The Merchant of Venice - Penguin readers - Level 4
Bassanio wants to get married, but he has no money and a lot of debts. He asks his friend Antonio for a loan, but Antonio is waiting for his ships to return. Until then, he has nothing to lend. To help Bassanio, he borrows money from a money-lender – and agrees to an unusual condition. If Antonio cannot repay the loan in three months, the money-lender will cut a pound of flesh from his body. Will Antonio be able to repay the loan? Or will he die
Antonio's Devils deals both historically and theoretically with the origins of modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature by tracing the progress of a few remarkable writers who, for various reasons and in various ways, cited Scripture for their own purpose, as Antonio's "devil," Shylock, does in The Merchant of Venice.
The superb researcher, humanist, and author of Descartes Error binds the body to the spirit in an exploration of consciousness The publication of this book is an event in the making. All over the world scientists, psychologists, and philosophers are waiting to read Antonio Damasios new theory of the nature of consciousness and the construction of the self. A renowned and revered scientist and clinician, Damasio has spent decades following amnesiacs down hospital corridors, waiting for comatose patients to awaken, and devising ingenious research using PET scans to piece together the great puzzle of consciousness.
Antonio is a wealthy and popular merchant in Venice. His friend Bassanio needs money to travel to Belmont, where he hopes he can marry the beautiful Portia. Antonio has no cash, so he goes to Shylock, a moneylender. Shylock will lend the money, but on one condition: if Antonio does not pay him back on time, Shylock can take "a pound of flesh" form Antonio. Will Antonio lose his life so that Bassanio can marry the woman he loves?
This 1994 collection of Gramsci's pre-prison writings, translated and including a number of pieces not previously available in English, covers the whole gamut of his journalistic activity, ranging from general cultural criticism to commentaries on local, national and international events. These early articles reveal the genesis of many of the themes of the Prison Notebooks, such as the function of intellectuals, the importance of cultural hegemony in holding societies together, and the role of the party in organising a revolutionary consciousness.
