Matt Beaumont Libros

This collection of essays, by a number of established scholars and artists, proposes new directions for Marxist cultural theory and the criticism of modern visual culture. It addresses a diverse range of topics, including the state and revolution, Communist and post-Communist aesthetics, Situationist thought and the avant-garde, subjectivity and commodification, and the politics and problems of contemporary artistic practice. The contributions also consider several other pressing questions in the visual arts, from the practice of digital culture to appropriations of critical theory, from the relations of art and the spectacle to architecture in the age of global modernity. This book on Marxism and art is not offered in a spirit of nostalgia: on the contrary, it testifies to the continuing vitality and confidence of historical materialist thought in the field of cultural theory and practice in the 21st century.

Most research and writing on railway history has been undertaken in a way that disconnects it from the wider cultural milieu. Authors have been very effective at constructing specialist histories of transport, but have failed to register the railway’s central importance in the representation and understanding of modernity. This book brings together contributions from a range of established scholars in a variety of disciplines with the central purpose of exploring the railway less as a transport technology than as a key signifier of capitalist modernity. It examines the complex social relations in which the railway became historically embedded, identifying it as a central problematic in the cultural experience of modernity. It avoids the limitations of both the close-sighted empiricism typical of many transport historians and the long-sighted generalizations of cultural commentators who view the railway merely as a shorthand for the concept of progress over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book draws on a diverse range of materials, including literary and historical forms of representation. It is also informed by a creative application of various critical theories.

From the author of the cult bestseller 'e', this novel explores themes of good intentions, mistaken motives, and a stroke of incredible luck that threatens to derail everything.

Consisting entirely of staff emails, this novel invites the reader to spend a fortnight in the company of Miller Shanks, an advertising agency that scales dizzying peaks of incompetence, backstabbing and pure sleaze.

In the late nineteenth century, the idea of utopia captivated both Europe and the United States. This book delves into the emergence of utopian thought during this period, exploring its influence on society and culture. It examines various movements and ideologies that sought to create ideal communities and the impact of these visions on contemporary life. Through historical analysis, the text reveals how aspirations for a perfect society shaped political and social landscapes, prompting readers to reflect on the enduring quest for utopia.

The Miller Shanks Christmas party is going to be the best and most impressive ever -- or at least, that's the plan. It certainly turns out to be unforgettable... Once again told entirely in a series of e-mails, the further adventures of the characters from e take them into the run-up to Christmas. Harriet's determined to make her first party as MD mega-memorable, but even her much-tested imagination can't predict what actually happens. Meanwhile, Pinki wants to change the world by introducing Real Women Barbies and Simon has resurfaced to write a novel -- which is rejected by a publishing director known to many of us...

Exploring the roots of utopian literature's resurgence, this book examines the social, political, and cultural factors that have paved the way for its revival. It delves into historical contexts and contemporary influences that have sparked renewed interest in ideal societies, analyzing how these narratives reflect and challenge current realities. Through a critical lens, the author highlights key themes and movements that have shaped utopian thought, making it a significant contribution to literary and cultural studies.

Through his highly idiosyncratic readings of some of the finest paintings, sculptures, and poems of the French and Italian Renaissance, Walter Pater in Studies in the History of the Renaissance redefined the practice of criticism as an impressionistic, almost erotic exploration of the critic's aesthetic responses. Pater's infamous nullConclusion, null which forever linked him with the decadent movement, scandalized many with its insistence on making pleasure the sole motive of life, even as it charmed fellow aesthetes such as Oscar Wilde. This edition of Studies reproduces the text of the first edition of 1873. Matthew Beaumont's Introduction describes the cultural context that gave rise to the book, the reasons for its notoriety, Pater's philosophical outlook, and the arguments in his book. It explores Pater's work as an attempt to preserve the unique aesthetic of a work of art in the face of encroaching mass culture. The book also includes the later chapter on Giorgione as an Appendix, comprehensive notes that identify the many literary and artistic references, and a useful glossary of names. - Publisher

Out of the ashes of doomed ad agency Miller Shanks has risen Meerkat 360, a very 21st century workplace. Staff include David Crutton, an MD with the worst email signature in history; Milton Keane, a definitely-straight PA with a yearning for reality tv fa

One week in the making of a TV commercial for car tyres -- as told by the inimitable Matt Beaumont, author of e What does a successful adman do when he realises the stars of his new commercial want to kill each other, his director has walked off the set and his client has turned up in the wrong T-shirt? How does one of these stars react when he's asked if it's true that he's packing salami in his shorts? Why on earth does the other one think that dueting with a Chinese Elvis impersonator could be a smart career move? What does the adman's pregnant, swollen-ankled wife do when she realises the cheating bastard just happens to be shooting an ad with a rubber-clad Hollywood nymph? And how could any of the above possibly have a connection to the world's most useless drug smuggler?