Books

Bird of the Devil
Edward Summerton
ET4U, Denmark 2006

Bird of the Devil is the result of collaboration between School of Fine Arts artist and lecturer Edward Summerton and some of Scotland's leading writers and artists including Michael Marra, Laura Hird, Graham Fagan, Neil Mulholland, Norman Shaw, Robert Crawford, Lee O'Connor and Bill Duncan.

Born out of traditional "Ladybird" book illustrations and initially distributed as home-crafted postcards sent from the Summer Isles, the books captures images of several new bird species creations, some sinister, some exotic.

The book features a collection of Summerton's most recent paintings, which were shown in Denmark for three months this summer. The paintings are Summerton's altered Ladybird book illustrations and were created during a summer holiday in the Summer Isles off Scotland's west coast, home to a famous post office and an influence on the cult classic film "The Wicker Man".

Bird of the Devil, a Strict Nature Reserve book, features 40 pages with full colour illustrations and is printed in a limted edition of 500, each numbered. The books are available to buy at www.edwardsummerton.co.uk

Schools for Citizens
Theatre and Civil Society in Imperial Russia
By Murray Frame
Yale University Press

The book offers a new perspective on the history of theatre in Imperial Russia, focusing on the rise and regulation of the industry and the development of the idea of theatre. Murray Frame analyses for the first time the impact of Russia's drama on society and politics from the end of the eighteenth century to the early twentieth century.

The book highlights the roles of the state and the intelligentsia, each of which perceived drama's powerful potential as a means of education. But while the state promoted theatre-going as an essential accoutrement of civilization and respectability, the intelligentsia saw in theatre the opportunity to articulate alternative social and political ideas.

The author explores the contributions of civil society and theatrical culture to one another as Russian theatre gained increasingly wide respect, and along the way draws lively portraits of the important actors, patrons, writers, and critics, as well as the theatres that employed and entertained them.

Murray Frame is a history lecturer at the University of Dundee.

Gilfillan of Dundee
1813-1878
By Aileen Black
Dundee University Press

Gilfillan of Dundee explores the career of a maverick United Presbyterian clergyman against the background of the key religious, cultural and political developments in a mid-Victorian Scottish city. A man of letters, literary patron, controversial orator and campaigner for political and religious progress, George Gilfillan was revered as an idol by his working-class audiences and readers. Others censured his indiscriminate hero-worship, his advocacy of Darwinism and 'Spasmodic' poetry, and his outspoken criticism of Robert Burns and Thomas Carlyle.

The book challenges preconceptions about Victorian religion and argues for the significance of the sermons, speeches and written work of cultural mediators in mid-Victorian Scotland. It offers new insights into the richness of the working-class poetry he sponsored, the diversity of congregational life in Dundee and the lives of many of the unknown men and women in Gilfillan's circle.

Aileen Black is an Associate Lecturer with the Open University and an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of History at the University. The book is a product of her PhD research at Dundee.

Shut up and Listen
A brief guide to clinical communication skills
By Cathy Jackson
Dundee University Press

Shut up and Listen refers to the two most important skills in clinical communication:

• the ability to allow the patient to speak without interruption, and
• the ability to truly hear what the patient is trying to say.

This invaluable, concise guide to clinical communication develops a range of generic skills transferable across disciplines and is ideal for students and practitioners of all health professions including doctors, nurses, midwivews, health visitors, vets, etc. It is also a useful revision aid for medical students.

The book contains excellent practical advice on essential topics such as breaking bad news, dealing with aggressive and violent patients, discussing sensitive issues and helping patients with difficult decisions.

Cathy Jackson is a clinical senior lecturer in the School of Medicine Division of General Practice.

Unquiet Understanding
Gadamer's Philosophical Hermeneutics
By Nicholas Davey
SUNY Press

In Unquiet Understanding, Nicholas Davey reappropriates the radical content of Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics to reveal that it offers a powerful critique of Nietzsche's philosophy of language, nihilism, and post-structuralist deconstructions of meaning.

By critically engaging with the practical and ethical implications of philosophical hermeneutics, Davey asserts that the importance of philosophical hermeneutics resides in a formidable double claim that strikes at the heart of both traditional philosophy and deconstruction.

He shows that to seek control over the fluid nature of linguistic meaning with rigid conceptual regimes or to despair of such fluidity because it frustrates hope for stable meaning is to succumb to nihilism. Both are indicative of a failure to appreciate that understanding depends upon the vital instability of the "word." This innovative book demonstrates that Gadamer's thought merits a radical reappraisal and that it is more provocative than commonly supposed.

Nicholas Davey is Professor of Philosophy and Dean of the School of Humanities.