Book Description
Goodbye, Good Men provides the real story behind the sex scandal currently rocking the Catholic church. Investigative reporter Michael Rose has conducted countless interviews and exhaustive research to uncover several out-of-control seminaries as the root cause of the scandal. While most pundits and critics are calling for liberalization of the Church in the wake of these scandals, Rose presents compelling evidence that liberal influence is the very cause of the crisis. The revelations in Goodbye, Good Men will shock the nation and ignite a firestorm of debate on the subject.
Customer Reviews:
Buy a copy for your Bishop!.......2007-01-30
Excellent, true, and scary. Michael S. Rose, now an editor with the brilliant New Oxford Review, conducted over 100 interviews with former candidates for holy orders in magnet dioceses the formerly *exported* priests to other dioceses, such were the surplus of vocations.
So what happened? Yep, the "Spirit of `68"ers got control and New-Age-Sewaged the process of vocations to death. Never mind that those who hunger for strange flesh also got in the game, and the Moonbeam, Fruit-Loop, and Ouiji Board set.
Rose gives an alarming indictment of the vocational process today, and it is no surprise that it offers little inspiration and mounting difficulties.
One tiny quibble I have with Rose's nomenclature: candidates are repeatedly rejected for holding "traditional" Catholic beliefs on abortion, contraception, homosexuality, the primacy of the Pope, transubstantiation, and the Immaculate Conception. Far too often Catholics fall into the trap of ceding their name to the opposition by adding a qualifier such as "traditional." These are "Catholic" beliefs, no modifier, full stop. Other views are properly called "liberal" but are decidedly not Catholic. Calling yourself a "Traditional Catholic" weakens your arguments, and does not strengthen them and Rose falls for the trap a few times.
Rose also offers little for remaining in HOPE. We recall the Priests at Shiloh. We light a candle rather than curse the darkness. And instead of just being Joe-six-pack pew warmer raising a family, Rose's analysis shows that even ordinary layman have to be activists now. Sad.
Sooooooo. Buy a copy for your Bishop. Write your Bishop. Ask for The Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) priests as missions to your diocese (you may not like the Latin Mass, but believe me, their presence puts whacko Father Flake on watch negative). Rose's book is fine ammunition for returning the Church to winning souls instead of warehousing lapsed catholic hippies in sacerdos clothing.
Sick and scary.......2007-01-07
The author asserts that most American Catholic seminaries are run by homosexuals, radical feminists and heretics who desire to re-shape the priesthood, and thus the Church, in their image. Considering the state of the Church, I believe that Mr. Rose's thesis is correct. Unfortunately, the bishops and even the Vatican, are either unwilling or unable to do anything. Many, if not most of these seminaries need an Inquisitor to run a good old-fashioned auto-de-fe to root out the filth that has been educating and forming our priesthood for the past few decades. But who in authority has the guts to do it?
Ought to be a documentary about this.......2006-06-17
This story isn't told as much as it needs to be. I knew things were bad in some parts of the church, but some of the details here will positively floor you. After years of putting problem-priests and others into the administrative side of the house, this habit resulted in a seminary system that rewards radicalism and false teachers. Examples: a seminary class which taught wiccanism at the request of a student who planned to practice it as a catholic priest; a nun who spoke to others about her "upcoming" ordination as a priest (she and others planned to go through with the idea); a seminary in Maryland so gay it was nicknamed Pink Palace: they used to load up the cars and cruise the gay bars on Friday nights. There are several instances, probably still occuring, where men who wanted to become priests were rejected because they were not gay. Our church cannot afford to have the inmates running the asylum, as this book illustrates was, and perhaps still is, the case in many semenaries.
I could go on, but the story must be read to understand just how bad things got before the scandals were finally revealed in 2002. Even then, the news didn't cover the story in depth, probably out of a fear of appearing "homophobic."
The bright side is that there are some changes, slowly but surely. A documentary version of this book could wake even more people up to how bad its become in the semenaries.
HOMOSEXUAL UNDERCULTURE STILL PRESENT!!.......2006-04-23
Many priests in the "know" have said that this book must be taken with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, they don't know how true Mr. Rose's book is. The previous review mentioned a seminary in Indiana. I happen to know for a fact that this seminary has a homosexual underculture manifested and the rector and vice-rector are indifferent and think nothing of expelling good, holy and orthodox seminarians while advancing the gay culture. Sure, they put on a good act of piety, but they demoralize, rob the dignity and integrity of the good seminarians and push the development of the "evil". Yes, evil is still thriving in our seminaries. I know, I have experienced it. I was a seminarian in this seminary for 2 years.
YES ITS STILL GOING ON!!!.......2006-03-28
I entered seminary last year and believe me, if you aren't part of a clique or kiss up to the formation staff of this seminary in Indiana, then look out for some not very nice surprises during the annual evaluation. This happened to a good, orthodox, holy seminarian (who because he didn't play the political game) was given a bad evaluation and he left the seminary sadly disillusioned and heartbroken. The formation staff never took into consideration the good he did.....untiringly faithful as head sacristan and heading up the teams to deliver wood to the poor on weekends. Yet, there are gay seminarians here...who are deemed ready for ordination who are out visiting priests who they became good friends with while they were here and they are propositioning them. So, yes, good holy men are still being told to tone down their "piety" while the "gay cruising" seminarians advance to the highest heights. Then they wonder why they leave the priesthood after a few years. Its sad, but true.
Average customer rating:
- Ethnomusicology is an Art and not a Seance
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Holy Brotherhood: Romani Music in a Hungarian Pentecostal Church
Barbara Rose Lange
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 019513723X |
Book Description
Holy Brotherhood: Romani Music in a Hungarian Pentecostal Church is a musical ethnography of a religious community. After the end of socialism, different ethnic groups in Hungary harbored antagonism toward one another. In one Pentecostal church in Pecs, Hungary, however, both Hungarians and Roma (Gypsies) worshipped and made music together. Three musical repertoires coexisted, each with a separate historical background and complex social meanings: Romani religious song; nineteenth-century gospel hymns originally from the United States; and contemporary Christian pop from the United States. Church members accommodated cultural and musical differences by developing several distinct performance styles.
Customer Reviews:
Ethnomusicology is an Art and not a Seance.......2003-07-16
Combining in-depth musical analysis with personal experience and scholarly ethnography, Barbara Rose Lange's _Holy Brotherhood: Romani Music in a Hungarian Pentecostal Church_ explores Romani or Gypsy music with an ear towards sprirtual meaning and music's profound social context in such a way that the general reader will be satisfied, and the specialist overjoyed. Forsaking jargon for direct reportage of interviews and musical experiences, Lange focuses on actual performance, providing precise translation of songs, practices, rituals--this is a book for the living. The result not only adds insight to outsider interpretations of Gypsy culture, but explicates music's relationship to religion, and Romani or Gypsy culture to the world at large. Delightful.
Book Description
Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose is a brilliant mystery set in a fictitious medieval monastery. The text is rich with literary, historical, and theoretical references that make it eminently re-readable. The Key makes each reading fuller and more meaningful by helping the interested reader not merely to read but also to understand Eco's masterful work. Inspired by pleas from friends and strangers, the authors, each trained in Classics, undertook to translate and explain the Latin phrases that pepper the story. They have produced an approachable, informative guide to the book and its setting--the middle ages. The Key includes an introduction to the book, the middle ages, Umberto Eco, and philosophical and literary theories; a useful chronology; and reference notes to historical people and events.
The clear explanations of the historical setting and players will be useful to anyone interested in a general introduction to medieval history.
Adele J. Haft is Associate Professor of Classics, Hunter College, City University of New York. Jane G. White is chair of the Department of Languages, Dwight Englewood School. Robert J. White is Professor of Classics and Oriental Studies, Hunter College, City University of New York.
For more information on Umberto Eco's work, please visit Libyrinth's web site at http://www.libyrinth.com/eco http://www.libyrinth.com/eco"
Customer Reviews:
The Key to the Name of the Rose.......2003-06-18
After reading The Name of the Rose with few helps, discovering this book was quite wonderful. It goes into adaquate detail with the historical background, and I found the translations to be good and very helpful. A must for those trying the novel for the first time or for those who felt the lack of endnotes frustrating. A wonderful suppplement.
The Key to "The Name of the Rose".......2002-09-12
The Key to "The Name of the Rose" by Adele J. Haft, Jane G. White, and Robert J. White is a wonderful little book. When was the last time you used your Latin that you had in High School? You say, you never had Latin... well how do you expect to solve the clues that Brother William of Baskerville in "The Name of the Rose" gets.
Well, the answer is in this little tome as it includes translations of all of the Non-English passages making you as "smart" as Brother William. This book furthers your experience when reading "The Name of the Rose" as you now can decode the juicy clues. Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" is about crimes in a medieval abbey and the obsession of it monks with heresies, apocalyptic visions, and forbidden knowledge.
This "Key" is a delightful guide to the phrases and bizarre characters and has mirthful anecdotes that you're sure to enjoy and you'll solve the mystery of the seven deaths as fast as Brother William and enjoy the intrigue in doing so.
excellent resource for artists.......2002-03-20
i am hoping to do an intricate performance art piece based on the novel "the name of the rose;" however, many of the lush details and layers were lost on me, because i am not a historian or a scholar well-versed in semiotics... the task is still daunting, but i feel more confident having this "hint book" to fill me in on the background information. it renders the novel much more accessible to a lay person, and makes the story even MORE fascinating than it already is. i suggest that anyone reading "the name of the rose" should have a copy of this to help them along... also, there is a text that does this same task for dante's "divine comedy" (dante has a large influence on the novel, so reading dante will help the reader to understand the apocolyptic attitudes of the characters). joseph gallagher wrote "a modern reader's guide to dante's 'the divine comedy'" which you may also find helpful.
A must-have for Name of the Rose neophytes.......2001-08-06
I'm enjoying Umberto Eco's NAME OF THE ROSE, but I don't understand so much as a tenth of the Latin. Before I reached page 200, I came to the sinking conclusion that I was missing out on something. I checked KEY TO NAME OF THE ROSE out at my local library, but soon realized that I needed to own my own copy to keep beside my copy of NAME OF THE ROSE. This book is a God-send for those NAME OF THE ROSE fans like me who lack a reading knowledge of Latin. Having other scholars' comments at hand really helps. If you're intrigued by NAME OF THE ROSE, but just don't get it, buy this book!
A very helpful companion volume.......1999-11-10
This is a very good guide to The Name of the Rose. Not perfect, but good. The non-English translations are very helpful, and beat sitting next to a Latin dictionary. The biographical information for historical characters is very good too. My only beef about this is that it doesn't address the historical backdrop of the novel well enough: the Renaissance of the previous century, the conflicts in the Church at the time, and the looming disasters of the 14th century between the time the novel takes place and the time the narrator lays the tale down. Get this volume if you're going to read the book. But don't rely strictly on this.
Book Description
The Penguin Classics debut that inspired a classic film and a current Broadway revival
Reginald Rose's landmark American drama was a critically acclaimed teleplay, and went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. A blistering character study and an examination of the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check, Twelve Angry Men holds at its core a deeply patriotic belief in the U.S. legal system. The story's focal point, known only as Juror Eight, is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights not on proving the other jurors wrong but rather on getting them to look at the situation in a clear-eyed way not affected by their personal biases. Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture of America, at its best and worst, to form.
Customer Reviews:
an amazing dramatic experience.......2006-10-03
Based on Reginald rose's teleplay, which then became an Academy Award nominated film, TWELVE ANGRY MEN is dynamite listening. The cast is stellar, including Dan Castellaneta (remembered for the voice of Homer Simpson); Jeffrey Donovan (to be seen in Sundance's Come Early Morning); Hector Elizondo (Pretty Woman and the Princess Diaries); Robert Foxworth (who played juror #3 on Broadway); James Gleason (The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd); Kevin Kilner (Shopgirl); Richard Kind (Spin City, Curb Your Enthusiasm); Armin Shimerman (Star Voyager); and Joe Spano (Hill Street Blues).
As they've shown in the past, LA Theatre works presents the best in audio drama, always offering award worthy performances by gifted actors before a live audience. Twelve Angry Men is one more amazing dramatic experience.
As most know, the Twelve Angry Men comprise a jury that is charged with determining the fate of a 19-year-old boy who stands accused of murdering his father. The action takes place during one afternoon as their deliberations reveal the biases and character of each man. This is a drama that has stood the test of time, speaking to us as eloquently today as it did some 50 years ago.
Riveting listening!
- Gail Cooke
"The burden of proof is on the prosecution... that's in the Constitution.".......2006-09-23
Twelve Angry Men is one of those American classics that has grown more memorable over the years, an examination of a judicial system that allows each man his day in court with a jury of his peers. Although written in 1954, the play remains relevant in its intent. Juror Eight is pivotal, the one man who refuses to take the easy way out, requesting a logical examination of the facts before jumping to conclusions. The result of this one man's stand is significant, a gradual shifting of opinions as the other jurors speak their personal concerns, assumptions and general willingness to participate in the process in a meaningful way.
Each of the jurors, like Americans in general, brings his own mind set into the jury room. The evidence as presented acceptable to the majority, the first inclination of the majority is to vote the accused guilty. To further complicate the drama, the room is unbearably hot, some of the jurors anxious to escape the sweltering crucible of the small space, unwilling to put in the time or energy necessary to reach common agreement. Yet Juror Eight holds out, refusing to give in to the pressure of the more verbal jurors, calmly arguing the facts of the case and asking his fellow members to reconsider their opinions. Over time, the more thoughtful members become willing to discuss the troublesome aspects of the case before them, although those who have no patience chafe at the changing of opinion.
The beauty of this play lies in its simplicity, democracy in its purest and most practical form, when a single voice speaks to reasoned consideration. Despite the complexities of the various personalities and their views on crime, law and order and life in general, reason prevails, each character opening to the extraordinary experience of sharing opinions, calmly discussing the pertinent details of the case and reaching a decision based on more than impulse. While the play is dated by the composition of a twelve-man jury, commonplace at the time, the message is unchanged by the intervening years. As simple as its premise, Twelve Angry Men is a civics lesson in play form, a reminder of the legal tenets of a Democratic society. Luan Gaines/2006.
Twelve Angry Men.......2006-02-22
We have just finished this reading this play in my Lit. Class( 7th grade) and I actually really enjoyed it! It mostly centers around the theme of the courage to be different and standing up for one's own beliefs. What surprised me the most was at the end, Juror #3 gives up because he is afraid to stand alone in contrast to Juror #8 who was the only one in the beg. of the play who believed that maybe the boy wasn't really guilty and that he deserved a fair decision made by the jury members. This is also written by the same author who wrote the play "Thunder on Sycamore Street" which also deals with basically the same themes.
Good service.......2005-10-25
Book was in good condition. Shipment arrived in the specified time frame.
It Doesn't Get Much Better.......2005-09-07
Twelve Angry Men is undoubtedly one of the best dialogue-driven stories of modern times. I would recommend that everyone be exposed to this story in either book, play or movie format sometime in their life. However, for anyone who has difficulty with reading or concentration, this particular format may prove somewhat difficult. The characters do not have names but only go by "Juror #1," "Juror #2," etc. It can be difficult to keep up with which character is which. Otherwise, one of the best stories around.
Book Description
Classic Civil War novel set on a plantation in the Natchez country.
Customer Reviews:
Sorrow in the Deep South.......2004-05-13
A bestseller in 1934, Stark Young's "So Red the Rose" is an odd study of Mississippi plantation life before, during, and after the Civil War. Stark Young was one of America's leading drama critics of the 20th Century (he died in 1963), and his style seems to have been influenced by the dramatists Chekhov (whose plays were translated by Young) and Maeterlinck. There is a dramatis personae at the beginning of the book, which is helpful because there is no protagonist per se. The plot shifts from character to character and many a character is introduced and then never seen again (just as in real life). The narrative in the first half is quite lanquid, as Young describes the aura of dolce far niente at neighboring plantations near Natchez. When the War comes, there are the classic complaints about petty inconveniences and the assurances that the whole thing will be over in a couple of months. But then the antebellum dream is slowly surrounded by the nightmare of war. Mississippi is invaded and Natchez is bombarded. Two of the young men in the families who joined the Confederate Army do not come back: one is killed, the other presumed dead. A patriarch, returning ill from the front, dies of natural causes. A family is given 20 minutes to vacate their mansion before it is burned down. Then, after the War, when their economic system has been obliterated and their properties mortgaged, the families accept it with a bitter resignation. All this is related in a calm, academic manner, and there may be those readers who find the telling a little cold. But I think Young, a refined critic, was determined not to cater to a taste for 1890's melodrama. His style is straightforward but restrained, an appropriate tone for a tale of Southern aristocracy enduring a Civil Reign of Terror.
How True the Fiction.......2001-06-20
A most enjoyable, fictional, historical account of life in the South during and after the Civil War. Enough truth to make it very believable and the author's descriptive terminology places you in with the characters so that you become very involved with the story personally. A lot of history is learned about Civil War military blunders that certainly effected the outcome of the war. I can understand why they made a movie of this book. It would be a good one to bring back as TV miniseries.
Very engaging look into the culture of the antebellum South........1999-02-22
"So Red the Rose" is a very engaging tale that affords the reader an insight into the culture and attitudes of the antebellum South that became the Confederacy. However, my fellow McGehee descendants (the author was a cousin of actual McGehees in Mississippi) need to bear in mind as they read that this is a NOVEL, not a genealogical register or an entirely true family history.
Classic Civil War novel from the Southern point of view.......1998-08-24
So Red the Rose is a classic fictional account of the Civil War years from the Southern point of view by one of the leading writers of the so-called Southern Renaissance of the first half of the 20th Century. Stark Young grew up among the kind of people with whom he populates his novel, and his novel focuses on what he called "the life of the affections."
So Red the Rose was a best-seller in he 1930's and was made into a movie. Its popularity was eclipsed a few years after its publication by Gone With the Wind. Some critics consider So Red the Rose a better book.
The novel describes a Mississippi family and how they were affected by the war. I found the book deeply moving and engrossing; although I live in a different century, live in a different part of the country than the characters, and hold a different set of values in regard to race, I found myself understanding them, relating to them, and liking them.
Average customer rating:
- The master of the 20th Century
- The Archetypal Outlaw Spits Fire
- A Sinking Ship Shall Cast The Light Upon The Land
- a miracle of a novel
- The light of the darkness
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Miracle of the Rose
Jean Genet
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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Our Lady of the Flowers
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The Thief's Journal
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Querelle
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Funeral Rites
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From the Book to the Book: An Edmond Jabes Reader
ASIN: 0802130887 |
Book Description
This nightmarish account of prison life during the German occupation of France is dominated by the figure of the condemned murderer Harcamone, who takes root and bears unearthly blooms in the ecstatic and brooding imagination of his fellow prisoner Genet.
Customer Reviews:
The master of the 20th Century.......2004-09-25
In the 60's, it was cool to like Genet. Ginsberg even made a reference to the boys in Kansas reading him (aspiring to a future when even the clodhoppers would be enlightened).
There are really some fantastic reviews for this book on here, so I'll try to cover some new ground in a brief manner.
A lot of people have no idea who Genet is. He died in 1986, just in the finishing stages of a book (Prisoner of Love)... his first since the Thief's Journal, almost 30 years before it. He had surfaced briefly to author some of the most incredible dramatic works ever... in fact, far greater than his novels, and his novels are some of the greatest of all time (definitely ranks with Dostoevsky).
There is no explanation for Genet. He wrote Our Lady of the Flowers in prison, and it was a masterpiece. And the he wrote four more. And then he stopped. Just like Shakespeare, he came from nowhere, and he stopped when he decided it was time to stop. His books are intensly 'evil', but they're also incredibly lyrical and always beautiful. They're also quite profound, not just morally, but also in the way that he freely transposes his world, interacts with his creation, and commands powerful meanings from the simplest gestures. Specifically this book deals with his obsession with a fellow prisoner, condemned to die for a murder. The book is the process by which Harcamone (the murderer) develops and blooms in Genet's mind, ultimately culminating in a feverish and spiritually tormented vision of the mystery of Harcamone. His works make effective use of the ritual and spiritual processes, and although I don't believe they will make you evil, I think you'll find that your imagination will be enlightened, and you will be able to view the mundane world around you in a new and passionately intense way after reading his books. Genet realized that everything has the power to become significant and sanctified through our imagination, and he's especially good to read if you are at all interested in Nietzsche, Freud or anything dealing with existentialism. If you haven't read him, do not do anything until you do. If you have, make sure you let some people borrow your books... those of us who love his work need to make sure we do our best not to let him fall into obscurity.
The Archetypal Outlaw Spits Fire .......2004-09-24
Having read Sade, Bataille, and all the supposedly "shocking" literature to emerge from literary periods when all modern values were being turned on their heads, I expected that Genet would be merely another poser who could string a few words together, the kind of guy who did a few bids in prison and was therefore looked upon by the intellectual camp of the 20's as the living incarnation of this or that former literary figure.
I was wrong. Genet transcends the stereotype of "the literary prisoner" and does justice to Rimbaud's famous cry of revolt: "I admire the criminal on whom the prison bars close again and again." He paints the cretins with whom he is incarcerated with stunning beauty. His idealization of the the "dregs" of society works well, and never falls into pretentiousness. The way in which his fellow criminals lament their fate is astounding, and one wonders whether Genet took a little artistic license with the affair. One young man exclaims: "Wow! They really did a number on me. Hard labor for life." With somewhat homoerotic overtones, Genet looks on all these young hoodlums with the tender pity of a mother for her child.
Of course, Genet knows that his "negation of reality" and his willing descent into the underworld is little more than a wistful illusion which cannot last. The pimps, thieves, and addicts he idealizes so beautifully are merely pimps, thieves and addicts. His celebration of evil as the ultimate form of beauty goes from being believable to being absurd. The idea of Genet having been the embodiment of Sartre's philosophy seems petty in retrospect, as Genet's work has held more water than Sartre's. Sartre's dimestore psychoanalysis, laced with faux pas Marxism and some pastiche ideas he lifted from better thinkers, was never enough to explain any human being, let alone Jean Genet. I suppose it was good Sartre was so obsessed with him, though, as Genet would have gone away for life had Sartre and the existentialist crew not showed up at his trial.
Do not miss out on this.
A Sinking Ship Shall Cast The Light Upon The Land.......2002-11-02
Genet's second novel is a phantasmagorical account of his youthful incarceration in the Mettray penal colony and subsequent imprisonment in the adult facility of Fountevrault. The author portrays Mettray as a womb like hive of sunless corridors and constricting passages that both shelters the prisoners and guards and incubates their stark attempts at individual development. The formless men of Mettray constantly meld and mesh into one another, existing between mental and emotional states of absolute being and permanent dissolution and drift. Genet sees the hieratical Mettray as "the universe itself," something he finds "fabulous." Surrounded by 400 other confined men, many who are attractive and apparently virile, young Genet searches for potential lovers and models upon which he might base his coreless identity.
The narrator identifies these young men as his literal brothers, born from the same maternal body of childhood desolation leading to crime, and is highly drawn to this incestuous angle of his attractions. He describes the other boys "stroking themselves" in unison alone in their single unit cells, the mixed perfume of wisteria and rose vines creating a "vegetable incest" which wafts over their dreaming heads; he "yearns for a mother," feels he's returned, via Mettray, to "the mother's throbbing breast," and describes the prison and his mood as permanently tinted in autumnal shades. The female principle reasonably dominates the state of male immaturity, and in both benevolent and malevolent fashion, for Mettray is surrounded by a minefield of "traps laid by women's hands" that create an "invisible, undetectable danger" which throws would be escapees into "wild panic." For hoping to gain the fifty franc reward that comes with each capture, local women lie in silent, unseen wait like archetypal witches, accompanied by shotguns, pitchforks, and dogs.
Unloved, cast out, and uneducated, the instinctively virility-seeking boys of Mettray are little more than unindividuated eggs united in a desperate search for a master sperm bearer to fertilize and transform them into legitimate men. Each acts as a 'double' for another, but combined, the two halves still add up to less than one definite being. Though some "big guys" and "toughs," especially mysterious Christ figure Harcomone act as witting or unwitting father substitutes to those in need, Mother conquers in the end. Returning years later to find Mettray in ruins, Genet sadly notes that swallows have built their nests in its window ledges, grass sprouts between the impregnable stones, and thorn bearing vegetation covers and "pierces" the place. The rugged house of troubled, fragile lads has returned to the soil forever.
Fifteen years later, at Fountevrault, Genet finds hero and double murderer Harcomone locked in irons in solitary confinement, condemned to death. He discovers Fountevrault's foundational hub when he stumbles upon former Mettray lover Divers, a powerful and handsome tough, freakishly squatting atop the central iron cone which serves as a toilet, his genitals exposed and hanging as he defecates loudly, surrounded as he is by the circle of punished and endlessly marching prisoners he oversees and verbally abuses daily. Thus the lord of Fountevrault is an unconscious, ridiculous clown and fool, his pointed punishment and dunce cap under him instead of atop his head. Nonchalant Divers, "a barbaric king on a metal throne" gets up "without wiping" and actively resumes command as Genet allows himself the pleasure of sniffing Divers' "vast and serene" bowel gases. Drunk with sensation, Genet commits a willful infraction and happily joins Divers' marching circle, which becomes his new microcosm of "eternal reoccurrence."
While the broad shouldered "big guys" gather in all alpha male groups like a huddle of mountain gorillas, Genet loves--and often confuses--three men. Divers; dying, crown-of-thorns bearing god and great subject of prison gossip Harcomone; and mercurial "chicken" Pierrot, who straddles the safer middle ground and whose essence contains elements of both men. Genet sees Pierrot as a Sphinx and himself as a "questioning Oedipus," he describes their desperate lovemaking, clandestine stairwell meetings, and risking note passing, but later says they were never lovers and met only on twelve occasions. Divers and Harcomone are the twin father kings of Fountevrault: earthy, feces smeared Divers, who upholds macho postures even while defecating, symbolizes the Genet's reality principle. Supernatural Harcomone, the single complete man, "the emanation of a power stronger than himself," is even loved and cherished by the stars, moon, and seas -- by nature, his transcendent bride. Paternal Harcomone had once read nightly to the youths at Mettray from a book intended for very small children; now his chains blossom fragrantly into white roses before the astonished prisoners, an experience divinely denied the guards. Harcomone's rapidly approaching execution by beheading becomes a crisis for everyone under Fountevrault's roof.
Active mystic Genet calls himself "the spirit that hovers over the shapeless mass of dreams," "a dead man who sees his skeleton in the mirror," one who "sings the void" and who strains "every fiber to see very high or very far within himself." By "cutting all threads" that hold him to the world, he "plunges" into "prison, foulness, dreaming, and hell," believing this will land him in a garden "of saintliness where roses bloom." Exhausting himself with the effort, he manages, by a kind of remote viewing, to project himself into the condemned man's cell during the last nights of Harcomone's life, where he finds Harcomone already a ghost, his spirit drifting through the prison, and visited by specters.
Perhaps Genet's most deeply felt novel, the meditative Miracle of the Rose finds the author alternately confronting and avoiding his deepest obsessions and the shadowy motivators stirring uncomfortably within him. The archetypal "ghosts" of the male and female parental figures, in both their nurturing and paralyzing aspects, constantly overwhelm Genet's consciousness, are projected, embodied (Genet, the bride, is officially wedded to Divers in an elaborately structured midnight ceremony) or obscurely grappled with during moments of reverie. Transvestite figures and shifting configurations of gender and persona abound; male identity, like the ever shifting and unsustainable ocean shoreline, is in constant, painful flux, perpetually threatened with an obscuring inundation that will reduce man back to his earliest, in utero female state of existence.
a miracle of a novel.......2002-01-28
A breathtaking, uplifting work -- mesmerising & unflinching of beauty wherever it is found. One hears people talk about an infinite capacity to bear pain -- it is not so different as the capacity to bear infinite beauty. If you want the example of such a man, read Genet.
The sheer intensity of this book, its fearlessness, its devotion to what is human, is astonishing. This was the first Genet novel I read, & I was converted. Genet understands that what is human is also that which is superhuman, and subhuman.
The light of the darkness.......2002-01-23
Jean Genet is the most exquisite of the poets maudits. Every word of him has the bittersweet savour of the pleasures of hell. You'll love his obsession whit nasty hoodlums which he transmogrifies in almost saintly objects of desire. Genet is an artist on sublimating the most earthly feeling in almost mystical esperiences, and in giving the most dreary places and situations a sensual or mystic (you almost cannot distinguish )
aura, as he does in this book. Jean Genet is one of a kind writer .
Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
A spectacular best seller and now a classic, The Name of the Rose catapulted Umberto Eco, an Italian professor of semiotics turned novelist, to international prominence. An erudite murder mystery set in a fourteenth-century monastery, it is not only a gripping story but also a brilliant exploration of medieval philosophy, history, theology, and logic.
In 1327, Brother William of Baskerville is sent to investigate a wealthy Italian abbey whose monks are suspected of heresy. When his mission is overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths patterned on the book of Revelation, Brother William turns detective, following the trail of a conspiracy that brings him face-to-face with the abbey’s labyrinthine secrets, the subversive effects of laughter, and the medieval Inquisition. Caught in a power struggle between the emperor he serves and the pope who rules the Church, Brother William comes to see that what is at stake is larger than any mere political dispute–that his investigation is being blocked by those who fear imagination, curiosity, and the power of ideas.
The Name of the Rose offers the reader not only an ingeniously constructed mystery—complete with secret symbols and coded manuscripts—but also an unparalleled portrait of the medieval world on the brink of profound transformation.
Customer Reviews:
Esoteric and Enjoyable.......2007-09-16
Someone once told me that when The Name of the Rose was first published, it was the most-bought and least read book of its time. This I can believe. While The Name of the Rose is a spellbinding mystery, it is also dense and perhaps too pleased with its own erudition to make a big popular splash.
In the middle-ages, an elder monk and his young assistant journey to an Italian monastery to attend an important conference on church policy as the inquisition and concerns of heresy rage. The monastery, however, is shortly beset by a series of murders as a number of the monks turn up dead by means various and distressing. It is up to the elder monk and his assistant to discover the culprit and the root of the crimes - which seem to be linked to the monastery's well-appointed library.
Eco here creates a world that is believable and fascinating, and perfectly captures the middle-ages in his prose. However, to truly enjoy this book you must have at least a bit of a background in medieval history and the pressing issues of the day; if not, a lot of this book will go over the casual reader's head (unfortunately). Still, quite a ride, and recommended for the determined reader.
perseverance.......2007-06-09
Not being fluent in Italian I had to read this book in translation. I first got the english one (later it was also translated in Greek). What gave me a really hard time reading it, was the fact that the english translator had left the latin parts untranslated. Were they assuming that we all know Latin?. I know that there is now a book named the Key to the Name of the Rose which provides those translations but fifteen years ago when I first attempted to read this book it was unavailable. Does all that sound whiny and bitchy? Perhaps it is, but if I had let myself be discouraged by those difficulties I would have missed out on a truly superb book. This one has so many layers, so many levels on which it may be read that it could in my opinion be highly enjoyed by both the most profound lover of religious philosophy and the most avid fan of Sherlock Holmes-like "whodunits". Not to mention that the description of the library embodies every bibliophile's wet dream. And referring to some previous reviewers' comments that it supplies too much unnecessary information I will only mention that as Kavafy says sometimes the journey to a destination is more important to achieving the goal itself. So trust me and stick with this book to the end and you will not be disappointed. I most heartily commend it
Can be a difficult read.......2007-05-16
This book had a fantastic story and was rich in characterisation and setting however the book often used difficult and rare words, latin and introduced a vast array of characters which at times was hard to keep track of.
Medieval history in technicolor .......2007-05-06
This will be a difficult novel for anyone that does not have an academic background in the Middle Ages. Luckily, I have spent the past 3 years preparing with excellent surveys such as Norman Cantor (The Civilization of the Middle Ages), Joseph Strayer (The Middle Ages, 395-1500) and Morris Bishop (The Middle Ages). There is hardly a sentence that does not connect with a scholarly topic on the Middle Ages, which should come as no surprise as Eco was foremost a medieval scholar before he wrote this his first novel. The first 100 pages of the novel are like reading a medieval manuscript, trying to piece together what is known of Medieval history and figuring out what Eco is talking about, not unlike what happens with the characters in the novel. With that said, the novel can still be enjoyed by anyone without a medieval history background because of the excellent plot and Gothic atmosphere. The novel needs extensive annotations to fully appreciate (such as The Key to The Name of the Rose, although I found it lacking in many ways).
'Rose' works on many layers and can be approached from many perspectives. It's impossible to cover all the permutations in a single reading, indeed I have read it only once primarily a "reading for the plot" to understand the sequence of events. The movie helps in this regard, although it has some substantial "Hollywood" changes at the end and is much less subtle and interesting - recommend reading the novel first.
Most valuable for me was Eco brought to life the Guelphs vs Ghibellines dispute in color, shape and form that only fiction can achieve. It's the difference between intellectually understanding history versus emotionally experiencing, and for this alone the novel is priceless, the best of what historical fiction can achieve.
difficil but enjoyable.......2007-03-29
I am not going to include the plot and story of the novel, since it has already been done by many reviewers, quiet eloquently.
I finished this book in a grand total of 5 days which i unfortunately did not have. I say this not ostentatiously, nor do i mean that i skipped many parts. I read every thing. But to read this book, and to thoroughly enjoy it, one needs ample time. Again, as already stated before in other reviews, it is a difficult read especially if the reader is a "novice". 1. because i openly admit that i needed a dictionary( which i loved) and 2. because a reader has to distinguish between important passages that actually contribute to the story, and some passages that are merely there to dissuade the reader from attempting to brave this epic book.
The book is great, and is highly recommendable but i also had certain reservations. I did not understand why Mr. Umberto insisted on repeating many things in the novel. I can see why he would go over certain things to accentuate their importance,but certain times, i found it annoying as the same topic was expressed, only in different ways.
I dare say this is a pseudo mystery book. As Umberto himself says, the mystery in the book is only half , if even, as important to the actual story. The mystery, though, also plays an important part in giving this novel an actual shape.
Over all, excellent read. Read and revel in your intellectual glory.
Average customer rating:
- Chivalry and Medieval Romance at it's Best
- Prefer the unexpurgated translation
- "By my faith, said Love,...I want him to be in my court."
- rosa
- Allegory continued
|
The Romance of the Rose
Guillaume de Lorris , and
Jean De Meun
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0691044562 |
Book Description
Many English-speaking readers of the Roman de la rose, the famous dream allegory of the thirteenth century, have come to rely on Charles Dahlberg's elegant and precise translation of the Old French text. His line-by-line rendering in contemporary English is available again, this time in a third edition with an updated critical apparatus. Readers at all levels can continue to deepen their understanding of this rich tale about the Lover and his quest--against the admonishments of Reason and the obstacles set by Jealousy and Resistance--to pluck the fair Rose in the Enchanted Garden.
The original introduction by Dahlberg remains an excellent overview of the work, covering such topics as the iconographic significance of the imagery and the use of irony in developing the central theme of love. His new preface reviews selected scholarship through 1990, which examines, for example, the sources and influences of the work, the two authors, the nature of the allegorical narrative as a genre, the use of first person, and the poem's early reception. The new bibliographic material incorporates that of the earlier editions. The sixty-four miniature illustrations from thirteenth-and fifteenth-century manuscripts are retained, as are the notes keyed to the Langlois edition, on which the translation is based.
Customer Reviews:
Chivalry and Medieval Romance at it's Best.......2005-11-17
This is a very relaxing yet thought-provoking allegory of life and love, but primarily love. I first heard of it in the film "Shadowlands", about the great C.S. Lewis. After having bought it and read it after hearing Anthony Hopkins describe it to his character's Oxford students in the film, I see it's significance in both that particular film and as a remarkable work of literature which, in it's day, seemed to have been far more popular than even the "Canterbury Tales"; more than twice as many original manuscripts of RotR exist today than of "Canterbury". The Romance of the Rose is fluid, metaphorical, philosophical, lyric and, of course, very romantic. An exquisite illustration of courtly love.
Prefer the unexpurgated translation .......2005-03-23
Nothing wrong with this edition. Just thought that people might want to know that there is another translation out there that is easier to read AND more fun. It's the translation in blank verse published in unabridged and unexpurgated form by Meridian (0452010837), and edited by Charles W. Dunn, one of the finest modernizations of a medieval classic ever published. The translation was the life's work of Professor Harry W. Robbins.
"By my faith, said Love,...I want him to be in my court.".......2004-03-04
This review relates to the work, -The Romance of the
Rose- by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun,
Translated by Charles Dahlberg, Princeton Univ.
Press, Third Edition, 1995. 484 pp.
This edition of -The Romance of the Rose- is interesting
for it contains all 3 Prefaces which Charles Dahlberg
wrote. In the Preface to the 1st edition, published
in 1971, Dahlberg says: "This translation of the -Romance
of the Rose-, the first in modern English prose, is one of
nearly a dozen volumes during the past decade to present
an edition, a translation, or a major commentary on the
Old French poem. The aim of this book is to provide a
clear, readable text that is as faithful as possible to
the original, particularly in terms of imagery. Because
translations have their pitfalls and because thirteenth-
century assumptions about the use of imagery, indeed of
poetry, are very different from ours, I have provided a
variety of materials that may help the reader to approach
the poem with an approximation of the perspective of that
time. The Introduction, Notes, and Illustrations are
designed primarily to elaborate and clarify such a view
of the poem."
In the 2nd Preface, to the 1983 edition, Dahlberg says:
[after saying that minor errors have been corrected
and additions have been made to the Bibliography]
"During recent years, a number of writers have reemphasized
the contrast between the two authors in their treatment
of the poem's allegory. Such is the case even in the
relatively small space devoted to the poem in Jung's
important book on Latin and French allegory, a work that
parallels the series of essays by Hans Robert Jauss
on the origins and development of allegorical poetry up
to the -Romance-."
In the Preface to the 1995 edition, Dahlberg again
deals with the scholarly publications concerning the
poem which have occurred since the last edition. He
cites works in the Preface which deal with Sources and
Influences ["Among source studies, the greatest attention
has been givven To Ovid: in the Narcissus episode, the
Pygmalion episode, or both. Huot studies the relation of
the Medusa interpolation to these spisodes and to the
Deucalion-Pyrrha passage, Browlee studies the relation
of the Pygmalion and Adonis passages, and Steinle adds
the Narcissus passages to these two."]; The Two Authors;
The Nature of the Allegorical Narrative; The Use of the
First Person; and Early Reception.
This work is in two parts. Part I [The Dream of Love]
is authored by Guillaume de Lorris and comprises some 4,000
plus lines. Part II [The Overthrow of Reason] is authored by Jean de Meun.
The sections of Part I are titled by Dahlberg as: (1) The Garden, The Fountain,
and the Rose; (2) The God of Love and the Affair of the
Heart; (3) The Involvement of Reason and the Castle of
Jealousy.
Part II [The Overthrow of Reason] by Jean de Meun, is
titled in sections by Dahlberg as: (4) Discourse of
Reason; (5) The Advice of Friend; (6) The Assault on
the Castle. False Seeming's Contribution; (7) The Old
Woman's Intercession; (8) Attack and Repulse;
(9)Nature's Confession; (10) Genius's Solution;
(11) Venus's Conflagration and the Winning of the Rose.
There are excellent Notes from p. 357 to p. 425 and
an excellent Bibliography. There are also 64 "miniature
illustrations from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century
manuscripts."
This is an excellent edition, especially for the
wealth of suggested additional schoarly works
available and their approaches to the poem.
-- Robert Kilgore.
rosa.......2000-07-07
I really like this book because it is a romance book and i love all romance books. I really like books that are writen in the old ages. I think if a person likes to just read books they should read Romance of the Rose.
Allegory continued.......2000-03-18
The Romance of the Rose is the famous and much discussed 13th century allegorical romance. It consists of two parts of unequal length-- the first shorter part by Guillaume de Lorris and the second longer part continued 40 years after de Lorris' death by Jean de Meun. Throughout the medieval period, this was one of the most widely read book in the French language.
Scholars have rather endlessly debated how unified the allegory really is, and the trend recently seems to have shifted to seeing the two authors as less in opposition, and more composing a complete treatment of courtly Love.
For the casual (non-academic) reader like myself, the experience is rather less unified. The de Lorris section is quite lyrical and fits more with what I imagine an allegorical dream poem to be. When Idleness leads the dreamer into the garden of Diversion and when Love shoots him with the five deadly arrows that bind him to the Rose, the imagery is compelling and lovely.
On the other hand, the second part, while often *very* funny is much more obviously satirical with long digressions that focus more on social mores than on the world of the Dreamer as established in the first half. The effect is sort of like a serious and literary Spike Jones song-- which is not at all a bad thing.
Book Description
"'Take my camel, dear,' said my aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass." So begins The Towers of Trebizond, the greatest novel by Rose Macaulay, one of the eccentric geniuses of English literature. In this fine and funny adventure set in the backlands of modern Turkey, a group of highly unusual travel companions makes its way from Istanbul to legendary Trebizond, encountering potion-dealing sorcerers, recalcitrant policemen, and Billy Graham on tour with a busload of Southern evangelists. But though the dominant note of the novel is humorous, its pages are shadowed by heartbreak—as the narrator confronts the specters of ancient empires, religious turmoil, and painful memories of lost love.
Customer Reviews:
A Great--And Very Different--Read.......2007-10-01
*MILD SPOILERS*
This is a sneaky book. It starts off one way--as a comic recount of eccentric, genteelly arrogant Brits (the narrator's Aunt and a high-church Anglican priest) on a quixotic mission to convert and reform Turkey. As told by the crazy Aunt's niece (?), Turkey itself (and the Turks' reaction to the Brits) is beautifully evoked. Then, a hint here, a little more explication there, then a major plot twist as the Aunt and the Priest disappear into the Soviet Union, and the book evolves into a profound rumination on love and faith, and the conflicts the two can engender.
The story is always told in an arm's length, almost unemotional, way. And I think the last page of the book, on the "eternal dilemma" of searching for the City on the Hill is one of the most moving and profound pieces of writing I have ever read.
The book is also hilarious. There is more than one LOL moment, but my favorite is when the narrator from her (?) Turkish phrase book confuses, "I don't speak Turkish well," with "Can you connect me with Mr. Yorum"--and then is introduced to a Mr. Yorum.
Kudos to whomever it was that noted that the gender of the narrator is never clearly identified. One tends to assume it is female, from the voice of the book, yet when you look back, you really don't know. The ambiguity just adds one more layer to an already many-layered book.
I'd like to conclude by noting my thanks to New York Review Classics. I have read something like twenty of them now, none of which I would have heard of, much less read, without their publication through this series. The editors have done a magnificent job in bringing back to new and more-than-deserved life these forgotten classics.
It's witty and erudite.......2007-01-11
Macaulay's Towers is clever and generally a joy to read. A familiarity with classical near east history helps but is not absolutely necessary; an appreciation of strains of high church Christian theology is almost essential. I especially liked Aunt Dot, who appears in the bulk of the book. When she takes a sabbatical, I found my attention wandering; the fantastic bits with long camel rides and driving monkeys did not appeal to me. The underlying theme of the book deals with how ones religion is manifested in ones life, and the author's views are sophisticated. Much is made of interplays between traditional Christianity and Islam; evangelical Christianity makes a minor appearance, and a few basic issues of feminism are sprinkled throughout. The book does a fine job in identifying many of the troubles which continue to plague the Levant in the present era. Recommended.
Take my camel, dear.......2006-08-12
I stumbled across Rose Macaulay while browsing through the "New York Review of Books Classics". It turns out that the Towers of Trebizond was a great hit in the UK and US back in the 1950's. I highly recommend taking a look at those wonderful reprints of older books. All praise to the New York Review of Books.
This book is a mostly hilarious sendup of conventional society (primarily British, but others do not escape unscathed) in the form of a travelogue and memoir of a youngish upper middle-class English woman who travels to Turkey with her Aunt Dot and their High Anglican minister Hugh Chantry-Pigg. A camel, Billy Graham sightings, and a disappearance into Soviet Russia are involved in this wonderfully witty tale. Macaulay also sprinkles some philosophy along the way and a sudden and sobering twist at the end.
By turns quirky, eccentric, funny, and thoughtful, The Towers of Trebizond is a nugget well worth rediscovery.
Eccentric And Touching.......2004-09-07
The Towers of Trebizond might mislead a reader who picks it up into thinking it to be a standard travel account of a journey to Turkey and the Middle East in the 1950s. However, the famous first line "Take my camel, dear . . ." will soon warn that there is much much more to this hilarious, odd little novel.
Rose Macaulay uses as narrator the ambiguously named Laurie. Most people assume Laurie is a woman, and there is some internal evidence to substantiate this, but as other reviewers have pointed out, Laurie could just as well be a man, and in some ways, the story makes more sense if he is.
Regardless of Laurie's gender, the story revolves principally around her/his Aunt Dot, one of the great British eccentrics, and her escapades on a journey through Turkey and into the Soviet Union. Her adventures, and those of Laurie, the camel, a monkey, and various other assorted characters, are hilarious. At the same time, there is a sad note of wistfulness tand a sense of loss and deprivation that are not quite so easy to sort out.
Read The Towers of Trebizond and laugh, but you'll be pondering it in more solemn moments for a long time to come.
" Considered Macaulay's masterpiece".......2004-09-01
Rose Macaulay, the author of 35 books, The Towers of Trebizond is considered her masterpiece. In it, she recounts an hilarious overland journey in the 1950s across Turkey to the legendary town of Trebizond. On the way she meet potion-selling sorcerers, dirty cops and a busload of Southern Baptists.
Book Description
Unlike other basic reading group guides, "Recipe for a Book Club" combines good eating with good reading for the millions of Americans who participate in book clubs. Written by two sisters who formed their own monthly reading and lunch groups that continue to meet,"Recipe for a Book Club" starts in January and ends in December, with a reading theme for each month and a menu and recipes to go with it, a featured favorite book and author, suggested reading list, and interesting questions to ponder and discuss. From January’s theme of New Authors to December’s theme of Inspiration for the new year, this attractively illustrated guide is ideal for all reading groups, whether brand-new or long-established.
Customer Reviews:
GREAT for newly formed book clubs!.......2004-11-06
What a wonderful idea! Now you can gather a few friends together, sip a glass of wine, munch on fine food that matches your monthly theme and sit back to talk about your book selection. Mary and Rose even give you examples of the questions that could be asked and discussed. Everything you need to get yourself started for years of literary bliss, good companionship and great eating. These two sisters will get you started, and you can, with their help, sit back and do the rest with ease.
Their book is filled with quotations, yummy recipes,literary references and ideas. Novice book clubs can just follow Mary and Rose for a successful first year, and seasoned book clubs can pick and choose from these excellent suggestions.
Joyce from Maine
great for book clubs or just book fans!.......2004-10-26
I belong to several book groups and have purchased a copy of this book for each of them! It is fun, interesting, easy to read and the recipes are a fun addition. Loved the suggested readings, the question lists for books, and the colorful book quotes that are scattered throughout the recipes and text. Plus the nice use of color and little icons keeps the readers attention.
Books:
- Grimoire For The Green Witch: A Complete Book of Shadows
- Guide to Flowering Plant Families
- Hamptons Havens: The Best of Hamptons Cottages and Gardens (Hamptons Cottages & Gardens)
- Healing Crystals and Gemstones: From Amethyst to Zircon
- Hemingway: The Postwar Years and the Posthumous Novels (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture)
- Herbs and Spices for Florida Gardens: How to Grow and Enjoy Florida Plants with Special Uses
- Home Landscaping: Southeast Region (Home Landscaping) (Home Landscaping)
- Home Landscaping: Southeast Region (Home Landscaping) (Home Landscaping)
- Hortica: Color Cyclopedia of Garden Flora and Indoor Plants
- Hortica: Color Cyclopedia of Garden Flora and Indoor Plants
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![Baudolino [Bargain Price] by Eco, Umberto; Weaver, William](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0006Q1ULQ.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
