Oberlin Alumni Magazine
Fall/Winter 2007–2008
Bookshelf
Rooms and Fields: Dramatic Monologues from the War in Bosnia
"The book has a formal movement, which helps to contain (artistically) the violence and deep tragedy that is the poem’s subject. There is almost infinite variety in the burden of the voices," Jean Valentine writes in the book’s forward. Peterson is a 2003 Stan and Tom Wick poetry prizewinner.
The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema
Kim shows how the New Korean Cinema of the past quarter century has used the trope of masculinity to mirror the profound sociopolitical changes underway in the country. Kim argues that the brutality and violence ubiquitous in many Korean films are symptomatic of Korea’s ongoing quest for modernity and a post authoritarian identity. Kim is a professor of East Asian languages and literatures at the University of California, Irvine.
Mirror Paintings and Early Starts: Volume I and Volume II
Most of the artwork in Griffing’s Volume I and II books are from 1986 and 1987, although some of it is from the early 1980s. Most of the drawings are designed to be painted on a 12-inch square mirror, or mirrors in the shape of a golden rectangle, a root-two rectangle, or a root-five rectangle.
Canaan’s Tongue
This explosive, allegorical novel is set on the eve of the Civil War and follows a gang of men hunted by both the Union and the Confederacy for dealing in stolen slaves. Wray’s first novel, The Right Hand of Sleep, was a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. Wray is also the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award.
Militant Tricks: Battlefield Ruses of the Islamic Insurgent
After the September 2001 attacks, the word al-Queda became irreversibly lodged in every American’s mind. The United States was again under attack, but by whom? Poole, who served in the United States Marine Corps for 28 years, gauges America’s progress in Iraq and Afghanistan from the perspective of East-Asian battlefield trickery. Since retiring in 1993, he has researched the small-unit tactics of foreign nations and has written five books, including The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to Warfare and One More Bridge to Cross: Lowering the Cost of War.
The Rising of Lotus Flowers: Self-Education by Deaf Children in Thai Boarding Schools
This ethnography is about the daily lives of 400 deaf children who are intensively learning from each other in the dorms and playgrounds of their residential school. The authors uncover a rich variety of language, creative activities, and social structure created by the children, who explore how to work around their conditions. The book is based on Charles’ 1995 doctoral dissertation. Nipapon’s personal experiences in a residential deaf school inspired Charles to study the nature of informal learning among deaf children in residential schools.
Seams of Gold: The Life of Agnes Warkentin Rice
"Every time I reread Agnes’ story, I laugh, I cry, and I’m inspired to share it with everyone I know," writes Jones, winner of numerous prizes in the Ohio Poetry Day contests. Agne’s story is the that of Vera Jones’ family, whose members "left their prosperous home and farm and loving community, taking nothing with them but a Bible and her father’s journal hidden in his coat, to travel half way around the world rather than renounce their faith and allegiance to God." Vera Jones, who lives in Ottawa, Ohio, is the sister of John Warkentin, Agnes’ husband.
Economic Systems of Foraging, Agricultural, and Industrial Societies
Drawing upon the disciplines of economics, anthropology, and history and employing a new and unified analytic approach, Pryor reformulates the entire field of comparative economic systems. Pryor, a senior research scholar at Swarthmore College, is one of the world’s leading specialists in the comparative study of economic systems.
Italian Ballet
1637-1977
For this second catalog of materials from the John Milton and Ruth Neils Ward Collection of the Harvard Theatre Collection, the authors have has selected more than 2,100 items relating to Italian ballet from the 17th through the 20th century. The book includes published materials (printed scores, librettos, treatises on ballet) as well as hundreds of manuscript scores, letters, contracts, choreographic notes, and costume and set designs. Like its predecessor, The King's Theatre Collection, this volume was designed to be a useful scholarly resource, with descriptive citations for each ballet and detailed indexes for titles, choreographers, composers, and theaters. Levy is a cataloger at Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library.
Pure Rhythm: Rhythm Cycles and Polymetric Patterns for Instrumentalists, Percussionists, Composers and Music Educators
This book aims to expand the understanding of rhythm and overall musicianship. It is an applied guide to the fundamentals of rhythm, presented step-by-step from the simple to the complex. Rudolph, a composer and percussionist, has released more than 20 recordings of his compositions. He has performed worldwide for the past 30 years.
Music Box
Frank Corbin Plays Franck
Perhaps César Franck’s greatest gift as a composer was his ability to conceive melodies, each one evocatively beautiful in its own right, that would combine with each other to produce an effect of heart-wrenching emotion and grandeur. This is everywhere evident in the five works chosen for this recording, the Pastorale, the Cantabile, and the three Chorals.
Chopin Waltzes, Dedicated to Our Friend, John Henze
Wanger, a faculty member of the All-Newton Music School and freelance performer in the Boston area, dedicated this selection of waltzes by Chopin to John Henze ’69. Henze was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 53. He died December 12, 2005.
Two of a Kind and Friends: So Many Ways to Be Smart
David, Jenny, youth singers, and a host of instrumentalists come together in "songs about diversity, friendship, holidays, reading, the environment, and just for fun."
Nancy Garniez: Piano works by Joseph Haydn
In these live performances Garniez invites the listener to get involved with the resonant acoustics of the piano. Since the recording is intended to convey the impulsive character of the music, the performances, which include Haydn’s Sonata in E-flat, Variations in F minor, and Sonata in G, have not been edited. Garniez is a soloist, chamber musician, founding member of the Alaria Chamber Ensamble, and, since 1984, a member of the faculty at Mannes College of Music Extension Division.
So Long on the Flood
McAvoy is accompanied by Brooks Williams, Phil Helzer, and Janet Ryan in her collection of Celtic, English, and American songs of love won and lost.
Grace Notes, Too! For Organ
Grace Notes, Too! continues where Albrecht’s earlier recording, Grace Notes, stopped. While Grace Notes was a recording of volumes I-V, Grace Notes, Too! includes more recent publications of hymn introductions found in volumes VI-VIII. The CD employs a variety of accessible improvisational and compositional means, again including techniques such as ritornello, quotation music, fugue, text painting, and canon.
Bookshelf’s hiatus in the print version of the OAM has left a large number of books awaiting inclusion. This new online Bookshelf and Music Box section will only be provided in conjunction with the online version of the OAM. Older books and CDs that were sent to the OAM will have first priority. We apologize for this delay.