As the 1934 literature laureate of the prestigious Nobel Prize, author and playwright Luigi Pirandello was truly a pioneer in his field. The award was given to him "for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art". He is today known as the greatest Italian playwright of his...

In the last couple of decades there has been a dramatic change in family values and beliefs, which has created many alternatives to the conventional marriage and traditional family form. It used to be considered a disgrace not to marry, but now society seems to value independence instead of marriage...

The Pursuit of True Happiness Anne Tyler has said that she uses the family unit to show "how people manage to endure together-how they grate against each other, adjust, intrude, and protect themselves from intrusions, give up, and start all over again in the morning," (Applebee et al...

DIVORCE: A BROKEN DREAM Divorce is now part of everyday American life. The effects of divorce are embedded in our laws and institutions, our manners and mores, our novels and children’s storybooks, and our closest and most important relationships. Indeed, divorce has become so pervasive ...

The most exciting event in contemporary Chinese cinema was the emergence of the Fifth Generation filmmakers in the early 1980s. These young filmmakers, who graduated from Beijing Film Academy when it reopened after the Cultural Revolution, were given the opportunity to make films at minor studios in...

Falling Leaves The true story of an unwanted daughter Written by Adeline Yen Mah Dear journal, So far the characters have just been introduced and you don't really know much about the characters. The prologue is really confusing and you have to read it twice to understand what they are ta...

"Marriage may be compared to a cage: the birds outside despair to get in and those within despair to get out."-Michel De Montaigne The question that stands before us today is as follows, "is marriage a viable institution in the twenty- first century." The answer to this question is an unwaverin...

Throughout history all different parts of the world have been devastated by natural disasters. Whenever something created by nature destroys a certain area of the world, people tend to group together and overcome such a tragedy. Our tale will begin in one of the busiest and diverse places in the...