"A brilliantly witty, probing view of the empty lives, the postures, and the pretenses of modern man---"--Back cover

This volume introduces readers to the central debates oforganization studies through a series of 'point' and 'counterpoint'debates by major figures in the field. Introduces readers to the central tensions and debates oforganization studies. Celebrates the productive heterogeneity of the field by placingcompeting perspectives side by side. Includes contributions from major figures in the field. Structured in an innovative 'point' and 'counterpoint'format.

"Published in association with the Society for Human Resource Management, Alexandria, Virginia."

Master's Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Literature - Modern Literature, grade: 1,0, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, language: English, abstract: This paper is an analysis of Huxley's representation of evilness by the example of Maurice Spandrell, a character in his novel "Point Counter Point". Huxley constructed Spandrell as the incarnation of evilness according to the understanding of evilness as an ‘unsubstantial’ category. Here, ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are intertwined as he is represented as a paradoxical figure, namely both as a perpetrator and as a victim. The dialectics in Spandrell’s characterisation are exemplary for the dialectics present in "Point Counter Point" and in modernism in general. Talking a closer look, "Point Counter Point" reveals Huxley’s belief in a deeper ‘truth’ that remains mysterious in its contingent existence of absence and presence. In connection with Huxley’s understanding of ‘God’, which he lays down mainly in his book The Perennial Philosophy (1945), Huxley’s representation of evilness alias Spandrell is going to be analysed in this paper.8 There are other characters in Point Counter Point concerned with the question of God, for example, Marjorie Carling.9 However, the focus will be on Spandrell as the contemplations about good and evil concentrate around his character. Spandrell constantly tries to explain God’s absence and make his presence felt but he is disappointed again and again. In this way, he embodies the focal point of the ‘problem of evil’ in Point Counter Point. The root of evil, in Spandrell’s case, can be found in his ‘individual’ psychology. With the help of Spandrell, Huxley reflects on the origin of evil, in particular, on how evilness can develop in a person’s life.

A Pulitzer Prize–winning critic’s “lyrical and haunting” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker) reflection on the meaning and emotional impact of a Bach masterwork. As his mother was dying, Philip Kennicott began to listen to the music of Bach obsessively. It was the only music that didn’t seem trivial or irrelevant, and it enabled him to both experience her death and remove himself from it. For him, Bach’s music held the elements of both joy and despair, life and its inevitable end. He spent the next five years trying to learn one of the composer’s greatest keyboard masterpieces, the Goldberg Variations. In Counterpoint, he recounts his efforts to rise to the challenge, and to fight through his grief by coming to terms with his memories of a difficult, complicated childhood. He describes the joys of mastering some of the piano pieces, the frustrations that plague his understanding of others, the technical challenges they pose, and the surpassing beauty of the melodies, harmonies, and counterpoint that distinguish them. While exploring Bach’s compositions he sketches a cultural history of playing the piano in the twentieth century. And he raises two questions that become increasingly interrelated, not unlike a contrapuntal passage in one of the variations itself: What does it mean to know a piece of music? What does it mean to know another human being?

Discusses the juvenile court system and recent trends toward sentencing juveniles as adults.