Two new titles in our our De Gruyter series are now available in open access:
Norman Sieroka, Zeit-Hören. Erfahrungen, Taktungen, Musik (in German)
Norman Sieroka's volume challenges the view of time as an object and proposes to understand time through analogies between sequences and the timing of events. Drawing extensively on music and the act of listening, it offers insightful glimpses into the fundamental structural properties of reality. Through a transdisciplinary analysis, it explores the importance of temporal patterns and the timing of actions, using music as an exemplary context for learning essential aspects of time. In addition, it argues for a re-evaluation of listening in philosophy and everyday life.
The Temporality of Festivals: Approaches to Festive Time in Ancient Babylon, Greece, Rome, and Medieval China, edited by Anke Walter
In this volume, edited by Anke Walter, scholars from various disciplines contribute their insights to questions surrounding festive time: how time can become special during festivals and how these events endow days with significance distinct from everyday life. Despite extensive research on festivals, the specific temporality of these celebrations has received insufficient attention. Drawing on analyses of astronomical documents, calendars, and literary texts, the contributors offer fresh perspectives. Across cultures such as ancient Babylon, Greece, Rome, and medieval China, there is a shared sense of calendrically recurring festive time as something meticulously mapped and preserved, offering valuable insights into the broader religious, political, and social dimensions of past societies.