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Thinking in Circles : An Essay on Ring Composition - Mary Douglas

Thinking in Circles

An Essay on Ring Composition

By: Mary Douglas

Paperback | 28 September 2010 | Edition Number 1

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Exploring beyond the usual boundaries of social anthropology, a leader in the field shows why our readings of ancient literary texts may be off the mark

Many famous antique texts are misunderstood and many others have been completely dismissed, all because the literary style in which they were written is unfamiliar today. So argues Mary Douglas in this controversial study of ring composition, a technique which places the meaning of a text in the middle, framed by a beginning and ending in parallel. To read a ring composition in the modern linear fashion is to misinterpret it, Douglas contends, and todayâs scholars must reevaluate important antique texts from around the world.

Found in the Bible and in writings from as far afield as Egypt, China, Indonesia, Greece, and Russia, ring composition is too widespread to have come from a single source. Does it perhaps derive from the way the brain works? What is its function in social contexts? The author examines ring composition, its principles and functions, in a cross-cultural way. She focuses on ring composition in Homerâs Iliad, the Bibleâs book of Numbers, and, for a challenging modern example, Laurence Sterneâs Tristram Shandy, developing a persuasive argument for reconstruing famous books and rereading neglected ones.

Industry Reviews
"Over the course of her career Ms. Douglas has become a master at discerning order in unexpected forms and surprising places. In an unassuming way, without pretense or revolutionary claims, she reveals the logic behind the varied customs of a society."-Edward Rothstein, New York Times -- Edward Rothstein * New York Times *
"The scope of Mary Douglas's syntheticising thought is admirable. Her relaxed observations across the centuries and cultural boundaries are stimulating reading for anyone interested in the patterns of narrative, a field which is often characterised by narrow tunnel vision rather than intercultural and interdisciplinary desire."-Paeivi Mehtonen, Bryn Mawr Classical Review -- Paeivi Mehtonen * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
"Succinct, unpretentious, wise and, best of all, reconstructive. . . . [A] valuable contribution to cultural studies in the widest sense of the term, making one wish the term were more often stretched this finely. . . . a sagacious field guide, pleasing and teasing our tastes for turnings."-Jennifer Formichelli, Essays in Criticism -- Jennifer Formichelli * Essays in Criticism *

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