Is the world a place? As its inhabitants, we belong to the world, with its increasingly interconnected systems and cultures, but the cosmopolitanism of our daily lives is often hidden from view. In this innovative study, Robert T. Tally Jr. challenges our fundamental understanding of what constitutes the “world” in an age of shifting spatial boundaries.The conception of the “world” profoundly influences the ways we imagine space and place, and the negotiation of worldly spaces pres...

In such classic works as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien depicts a vast, complex world-system. Tolkien's Middle-earth comes to life with intensely detailed historical, geographical, and multicultural content, which is presented through different poetic forms that combine elements of epic, romance, myth, history, and the modern novel. This book analyzes Tolkien's project, paying attention to narrative form and its relation to socia...

What is our place in the world, and how do we inhabit, understand, and represent this place to others? Topophrenia gathers essays by Robert Tally that explore the relationship between space, place, and mapping, on the one hand, and literary criticism, history, and theory on the other. The book provides an introduction to spatial literary studies, exploring in detail the theory and practice of geocriticism, literary cartography, and the spatial humanities more generally. The spatia...

Let go of the ‘exercise rules’ and learn to love working out and moving your body in a multitude of ways!Personal Trainer and Broadcaster Tally Rye is on a mission to change the way we think about exercise, encouraging you to approach it with a mindset of self-care rather than the traditional self-punishment narrative. Gain knowledge and tools that enable you to navigate your path to a health first, holistic approach to fitness which includes insights from leading ...

This book is a critical introduction to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, but it also advances an argument about the novel in the context of Tolkien’s larger literary and philosophical project. Notwithstanding its canonical place in the fantasy genre, The Hobbit is ultimately a historical novel. It does not refer directly to any “real” historical events, but it both enacts and conceptualizes history in a way that makes it real. Drawing on Marxist literary criticism and narrati...

Grandma HAS Alzheimer's But It's OK is the true story of an ordinary family who keeps their mother after she develops Alzheimer's. Told through the voice of the family grandchild. This memoir expresses the value of a grandmother and the pain of how this disease affects all the family, even pets.This is a story of struggle, compassionate love, determination to keep a vow, and most of all, the power of active faith. This is about life lessons and how unconditional love overcome doubt...

The popular fascination with dragons and dragon slayers is manifest in the endlessly repeated plots of sword-and-sorcery romances and in the mass-produced artwork that illustrates their fantastical characters and themes. Yet the image of a knight in shining armour who fights a solitary battle against a winged, fire-breathing dragon in order to win the hand of a fair maiden is more common in modern popular culture than in medieval literary fiction. Applying modern theoretical literary persp...

For a Ruthless Critique of All that Exists takes as its point of departure two profound and interrelated phenomena. The first is the pervasive sense of what Mark Fisher had called “capitalist realism", in which (to cite the famous expression variously attributed to Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek) it is easier to imagine the end of the world than then end of capitalism. As Jameson in particular has noted, “perhaps this is due to some weakness in our imaginations,” and the attenuation of t...

The Critical Situation: Vexed Perspectives in Postmodern Literary Studies comprises a selection of essays that register the situatedness of critical theory and practice amid various intellectual, institutional, and cultural contexts. This book offers examples of situated criticism, which in turn are concerned with the ways in which literary and cultural criticism are and have been situated in relation to a variety of ideological and institutional structures, including those of world litera...

A ghostly Figure hanging in a churchyard�icy fingers that run up your neck�the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp�. From the swamps of Kershaw County to an abandoned graveyard underneath South of the Border, the South Carolina Pee Dee is home to a rich heritage and a sometimes frightening past. In this volume, storyteller and author Tally Johnson investigates the truth behind the ghostly legends of counties that have seen revolution and war, tragedy and triumph. With an attention to history and...

The Bible in 52 Weeks is a comprehensive year-long devotional designed to help men, women, and young adults develop a deeper, more intimate relationship with God. This book provides a structured study of the Bible that covers the entire range of its teachings and stories.Each week's reading includes a selection of Old and New Testament passages, accompanied by insightful commentary and reflection questions. The readings are arranged thematically, making it easy to see the connectio...

Hi, do you sometimes get home from work, feeling hungry and tired, but you haven't got anything to eat? The answer to your dietary dilemma is a stew or a casserole. Why? Because if you cook it a few days in advance, it will feed you – and a partner – for a few days, so there's no need for headaches or arguments about whose turn it is to cook on Tuesday night after work. Most of the recipes you'll find in this book are pretty easy. They provide four, sometimes more, servings. And stews and ...