Cees Nooteboom, best known for his novel "The Following Story", is one of the most distinguished and significant authors living in the Netherlands today. "Self-Portrait of an Other" is one of the most unique and innovative works in his oeuvre. Writte...

The fascinus, or phallus, was at the heart of classical Roman art and life. No god was more represented in ancient Rome than the phallic deity Priapus, and the fescennine verses, one of the earliest forms of Roman poetry, accompanied the celebrations...

To grow up is to grow old. With time, great love can turn into indifference. And even the most earnest revolution can imperceptibly become its own system of privilege and corruption – just as global warming has slowly modified the climate by degrees....

This anthology of six contemporary plays from Turkey captures such global themes as questions of identity, poverty, class conflict, oppression, and displacement while shedding light on current cultural and political matters in Turkey, a country liter...

From Shakespeare to Beckett, the contradictory figure of the fool who possesses unexpected wisdom has been a popular and effective literary trope and rhetorical figure for centuries. Philosophy needs idiots too, argues Keson Sutherland in "Stupefacti...

"Summer Resort", the first novel by noted translator Esther Kinsky, is set in a village somewhere on the endless Hungarian plain. It is the hottest summer in memory and everyone in the village dreams of the sweet life in Udulo, a summer resort on a r...

In "The Shadow-Boxing Woman", a novel from German writer Inka Parei, a decaying apartment building in post-Wall Berlin is home to Hell, a young woman with a passion for martial arts. When Hell's neighbor disappears she sets out across the city in sea...

Based on fieldwork carried out in West Bengal, "Sailing on the Sea of Love" is a pioneering study of the songs of the Baul – a Bengali religious sect, widely beloved for its enchanting music. Charles Capwell describes the role Baul song plays in the...

According to political philosopher Frederic Gros, traditional notions of war and peace are currently being replaced by ideas of intervention and security. But while we may be able to speak of an end to war, this does not imply an end to violence. On...

Filloux's plays explore social justice from a global perspective, with a focus on Western liberalism. Themes of "honour killing", the Khmer Rouge genocide, human responsibility in the face of lawlessness, and women's rights are treated with a lyricis...