Arts & Literature

If you're a fan of Jackie Chan--the world's most popular action movie star--you've got to have this book. Drawing from "Inside Kung Fu" magazine's exclusive archives, every page is packed with rare pictures and unique insights on this comedy-kung-fu mega-star. From Jackie's personal reflections on h... More

Kenneth Tynan (1927-1980) lived one of the most intriguing theater lives of his century. A brilliant writer, critic, and agent provocateur, he made friends or enemies of nearly every major actor, playwright, impresario, and movie mogul of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. He wrote for the Evening Standard,... More

Adorno's study of Austrian composer Alban Berg (1885-1935) is a sui generis document. In addition to Adorno's personal account of of the life and musical works of his mentor, friend, and composition teacher, the book explores the historical and cultural significance of Berg's music, its relationship... More

Published on the fiftieth anniversary of her death, this intellectual biography of Colette -- the final volume of Julia Kristeva's trilogy "Female Genius" -- will be considered a major breakthrough in understanding one of the great creative minds of the twentieth century.Colette (1873-1954) was a pr... More

The work of Helene Cixous--featuring her great themes of existence, love, birth, death, and dreaming--comprises some of the most radical aesthetic non-conformism in contemporary literature and literary theory. Published here in English for the first time, this book traces Cixous development as a wri... More

"A brilliant and unfailingly provocative reading of Beethoven's music. Rumph challenges and refines our views of the subject, reinterpreting overly familiar music in striking new ways. Wonderful critical and interpretive observations abound; the author writes with great imagination and flair."--Scot... More

"This is no book, / Who touches this touches a man," Walt Whitman famously said. Taking account of Whitman's identification of himself with his books, this introductory guide weaves together the writer's life with an examination of his works, especially his evolving masterpiece "Leaves of Grass," Au... More

This compact and convenient guide to music in London features the sites where music has flourished and where leading musicians have lived or performed in the city--from Handel's house to Berlioz's rooms, from cathedrals and churches to recording studios and concert halls. It provides historical info... More

"Campbell's biography is scrupulously researched and also uncovers new material about Baldwin's life and offers a well-argued case for a re-reading of Baldwin's oeuvre. Campbell knew Baldwin well, but his affection for the man has not dulled his critical pen. When I first met Baldwin he referred me ... More

Born in South Carolina, White spent his childhood as a "lead boy" for traveling blind bluesmen. In the early '30s he moved to New York and became a popular blues star, then introduced folk-blues to a mass white audience in the 1940s. He was famed both for his strong Civil Rights songs, which made hi... More

The book opens up an entirely new perspective for reinterpreting the relations between music, theater, literature, and the philosophical- aesthetical tradition that has largely governed our understanding of those media.... More

In this highly anticipated book, Eric Sams examines each of Johannes Brahms's 213 songs, translates the texts into English, and provides original commentary on points of musicological and literary detail. Sams here reveals for the first time the full extent of the poetry, fantasy, and humor of the c... More

A loving and admiring companion for half a century to literary titan Ezra Pound, concert violinist Olga Rudge was the muse who inspired the poet to complete his epic poem, "The Cantos,"" "and the mother of his only daughter, Mary. Strong-minded and defiant of conventions, Rudge knew the best and wor... More

One of the foremost composers of the French Baroque operatic tradition, Rameau is often cited for his struggle to steer lyric tragedy away from its strict Lullian form, inspired by spoken tragedy, and toward a more expressive musical style. In this fresh exploration of Rameau's compositional aesthet... More

This classic biography offers a monumental and powerfully affecting portrait of one of the 20th century's most notable performers, political radicals, and champions of racial equality.Passionate and enormously talented, Paul Robeson lived one of the great lives of the twentieth century, Martin Duber... More

The first biography of the film director whose major films include "Midnight Cowboy, The Falcon and the Snowman Sunday Bloody Sunday, Marathon Man, and "Pacific Heights.... More

As a leading European conductor and the composer of enormous and controversial symphonies, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) became the subject of much criticism during his lifetime. Going behind the facade of "misunderstood hero", Peter Franklin's illuminating biography shows Mahler as a profoundly sensiti... More

This is the first biography of Erno Goldfinger (1902-1987), the leading modernist architect in Britain in the twentieth century. It is the fascinating story of a man and his struggle to build in a modern style in Britain in the face of contemporary opposition. Today, opposition to his buildings, par... More

Based on lengthy interviews with Ellington's bandmates, family, and friends, "Duke Ellington and His World" offers a fresh look at this legendary composer. "An informative look at one of America's greatest musical figures."--"Library Journal."Based on lengthy interviews with Ellington's bandmates, f... More