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Sex before Sex
- Figuring the Act in Early Modern England
- Narrated by: Jim Pelletier
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
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Publisher's summary
What is sex exactly? Does everyone agree on a definition? And does that definition hold when considering literary production in other times and places? Sex before Sex makes clear that we cannot simply transfer our contemporary notions of what constitutes a sex act into the past and expect them to be true for the people who were then reading literature and watching plays. The contributors confront how our current critical assumptions about definitions of sex restrict our understanding of representations of sexuality in early modern England.
Drawing attention to overlooked forms of sexual activity in early modern culture, from anilingus and interspecies sex to "chin-chucking" and convivial drinking, Sex before Sex offers a multifaceted view of what sex looked like before the term entered history. Through incisive interpretations of a wide range of literary texts, including Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors, Paradise Lost, the figure of Lucretia, and pornographic poetry, this collection queries what might constitute sex in the absence of a widely accepted definition and how a historicized concept of sex affects the kinds of arguments that can be made about early modern sexualities.
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What if imagination and art are not, as many of us might think, the frosting on life but the fountainhead of human experience? What if our logic and science derive from art forms rather than the other way around? In this trenchant volume, Rollo May helps all of us find those creative impulses that, once liberated, offer new possibilities for achievement. A renowned therapist and inspiring guide, Dr. May draws on his experience to show how we can break out of old patterns in our lives.
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May takes on the Creative Act
- By Lowball on 01-16-19
By: Rollo May
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Holy Sh*t
- A Brief History of Swearing
- By: Melissa Mohr
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Almost everyone swears, or worries about not swearing, from the two year-old who has just discovered the power of potty mouth to the grandma who wonders why every other word she hears is obscene. Whether they express anger or exhilaration, are meant to insult or to commend, swear words perform a crucial role in language. But swearing is also a uniquely well-suited lens through which to look at history, offering a fascinating record of what people care about on the deepest levels of a culture - what's divine, what's terrifying, and what's taboo.
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WHERE IS THE REFERENCE MATERIAL PDF????
- By justin on 07-08-14
By: Melissa Mohr
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The Givenness of Things
- Essays
- By: Marilynne Robinson
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The spirit of our times can appear to be one of joyless urgency. As a culture we have become less interested in the exploration of the glorious mind, and more interested in creating and mastering technologies that will yield material well-being. But while cultural pessimism is always fashionable, there is still much to give us hope.
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Mostly thoughts on religious things
- By Adam Shields on 01-26-16
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The Creation of Anne Boleyn
- A New Look at England’s Most Notorious Queen
- By: Susan Bordo
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Part biography, part cultural history, The Creation of Anne Boleyn is a fascinating reconstruction of Anne’s life and an illuminating look at her afterlife in the popular imagination. Why is Anne so compelling? Why has she inspired such extreme reactions? What did she really look like? Was she the flaxen-haired martyr of Romantic paintings or the raven-haired seductress of twenty-first-century portrayals? (Answer: Neither.) And perhaps the most provocative questions concern Anne’s death more than her life.
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Most Enjoyable Biography--Win!
- By Roswatheist on 03-29-14
By: Susan Bordo
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To Show and to Tell
- The Craft of Literary Nonfiction
- By: Phillip Lopate
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Distinguished author Phillip Lopate, editor of the celebrated anthology The Art of the Personal Essay, is universally acclaimed as “one of our best personal essayists” ( Dallas Morning News). Here, combining more than 40 years of lessons from his storied career as a writer and professor, he brings us this highly anticipated nuts-and-bolts guide to writing literary nonfiction. A phenomenal master class shaped by Lopate’s informative, accessible tone, and immense gift for storytelling.
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Not a guide on writing personal essays
- By A. Yoshida on 08-07-13
By: Phillip Lopate
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The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Bolder even than the ambitious books for which Stephen Greenblatt is already renowned, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve explores the enduring story of humanity's first parents. Comprising only a few ancient verses, the story of Adam and Eve has served as a mirror in which we seem to glimpse the whole long history of our fears and desires, as both a hymn to human responsibility and a dark fable about human wretchedness.
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For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return
- By Darwin8u on 02-11-18
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All Things Shining
- Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular World
- By: Hubert Dreyfus, Sean Dorrance Kelly
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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The religious turn to their faith to find meaning. But what about the many people who lead secular lives and are also hungry for meaning? What guides, what approaches are available to them? Distinguished philosophers Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly explain that a secular life charged with meaning is indeed within reach.
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Excellent Book that refreshes the classics
- By Tod on 06-14-11
By: Hubert Dreyfus, and others
What listeners say about Sex before Sex
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- HZ
- 08-31-17
Academic Writing Obsures Interesting Content
Content: 4.5 stars / Delivery of Content: 2.5 stars
THE ACTUAL IDEAS AND INFORMATION IN THIS BOOK ARE EXTREMELY INTERESTING! However the academic writing is SO dense, it is difficult to comprehend and nearly impossible to enjoy. (Even if the reader has a significant vocabulary and is accustomed to academic text)
I believe if the content was translated for accessibility this could be a BESTSELLER! However, its current format will find few people determined enough to listen all the way through. To borrow from Daniel Oppenheimer this text suffers from: “Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity (a.k.a.) Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly.”
The narrator has a clear pleasant voice and the ability to pronounce all the words (No small feat here). Yet, he reads a little quickly and there is nothing in his delivery to improve the enjoyment or understanding. It might actually be better in print, where there is time to digest what you've just read.
This book is a collection of academic essays about what people were up to sexually before our current words and labels, including sex, came into use.
Even when the words are familiar the meaning/usage has often changed. The information is about European, especially English, peoples around the time of Shakespeare. The book comes from an interest in showing the sexual landscape in this time beyond a strict vanilla heterosexual interpretation. Basically, humans haven't invented anything new sexually since before culture started being recorded, even if we misunderstand or ignore what has been recorded.
Sadly, the effort expended in a reading/writing style to have the subject matter taken seriously may simply get it ignored by the public.
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