Disjecta

“[Beckett] is a serious writer with something serious to say about the human condition: and therefore one of the dozen or so writers those who are concerned with modern man in search of his soul should read.”—Stephen Spender, The New York Times Renowned Beckett scholar Ruby Cohn has selected some of Beckett's criticisms, reviews, letters, and other unpublished materials that shed new light on his work.

One of the most ubiquitous English ghost stories, The Screaming Skull of Burton Agnes Hall, is a fine example of the persistence and reiteration of a popular narrative over many years.Drawing from decades of research, artist Robert Williams re-presents references to the story from more than 100 popular sources that extend across more than 150 years.The project, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Hilmar Sch�fer, echoes the transmission of the story as quoted text, oral tradition and downright plagiarism, as it draws together many references across time to a story that tells us as much about cultural and historical representations, as it does a lurid tale of murder, grave-opening, and screaming skulls.Contributors to the project include artist James Brook, artist and writer Dr.Kate Briggs, and cultural sociologist Dr. Hilmar Sch�fer. Robert Williams is Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cumbria Institute of the Arts.

NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST WINNER OF THE 2012 AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION’S SOPHIE BRODY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN JEWISH LITERATURE Sacred Trash tells the remarkable story of the Cairo Geniza—a synagogue repository for worn-out texts that turned out to contain the most vital cache of Jewish manuscripts ever discovered. This tale of buried communal treasure weaves together unforgettable portraits of Solomon Schechter and the other modern heroes responsible for the collection’s rescue with explorations of the medieval documents themselves—letters and poems, wills and marriage contracts, Bibles, money orders, fiery dissenting religious tracts, fashion-conscious trousseaux lists, prescriptions, petitions, and mysterious magical charms. Presenting a pan­oramic view of almost a thousand years of vibrant Mediterranean Judaism, Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole bring contemporary readers into the heart of this little-known trove, whose contents have rightly been dubbed “the Living Sea Scrolls.” Part biography, part meditation on the supreme value the Jewish people has long placed in the written word, Sacred Trash is above all a gripping tale of adventure and redemption. (With black-and-white illustrations throughout.)