Myths have long been considered the prime linkage between nature and culture, but we hold that they are more than this. The mythogene, which is our conceptualization of a connecting structure, links subject and object, history and transcendence, but above all is the blueprint for creativity. The volume deals, therefore, with the innovative conception of the author as to the process of creativity. Van Gogh had a revelation as to how the whirling cypresses and dancing stars would look at night. These structures, which contain a complementarity between his experiences and longings, are then ingrained in the artistic medium. Since his artistic efforts were authentic, his ecstatic (in the Greek sense) state of mind, extricated itself from diachronic history and soared onto synchronic eternity. This is how we perceive his work as fresh, exhilarating and meaningful as if painted today; it is the communication within eternity of authentic art from artist to audience. The volume also presents a classification of types of artists as related to their art and presents and innovative theory as to the link between madness and creativity.

Don’t consider yourself deviant? Well, that just may be a career breaker. Odds are the idea or product that will transform your business or industry tomorrow is out there right now, hiding in the shadows of the Fringe, raw, messy, untamed, and just waiting to be exploited. Trapping, taming, and marketing it is the key to burying your competition and staying ahead of your market. Deviance is nothing more than a marked separation from the norm and is the source of innovation, the kind of breakthrough thinking that creates new markets and tumbles traditional ones. Positive deviation is an inexhaustible font of new ideas, products, and services. It’s the source of all creative thinking and dynamic new market development and ultimately the basis of all incremental profit. The Deviant’s Advantage describes how deviance proceeds along a traceable trajectory from the Fringe, where it originates but has zero commercial potential; to the Edge, where word of mouth creates a limited audience; to the Realm of the Cool, where the buzz and market momentum really start to build; to the Next Big Thing, where demand is honed and intensifies; finally landing at Social Convention, the heart of the mass market. Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker, two of America’s most respected futurists, trace the “Path of the Devox” (the voice, spirit, or incarnation of deviant ideas, products, and individuals), using it as a way to explain how and why: * Christian fundamentalism morphed from college Bible studies to Republican party king-making * Reebok cares more about what’s on the feet of kids in Detroit and Philadelphia than what the so-hip-it-hurts set is wearing in New York or on Rodeo Drive * Napster exploded from an idea germinating inside a sixteen-year-old to a movement with 60 million subscribers that very nearly destroyed the music industry * Hugh Hefner went from America’s most public pornographer to a cultural icon with decidedly Puritan sensibilities Mathews and Wacker also look at what happens to formerly deviant products and ideas after they are replaced by the next wave from the Fringe—how they morph into Cliché (where their commercial potential may actually increase), become Icons or even Archetypes, or fade into Oblivion, and how you can profitably manage even a fading concept. Looking for the next big idea for your business? Then it’s past time to quit staring at the Social Convention for inspiration and start scouring the Fringes of society. Tomorrow’s breakthrough concept is lurking out there right now, in the mind of a deviant individual. Your choice is simple: find it and exploit it, or be buried by those who do. From the Hardcover edition.

This comprehensive and engaging textbook provides a fresh and sociologically-grounded examination of how deviance is constructed and defined and what it means to be classed a deviant. Covers an array of deviances, including sexual, physical, mental, and criminal, as well as deviances often overlooked in the literature, such as elite deviance, cyber-deviance, and deviant occupations Examines the popular notions and pseudoscientific explanations upon which the most pervasive myths surrounding deviance and deviants are founded Features an analytical through-line assessing the complex and multifaceted relationship between deviance and the media Enhanced with extensive pedagogical features, including a glossary of key terms, lists of specific learning outcomes in each chapter, and critical thinking questions designed to assess those outcomes Comprehensive instructor ancillaries include PowerPoint slides, a test bank for each chapter, instructor outlines, and sample activities and projects; a student study guide also is available

This volume explores the representation of female deviance from literary, sociolinguistic and historical-cultural perspectives in a wide range of texts across time, cultures and genres. In this way, it elucidates a contemporary cultural concern about narratives of femininity as well as diverse sites of negotiations of female resistance.

This first volume examines how sexual mores and behavior, religious dogma and practice, and artistic creativity and authenticity have influenced, and been influenced by, the existentialist thought of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, Nietzsche, Husserl and Buber, and the writings of Camus, Dostoevsky, Beckett, Kafka and Shestov. It compares the author’s personality theory with those of Freud, Jung, Fairbairn, Karl Abraham and Melanie Klein, and Buddhist, Gnostic, Christian and Muslim mysticism with Jewish Kabbalah. It explains society’s harsh treatment of Carlo Gesualdo, Vincent van Gogh and Antonin Artaud, and analyzes the existentialist approach to existence, absurdity, human dialogue, and suicide. It will appeal to students and professionals in fields as diverse as philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, religion, law, music, art, drama, literature and biology.

Carter explores early modern culture's reception of Ovid through the manipulation of Ovidian myth by Shakespeare, Middleton, Heywood, Marlowe and Marston. With a focus on sexual violence, homosexuality, incest and idolatry, Carter analyses how depictions of mythology represent radical ideas concerning gender and sexuality.

This volume is the first to draw together theoretical reflection, empirical research, and critical reflection on practice occurring at the juncture of critical approaches in leisure studies and event studies within diverse explorations of deviance. It includes chapters on games and gaming; performing queerness; events around being kinkster; drugs and sex, LGBTQ+ events and activism, and goth subculture. These are combined with poetry, personal reflection and artwork, much of which has been created by contributors. The compendium draws on inquiry undertaken by contributors from a wide spectrum of academic disciplines, as well as deviant leisure practitioners/event organisers. It seeks to expand the cultural and academic articulation of deviance into other disciplines and to develop new perspectives on deviant leisure and deviant leisure practice. It speaks to students, researchers, and practitioners working or interested in critical leisure and event studies, queer theory, cultural theory, burlesque/circus studies, media studies, and discourse studies.