Swallowing a World

Swallowing a World
Author: Benjamin Bergholtz
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2024-10
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1496241126

Swallowing a World offers a new theorization of the maximalist novel. Though it’s typically cast as a (white, male) genre of U.S. fiction, maximalism, Benjamin Bergholtz argues, is an aesthetic response to globalization and a global phenomenon in its own right. Bergholtz considers a selection of massive and meandering novels that crisscross from London and Lusaka to Kingston, Kabul, and Kashmir and that represent, formally reproduce, and ultimately invite reflection on the effects of globalization. Each chapter takes up a maximalist novel that simultaneously maps and formally mimics a cornerstone of globalization, such as the postcolonial culture industry (Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children), the rebirth of fundamentalism (Zadie Smith’s White Teeth), the transnational commodification of violence (Marlon James’s A Brief History of Seven Killings), the obstruction of knowledge by narrative (Zia Haider Rahman’s In the Light of What We Know), and globalization’s gendered, asymmetrical growth (Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift). By reframing analysis of maximalism around globalization, Swallowing a World not only reimagines one of the most perplexing genres of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries but also sheds light on some of the most perplexing political problems of our precarious present.

Swallow

Swallow
Author: Mary Cappello
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Total Pages: 550
Release: 2010-11
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1459607619

An American half-dollar. A beaded crucifix. Tooth roots shaped like a tiny pair of pants. A padlock. Scads of peanut kernels and scores of safety pins. A metallic letter Z. A toy goat and tin steering wheel. A Perfect Attendance Pin. One of the most popular attractions in Philadelphia's world-famous Mtter Museum is the Chevalier Jackson Foreign Body Collection; a beguiling set of drawers filled with thousands of items that had been swallowed or inhaled, then extracted nonsurgically by a pioneering laryngologist using rigid instruments of his own design. How do people's mouths, lungs, and stomachs end up filled with inedible things, and what do they become once arranged in Jackson's aura-laden cabinet? What drove Dr. Chevalier Jackson's peculiar obsession not only with removing foreign bodies from people's upper torsos but also with saving and cataloging the items that he retrieved? Animating the space between interest and terror, curiosity and dread, award-winning author Mary Cappello explores what seems beyond understanding; the physiology of the human swallow, and the poignant and baffling psychology that compels people to ingest non-nutritive things. On a quest to restore the narratives that haunt Jackson's uncanny collection, she discovers that all things are secretly edible. Combining original research with a sympathetic and evocative sensibility, Cappello uncovers a history of racism and violence, of forced ingestion and hysteria, of class and poverty that left children to bank their family's last quarters in their mouths. Here, the seemingly disparate but equally marvelous worlds of the circus and the medical amphitheater meet in characters ranging from sword swallowers and women who lunched on hardware to the sensitive, bullied boy who grew up to be the father of endoscopy.

A Game for Swallows

A Game for Swallows
Author: Zeina Abirached
Publisher: Graphic Universe ™
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2012-09-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1467700479

When Zeina was born, the civil war in Lebanon had been going on for six years, so it's just a normal part of life for her and her parents and her little brother. The city of Beirut is cut in two, separated by bricks and sandbags and threatened by snipers and shelling. East Beirut is for Christians, and West Beirut is for Muslims. When Zeina's parents don't return one afternoon from a visit to the other half of the city, and the bombing grows ever closer, the neighbors in her apartment house create a world indoors for Zeina and her brother where it's comfy and safe, where they can share cooking lessons and games and gossip. Together they try to make it through a dramatic day in the one place they hoped they would always be safehome. Zeina Abirached, born into a Lebanese Christian family in 1981, has collected her childhood recollections of Beirut in a warm story about the strength of family and community.

Swallowing Mercury

Swallowing Mercury
Author: Wioletta Greg
Publisher: Portobello Books
Total Pages: 89
Release: 2017-01-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 184627608X

Wiola lives in a close-knit agricultural community. Wiola has a black cat called Blackie. Wiola's father was a deserter but now he is a taxidermist. Wiola's mother tells her that killing spiders brings on storms. Wiola must never enter the seamstress's 'secret' room. Wiola collects matchbox labels. Wiola is a good Catholic girl brought up with fables and nurtured on superstition. Wiola lives in a Poland that is both very recent and lost in time. Swallowing Mercury is about the ordinary passing of years filled with extraordinary days. In vivid prose filled with texture, colour and sound, it describes the adult world encroaching on the child's. From childhood to adolescence, Wiola dances to the strange music of her own imagination.

The Children of Swallow Fell

The Children of Swallow Fell
Author: Julia Green
Publisher: Oxford University Press - Children
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2020-08-06
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0192771590

Driven from her home by war, Isabella must make the daunting journey with her father, to his childhood home in the north of England. Swallow Fell is deserted - another casualty of the conflict which has spread worldwide - but when her father goes in search of help, Isabella discovers that there are other children, just like her. They are surviving against the odds, but can Isabella and her new found friends learn to not simply survive but to thrive? Where there is love there is hope.

Swallowing Stones

Swallowing Stones
Author: Joyce McDonald
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
Total Pages: 274
Release: 1999
Genre: Accidents
ISBN: 0440226724

Dual perspectives reveal the aftermath of seventeen-year-old Michael MacKenzie's birthday celebration during which he discharges an antique Winchester rifle and unknowingly kills the father of high school classmate Jenna Ward.

Healthy Eating, Healthy World

Healthy Eating, Healthy World
Author: J. Morris Hicks
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2011-10-04
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1936661268

Imagine that the New York Times tomorrow released some amazing news. A health treatment has been discovered that literally cures most forms of heart disease. But not just that. This treatment has a dramatic impact on most of the diseases Westerners face, including cancer, obesity, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's, and many many others. And this treatment is so inexpensive to administer that two-thirds of the medical establishment can be shut down as no longer serving any useful function. It's really too much to believe, isn't it? But there's more. This treatment has miraculous implications for the environment. By applying this treatment, we can eliminate the largest source of global warming, and dramatically reduce the waste that is polluting our water supply. We'll also dramatically improve the health and animal population of our oceans and seas. And there's more. By applying this treatment, we'll dramatically increase the supply of arable land, lowering the cost food and allowing us to feed everyone on this planet. Starvation can become a thing of the past. And one last thing. This treatment also has enormous moral implications, allowing us to eliminate almost all of the pain and suffering we are inflicting on the animals, most of which is hidden away from view, but is morally repulsive to anyone exposed to this suffering. Now what if I told you that we don't have to wait for tomorrow's New York Times, that this treatment has been found, and that the amount of scientific data supporting the claims I just made is overwhelming. The "miracle" treatment is simple. It's eating a whole grain, plant-based diet. Skeptical? I'm not surprised. But by the end of this book you'll be exposed to the overwhelming amount of evidence that supports every claim made above. You'll also get to hear the counterarguments made by skeptics and you'll get to decide for yourself whether these claims are true. It's my hope that by the end of this book you'll be convinced and join our movement. You may just save your life and the planet in the bargain. This revolutionary book is Healthy Eating -- Healthy World: Unleashing the Power of Plant-based Nutrition by J. Morris Hicks, and it is the book that finally tackles all compelling reasons for adopting a plant-based diet -- from the environment to solving the world's hunger crisis. Additionally, T. Colin Campbell, acclaimed author of the bestselling book The China Study, provides a riveting foreword to Healthy Eating -- Healthy World. After reading this book, it'll be nearly impossible to ignore the truth: people were not meant to eat animals or animal products, and the time has come to stop.

Anna and the Swallow Man

Anna and the Swallow Man
Author: Gavriel Savit
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2016-01-28
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1448196914

Anna and the Swallow Man is a stunning, literary, and wholly original debut novel that tells a new WW2 story. Kraków, 1939, is no place to grow up. There are a million marching soldiers and a thousand barking dogs. And Anna Lania is just seven years old when the Germans take her father and suddenly, she’s alone. Then she meets the Swallow Man. He is a mystery, strange and tall. And like Anna's missing father, he has a gift for languages: Polish, Russian, German, Yiddish, even Bird. When he summons a bright, beautiful swallow down to his hand to stop her from crying, Anna is entranced. Over the course of their travels together, Anna and the Swallow Man will dodge bombs, tame soldiers, and even, despite their better judgement, make a friend. But in a world gone mad, everything can prove dangerous . . .

I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello

I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello
Author: Barbara S. Garriel
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
Total Pages: 33
Release: 2012-09-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1590789466

Perfect for any young reader interested in music, families who love music, and a must-have staple for music classrooms, this funny picture book is an amusing introduction to the instruments in an orchestra, featuring clever rhymes and whimsical illustrations. Meet a shy fellow! He’s hard to notice, but he’s right at the side of the room listening to a duet for cello and viola. But look again -- our shy fellow suddenly has an urge to swallow a HUGE cello, which is precisely what he does. And he doesn't stop there! He also swallows a harp, a saxophone, and a fiddle while trying to satisfy his voracious appetite for musical instruments. But when he swallows a teensy, tiny, little bitty bell, you won’t believe what happens! In this take-off on a classic children’s song, kids will laugh out loud and learn all about musical instruments with this story that’s a melodious mix of fun and frivolity.

Swallow Me Whole

Swallow Me Whole
Author: Nate Powell
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2008
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1603091270

--WINNER OF THE 2009 EISNER AWARD FOR BEST NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL! --NOMINATED FOR THREE 2009 EISNER AWARDS INCLUDING BEST GN & BEST CARTOONIST! --WINNER OF THE 2008 IGNATZ AWARD FOR "OUTSTANDING DEBUT"! --ONE OF YALSA'S "GREAT GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR TEENS"! --FINALIST FOR THE LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE! ----Swallow Me Whole is the first graphic novel since 1992's Maus to be nominated for this prize in any category. --WINNER OF THE 2009 IGNATZ AWARD FOR "OUTSTANDING ARTIST"! "Nate Powell's Swallow Me Whole, a disturbed, haunting book, is impossible to describe... It's not an easy book, but its dark brilliance marks its creator as a writer-artist of genius."--Neel Mukherjee, The Times (UK) "Scaldingly dark ... Powell's flowing, impressionistic artwork, with its ravenous expanses of negative space, swirls the reader's perspective through his characters' perceptions and back out again."--Douglas Wolk, The New York Times "Honest and lovingly portrayed. Every word in this graphic novel is carefully chosen, dialogue is realistic, and background "noise"masterfully done. Powell's detailed pen-and-ink drawings are well executed with lettering and images so brilliantly intertwined that they are one and the same."--Lara McAllister, School Library Journal "Darkly sublime."--Booklist "His layouts, his touch with shadow and darkness, the way he brings you close enough to Ruth that you can watch her sleep without disturbing her dreams, all that stuff is amazing. ... Nate Powell can do it all. In his hands, even the high-school parking lots and the booths at the local diner are equal parts hope and foreboding."-- Steve Duin, The Oregonian "[Swallow Me Whole] achieves some stunning effects with the art and the lettering ... Powell has a look halfway between Charles Burns and Craig Thompson, and at times, Swallow Me Whole enters that rarified sphere of art comics where the page design alone achieves the mood and meaning that that the artist is shooting for... Swallow Me Whole captures the desperation of the clinically obsessed, and how from the right angle, it can look like genius."--The AV Club "Both provocative and thoughtful ... not since Robert Altman's Images has a medium so perfectly conveyed the experience of schizophrenia ... It's the best graphic novel since Craig Thompson's Blankets."--Chris DeVito, CD Syndicated Swallow Me Whole is a love story carried by rolling fog, terminal illness, hallucination, apophenia, insect armies, secrets held, unshakeable faith, and the search for a master pattern to make sense of one's unraveling. In his most ambitious book to date, Nate Powell quietly explores the dark corners of adolescence -- not the clich_d melodramatic outbursts of rebellion, but the countless tiny moments of madness, the vague relief of medication, and mixed blessing of family ties. As the story unfolds, two stepsiblings hold together amidst schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, family breakdown, animal telepathy, misguided love, and the tiniest hope that everything will someday make sense. Deliberately paced, delicately drawn, and drenched in shadows, Swallow Me Whole is a landmark achievement for Nate Powell and a suburban ghost story that will haunt readers long after its final pages.