Giacomo Casanova: Three Episodes from His Life as a Charlatan

This paper will analyse three major episodes of Casanova's Histoire de ma vie during which Casanova comes to grips with practices of charlatanism or magic, either as a “patient” or actively: 1. His cure, as a child by the sorceress of Murano to whom he is taken by his beloved grandmother.

2. His guest in the little Italian village of Cesena for a buried treasure whic he prides himself on being able to discover with the help of a sacred knife.

3. His inventive, libertine scenarios elaborated for the particular purpose of “regenerating” (dazzling and pleasuring) the marquise d'Urfé, known as Séramis, an old aristocrat with a passion for occult knowledge.

Casanova's attitude towards all that has to do with gambling, deception, chance, and all the ways to influence it is thoroughly complex and ambiguous. It is one of the features of his Venetian mentality; and it is also a phenomenon of the time, which is wrongly called the “century of the Enlightenment”. More narrowly, close scrutiny of these three occasions should allow us to grasp how Casanova saw his place in the couple of the dupe and the trickster. This paper will show how he understood the world and its underlying forces, and what type of intelligence — more baroque than Cartesian in inspiration — was at work in him.     

园仁入唐在城镇乡村所见茶事

日本学问僧慈觉大师园仁在唐文宗开成三年（838年）随遣唐大使藤原常嗣一行“入唐求法”，历时9年7个月，于大中元年（847年）离开长安踏上归途。回国后，著有日记体裁《入唐求法巡礼行记》四卷，书中对他们一行抵达扬州府后，经淮安、登州、青州、淄州、齐州、德州、冀州、赵州、五台山、忻州、太原、绛州，由龙门渡过黄河，经朝邑到长安的沿途见闻，记述颇详。     

窦尔敦本事钩沉

<正>受戏曲《盗御马》和评书《施公案》的影响,窦尔敦一直是江湖草莽的形象,这与史实有颇大的出入,我们钩稽史实,力图恢复他的真实面目,对历史人物有个客观公正的评价。窦尔敦的名字有作窦尔敦、窦尔墩、窦二敦、窦二东几种,《清稗类钞》称为"窦开山"。实际上窦尔敦本名窦二东,"尔敦"是音转所致(纪晓岚《阅微草堂笔记》     

清初高士徐枋与苏州光福

清初,苏州徐枋与宣城沈寿民、嘉兴巢鸣盛,并称“海内三遗民”;又与朱用纯、杨无咎,合称“吴中三高士”。笔者钦佩徐枋的气节与才华,阅读徐枋《易居堂集》及其好友归庄、葛芝、韩纯玉、陈瑚等人的诗文集后发现,徐枋与苏州太湖之滨的光福(今苏州市吴中区)关系密切。     

郑虔生平考略

郑虔是唐代中期一流的诗人和学者,也是著名的书法家、画家.他以博学见称,对天文、地理、军事、医药和音律、书画等皆有精深造诣,被人誉为"才过屈宋"、"道出羲皇"、"德宗一代".他特别受唐玄宗赏识,进献的诗文书画,被玄宗御笔亲题"郑虔三绝",成为著名佳话.同时,他和李白、杜甫、王维、岑参等人又是很好的诗朋酒友,尤其与杜甫交情深厚,二人为数十年的知交.     

陈之佛:图案家的书籍装帧

<正>陈之佛(1896～1962年)是一位艺术上有着多方面建树的大师级人物。陈之佛是图案家。陈之佛生于浙江余姚,16岁考入杭州浙江省工业学校,1916年毕业后留校任教。作为中国现代工艺美术拓荒者,他创造了多个"第一"。留校的第二年,他就编出一本图案讲义,这是中国现代图案学的开山之作。1918年,他东渡日本,专习工艺美术,成为     

命名、中国女性与中国文化

张天翼先生有一则小小的寓言曰：一条心地很好的蛇抓到一只麻雀，想要把她一口吞掉，于心又不忍。于是把她盘得紧紧的，谆谆善诱地劝她服从命运，还劝她拿出牺牲精神来献身于他。讲完之后，才客客气气要动手吞吃，并且说：“你看，我不像别的蛇那样不讲理，我和他们是毫无共同之点的。”     

Ode to Peace:Askar and His Music

<正>Askar is a Uighur musician known for his innovative integration of Uighur musical traditions with modern elements. Over the past two decades or so, he and other musicians of his "Grey     

孙福熙：风景画家的简约高雅

回顾中国现代书装史,孙福熙是不可或缺的一位名家。 画家、散文家孙福熙（1898～1962年）,浙江绍兴人,字春苔。他的哥哥、也是散文家的孙伏园（1894～1966年）,原名孙福源,曾是鲁迅在绍兴山会初级师范学堂任教时的学生。1919年,孙福熙随伏园来到北京,经鲁迅介绍到北京大学旁听,兼做图书馆管理员的工作。1920年,他远赴欧陆到法国勤工俭学,就读于国立美术专科学校。4年后归国。