Cultural History

Cultures of Commemoration: War Memorials, Ancient and Modern

Polly Low, Graham Oliver, P.J. Rhodes (eds)

This book offers a comparative approach to the study of the commemoration of war. It draws together a set of contributions that combine to produce a considered approach to the changes ... More

This book offers a comparative approach to the study of the commemoration of war. It draws together a set of contributions that combine to produce a considered approach to the changes and continuities that marked the ways in which war, and in particular the war dead, were commemorated and remembered. Chapters explore the commemorative practices of Ancient Greece and Rome, and investigate how those practices have been reflected, adapted and abandoned in more recent Western cultures, from eighteenth-century France to twentieth-century Britain, Germany and the USA. The book concentrates on monuments set up by communities, from local communities to the state, but it also considers the role of ‘private’ memorials, since the interaction between private or more personalised monuments and the commemoration of the war dead by the community often lies at the heart of commemorative practices. It furthermore explores the relationship between memory and forgetting, in the context of the longer-term idea of cultural memory. Key questions addressed by the book include: What importance does such commemoration have for the cultures that continue to live with the legacies of the commemorative actions of the recent and distant past? How is the commemoration of the war dead of the past not only used but reused? The book demonstrates that our own understanding of the treatment of the war dead has absorbed and reinterpreted the treatments already developed by past societies. Less

Proceedings of the British Academy Volume 125, 2003 Lectures

P. J. Marshall (ed.)

This volume contains fifteen lectures in the humanities and social sciences, delivered at the British Academy in 2003.

Proceedings of the British Academy Volume 167, 2009 Lectures

Ron Johnston (ed.)

This volume contains sixteen chapters which contain the text of lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2008–10. From romantic love in sub-Saharan Africa to the British industrial ... More

This volume contains sixteen chapters which contain the text of lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2008–10. From romantic love in sub-Saharan Africa to the British industrial revolution, from John Donne to Arthur Miller, from surrealism to Chinese flower imagery, this book demonstrates unparalleled breadth and depth of scholarship. Less

Proceedings of the British Academy Volume 181, 2010-2011 Lectures

Ron Johnston (ed.)

This volume collects together lectures by distinguished scholars. One lecture examines medieval religious relics, focusing on what they actually comprised and asking how these paltry ... More

This volume collects together lectures by distinguished scholars. One lecture examines medieval religious relics, focusing on what they actually comprised and asking how these paltry items came to be so highly valued. Another lecture takes the authentic medieval Welsh literary corpus associated with Owain Glyndwr, consisting in the main of bardic eulogies rather than prophecies, and examines them in their historical context. A lecture on Alexander Pope asks what part Shaftesbury's polite wit, Mandeville's cynicism, and Augustan sentimentalism played in the poetry of England's greatest satirist. Another lecture focuses on the Romantic poets' fascination with the lens-made and projected images that the modern world has come to think of as the virtual image. A further lecture examines the choices made by young musicians in Renaissance Italy. The next lecture examines how the paradoxical doctrine of ‘the one and the multiple’ was translated into visual language in Chinese Buddhist art. In some cases, groups related to certain numbers bearing metaphorical significances; while in others, objects were simply replicated in large numbers to create a sense of awe. The final lecture explores the way the natural history of the Americas was exported to 16th-century northern European scientists and how they reacted intellectually and politically. Less

Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 117: 2001 Lectures

F.M.L. Thompson (ed.)

This book contains the texts of 17 lectures, delivered to the British Academy in 2001. Topics include Chinese Mountain Painting, prosperity and power in the age of Bede and Beowulf, Glyn ... More

This book contains the texts of 17 lectures, delivered to the British Academy in 2001. Topics include Chinese Mountain Painting, prosperity and power in the age of Bede and Beowulf, Glyn Dwr, Shakespeare's sense of an exit, learning, liberty, poetry, social ethics, the House of Savoy during the Risorgimento, the disease of language and the language of disease, Gertrude Stein's differential syntax, Keith Douglas, Common Law's approach to property, Welfare-to-Work and genes. Less

Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 121, 2002 Lectures

P. J. Marshall (ed.)

This series features studies of the lives and works of some of Britain's foremost scholars. Volume 121 of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains twelve lectures delivered at the ... More

This series features studies of the lives and works of some of Britain's foremost scholars. Volume 121 of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains twelve lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2002. Less

Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 131, 2004 Lectures

P. J. Marshall (ed.)

This volume contains sixteen lectures given to the National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences in 2004. The topical issues debated in this volume include the patenting of ... More

This volume contains sixteen lectures given to the National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences in 2004. The topical issues debated in this volume include the patenting of AIDS drugs, the future pensions crisis (a lecture given by the Governor of the Bank of England), Britain's universities, and Pan-Islam. There are studies of Shakespeare, Pope, Montaigne, Robert Graves, and William Faulkner. And there are lectures on the Inquisition, empires in history, and the journey towards spiritual fulfillment. Less

Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 139, 2005 Lectures

P. J. Marshall (ed.)

Volume 139 of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains thirteen lectures in the humanities and social sciences delivered at the British Academy in 2005. Subject matter ranges from ... More

Volume 139 of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains thirteen lectures in the humanities and social sciences delivered at the British Academy in 2005. Subject matter ranges from archaeological perspectives on the essence of being human to discussions of the UK's Monetary Policy Committee, the role of judges, and Dame Marilyn Strathern on ‘Useful Knowledge’. Less

Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 151, 2006 Lectures

P. J. Marshall (ed.)

This series features distinguished works in the humanities and social sciences. This volume of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains fifteen lectures delivered at the British ... More

This series features distinguished works in the humanities and social sciences. This volume of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains fifteen lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2006. Subjects covered range from consideration of Einstein, to discussions of coercion and consent in Nazi Germany, and judicial independence. Less

Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 154, 2007 Lectures

Ron Johnston (ed.)

This volume of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains seventeen lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2007. Subject matter ranges from commemoration of the American Civil ... More

This volume of the Proceedings of the British Academy contains seventeen lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2007. Subject matter ranges from commemoration of the American Civil War, to an examination of our capacity as human beings to live in the world of imagination, and the opportunities and challenges that face cultural institutions in Britain today. Less