in its more thickened forms, is necessarily an abstraction from the complex realities of the personal interactions and parallelisms (as well as the displacements and missed encounters) of cultural life in Vienna around 1900 and in the subsequent decades, it always needs to be thought in a relation with particularities of place 1 Alongside attention to Schnitzler in a number of his publications, Edward Timms reviewed successive volumes of the author’s diaries for the Times Literary Supplement between 1982 and 1988. 2 Edward Timms, Karl Kraus, Apocalyptic Satirist. Culture and Catastrophe in Habsburg Vienna (New Haven and London, 1986), p. 8; Karl Kraus, Apocalyptic Satirist, II. The PostWar Crisis and the Rise of the Swastika (New Haven and London, 2005), p. 108. Andrew J. Webber 2 and space. And place and space, in turn, need to be thought in a variety of forms. ‘Mapping cultural life in terms of “circles”’, Timms writes, seems to imply that the most significant developments occurred in the semiprivate space of coffeehouses or seminar rooms. But account should also be taken of more public spaces like the Konzerthaus (concert house) — the stage on which the different factions competed for cultural hegemony.3 Accordingly, Timms’s final monograph on Austria, Dynamik der Kreise, Resonanz der Räume. Die schöpferischen Impulse der Wiener Moderne [Dyna­ mics of Circles, Resonance of Spaces. The Creative Impulses of Viennese Modernism, 2013] expressly sounds out the different spaces in which the Viennese circles congregated and revolved. Whether moving in the sorts of sociogrammatic circles that Edward Timms draws, or in more angular or tangential formations, the cultural protagonists of Vienna around and after 1900 were always engaged in complex negotiations of cultural and social space on domestic, semiprivate and public levels. And this is certainly the case for Arthur Schnitzler, as one of the most significant of those protagonists, a figure commonly seen as the pre-eminent representative of ‘fin-de-siècle Vienna’. Not for nothing does the collocation ‘Schnitzler’s Vienna’ feature repeatedly in the literature,4 with Hugo von Hofmannsthal predicting its currency as early as 1922.5 The present volume aims to place Schnitzler anew by considering both more abstract or symbolic senses of placement (on the model of the kinds of circles that Timms draws) and more concrete, sociocultural senses. In doing so, it explores the map of (Schnitzler’s...

The Sports Cultural Analysis of Ancient Chinese Ceramics

The ancient Chinese ceramic art and culture has a long history. It contains excellent historical culture, reveal the sports culture in the ceramic is also rich and colorful. By combing the sports of ancient Chinese ceramics, we can understand the Chinese traditional sports and reflects the ancient Chinese sports culture. With sports as the content of the Chinese ancient ceramic shows that a state of society at that time, such as lifestyle, social customs, social mainstream activities, from primitive society development beginning has been the emergence of the subject matter, including the development of social life is Yuelao of the combination, and people increasingly rich cultural life and entertainment life, and at the time of ancient Chinese traditional sports project social status and importance prompted to sports for the diversified development of material, ceramic, organic combination of both is different coupling of classic Chinese traditional culture.

Business tourism a means of dynamising the life of local communities

Abstract The touristic expansion happens easier in a balanced climate, with standards that guarantee a constant ecologic balance and avoid the overuse of resources, pollution and any other negative impacts on the environment. MICE – Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition Industry – represents one of the industries with the highest rate of growth in the world, but unfortunately it is poorly developed in Romania. In Romania, the tourism, as a socio–economic phenomenon, integrates in the country’s economy, having the necessary conditions for accentuated growth and the optimisation of the degree of usage of the touristic stock. According to the recommendations of the World Tourism Organisation, Romania should focus on the cultural, ecologic, events and spa tourism. The prognosis of the World Tourism and Travel Council from the United States of America show that by the year 2020, the rhythm of growth of the business and events tourism in Romania will be of about 8% yearly. In this context, our country may occupy an important position in the MICE touristic activities market, if it would use the existing touristic potential and future investments in order to create favourable conditions for this type of tourism. We bring into the debate the existence of equipment which could help the business tourism, the presence of beautiful landscape areas (the Danube Delta, the Black Sea seaside, medieval cities and monasteries, touristic resorts from the Carpathians also.), presentation of the local folk traditions and crafts, the chromatic spectrum of the seasons in Romania and not lastly the folklore and gastronomy. These could be joined by the existence of a rich cultural life – especially in the large cities and touristic resorts-, the presence of museums and memorial houses, and we could not exclude the areas which have preserved their natural potential and rare fauna species. This work aims to emphasize business tourism as a sustainable form of tourism, which can lead to a relaunch in services and economic development of the local communities in a competitive international economy.

“SOFT POWER” IN FOREIGN POLICY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA

Soft power is a concept developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard University to describe the ability to attract and co-opt rather than by coercion (hard power), using force or giving money as a means of persuasion. Soft power is the ability to shape the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. A defining feature of soft power is that it is noncoercive; the currency of soft power is culture, political values, and foreign policies. Recently, the term has also been used in changing and influencing social and public opinion through relatively less transparent channels and lobbying through powerful political and non-political organizations.International cooperation and dialogue are a prerequisite in all efforts aimed at establishing sustainable peace and development. Since Austria became a neutral status in 1955, effective multilateralism has thus been one of the key priorities of Austrian foreign policy. Located in the heart of Europe as a geographic interface between different cultures, religions and political systems, Austria has been, and continues to be, a bridge builder that supports constructive dialogue. Austria does not dispose of an impressive military might. Her voice is being heard, nevertheless. For the socalled soft power in today’s world is an indispensable ingredient of a policy geared towards achieving stability, and towards preventing serious new threats to security from developing. Humanitarian aid is an important means of diminishing human suffering, but it is also a crucial and very important tool for rendering the world safer. Austria is the 12th richest country in the world in terms of GDP (Gross domestic product) per capita, has a well-developed social market economy, and a high standard of living. Labour movements are particularly strong in Austria and have large influence on labour politics. Next to a highly developed industry, international tourism is the most important part of the national economy.Tourism accounts for almost 9 % of the Austrian gross domestic product. Efforts to overcome prejudice and intolerance between different cultures have been a very important aspect of Austrian foreign policy, and of Austrian foreign cultural policy. This is why Austria has engaged in a very active dialogue of civilizations and cultures aimed at preventing conflict and not having a clash of civilizations. Austria is also champions export of stability to neighboring regions, instead of importing instability. Austria recognized early on after the fall of the Iron Curtain that countries of the Central, Eastern and also Southeastern Europe, needed a «European» perspective. In order to enhance the political, economic and cultural cooperation with these countries, as well as people to people contact, and in order to define common goals and interests in Europe. Austria traditionally has been active in «bridge-building to the east», increasing contacts at all levels with Eastern Europe and the states of the former Soviet Union. Austrians maintain a constant exchange of business representatives, political leaders, students, cultural groups, and tourists with the countries of central and Eastern Europe. According to surveys published by numerous international rankings, Austria as the small country and it`s capital Vienna there are regularly top the best quality of life in the world. A rich cultural life and a diverse arts scene leave nothing to be desired – from magnificent historical buildings and museums to a vibrant nightlife. The nation has a rich tradition of being a continental cultural center. Optimal leisure, sports and shopping opportunities in Austria and in the greater Vienna area boasting beautiful landscapes, and recreational opportunities invite visitors to explore the city and its immediate surroundings. Numerous international and bilingual schools, modern universities, universities of applied sciences and research institutions. Austria has an excellent healthcare system by Western standards. Austria today is a member of international and regional organizations such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization and European Union. Additionally, the country is host to several key international groups, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Austria is a stable country with a longstanding humanitarian tradition of fostering dialogue and understanding in Central-European region and far beyond. Austria builds positive influence, which in turn is used to export stability. The country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austrian case of soft power is very important in modern international relations. Key words: Republic of Austria; «soft power»; status neutral; consensus democracy; federalism; the national brand of social and economic development; cultural resources; international relations.

The Bishop's Palace at Ely as a Prison for Recusants, 1577–1597

The Bishop's Palace at Ely was used as a prison for Catholics between 1577 and 1597, and between 1588 and 1597 was exclusively a prison for lay recusants. Its inmates included Abbot John Feckenham between 1577 and 1580 and Thomas Tresham, who was imprisoned in Ely four times. Unlike Wisbech Castle, however, the Palace at Ely's period as a prison for recusants has received little attention. This article draws on the documentary evidence for the Catholic prisoners in official records, as well as Tresham's extensive writings during his Ely imprisonment. It also draws on a newly discovered inventory of the Palace's contents in 1581, arguing that the prisoners, and Tresham in particular, were affected by their stay in Ely. It makes the case for the prisoners’ rich cultural life, as evidenced by the prison writings of Tresham and a fellow inmate, George Cotton, who used his time to translate Jesuit letters from Japan. The prisoners in the Bishop's Palace at Ely may have made less public noise than their fellow prisoners at Wisbech Castle, but like Wisbech, Ely was a focus of Catholic culture and resistance during the late Elizabethan period that deserves to be better understood.

“This is for the Children, the Grandchildren …”: Houses of Moroccan Immigrants in Metropolitan Tel Aviv

ABSTRACTThe meaning of migrant housing materiality has not been adequately researched, especially when compared to the meaning of the home for immigrants, a matter of extensive discussion in the past two decades. This paper focuses on the meaning of housing materiality for 12 immigrants who migrated from Morocco to Israel some 60 years ago. Drawing on qualitative data gathered in 2007 and 2008, the paper develops a theoretical framework considering “house as community” and “house materiality” as two interrelating explanations for the migrant housing materiality. Through this framework, and with the concepts of performance and performativity, the paper first explores former houses of participants in Morocco and then presents current houses in Tel Aviv, Israel, to establish links between the two housing forms and reveal the meanings of objects in the homes. It is argued that as a reaction to the dominant Israeli society, housing materiality enables participants to educate successive generations and Israeli society at large about the rich cultural life of Moroccan-Jews that existed before their migration to Israel.

New Menander Mosaics from Antioch

A large mosaic pavement excavated in 2007 at ancient Daphne, a suburb of Antioch-on-the-Orontes, includes four figured panels representing scenes from comedies by Menander. Inscribed with the name of the play and the number of the act, the panels depict Perikeiromene, act 1; Philadelphoi, act 1; Synaristosai, act 1; and Theophoroumene, act 3. This article integrates archaeological, iconographical, and literary approaches in order to evaluate the contribution of the mosaics to our knowledge of Menander’s plays, ancient comic illustration, and the rich cultural life of imperial Antioch.

Települési környezeti minőség, fenntarthatóság és városmarketing – különös tekintettel a zajterhelésre és az önkormányzatok szerepére

A zajterhelés napjainkra az egyik legtipikusabb, egyre több embert és egyre nagyobb mértékben érintő városi környezeti problémává vált, amelynek megoldásában kiemelt szerep jut a települési önkormányzatoknak. A tanulmány célja, hogy bemutassa az önkormányzatok ezzel kapcsolatos tevékenységéhez kapcsolódó lakossági véleményeket, valamint, hogy áttekintse a települési környezet megítélésében végbement változásokat és a települési környezeti minőség, azon belül az akusztikai környezet mint adottság felhasználási lehetőségeit a városmarketing- tevékenység során. Ehhez a szerző egyrészt hazai települések szlogenjeit (a környezet, az élhetőség azokban történő megjelenését) vizsgálja, illetve egy esettanulmányban mutatja be annak lehetséges felhasználását. Másrészt egy Debrecenben elvégzett, a zajterhelés lakossági megítélésének feltérképezését célzó kérdőíves felmérés eredményeire támaszkodva a zajvédelemmel, azon belül az önkormányzat szerepvállalásával kapcsolatos véleményeket ismerteti.A vizsgálatok eredményei azt mutatják, hogy a hazai települések szlogenjeiben a környezeti minőség, hasonlóan más egyedi értékekhez (helyi termékek, hagyományok, élhetőség), háttérbe szorul, sok esetben kiaknázatlan marad, az alkalmazott szlogenek pedig az esetek többségében nem járulnak hozzá a település adottságainak erősítéséhez. A kérdőíves felmérés eredményei a város területét érintő zajvédelem helyzetének megítéléséről igen kedvezőtlen képet festenek: a megkérdezettek közel kétharmada szerint a településen nem fektetnek elég hangsúlyt a zajjal kapcsolatos (elsősorban a közúti közlekedésből eredő) problémák kezelésére, pedig azt az eredmények alapján a lakosság egyértelműen az önkormányzat feladatának tekinti. A válaszadók ugyanakkor minimális szerepet tulajdonítanak a civil szervezeteknek – jóllehet a hatékonyabb megoldást jól szolgálná a velük történő együttműködés.

Birmingham’s Women Poets: Aestheticism and the Daughters of Industry

British female aestheticism is seen to have a key geographical locus in London, and critics have convincingly argued over recent years for the importance of that city and its rich cultural life to the work of late-nineteenth-century women’s poetry. Yet it is seldom recognised that the aesthetic London lifestyle of these writers was in key instances only made possible by family fortunes amassed through the industrial expansion of Birmingham and its surrounding conurbation. Looking at A. Mary F. Robinson, the two women who wrote as “Michael Field”, and Constance Naden (all of whom established themselves in London but were either born in the Midlands or whose parents lived and worked there), this essay argues for a web of personal, ideological, intellectual and economic connections around Birmingham and the Midlands, which was central to aestheticism. In doing so, this essay not only uncovers an unacknowledged part of the narrative of British aestheticism, it also disrupts some of the convenient critical boundaries which have become entrenched within our study, and which currently limit its scope.

They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust (review)

Reviewed by: They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust Katherine R. Jolluck (bio) Mayer Kirshenblatt and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust. Berkeley: U of California P, 2007. 411 pp. ISBN 978-0-52024-961-5, $39.95. This is a truly remarkable book—as are the story of its making and the world that inspired it. Through descriptions, anecdotes, sketches, and paintings, Mayer Kirshenblatt recreates the daily life and culture of a small Jewish city in Poland before the Holocaust. It is a world remarkable in part because of its complete destruction by the Nazis, but also because of the richness of its characters and customs. “What I’m trying to say,” Kirshenblatt explains, “is ‘Hey! There was a big world out there before the Holocaust. There was a rich cultural life in Poland as I knew it’” (353). He fulfills his mission with insight, affection, and vibrancy. Mayer Kirshenblatt, nicknamed Mayer July or Crazy Mayer, from the notion that the July heat caused craziness, was born in Apt, the Yiddish name for Opatów. Located in south-central Poland, near the city of Kielce, Apt had a [End Page 756] mixed population of Jews and Christians, but the majority was Jewish. Kirshenblatt lived there from his birth in 1916 until his emigration to Canada in 1934. The young Kirshenblatt was partially assimilated and considered himself a Polish Jew; he attended Polish public school, spoke Polish well, knew the national literature, and regarded himself as a patriot. His family was of the middle class, perhaps living above the average level, until his father’s leather shop failed in 1928. This impelled the elder Kirshenblatt to emigrate, alone, to Canada. Though Kirshenblatt does not recount any anti-Semitic incidents, the economic climate in interwar Poland, which increasingly hampered Jewish livelihoods, led him, at age sixteen, to conclude that Poland held no future for him. As soon as he could, he joined his father in Canada. There, in Toronto, he ran a paint and wallpaper store for several decades. The book would never have come about without the efforts and encouragement of his wife and, especially, his daughter. The latter, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, is a folklorist, now teaching at New York University. She began interviewing her father in 1967, and over the next forty years, she drew out her father’s childhood memories of Apt. At the urging of his family, Kirshenblatt began to paint his memories in 1990, at the age of 73. The result: more than 200 paintings illustrating every aspect that he could recall, from his mother’s kitchen to the market, from the local chimney sweep to the town’s kleptomaniac, from a Purim celebration to a Christian funeral. The scenes come from his memory, or, in a few cases—such as the execution of his father’s family by the Nazis in 1942—his imagination. In the style of naive or folk art, this self-taught painter revives the lost world of Apt, bringing his childhood memories to vibrant life. Father and daughter have combined Kirshenblatt’s tales and paintings in this beautifully produced volume. It is not a conventional autobiography. Though present in many of the stories and even paintings (as a small boy dressed in blue), Kirshenblatt does not make himself the center of the book. Instead, he focuses on the city of Apt and the life within it. While we get to know the young Kirshenblatt well, we also come to know the town leaders and tradesmen, the local characters and eccentrics. We learn also about their daily routines: how they bathed, what they ate, what work they performed, and where they spent their free time. This book is a veritable encyclopedia of life in a small, mostly Jewish, city in prewar Poland. A keen observer, Kirshenblatt has tremendous curiosity and power of recall. He elucidates, with precise illustrations, how to make such things as a tin whistle, a brush, a willow shofar, and shoes—practically lost handicrafts. He tells us how to bind a book, and shows us how a...

Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv: Different News from Israel (or, One More Step Toward Peace) — Three Contemporary Music Festivals

When a Western musician thinks of Israel, the immediate association is of incessant political conflict and terrorism, not the country's rich cultural life. Yet, for a state that has endured one terrorist outrage after another over the last four years, Israel's thriving contemporary music scene — a part of classical music events, blossoming with over 2,300 classical concerts a year — is an astounding feat. In March 2002, while biweekly suicide attacks ended the lives of over 120 Israeli civilians, concert halls were unbelievably full despite the fear, or perhaps just because of it, as a constructive escapism. A year later, still under shaky political and economic conditions, Avigail Arnheim, the director of music events at the Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, and Dan Yuhas, the newly-elected chair of the Israel Composers' League (and the music director of the Israel Contemporary Players) initiated preparations for three concurrent festivals of contemporary music in October 2004. A Western musician, not knowing the details, would think that they were planning events for Berlin and Munich audiences, and not for Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem listeners.