What portents must you divine when a knife falls from the sky into your snow covered yard? With Knife on Snow, Alice Major employs history, myth, and science to understand a world ablaze.From the bitumen hills of Fort McMurray to the barren reaches of Iceland, Knife on Snow depicts an earth bathed in dragon’s breath, where like the Norse gods bound to their fate, we stand transfixed by the consequences of our actions, both driver /and passenger— part-cause / p...

In this ambitious long poem, Alice Major exemplifies the redemptive force of story. Through the light-hearted interplay of such literary touchstones as Chaucer, The Thousand and One Nights, and Greek myth, readers meet receptionist Aphrodite, Sheherazad in PR, and Pandora, expectant grandmother from accounting, who gather to share tales during coffee breaks from their male-dominated engineering firm. Literary pilgrims, lovers of narrative and long forms, or fans of Major’s past exploration...

Alice Major observes the comedy and the tragedy of this human-dominated moment on Earth. Major’s most persistent question—“Where do we fit in the universe?”—is made more urgent by the ecological calamity of human-driven climate change. Her poetry leads us to question human hierarchies, loyalties, and consciousness, and challenges us to find some humility in our overblown sense of our cosmic significance. Now, welcome to the Anthropocene you battered, tilting globe. Still you gleam, a blue ...

Like the ever-widening universe, Standard candles expands on Alice Major’s earlier themes of family, mythology, and cosmology, teasing out subtle wonders in form and subject. Her voice resonates through experiments with old and new poetic forms as she imbues observed and imagined phenomena—from the centres of galaxies to the mysteries of her own backyard—with the most grounded and grounding moments of human experience. In Standard candles, readers will find an emotional dimension that seam...

An adventure in another world â a slender string universe that runs close to ours and was settled long ago by people of the Yellow Emperor. Headstrong Joss, her gangly twin Mark and their friends find an accidental channel to this alien landscape where they are tipped into its battles, journeys and intrigues. They meet naive kings, scheming courtiers, peasant girls and potters in a world where a sun never rises or sets.

A modern classic from a trailblazing voice in modern American literature, The Color Purple is a powerful story of bravery, love and survival, centring on the unbreakable bond between two sisters.ONE OF THE BBC'S 100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLDWINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE AND THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD'A genuinely mind-expanding book' Guardian'One of the greatest books...

In a world defined by specialization and fragmentation, Alice Major’s Triangularity is a profound, timely challenge. Through personal essays and interspersed poems, Major reveals the deep connections between poetry, science, and spirit, proposing a new intellectual geometry. Science and spirit are the two sides of human inquiry—one seeking empirical mechanics, the other divine meaning. Poetry is an essential hypotenuse, the unifying language that connects them. Animated by cosmolo...

Enlightenment and Secularism is a collection of twenty eight essays that seek to understand the connection between the European Enlightenment and the emergence of secular societies, as well as the character or nature of those societies. The contributors are drawn from a variety of disciplines including History, Sociology, Political Science, and Literature. Most of the essays focus on a single text from the Enlightenment, borrowing or secularizing the format of a sermon on a text, and are d...

With a unique transitional justice perspective on the Arab Spring, this book assesses the relocation of transitional justice from the international paradigm to Islamic legal systems.The Arab uprisings and new and old conflicts in the Middle East, North Africa and other contexts where Islam is a prominent religion have sparked an interest in localising transitional justice in the legal systems of Muslim-majority communities to uncover the truth about past abuse and ensure accountabi...

Marrying well is not about trying to find a wealthy mate; it is about finding someone that you trust and with whom you can build a future together. Qualities to look for in a potential spouse include excellent communication skills, loyalty, and shared values. But when you marry well, you will find a spouse who will acknowledge their sins. Seek change, grow, and so on. In the 21st century, it takes wisdom to marry well. Some time ago, I asked my husband, "What are the values you saw in me t...

For those ready to participate in making transformative changes, Transforming Undergraduate Education provides evidence and case studies that suggest how steps can be taken and progress made. For those who are currently leading their campuses through a change in culture, this book offers support and encouragement. And for those who are pausing—looking positively but cautiously at what needs to change—at the prospects and challenges that may be encountered, Harward and the collection of aut...

Il est fréquent de rêver au temps qui passe trop vite, à ce temps qui nous file entre les doigts, ce temps que nous voudrions retarder en lui gardant la couleur d’un « déjà passé ». Cette illusion de « suspendre » ou « d’accélérer » le temps nous tient à cœur car elle est bien là pour nous persuader que nous avons une emprise sur lui. Il nous est difficile d’accepter l’idée que « le temps est un vide ». En disant qu’un « jour est historique », un tel effet d’annonce nous donne l’illusion d...