Harihar Datt Tiwari, better known as Hariya Hercules is an infinitely patient man. He spends all his free time attending to his blind, infirm, chronically constipated father Girvan Datt Tiwari, who, before being afflicted with chronic bad luck, was a pillar of society. So when his father dies, Hariya, and everyone in the community, is stunned. Girvan Datt-ji leaves behind a trunk containing some jewellery and a clutch of pornographic pictures in which he is himself an active, enthusiastic participant. In the trunk, Hariya also finds a letter to his father from Lama Rigyang Cho of Lahaul-Spiti. The letter describes a curse Girvan has brought upon the Tiwari family by stealing the trunk from the deity of Goomalling, a mythical place somewhere in the Himalayas. Ever the dutiful son, Hariya goes looking for Goomalling to return the cursed object and mysteriously vanishes. After Hariya's exit from the scene, the story of his journey, his motives and his perplexity becomes communal property and soon there are as many versions as there are people. But as the narrator tries to piece these accounts together, they continually shift and change, creating a dark, uncertain world of hearsay and half-truths. And Hariya becomes variously a comic, tragic and, to many, even a noble figure.

Comparative Criticism, first published in 2000, addresses itself to the questions of literary theory and criticism, to comparative studies in terms of theme, genre movement and influence, and to interdisciplinary perspectives. Articles include: Afloat on the Sea of Stories: World tales, English Literature, and geopolitical aesthetics; Classics and the comparison of adjacent literatures: some Pakistani perspectives; Performance Literature: the traditional Japanese theatre as model; 'Am I in that name?' Women's writing as cultural translation in early modern China; stabat mater: reflections on a theme in German-Jewish and Palestinian-Arab poetry. The winning entries in the 1999 BCLA/BCLT translation competition are also published.

For the last two centuries, Western philosophy has developed in the shadow of Hegel, an influence each new thinker struggles to escape. As a consequence, Hegel’s absolute idealism has become the bogeyman of philosophy, obscuring the fact that he is the defining philosopher of the historical transition to modernity, a period with which our own times share startling similarities. Today, as global capitalism comes apart at the seams, we are entering a new period of transition. In Less Than Nothing, the product of a career-long focus on the part of its author, Slavoj Žižek argues it is imperative we not simply return to Hegel but that we repeat and exceed his triumphs, overcoming his limitations by being even more Hegelian than the master himself. Such an approach not only enables Žižek to diagnose our present condition, but also to engage in a critical dialogue with key strands of contemporary thought—Heidegger, Badiou, speculative realism, quantum physics, and cognitive sciences. Modernity will begin and end with Hegel.

Whether you have a stubbed toe or a stubborn case of the blues, within these pages you’ll find a cure in the form of a novel – or a combination of novels – to help ease your pain. You’ll also find advice on how to tackle common reading ailments – such as what to do when you feel overwhelmed by the number of books in the world, or if you have a tendency to give up halfway through. When read at the right moment in your life, a novel can – quite literally – change it, and The Novel Cure is a reminder of that power. Written with authority, passion and wit, here is a fresh approach to finding new books to read, and an enchanting way to revisit the books on your shelves.

Postmodernism is a notoriously elusive concept and still the object of critical debates among scholars across a range of different disciplines. In literature, in particular, these debates are complicated by “postmodern” styles emanating from outside the concept’s Western origins. By analyzing contemporary Hindi novels, and drawing on both Western and Hindi literary criticism, "Postmodern Traces and Recent Hindi Novels" aims to understand some of the manifestations of postmodernism in contemporary Hindi fiction, including ways the latter might challenge the traditional parameters of postmodern literature. This book is essential reading for scholars and students specializing in South Asian studies and both postcolonial and comparative literature. It will also interest the general reader curious to know more about one of the less explored areas of world literature.

Greening the Earth is a rare anthology that brings together global poetic responses to one of the major crises faced by humanity in our time: environmental degradation and the threat it poses to the very survival of the human species. Poets from across the world respond here in their diverse voices-of anger, despair, and empathy-to the present ecological damage prompted by human greed, pray for the re-greening of our little planet and celebrate a possible future where we live in harmony with every form of creation.

This new volume looks at Fantastic Currencies: money, modes, media.