What might contemporary thinkers learn from prayer? The seventeenth-century French philosopher Nicolas Malebranche suggested a possibility: that prayer teaches us how to attend. This book explores the precedents of Malebranche s advice by reading John Donne s poetic prayers in the context of what David Marno calls the art of holy attention. This requires an understanding of attention s role in Christian devotion, which he provides by uncovering a tradition of holy attention that spans from ascetic thinkers and Church Fathers to Catholic spiritual exercises and Protestant prayer manuals. Donne s devotional poems occupy a unique position in this tradition. Marno identifies in them a devotional model of thinking whose aim is to experience an affect of attention. Marno s argument is framed by compelling close readings of Death, be not proud, Donne s most triumphant poem about the resurrection. Elsewhere, Marno takes up Claudius s prayer in "Hamlet" and Saint Augustine s account of attention in the "Soliloquies" and the "Confessions." The book ends with a Coda on the aftermath of holy attention in the philosophies of Descartes and Malebranche."

The Walking Dead Challenge the Grim Reaper with every staggering step they take out of the grave. Their reeking existence mocks and defies the Master of the Underworld and scoffs at his very existence. Even the cold grasp of the grave can't deny the undead of their taste for flesh and hatred of the living. In This collection, You will find tales that are dark, gory and satirical. They examine flesh-eating zombies from a fresh perspective while never losing their horrific instinctual, undead nature....their need to feed! Includes stories from: Gord Rollo, Joseph Mulak, Joe McKinney, Gregory Hall, Lucy Snyder, Rick Hautala, Steven Shrewsbury, Scott Christian Carr, David Dunwoody, Sheldon Higdon, Skip Novak, Dave Brockie, Jonathan Maberry.

‘”It would be so easy just to stay there, submerged and warm where the world couldn’t touch me and I would’t have to face tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. So easy. To let go. Painless. Quick.”‘ Following the vicious attack that nearly killed her and reeling from the discovery that mysterious Matthew Lynes – the man with whom she has inadvertently and irresistibly fallen in love – is lying, historian, Emma D’Eresby flees the college in Maine for her ancient home town in England. With her she carries a precious Seventeenth-century journal and the secrets bound within its pages. Once home, she comes to terms with a shattering revelation, and, just when she thinks she has the answers, faces a future where past and present collide. Set in England and in Maine, USA and steeped in history and atmosphere, Death Be Not Proud – the second book of The Secret Of The Journal series – continues the romantic mystery begun in Mortal Fire as Emma and Matthew reveal the turbulent truth of his past. ‘Dunn vividly evokes a range of characters and the tense and tender relationships between them.’ Fay Sampson, award-winning author, The Hunted Hare.

Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, and the Oppenheimer Award Margaret Edson's powerfully imagined Pulitzer Prize–winning play examines what makes life worth living through her exploration of one of existence's unifying experiences—mortality—while she also probes the vital importance of human relationships. What we as her audience take away from this remarkable drama is a keener sense that, while death is real and unavoidable, our lives are ours to cherish or throw away—a lesson that can be both uplifting and redemptive. As the playwright herself puts it, "The play is not about doctors or even about cancer. It's about kindness, but it shows arrogance. It's about compassion, but it shows insensitivity." In Wit, Edson delves into timeless questions with no final answers: How should we live our lives knowing that we will die? Is the way we live our lives and interact with others more important than what we achieve materially, professionally, or intellectually? How does language figure into our lives? Can science and art help us conquer death, or our fear of it? What will seem most important to each of us about life as that life comes to an end? The immediacy of the presentation, and the clarity and elegance of Edson's writing, make this sophisticated, multilayered play accessible to almost any interested reader. As the play begins, Vivian Bearing, a renowned professor of English who has spent years studying and teaching the intricate, difficult Holy Sonnets of the seventeenth-century poet John Donne, is diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. Confident of her ability to stay in control of events, she brings to her illness the same intensely rational and painstakingly methodical approach that has guided her stellar academic career. But as her disease and its excruciatingly painful treatment inexorably progress, she begins to question the single-minded values and standards that have always directed her, finally coming to understand the aspects of life that make it truly worth living.

Exploring Literature is a complete teaching unit designed to give you everything needed to help students understand and appreciate fine literature. This exciting approach includes classroom-tested activities sure to save you hours of valuable preparation time.

Dean of St. Paul’s, John Donne was feted in his day not just as a poet but also as an inspired and inspiring preacher, and these four extended meditations on death are amongst his most powerful and dramatic writings. The magnificent “Death’s Duel” is published here alongside his Lent sermons for the two previous years (1628 and 1629), along with his Easter Day sermon of 1619, preached on the occasion of the King’s sickness. Together they create a fascinating study of early 17th-century attitudes towards death.