Kirjahaku

The ideograph is conventionally understood as a script that is ancient and Chinese; it is neither. The 'ideograph' is a modern Western invention, one contemporaneous with, and related to, such modern inventions as photography, phonography, and cinematography. Ideographic Modernism analyzes the collective significance of an array of figures of Chinese writing in Euro-American literature, showing how the ideograph becomes, in the modernist era, a prism through which to imagine the world in ethnographic and in technological terms. Chapters on writing-as-image take up Kafka's 'An Imperial Message' and the way photography works as a model of vision without consciousness in the poetics of Imagists and their seeming opposite number, the French allegorist Paul Claudel. Chapters on writing-as-inscription, focus on Victor Segalen's Stèles (1912), a prose poem collection that formally emulates the Chinese stone monuments from which it takes its name; and on a series of generally unremarked references to Chinese writing in the work of Walter Benjamin. A final chapter considers Paul Valéry's response to the now almost forgotten Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, tracing Valéry's challenge to envision Western History had it engaged with real China, China-as-China, from the start. Overall, the study reveals the richness of the 'ideograph' as simultaneously 1) a prominent example in the imagining of China as a cultural other; 2) a way of imagining the origin, history, and possible futures of writing; and 3) a registration of the cultural effects of modern technological media.

Ideographic Modernism offers a critical account of the ideograph (Chinese writing as imagined in the West) as a modernist invention. Through analyses of works by Claudel, Pound, Kafka, Benjamin, Segalen, and Valery, among others, Christopher Bush traces the interweaving of Western modernity's ethnographic and technological imaginaries, in which the cultural effects of technological media assumed "Chinese" forms, even as traditional representations of "the Orient" lived on in modernist-era responses to media. The book also makes a methodological argument, demonstrating new ways of recovering the generally overlooked presence of China in the text of Western modernism.

"Send someone here quick. There's been a murder "Mr Lewton is dead. Stabbed through the back, no possibility of suicide--and no sign of a knife either. The deceased made a phone call summoning a doctor immediately before his own death. And the servant who supposedly reported the murder wasn't even at the scene of the crime, and denies all knowledge. These are among the bizarre opening features of a classic labyrinthine whodunit from a master of the genre--an adventure into which master sleuth Ludovic Travers must plunge himself. This is a tale of cake and conundrum in which every suspect has a water-tight alibi. But trust Travers to solve a virtually unbreakable mystery.The Case of the 100% Alibis was originally published in 1934. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans."Seldom, if ever, has the alibi problem been handled so deftly or in such an entertaining manner as Mr. Bush has done in this grade A yarn,"--New York Times

Travers turned to Wharton. "I ask you, George, as a man of the world--do schoolmasters and mistresses have souls full of glamour and passion and intrigue? Are they torn by the same emotions that rend people like us?"At first the old schoolmaster's poisoning was judged a suicide. But there were too many suspicious circumstances to satisfy Inspector Wharton of Scotland Yard. Why, for instance, had the dead man clung to a large book as he expired? And where is Flint, the school caretaker? Wharton, accompanied as ever by inspired amateur sleuth Ludovic Travers, journey to the grim pile of Woodgate Hill school to find a shocking and unpredictable solution to this murder . . . and then another.The Case of the Dead Shepherd was originally published in 1934. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans."Thoroughly engrossing, well written and full of legitimate puzzlement."--Dorothy L. Sayers

"Murder is easy. It's child's play to commit murder and get away with it."Unpleasant uncle Hubert is murdered while playing cards--and surrounded by any number of relatives who stand to gain by his death. An impossible crime, it seems, though it turns out three of his nephews were intending to despatch the old tyrant anyway In this classic country house whodunit, the redoubtable Ludovic Travers will have to wade through a quagmire of clues and red herrings, and employ his most impressive deductive powers if he is to unmask and prove the murderer.The Case of the Chinese Gong was originally published in 1935. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans."Those who like difficult puzzles will find it wholly satisfactory."--New York Times

Murder on Mondays Greatest prophecy of the century T.P. Luffham was murdered Ferdinand Pole of the Murder League claims that, since 1918, thirteen murders have been committed on a Monday. A sleazy economist has now been slain, followed the next week by a blameless actress--both on Monday. While the press have a field day, it is up to Inspector Wharton of Scotland Yard, along with his inspired amateur co-investigator Ludovic Travers, to see if London has a new Jack the Ripper at work. The eccentric parrot-owning Pole seems to be out to implicate himself in the murders, though whether this is bravado or fact remains very much in question . . . This sly, often satirical, whodunit shows a master of classic mystery on top form.The Case of the Monday Murders was originally published in 1936. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.Travers "As for my methods of crime detection--well, I haven't any. For that my only tool is a brain that has been called agile, sharpened on crosswords rather than chess."

"It's terrible. It's a body . . . the head cut off . . . and the hands."Who is--or was--the headless, handless corpse, found discarded on a bonfire? This baffling case of identity leads to a dead doctor who, according to information received, committed murder himself and was in turn murdered by his victim. A contradiction in terms--or is it? The solution to this mystery involves a taciturn match-seller, unbreakable alibis and several double identities on the part of both the murderer and the victim. The case is dazzling in its ingenuity, as well as being one of the more chilling cases in Ludovic Travers's colourful investigative career. This is a story containing surprises which will satisfy all fans of golden age detective fiction.The Case of the Bonfire Body was originally published in 1936. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.Travers: "As for my methods of crime detection--well, I haven't any. For that my only tool is a brain that has been called agile, sharpened on crosswords rather than chess."

Travers looked down at the thing that sprawled. The head gave a last movement, and there was a faint sound like a tired moan. The time was eight minutes to eight.Ludovic Travers is approached by his sister after tales of strange doings and horrible night shrieks in a country house called Highways. Travers makes an investigatory visit, where he finds stabbed to death the bizarre old man who was living at the house with his 10-year-old granddaughter. Among the prime suspects are the child's tutor, and a classical pianist who happens to be in the village on holiday. But airtight alibis abound, hinging on an ingenious manipulation of time. Chief Constable Major Tempest and his subordinates Inspector Carry and Sergeant Polegate are delighted to have the resourceful Travers's help in finding the murderer.The Case of the Missing Minutes was originally published in 1937. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans."Refreshingly different from that of the general run of detective novels. . ."--Times Literary Supplement