Radha Béteille – författare

Creative Lives and Works: Frank Kermode, George Steiner, Gillian Beer and Christopher Ricks is a collection of interviews conducted by one of England’s leading social anthropologists and historians, Professor Alan Macfarlane. Filmed over a period of 40 years, the four conversations in this volume, are part of a larger set of interviews that cut across various disciplines, from the social sciences, the sciences and to even the performing and visual arts. The current volume on four of England’s foremost literary critics is the first in the series of several such books. Sir Frank Kermode, in James S. Shapiro’s (Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University who specializes in Shakespeare and the Early Modern period) words is, ‘the best living reader of Shakespeare anywhere, hands down’, George Steiner, in an article in The Guardian is described as a ‘polyglot and polymath’, Gillian Beer is quoted in The Guardian as saying, ‘I am historical remnant of free education: I was carried through by the state’, and W.H. Auden, one of the greatest 20th century poets, described Sir Christopher Ricks as ‘exactly the kind of critic every poet dreams of finding’. Immensely riveting as conversations, this collection takes one into the exciting world of literary criticism. The book will be of enormous value to those interested in Literature, History and Culture Studies.Please note: This title is co-published with Social Science Press, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Historical Ethnography and Peasant Societies: McKim Marriott, James Scott and Maurice Bloch is a collection of interviews that is being published as a book for the first time. These interviews have been conducted by a leading British social anthropologist and historian, Professor Alan Macfarlane. Filmed over a period of several years, the three conversations in this volume are a part of the series Creative Lives and Works. These transcriptions cut across various disciplines, from the social sciences and the sciences to the performing and visual arts. The current volume is on three of the world’s most eminent sociologists and anthropologists – McKim Marriott, James Scott and Maurice Bloch.These interviews extend the disciplines of sociology and anthropology, moving on from when fieldwork was somewhat limited to the concentration of a civilization or community’s past, and how it fits within the historical context of the discipline. Since then, it has expanded to one where peasant cultures and communities have become the focal point of study.McKim Marriott, James Scott and Maurice Bloch talk about both overcoming and understanding the importance of fieldwork—considering linguistic, historical, economic and cultural elements in the study of these societies through their engaging conversations and occasional anecdotes. Immensely riveting as conversations, this collection gives a flavour of the many different societies and cultures in far-flung reaches of the world encompassing several continents, often with no knowledge of each other’s existence, and of how expansive the disciple of sociology and social anthropology is.The book will be of enormous value not just to those interested in the subject of Sociology, Social Anthropology and Ethnography, but also to those with an avid interest in History, Culture Studies as well as those with a general interest in learning about other societies.Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan).