The sources for La Légende de Saint Julien l’Hospitalier, one of Flaubert’s finest literary works, have long been the subject of numerous conflicting theories. The implications of the controversy are broad and important, not only for Flaubert’s work but also for our understanding of how writers generally use traditional material. Superficial resemblances have led critics to conclude that Flaubert relied heavily on a medieval tale of Saint Julian and that he borrowed details and sp...

This is a collection of papers from the Bart Collection on the history of farting. The collection was started by Benjamin Bart on discovering several papers in his grandmother Emily's cedar chest, and are available with the help of the Australian Literature Council. The book encompasses all aspects of the history of farting, from the place of farts in culture through the ages to an A-Z of classic farts. Also included are sections on Le Petomane, France's greatest farter whose performances ...

The Children of Odinby Padraic ColumLong ago, in a Northern paradise called Asgard, dwelt many gods and goddesses. They were wise and they were beautiful. They lived in peace, untouched by evil...until the day the Giants from Jotunheim cast envious eyes upon their happiness.... Padraic Colum has been faithful to these old Norse myths, but he has made them his own. His stories speak quickly to children, for they are filled with the rich, musical narrative of the storyteller, ...

The New York Times BestsellerAudiobook Nominated 2014 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album“Still Foolin' ‘Em … moves from one funny, strange and heartfelt moment to the next as smoothly as the best of the nine Academy Awards shows Crystal hosted.” —Los Angeles TimesHilarious and heartfelt observations on aging from one of America's favorite comedians as he turns 65, and a look back at a remarkabl...

In the summer of 1348, as the Black Death ravages their city, ten young Florentines take refuge in the countryside...Taken from the Greek, meaning 'ten-day event', Boccaccio's Decameron sees his characters amuse themselves by each telling a story a day, for the ten days of their confinement - a hundred stories of love and adventure, life and death, and surprising twists of fate. Less preoccupied with abstract concepts of morality or religion than earthly v...

**In the tradition of Kitchen Confidential and Waiter Rant, a rollicking, eye-opening, fantastically indiscreet memoir of a life spent (and misspent) in the hotel industry.“Highly amusing."—New York Times**Jacob Tomsky never intended to go into the hotel business. As a new college graduate, armed only with a philosophy degree and a singular lack of career direction, he became a valet parker for a large luxury hotel in New Orleans. Yet, ri...

Boethius was an eminent public figure under the Gothic emperor Theodoric, and an exceptional Greek scholar. When he became involved in a conspiracy and was imprisoned in Pavia, it was to the Greek philosophers that he turned. THE CONSOLATION was written in the period leading up to his brutal execution. It is a dialogue of alternating prose and verse between the ailing prisoner and his 'nurse' Philosophy. Her instruction on the nature of fortune and happiness, good and evil, fate and free w...

Welcome to QI: The Book of the Dead, a biographical dictionary with a twist - one where only the most interesting people made it in!QI have got together six dozen of the happiest, saddest, maddest and most successful men and women from history. Celebrate their wisdom, learn from their mistakes and marvel at their bad taste in clothes.Hans Christian Anderson was terrified of naked women, Florence Nightingale spent her last fifty years in bed, Sigmund Freud smoked twenty cig...

'In ancient tales many marvels are told us ... now you may hear such marvels told!' The greatest of the heroic epics to emerge from medieval Germany, the Nibelungenlied is a revenge saga of sweeping dimensions. It tells of the dragon-slayer Sivrit, and the mysterious kingdom of the Nibelungs with its priceless treasure-hoard guarded by dwarves and giants, of Pr�nhilt the Amazonian queen, fortune-telling water-sprites and a cloak of invisibility. Driven by the conflict between Kriemhilt, th...

A cornerstone of ancient Greek religious poetry, The Homeric Hymn to Demeter offers a profound exploration of divine power, maternal devotion, and the mysteries of life and death.Composed in the 7th century BC, this foundational text centers on the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, whose abduction by Hades catalyzes the seasonal cycle and the origin of the Eleusinian Mysteries-one of the most revered rites in the ancient world. Rich in symbolism and ritual significance, ...

In The Purgatorio, Dante describes his journey to the renunciation of sin, accepting his suffering in preparation for his coming into the presence of God. This brilliant translation of Dante?s canticle crystallizes the great poet?s immortal conception of the aspiring soul.

The twenty-seventh Bathroom Reader in the beloved, bizarre trivia series with more than fifteen million copies in print!At a whopping 544 pages, Uncle John's Canoramic Bathroom Reader is overflowing with everything that Bathroom Readers' Institute fans have come to expect from this bestselling trivia series: fascinating history, silly science, obscure origins . . . plus fads, blunders, wordplay, quotes, and a few surprises (such as some of the "creative" m...