The Horse in Literature and Film: Uncovering a Transcultural Paradigm

(Hardback)

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Horses serve as central characters in great literary works that span ages and cultures. But why In The Horse in Literature and Film: Uncovering a Transcultural Paradigm, Francisco LaRubia-Prado, Ph.D. explores the deep symbolic meaning, cultural significance, and projective power that these magnificent animals carry in literature, film, and the human psyche. Examining iconic texts and films from the Middle Ages to the presentand from Western and Eastern cultural traditionsthis book reveals how horses, as timeless symbols of nature, bring harmony to unbalanced situations. Regardless of how disrupted human lives become, whether through the suffering caused by the atrocities of war, or the wrestling of individuals and society with issues of authenticity, horses offer an antidote firmly rooted in nature. The Horse in Literature and Film is a book for our time. After an introduction to the field of animal studies, it analyzes celebrated works by authors and film directors such as Leo Tolstoy, Heinrich von Kleist, D.H. Lawrence, Akira Kurosawa, John Huston, Girish Karnad, Michael Morpurgo, and Benedikt Erlingsson. Exploring issues such as power, the boundaries between justice and the law, the meaning of love and home, the significance of cultural belonging, and the consequences of misguided nationalism, this book demonstrates the far-reaching consequences of human disconnection from nature, and the role of the horse in individual and societal healing.

Reviews

This book makes a powerful contribution to Animal studies, to interdisciplinary studies of literature and film, and to Postcolonial studies, because it isn't just about horses. It's a cross-cultural study of epistemology and ethics pointing toward a better way to live in the world. -- Laura Otis, Emory University
Educated equestrians will treasure this book. Horses and humans have evolved together for at least 56 million years, until, in our modern era, we depend upon each other for sustenance and survival. This unique relationship has fostered exceptional literature, art, film and poetry, all of which strive to express the essence of the modern horse-human partnership. Well worth reading. -- Wendy Williams, author of The Horse: The Epic History of Our Noble Companion
By demonstrating the centrality of what he aptly calls the horse paradigm in literature and film over several centuries and continents, LaRubia-Prado invites us through brilliant, sensitive and scholarly analyses to discover, or rediscover, canonical as well as lesser-known works from a new perspective. His timely arguments, drawn from poetic imagination and philosophy, encourage the prospect of a balanced relationship between humans and the natural world, including the other sentient beings with whom we share this planet. -- Catherine Perry, University of Notre Dame

Author Bio

Francisco LaRubia-Prado is professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Georgetown University.