Foreign Literature Essay Example for Free

Foreign Literature Essay Last night I was at the presentation of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, at the National Portrait Gallery, where a young Angolan writer, Josà © Eduardo Agualusa, was announced the 2007 winner for his novel The Book of Chameleons, translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn. Set in contemporary Angola, the book is particularly notable for being narrated by a lizard. The judges this year were the poet David Constantine, writer and editor Jennie Erdal, Arts Council Literature officer Kate Griffin, novelist Ali Smith and the literary editor of the Independent, Boyd Tonkin. Admirably the prize is shared between the translator and author, thus honouring an art that often goes unsung. The book was evidently a popular choice and Agualusa received his award in person, accompanied by whoops and cheers. Tonkin extols the prize as a unique bridge between writers abroad and readers at home. As thrilled as I was that this talented newcomer beat such literary heavyweights as Ismail Kadare and Javier Marà ­as, however, I was even more delighted that the award honours a small literary publisher, Arcadia, who recently celebrated their 10th anniversary. The dedicated team at Arcadia are worthy recipients of this prestigious award, not just for bringing this imaginative young writer to an English readership, but overall for their championing of cultural diversity and for widening our literary choice 50% of their 2007 lists are books in translation. Given the effects of globalisation elsewhere, it seems astonishing that we dont translate more foreign literature in this country. Apparently, translated fiction accounts for only 3% of fiction sales in the UK, compared with 30-40% in France or Spain. The British are voracious readers, so why are we so insular? Dont we welcome unusual voices and different perspectives? How can we exert pressure on publishers to produce more translated fiction? For those interested in foreign literature, an excellent resource is Words Without Borders, an online magazine dedicated to promoting international exchange through translation and publishing works/extracts on the web. And if youd like to see Josà © Eduardo Agualusa and Daniel Hahn, theyll be reading from The Book of Chameleons this evening at Foyles bookshop, London, 6.30pm 8.30pm.

English Story :: essays papers

English Story Hello my name is rage, you are probably thinking just about now that who named this girl. Well I have always had that question on my mind as well. From what I remember about my childhood (which I might add is not much) is mostly living in this house with about thirty other kids that did not have parents either and we lived off our worldwide drug Elate, bread and water. I was told from the older kids that my mother dropped me off there one day she told the kids that she had been diagnosed with AIDS, and she was going to murder herself. So my best friend her name was Sky, she was one of the older kids and she took care of me for my early years. I lived there until I was about 16, then I moved in with Jeremy, my boyfriend and started a family. Anyway back to our drug Elate, you may have an idea what this drug is I have no idea if it will sill exist when you receive this letter or you may have never heard of the drug before. So let me explain. It is what I have heard that people used to call "cocaine" or something in that form. And I have also heard that people used to actually pay for this stuff, and used to go in "jail" if they were caught with it or on it. Well now a day it is completely different, we have to be on it twenty-four hours a day, seven times a week, etc. The drug Elate, it brings all the others and me such a high, and has got me through some pretty bad times in my life. You already know my mother died from it, using the needle method, and I presume my father did also; that is why we start our lives so early in this society. The older kids have prepared us that our lives only last about forty years, if we are lucky. But forty years of being high; that is the way I want to live my life. Who really like's reality in the first place. The only down sides of this drug are my nose hurts all the time and I do not really sleep, nor eat much, the drug make me feel full. It is our choice weather we want to sniff the stuff or inject it or do both. I personally switch with both methods every few months. The one thing that I do not do is share needles, that is the huge down side

Alexander Mcqueen 2

Jane Wang Second draft research paper Jul 30h, 2012 Alexander McQueen â€Å"Creativity is a very fragile thing, and Lee was very fragile,† said the milliner Philip Treacy, who had worked with Alexander McQueen. McQueen, a British genius fashion designer creating a large amount of provocative works in last two decades, committed a suicide because of the suicide of Isabella Blow and the loss of his mother, who were two important supporters of his design (Wilson 89). The â€Å"Spine† Corset, the Skull Scarf, and the â€Å"Bumster† skirt are the representative of the collections of his provocative and dark romantic beauty.McQueen always indicated the dark and deathly elements in his collections, critiqued â€Å"inanity† of the fashion world and expressed his personal life reflections in fashion design. He was the chief designer of Givenchy between 1996 and 2001 and earned British Designer of the Year awards four times(1996,1997,2001 and 2003) (Wilson 89). In t erms of McQueen’s intricate tailoring and provocative design styles, McQueen was significantly influenced by Gilbert Adrian, and Elsa Schiaparelli in the aesthetic aspect; Charles Frederick Worth had processing influences on McQueen's.Adrian and Schiaparelli were fashion designers prevalent around 1930s and 19040s and Worth was popular in in early 19th century. In McQueen’s collections, he applies Gothic Romance with pure black and complex lace ornamentations. His collections focus on the expression of his feelings and moods; it can be scary, disgusting, and romantic. McQueen is like a poet who uses clothing to write his poetry. His runways can always make viewers think, but not just enjoy the visual elements of clothes. Suzy Menkes says of McQueen’s works, â€Å"Distasteful images?But it’s a reflection of our nasty world. And a powerful fashion designer always ingests the ether of modern times. † (Bolton 12). To me, McQueen’s runway shows a re more like drama to convey McQueen’s savage and animalist beauty and death philosophy for fashion. In McQueen’s work, he indicates orientalism, classicism and English eccentrics, but also shows many clues for the future of fashion. As Eric Wilson said in 2010, â€Å"As designers have done for centuries, Mr. McQueen altered the shape of the body using corsetry and anatomically corrects breastplates as a recurring motif.More recently, his work took on increasingly futuristic tones, with designs that combined soft draping with molding, or ones in which a dress seemed to morph into a coat. At his last show, in October, the models wore platform shoes that looked like the hulls of ships. † (Wilson 1). According to the interview with Andrew Bolton, author of â€Å"Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty†, Bolton offers clues of designers affecting McQueen’s aesthetic. Bolton says, â€Å"In terms of tailoring, McQueen was most influenced by designers whose tec hnical acumen mirrored his own, designers such as Gilbert Adrian and Elsa Schiaparelli. (Interview 1). After I saw Schiaparelli fashion exhibition, I found many direct Schiaparelli design concepts' influences on Alexander McQueen's contemporary collections. Schiaparelli invented culottes, wrapped turbans, Arab breeches, embroidered shirts, pompom-brimmed hats, and barbaric belts ( Smith 1). I think her Skeleton, Lobster, and Tear Dresses have the most obvious influences on McQueen's fashion design, where he also employs a lot of animal elements to express a kind of savage and original beauty.As McQueen himself explains, â€Å"Nature was the greatest, or at least the most enduring, influence upon me. Everything I do is connected to nature in one way or another; Nature was also a central theme, if not the central theme, of romanticism. † (Bolton 15). Take two similar fashion designs from Schiaparelli and McQueen, The Skeleton Dress (Fig 1) and â€Å"Spine† Corset (Fig 2) . Obviously, in both works, two artists utilize a â€Å"backbone† as a key element in their works. They both look scary and savage.In Schiaparelli's work, she employs silk to create a backbone effect, while McQueen changes material to a kind of metal, which strengthen the bones' lines and shock effect. Schiaparelli just uses pure black in this collection. Similarly, McQueen just applies the metal's original color in his design, which is quite concise. Like Schiaparelli, McQueen also tightens the waist to indicate the silhouette of the body. Unlike Elsa's slight decoration of the spine, McQueen extends the human spine to a kind of animal spine with the coccyx.Therefore, it is a good example to exemplify the Schiaparelli's design influences on McQueen's. Because of Bolton’s mention of McQueen’s tailoring influence from Gilbert Adrian, let us take a look at their previous works. Like Adrian's women's suit, McQueen's women's suit always has an exaggerated silhouette and the â€Å"s† pattern is obvious. McQueen also uses a lot of broad shoulders in suits; puffed sleeves were created by Adrian, which was popular in 1930s and 40s American fashion ( History). The huge puff-sleeve dress style is continued in McQueen's dress (Fig 4).Likewise, Adrian's dress â€Å"A version of the ‘Hostess Gown'† contains many puffed sleeves. They both create dresses with huge dress trains to express dresses' falling and floating. Due to the similarity between two designers' fashion style, I chose one work from Adrian and one from McQueen to make a specific comparison. If we take a look at Adrian’s film custom dressing (Fig 3) â€Å"A version of the ‘Hostess Gown'† compared with McQueen dress (Fig 4) from Autumn/winter 2010–11, both artists’ modern style and innovative silhouettes come through.In Adrian's work, he seems to employ silk to indicate a sense of freedom and flow. Similarly, McQueen uses translucent and light material to show the dancing-like movement of the dress. Like Adrian, McQueen also provides three perspectives of the dress, which looks like a dancing and swirling performer. Likewise, the dress hem of McQueen's was tailored freely and asymmetrically. Adrian just slightly tightens up the waist in this work, whereas the bodice is designed as an extremely tight style by McQueen.Unlike Adrian's concise decoration of flowers on the upper left shoulder of the dress, McQueen transforms patterns onto materials as decoration on the surface of the dress and added small puff-sleeve on the shoulder parts. Both works give the viewer a sense of flowing movement; nevertheless, McQueen accentuates the curved bodylines of the dress, which is imbued with a sense of elegance of a dancer and replaced the opaque material Adrian uses to a translucent material, which looks like the body of flowers to add more romantic feelings.McQueen not only shared similar tailoring ideas with other designers, but also the intricate and complex processes of dressmaking. Bolton also mentions, â€Å"In terms of dressmaking, he looked to designers who shared his sense of theatricality and his love of exaggerated silhouettes, such as Charles Frederick Worth, Christian Dior, and Charles James. † (Interview 1). Worth was an English fashion designer of the 19th century, and also considered as the Father of Haute couture, which is made for specific customer with high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn intricate decorations.If we juxtapose both McQueen and Worth's dressmaking works, they both are finished by the most experienced tailoring skills and hand-executed techniques. Especially, McQueen’s dressmaking reflects an aristocrtic style in palace of Middle 19th century, where the dresses had intricate Alencon lace decorations, expensive silk materials, bustles, tightened waists, and an embellished neckline. For example, looking at one of Worth’s evening dresses(fig 5), there are many obvious elements shared with a coat of dress from McQueen’s autumn/winter 2008 collections (fig 6).Both works have loose and puffed dress trains. In Worth's work, he employs corduroy in deep red color, which creates a solemn and elitist effect. Similarly, McQueen applies silk to red to express a figure of Queen. Like Worth, McQueen also cuts the shoulder parts of the dress with a puffed effect. However, McQueen repeats this effect in the neck part and strengthens it in the train of the dress. In terms of ornamentation, in Worth's dress, there are Alencon lace patterns in the upper back, while McQueen utilizes intricate metals and diamonds as head decorations, which looked like a Queen's crown.Indeed, the tailoring similarities between both designers are evident. However, McQueen updates the puffed sleeves with tightened wristbands to emphasize the 19th century aristocratic style. Without doubt, Alexander McQueen is a prolific and experienced fashion designer and his collections are multi-faced and cause viewers to think deeply. Even though he shared many similar aesthetics with other fashion designers, he recombined each tiny element he liked and produced novel, updated, â€Å"McQueen’s† work. As Bolton describes McQueen like a demonic Edward Scissor hands (Interview 1).Yes, I feel that McQueen is a devout Scissor hand. Although he received acrimonious critics of his provocative style, like the controversial Highland Rape, autumn/winter 1995–96, which even made viewers feel uncomfortable with the collections, he insisted on his own dark and death romance. Do you remember the character Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream? â€Å"Helena believes that love has the power to transform something ugly into something beautiful because love is propelled by subjective perceptions of the individual, not by objective assessments of appearance. (Bolton 12) I think this idea is central of McQueen’s collections, which breaks the viewer’s boundary between ugliness and beauty. His aesthetic purpose is to force viewers look at the ugliness, examine the dark part of their innermost beings and think about the savagery of nature. In addition, he updated Worth, Shiaparelli and Adrian's designs with modern styles, novel textile, complex hand-making processes, which follow up the contemporary fashion society. . [pic] (Fig 1) Elsa Schiaparelli.The Skeleton Dress. France. 1938. Silk crepe [pic] (Fig 2) Alexander McQueen. â€Å"Spine† Corset. Untitled. Spring/summer. 1998 [pic] (Fig 3) Gilbert Adrian, â€Å"A version of the ‘Hostess Gown' †, 1930's and 40's [pic] (Fig 4) Alexander McQueen (British, 1969–2010). Dress. Autumn/winter 2010–11. [pic] (Fig 5) Charles Frederick Worth (French, Bourne 1825–1895 Paris). Evening Dress. 1893-95 [pic] (Fig 6) Alexander McQueen. Untitled. Autumn/winter. 2008 Works Cited Bolton, Andrew and Koda Harold.Savage Beauty. New York: The M etropolitan Museum of Art, 2011. Print. History Wired Gilbert Adrian. National Museum of American History. Jan 2010. Web. 19 Jul 2012. Interview with Andrew Bolton, author of ‘Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty’. Yale University Press. 5 May. 2011. Web. 19 Jul. 2012. Smith, Roberta. DESIGN REVIEW: For a Body that Nobody Ever Had. NY: The New York Times. Dec 7, 2001. Print. Wilson, Eric and Horyn, Cathy. â€Å"Alexander McQueen, Designer, Is Dead at 40. † New York Times Feb 2010: 89. Web.

The 2008 Financial Crisis - 2117 Words

On September 15, 2008, Wall Street entered the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression. On a day that could have been called Black Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial average plummeted almost 500 points. Historically prominent investment giant Lehman Brothers filled for bankruptcy, while Bank of America bought out former powerhouse Merrill Lynch (Maloney and Lindeman 2008). The crisis enveloped the economy of the United States, as effects are still felt today. Experts still disagree about what exactly caused the greatest financial disaster since the Great Depression, but many point to the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 as a gateway to the rise of extreme laissez-faire policies that allowed Wall Street to take on incredible risk at the expense of taxpayers. In the wake of the crisis, politicians look for policies that reign in the power of Wall Street, but the fundamental relationship between economic and political power has made such regulation ineffective. The Gla ss-Steagall Act of 1933 was a direct response to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The years before the Depression were marked by robust financial growth, led by an expansion of credit through the policies of the Federal Reserve and new financial innovation, such as investment trusts (Neal and White 2012). Though these trusts were similar to a savings bank, they differed in that trusts were not regulated in which securities they could invest in and had had little government supervision. TheShow MoreRelated2008 Financial Crisis: Icelands Then Now Essay examples1558 Words   |  7 PagesCauses of the Crisis On September 15, 2008, the American bank Lehman Brothers, with holdings over 600 billion USD, filed bankruptcy. This was by far the biggest bankruptcy in U.S history and it marked the beginning and the largest financial crisis ever. How can one of the biggest banks in the world fail? How can a bankruptcy in US make someone on the other side of the world unemployed? The answer is Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and it all started by new innovations in the financial sector combinedRead MoreThe Financial Crisis Of 20081384 Words   |  6 PagesThe turmoil in the financial markets also known as the financial crisis of 2008 was considered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Many areas of the United States suffered. The housing market plummeted and as a result of that, many evictions occurred, as well as foreclosures and unemployment. Leading up to the financial crash, most of the money that was made by investors was based on people speculating on investments li ke real estate, stocks, debt buying, and complex investmentRead MoreThe Financial Crisis Of 20081747 Words   |  7 PagesThe economic crisis of 2008 was one for the ages, it changed the world of investing forever. That year, the stock market crashed, bank failures and the infamous wall street bailout that can all be traced back to the subprime mortgage crisis.. The 2008 economic crisis rocked the global economy for the worst, and to this day the United States is trying to recover from the impact that the crisis had. In order to understand why exactly the banks failed people have to understand the subprime mortgageRead MoreThe Financial Crisis Of 20081817 Words   |  8 PagesThe financial crisis of 2008 did not arise by chance. The meltdown was precipitated by systematic striping away of the New Deal era policies of bank regulation. Most notable of these deregulatory acts was that of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. This bill repealed the legislation which held commercial banks and investment banks separate. As the beginning of the 21 century approached many bankers clamored for an end to the policy of the â€Å"firewall† between Investment and commercial banks. Gramm-Leach-BlileyRead MoreFinancial Crisis 20085972 Words   |  24 PagesCORPORATE FINANCE THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008 Group’s member:Nguyá »â€¦n NhÆ ° Nam (C)Phan Thu AnNguyá »â€¦n Thà ¹y DungHoà  ng Bà ¡ SÆ ¡nNgà ´ Thá »â€¹ à nh Tuyá º ¿tDate: 28/11/2014 | AbstractIn 2008 the world was fell into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1929-1933. Although this crisis has gone, however, its consequences for the economy of many countries is very serious, even now many nations are still struggling to escape difficulty. Just in a short period, the crisis originating from AmericaRead MoreThe Financial Crisis Of 2008 Essay2044 Words   |  9 PagesThe 2008 financial meltdown resulted in the most treacherous investment landscape observed since the great depression. The most notorious issue was the subprime mortgage crisis, which had a ripple effect felt through every market in the world. The banks, whose leverage rate should never have been higher than two times capitalization, surged as high as thirty to forty times market cap. With this level of exposure, any unforeseen market fluctuations could mean disaster. Lehman Brothers, the oldestRead MoreThe Financial Crisis Of 20081125 Words   |  5 PagesA mortgage meltdown and financial crisis of unbelievable magnitude was brewing and very few people, including politicians, the media, and the poor unsuspecting mortgage borrowers anticipated the ramifications that were about to occur. The financial crisis of 2008 was the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression; ultimately coalescing into the largest bankruptcies in world history--approximately 30 million people lost their jobs, trillions of dollars in wealth diminished, and millions ofRead MoreThe Financial Crisis Of 20081689 Words   |  7 PagesOur society seems to doing well since the financial crisis of 2008. The country is recovering from the Great Recession, unemployment is down and the global domestic product is up. People have jobs and are paying taxes. President Obama lowered our budget deficit and promised to make healthcare more available to all. On average, America is well on its way to recovery. But what about the people that slipped through the cracks of the financial stimulus pl an? These are the people that lost their jobsRead MoreThe Financial Crisis Of 2008 Essay2553 Words   |  11 PagesWhen you think of the 2008 financial crisis that affected not just the US economy, but the world as a whole, most average middle-class Americans won’t really know what triggered this economic disaster. Most will probably blame, and rightfully so, those large corporations on Wall Street. These corporations, which deal with insanely large amounts of money, will always be wary of their stocks decreasing. But they also know that 99% of the time, everything will go back to normal in the future. What theyRead MoreThe Financial Crisis Of 20082083 Words   |  9 PagesEver since the economic virus called â€Å"negative interest rates† scattered over European and later Japanese banks, our economic system has been the most unstable since the financial crisis of 2008. The virus, negative interest rates, is a concept in which the central bank charges interest in bor rowing money and holding an account. It was brought forth in efforts to increase economic growth by giving commercial banks a tax on the large amount of reserves they hold in the bank. In other words, commercial