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The Resource Thinking in circles : an essay on ring composition, Mary Douglas

Thinking in circles : an essay on ring composition, Mary Douglas

Creator
Author
Summary
Many famous antique texts are misunderstood and many others have been completely dismissed, all because the literary style in which they were written is unfamiliar today. So argues Mary Douglas in this controversial study of ring composition, a technique which places the meaning of a text in the middle, framed by a beginning and ending in parallel. To read a ring composition in the modern linear fashion is to misinterpret it, Douglas contends, and today's scholars must reevaluate important antique texts from around the world. Found in the Bible and in writings from as far a field as Egypt, China, Indonesia, Greece, and Russia, ring composition is too widespread to have come from a single source. Does it perhaps derive from the way the brain works? What is its function in social contexts? The author examines ring composition, its principles and functions, in a cross-cultural way. She focuses on ring composition in Homer's "Iliad", the Bible's book of "Numbers", and, for a challenging modern example, Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy", developing a persuasive argument for reconstruing famous books and rereading neglected ones
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
1 online resource (xv, 169 pages)
Contents
  • Ancient rings worldwide
  • Modes and genres
  • How to construct and recognize a ring
  • Alternating bands : numbers
  • The central place : numbers
  • Modern, not-quite rings
  • Tristram Shandy : testing for ring shape
  • Two central places, two rings : the Iliad
  • Alternating nights and days : the Iliad
  • The ending : how to complete a ring
  • The latch : Jakobson's conundrum
Isbn
9780300134957
Instance
Label
Thinking in circles : an essay on ring composition
Title
Thinking in circles
Title remainder
an essay on ring composition
Statement of responsibility
Mary Douglas
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
Many famous antique texts are misunderstood and many others have been completely dismissed, all because the literary style in which they were written is unfamiliar today. So argues Mary Douglas in this controversial study of ring composition, a technique which places the meaning of a text in the middle, framed by a beginning and ending in parallel. To read a ring composition in the modern linear fashion is to misinterpret it, Douglas contends, and today's scholars must reevaluate important antique texts from around the world. Found in the Bible and in writings from as far a field as Egypt, China, Indonesia, Greece, and Russia, ring composition is too widespread to have come from a single source. Does it perhaps derive from the way the brain works? What is its function in social contexts? The author examines ring composition, its principles and functions, in a cross-cultural way. She focuses on ring composition in Homer's "Iliad", the Bible's book of "Numbers", and, for a challenging modern example, Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy", developing a persuasive argument for reconstruing famous books and rereading neglected ones
Member of
Action
digitized
Cataloging source
N$T
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1921-2007
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Douglas, Mary
Dewey number
808
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
Language note
English
LC call number
PN212
LC item number
.D68 2007eb
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
Series statement
Terry lecture series
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Homer
  • Sterne, Laurence
  • Narration (Rhetoric)
  • LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES
  • REFERENCE
  • LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES
  • LITERARY CRITICISM
  • Narration (Rhetoric)
  • Verteltheorie
  • Ringcomposities
  • Ilias (Homerus)
  • The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman (Sterne)
  • Numeri (bijbelboek)
Label
Thinking in circles : an essay on ring composition, Mary Douglas
Instantiates
Publication
Antecedent source
unknown
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Ancient rings worldwide -- Modes and genres -- How to construct and recognize a ring -- Alternating bands : numbers -- The central place : numbers -- Modern, not-quite rings -- Tristram Shandy : testing for ring shape -- Two central places, two rings : the Iliad -- Alternating nights and days : the Iliad -- The ending : how to complete a ring -- The latch : Jakobson's conundrum
Control code
191734323
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource (xv, 169 pages)
File format
unknown
Form of item
online
Isbn
9780300134957
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Other physical details
illustrations.
http://library.link/vocab/ext/overdrive/overdriveId
22573/ctt11303b
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Reproduction note
Electronic reproduction.
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)191734323
System details
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002.
Label
Thinking in circles : an essay on ring composition, Mary Douglas
Publication
Antecedent source
unknown
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Ancient rings worldwide -- Modes and genres -- How to construct and recognize a ring -- Alternating bands : numbers -- The central place : numbers -- Modern, not-quite rings -- Tristram Shandy : testing for ring shape -- Two central places, two rings : the Iliad -- Alternating nights and days : the Iliad -- The ending : how to complete a ring -- The latch : Jakobson's conundrum
Control code
191734323
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource (xv, 169 pages)
File format
unknown
Form of item
online
Isbn
9780300134957
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Other physical details
illustrations.
http://library.link/vocab/ext/overdrive/overdriveId
22573/ctt11303b
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Reproduction note
Electronic reproduction.
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)191734323
System details
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002.

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      38.710138 -90.311107

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