Books about Allusions from Amazon.com

Shakespeare's genius is marked by his rare ability to appeal to theatergoers of all types and all levels of education But for most modern folks, the Greek and Roman mythology and history, let alone the history of England and the geography of sixteenth-century Europe that his works are laden with, are hardly within our grasp. Isaac Asimov comes to making obscure issues clear to the layperson, selects key passages from 38 of the great bard's plays plus two of his narrative poems and, with the help of beautifully rendered maps an figures, illuminates us about their historical and mythological background..
Price: $11.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A guide to references commonly used in speech and writing Explains more than 900 allusions Entries include examples from todays leading media. A must for serious readers, language lovers, and ESL students..
Price: $3.73 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Allusions form a colourful extension to the English language, drawing on our collective knowledge of literature, mythology, and the Bible to give us a literary shorthand for describing people, places, and events. So a miser is a Scrooge, a strong man is a Samson or a Hercules, a beautiful woman is a Venus or a modern-day Helen of Troy- -we can suffer like Sisyphus, fail like Canute, or linger like the smile of the Cheshire Cat.
This reference work explains the meanings of the allusions in use in modern English, from Abaddon to Zorro, Tartarus to Tarzan, and Rubens to Rambo. Quotations from a range of authors and sources are included at most entries to illustrate usage--anywhere from Thomas Hardy to Ben Elton, Charles Dickens to Bridget Jones's Diary. This second edition includes completely up-to-date allusions--from Gollum to Kofi Annan--and a handy A-Z order has been adopted for extra ease of reference and usability..
Price: $6.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

OPTICAL ALLUSIONS is the cure for all those clamoring for a painstakingly researched, scientifically accurate, eye-themed comic book adventure WRINKLES THE WONDER BRAIN has lost his bosses' eye and now he has to search all of human imagination for it. Along the way, he confronts biology head on and accidentally learns more about eyes and the evolution of vision than he thought possible. And, as if a compelling story with disembodied talking brains, shape-changing proteins and giant robot eyes wasn't enough, each tale is followed by a fully illustrated, in-depth exploration of the ideas introduced in the comic story. Following in the tradition of the author's first two books, Clan Apis and The Sandwalk Adventures, Optical Allusions uses humor and adventure to weave an unforgettable story about the wonders of seeing..
Price: $12.64 [Notify me when price goes down.]

*Examines 750 common Biblical references and what they've come to represent in today's culture through art, literature, song and common phrases

*User friendly format--arranged alphabetically (from Aaron's rod to Zion)

What do we mean when we call a woman a Jezebel? What exactly was a scapegoat? Why was a fast-and-furious driver called Jehu? In a more literate (and Bible-conscious) age, most people knew the source of these and hundreds of other names, phrases, and images. Artists and writers could assume their audiences would understand references to biblical people and events. Today, some of those meanings are lost. This book fills that gap in knowledge.

The text discusses the most important names, places, images, events, and phrases of the Bible and looks at how each subject has been presented culturally in art, music, and literature. The reader not only gets a guided tour of biblical history, but also a renewed appreciation for words, phrases, art, and music that have been influenced by the Bible..
Price: $1.09 [Notify me when price goes down.]

No writer has served as such a powerful source of inspiration for other writers, or attracted such varied and widespread comment, as William Shakespeare. From West Side Story, Ivan Turgenev's A Lear of the Steppes, Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead to Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert's "Elegy for Fortinbras," Shakespeare's presence in literature and theater has been powerful and pervasive.
Now, in After Shakespeare, editor John Gross brings together a lively gathering of writings that testify to that presence. More passionate and more personal than most Shakespeare criticism, these pieces reveal much more directly Shakespeare's effect on the generations of writers and thinkers who came after him. Novelists, poets, and playwrights are all represented, as one would expect. But Shakespeare's influence extends beyond the expected to philosophers, historians, composers, film-makers, and politicians. Here we see how Shakespearean characters and motifs fueled the genius of Goethe and Dostoevsky, Aldous Huxley and Emily Dickenson, John Updike and Duke Ellington, Marcel Proust and Grigor Kozintsev. We see Shakespeare the man firing the imaginations of Kipling, Joyce, Borges, and Burgess. Herman Melville writes a poem about Falstaff. D. H. Lawrence anatomizes Hamlet, (revealing much about his own aesthetic in the process). R. K. Narayan describes a Shakespeare lesson in an Indian classroom. John Osborne adapts Coriolanus. Eugene Ionescu reworks Macbeth. We even see Shakespeare's power to console the lonely prisoner in the writings of Alfred Dreyfus and Nelson Mandela.
Wide-ranging, surprising, and written with refreshing immediacy, After Shakespeare brings together a collection of writings that not only reflects Shakespeare's enduring spirit but brilliantly embodies it..
Price: $7.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]