History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

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A Valuable Companion
A Great Forest
A lifetime of thinkng about Shakespeare summarized here
The Brilliance of Shakespeare

Shakespeare the Thinker
A. D. Nuttall
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0300119283

Book Description

A. D. Nuttall’s study of Shakespeare’s intellectual preoccupations is a literary tour de force and comes to crown the distinguished career of a Shakespeare scholar. Certain questions engross Shakespeare from his early plays to the late romances: the nature of motive, cause, personal identity and relation, the proper status of imagination, ethics and subjectivity, language and its capacity to occlude and to communicate. Yet Shakespeare’s thought, Nuttall demonstrates, is anything but static. The plays keep returning to, modifying, and complicating his creative preoccupations. Nuttall allows us to hear and appreciate the emergent cathedral choir of play speaking to play. By the later stages of Nuttall’s book this choir is nearly overwhelming in its power and dimensions. The author does not limit discussion to moments of crucial intellection but gives himself ample space in which to get at the distinctive essence of each work.
Much recent historicist criticism has tended to “flatten” Shakespeare by confining him to the thought-clichés of his time, and this in its turn has led to an implicitly patronizing view of him as unthinkingly racist, sexist, and so on. Nuttall shows us that, on the contrary, Shakespeare proves again and again to be more intelligent and perceptive than his 21st-century readers. This book challenges us to reconsider the relation of great literature to its social and historical matrix. It is also, perhaps, the best guide to Shakespeare’s plays available in English.

Customer Reviews:

A Valuable Companion.......2007-07-27

What makes this book especially valuable to me is that A.D. Nuttall brought not only a lifetime of reading and discussion of the plays, but a lifetime of seeing them performed.

This book has already proven to be an excellent companion when considering a specific play (using the Index helped), especially before and after seeing a new production. The contexts and meanings of the histories so remote in time and place are especially useful.

Nuttall writes with fearless precision that honors the best academic standards, yet in an almost conversational style. He writes about nearly all the plays, and his approach is variously appropriate to that particular play as well as its relationship to the others, to its "type," to Shakespeare's times and what we know about him. He does not shrink from the issues which certain plays raise for 21st century audiences: the role of women within marriage in "The Taming of the Shrew", for example. Other commentators may suggest that Kate's submission is meant ironically, but Nuttall does not take that easy escape.

I'm not a Shakespeare scholar, and I don't agree with all of Nuttall's interpretations, but that's the joy of Shakespeare--the dialogue with the plays can be endless. For reference and for reading, I will be returning to "Shakespeare the Thinker."

A Great Forest.......2007-07-04

That Harold Bloom sees A.D. Nuttall as his hero should be a tip-off to potential buyers of this book: it is not one for the average reader (like me).

There is no doubt that the author is a scholar of the first rank. However, this book is written for his fellow scholars and those intense amateurs who have a good existing command over the full breadth of William Shakespeare's many plays.

I was disappointed since the title seems to indicate there would be a more overt and accessible discussion of the thought patterns of the great playwright. Instead I entered a great forest, which as Professor Nuttall notes, "is a place to get lost in."

A lifetime of thinkng about Shakespeare summarized here.......2007-07-03

Nuttall who recently passed away was considered by his colleagues one of the great Shakespeare scholars of our time. I have read at least two reviews praising this book in the highest terms possible.
Thus to my own surprise and slight disappointment I did not find myself enjoying the book as much as I had hoped.
There are a couple of reasons for this. The title suggests that we are going to understand far more deeply, and in something like a systematic way that which Shakespeare thought on the major issues of life.
This is not exactly what happens. Nuttall continually stresses Shakespeare's extraordinary intelligence but he never really develops lines of thought in a rich and complicated way. What he does is 'read the plays' often by seeing how they grow out of each other. He also in doing this includes a lot of extraneous information often supplying short - summaries of concepts which in many cases it might be assumed the reader of his book would have a knowledge of.
The writing itself somehow does not flow, and feels to me ' broken up' shifting attention needlessly in a less than coherent way.
But the writing does contain an enormous knowledge about Shakespeare. It too reveals an encylopediac knowledge of scholarly disputes which often to the general reader seem less than interesting.
Nuttall does make a strong case for his own conception of Shakespeare as an enormously intelligent thinker, who uses a variety of literary techniques to hide himself and his own position on the question at hand. Shakespeare's long- noted multi- sidedeness, his ability to think sympathetically into and out of the positions of diverse and contradictory characters is also amply illustrated. Nuttall has a wonderful feeling for the most remarkable passages in Shakespeare, and in fact for me the most enjoyable part of the work was confronting and reading again, for instance , what Nuttall considers the greatest speech in all Literature, Antony's funeral oration for Ceasar in 'Julius Caaesar' or Gaunt's sad lament on the decline of the England he has known.
I believe that there is much to learn for all lovers of Shakespeare in this work.
But the kind of new depth in understanding which came with reading the great critics like Coleridge and A.C. Bradley I , perhaps mistakenly, did not find in this work.

The Brilliance of Shakespeare.......2007-04-24

In this delightful book, Shakespeare the Thinker, A. D. Nuttall seeks to defend the great playwright against those who view him as just a product of his time (a view that is a strong form of Historicism). I'm a huge fan of Stephen Greenblatt, who wrote the terrific biography Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, so I was glad that Nuttall did not disagree with the nuanced New Historicism of Greenblatt and Pierre Bourdieu. Rather he agrees with them that Shakespeare interacted or "negotiated" with his milieu in a complex way, and that the "causation [was] a two-way street." Nuttall goes even further, asserting that "although knowledge of the historical genesis can on occasion illuminate a given work, the greater part of the artistic achievement of our best playwright is _internally_ generated" and that "[i]t is the product, not of his time, but of his own, unresting, creative intelligence."

Shakespeare the Thinker takes the form of a well-integrated commentary on the plays--almost too well integrated, as it is hard to find discussion of a particular play just by thumbing through the book. Several plays are discussed in each chapter, which the skimpy table of contents doesn't mention (my only real gripe with the book). In a way, this is good, because much is gained by reading the book, or at least a chapter, straight through. For instance, Romeo and Juliet is followed by A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Nuttall examines some common themes and how interpretation depends on which play one believes was written first.

Nuttall's new book probably won't replace Marjorie Garber's Shakespeare After All, but will complement it. His synthesis provides a nice counterpoint to her fine-grained analysis; and his (sometimes elliptical) engagement with other critical works, to her careful culling of observations from such works.

Nuttall's writing is enjoyable, sprinkled with insightful references to modern pop culture--for example, Ian McEwan's Atonement, Wife Swap, Goodfellas, and Star Trek! He takes delight in language (and not just Shakespeare's), like when he's describing Katherina's response to Petruchio in the sun-moon exchange: "Turning his non-committal `say' into `know' exposes the lunacy of all this moonshine with solar clarity."

What shines through, most of all, is Nuttall's admiration of Shakespeare's intellect, encapsulated in his "law": "Whatever you think of, Shakespeare will have thought of first." Fellow admirers and students of the playwright will enjoy this excellent book.

Here is an expanded table of contents:
Ch. 1. To the Death of Marlowe
p. 25: Henry VI, parts 1-3
45: Richard III
56: The Comedy of Errors
63: Two Gentlemen of Verona
70: The Taming of the Shrew
Comparison of Shakespeare and Marlowe.

2. Learning Not to Run
87: Love's Labour's Lost (preceded by brief discussion of Titus Andronicus)
99: Romeo and Juliet
119: A Midsummer Night's Dream

3. The Major Histories
133: Richard II
150: Henry IV, parts 1 and 2; Henry V

4. Stoics and Sceptics
171: Julius Caesar
192: Hamlet
205: Troilus and Cressida

5. Strong Women, Weaker Men
221: Much Ado about Nothing
226: As You Like It
247: All's Well That Ends Well

6. The Moralist
255: The Merchant of Venice
262: Measure for Measure

7. How Character May Be Formed
277: Othello
284: Macbeth
290: Coriolanus

8. Shrinking and Growing
300: King Lear
312: Timon of Athens
321: Antony and Cleopatra

9. The Last Plays
333: Pericles and Cymbeline
345: The Winter's Tale
360: The Tempest

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Of Benjamin, Dwarfs and Angels
Clarity and Brilliance
Just a quick note
Brilliance
Indispensable reading

Illuminations: Essays and Reflections
Walter Benjamin
Manufacturer: Schocken
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805202412
Release Date: 1969-01-13

Book Description

Walter Benjamin was one of the most original cultural critics of the twentieth century. Illuminations includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close personal affinity; his studies on Baudelaire and Proust; and his essays on Leskov and on Brecht's Epic Theater. Also included are his penetrating study "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," an enlightening discussion of translation as a literary mode, and Benjamin's theses on the philosophy of history.

Hannah Arendt selected the essays for this volume and introduces them with a classic essay about Benjamin's life in dark times. Also included is a new preface by Leon Wieseltier that explores Benjamin's continued relevance for our times.

Customer Reviews:

Of Benjamin, Dwarfs and Angels.......2006-08-28

The depth of Benjamin's pessimism has, I think, been underestimated.

"The story is told of an automation constructed in such a way that it could play a winning game of chess, answering each move of an opponent with a countermove. A puppet in Turkish attire and with a hookah in its mouth sat before a chessboard placed on a large table. A system of mirrors created the illusion that this table was transparent from all sides. Actually, a little hunchback who was an expert chess player sat inside and guided the puppet's hand by means of strings. One can imagine a philosophical counterpart to this device. The puppet called "historical materialism" is to win all the time. It can easily be a match for anyone if it enlists the services of theology, which today, as we know, is wizened and has to keep out of sight." Walter Benjamin, First "These on the Philosophy of History", p 253.

One can measure how far the contemporary Marxist (better said, the post or semi-Marxist) left has fallen by how many books have appeared, since the fall of the USSR, enthusing over the radically Universal and allegedly 'Progressive' nature of early Christianity. Walter Benjamin, who was first to place the wise but ugly dwarf (Theology) in the beautiful puppet (Historical Materialism) would be amazed (or perhaps not, see the letters between Benjamin and Scholem) to learn that puppet and dwarf are on the verge of switching places! That is, now the ugly dwarf (historical materialism) wants to hide in (and of course direct) the beautiful puppet of Christian theology. ...Crazy, you say? But even Habermas, the Keeper of the Flame of Critical Theory, has on occasion made somewhat similar noises. The best place, btw, to start reading about this new 'political-theology' probably remains Jacob Taubes.

But perhaps this emergent trend is really not so crazy after all. The only reason the Church became so cozy with Capitalism was its fear of Atheism. The collapse of the Soviet Union ended that fear. Now Christianity faces Capitalism alone. Or not, if the detente being proposed between the left and the Church is actually consummated. But every detente is a conspiracy of enemies to destroy an even greater enemy. The Church was with Capitalism because it had to defeat atheism. Now it is likely that the Church will join (a moderate) Socialism in trying to contain the 'soul-destroying' ravages of capitalism. This is only another move on the chessboard of History. ...But what did Benjamin think of History?

"A Klee painting named "Angelus Novus" shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. This storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress." BENJAMIN, Ninth Thesis on History, p 257.

Picture this Angel, wings pinned back by the wind, shoulders forced back because of that - the Angel of History is almost in the position of the Crucified Christ; except that this crucification does not end. It is this tone of almost ontological despair that was new to the left. This Crucified Angel is the perfect image of the left-wing theoretical pessimism pioneered by not only Benjamin but also Adorno and Horkheimer that split the intellectual left into two camps: the revolutionary and the cultural. And though no one is likely to admit it, the cultural left has quietly come to think of revolution itself as but another 'progressive' force piling up bodies.

It is one of the little ironies of history that this despairing fantasy described contemporary reality exactly. The Angel of History is the image of dialectical knowledge. Rather than seeing disconnected events this Dialectical Knowledge grasps History as One (single catastrophe). Always facing the past ('the owl of Minerva takes flight at night', Hegel said; meaning that dialectical knowledge is retrospective) the 'contemplating' Angel is overwhelmed by historical action - the storm that has been blowing since the expulsion of humanity from paradise - and can never Himself achieve effective action. His knowledge grows in lockstep with the accumulating horror, but each new historical event only results (i,e., gets 'caught in the wings' of our Angel) in more contemplation. So we see how theory (our Angel) is 'irresistibly' propelled into the future. And we also see that the Knowledge dialectical theory gains is precisely equal to the debris the storm hurls at our Angel's feet. With an irony that strives to be equal to the wind blowing from Paradise Benjamin ends this meditation by calling this storm progress.

This is perhaps why Benjamin insisted over 50 years ago that the dwarf Theology must guide the puppet Historical Materialism. Theory can never be equal to action; circumstance piles upon circumstance so rapidly that theory cannot effectively act, and if it does act (presumably) it only adds to the debris. Thus theology (myth) must guide materialism's hand because theoretical knowledge is powerless to help. Benjamin quotes the following remarks of Willy Haas, with approval, in his large Kafka essay;

"'The object of the trial', he writes, 'indeed, the real hero of this incredible book is forgetting, whose main characteristic is the forgetting of itself [...] The most sacred ... act of the ... ritual is the erasing of sins from the book of memory.'
What has been forgotten - and this insight affords us yet another avenue of access to Kafka's work - is never something purely individual." (Benjamin, Franz Kafka, p 131.)

(The last sentence was Benjamin's own.) Theology is a non-individual forgetfulness. Thus myth (theology) is the only forgetfulness worthy of the name. What needs to be forgotten by all of us is the unsurpassable fact of the futility of theory...

It is difficult for most to look such despair in the face.

Clarity and Brilliance.......2006-04-17

In 1940 Walter Benjamin committed suicide at the Franco-Spanish border fearing that he would be unable to escape the grasp of Hitler's regime. He left behind perhaps one of the finest collections of literary theory of his era, complete with lucidly brilliant essays on Kafka, Proust, Baudelaire, and general Marxist theory.

In this wholly excellent collection of essays, a remarkable introduction to Benjamin's life and work is provided by the late philosopher Hannah Arendt, who overviews his political formations and literary output. It's a model form of critical essay writing.

Perhaps the most famous essay in this collection is Benjamin's `The Task of the Translator,' widely regarded as one of the most important and thoughtful contributions to the field.

"No poem is intended for the reader, no picture for the beholder, no sympathy for the listener."

He argues that translation is a mode, and that the translatability of the work is the primary concern in the process.

Also included is an analysis of the philosophy of history.

Just a quick note.......2005-07-01

I have nothing to add to the reviews below except to note for scholarly interest that the essay 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' included in this collection is not Benjamin's final version. (Neither is this title a good translation of the German: 'Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit'. Zohn's translation in the selected writings is better: 'The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility'.) The text in this collection is the 1935 manuscript, as originally published in 1936; the text collected in the Selected Writings, Vol. 3 is the final 1936 version that, as far as I can tell, was not published in Benjamin's lifetime. The difference between the two texts is slight, consisting mainly of some additional sentences here and there and some changed words. At least one of these revisions is, I hypothesize, the result of Adorno's criticisms of his letter to Benjamin of 18 Mar 1936.

Otherwise, for most purposes, this is the best collection of Benjamin's essays available for an introduction to his thought. This volume collects some of the best of his essays that are otherwise spread throughout the selected writings published by the Harvard U.P.

Brilliance.......2005-05-12

I picked up this book primarily for the purpose of reading Benjamin's critically acclaimed essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", as well as for his darkly poetic - and even apocalyptic - "Theses on the Philosophy of History". These essays are among Benjamin's most highly esteemed and are the last two selections in the book; regardless of whether you start with them or with the first essay, "Unpacking My Library: A Talk about Book Collecting", you are likely to be drawn into Benjamin's literary world quite quickly.

In many ways, Benjamin's writing style is quite unassuming; reading even his most profound insights is like reading a letter from an old friend. His writing comes in layers; one must make time to savor his presence. This book covers a range of subjects, from critical literary essays (the aforementioned "Unpacking My Library", as well as essays on Kafka, Baudelaire and Proust), to more hermeneutical reflections ("The Task of the Translator"), to straight up philosophy/theory ("The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" and "Theses on the Philosophy of History").

The 51 page introduction by Hannah Arendt is absolutely fantastic. It does not simply provide an overview of Benjamin's life, but sets that life within the culture of early 20th century Germany, focusing especially on the time between the two World Wars. She notes the influences of Zionism and Communism (and Marxism) on Benjamin's thought, as well as the broader cultural influence of a quasi-secularized Judaism in a culture where non-baptized Jews were still kept out of university teaching posts. Her introduction, like Benjamin's own writing, contains deep touches of the intimately personal (she selected the various essays that make up this volume).

In many ways, Benjamin was a deeply religious thinker. A friend of Gershom Scholem's (the founder of the modern-day study of Jewish mysticism), Benjamin and Scholem corresponded for a number of years. Although this particular volume pays little attention to his religious thought, "Theses on the Philosophy of History" (the final selection in the book which, in light of Benjamin's suicide, gives Illuminations a bit of a haunting finale), witnesses to Benjamin's poetic-religious insights:

"The soothsayers who found out from time what it had in store certainly did not experience time as either homogenous or empty. Anyone who keeps this in mind will perhaps get an idea of how past times were experienced in remembrance - namely, in just the same way. We know how the Jews were prohibited from investigating the future. This stripped the future of its magic, to which all those succumb who turn to the soothsayers for enlightenment. This does not imply, however, that for the Jews the future turned into homogenous, empty time. For every second of time was the strait gate through which the Messiah might enter."

Highly recommended.

Indispensable reading.......2004-07-23

Benjamin is arguably the twentieth century's most important thinker--if there is anything left to say about our lives, it is surely in this book.

The Author of Himself: The Life of Marcel Reich-Ranicki.

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Discover the book--it's worth it!
Warsaw ghetto
The Author of Me-Me-Me, I-I-I
Marcel Reich-Ranicki: Selfmade Man Extraordinaire
binding

The Author of Himself: The Life of Marcel Reich-Ranicki.
Marcel Reich-Ranicki
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0691090408

Book Description

Marcel Reich-Ranicki is remarkable for both his unlikely life story and his brilliant career as the "pope of German letters." His sublimely written autobiography is at once a fascinating adventure tale, an unusual account of German-Jewish relations, a personal rumination on who's who in German culture, and a love letter to literature.

Reich-Ranicki's life took him from middle-class childhood to wartime misery to the heights of intellectual celebrity. Born into a Jewish family in Poland in 1920, he moved to Berlin as a boy. There he discovered his passion for literature and began a complex affair with German culture. In 1938, his family was deported back to Poland, where German occupation forced him into the Warsaw Ghetto. As a member of the Jewish resistance, a translator for the Jewish Council, and a man who personally experienced the ghetto's inhumane conditions, Reich-Ranicki gained both a bird's-eye and ground-level view of Nazi barbarism. Written with subtlety and intelligence, his account of this episode is among the most compelling and dramatic ever recorded.

He escaped with his wife and spent two years hiding in the cellar of Polish peasants--an incident later immortalized by Günter Grass. After liberation, he joined and then fell out with the Communist Party and was temporarily imprisoned. He began writing and soon became Poland's foremost critical commentator on German literature.

When Reich-Ranicki returned to Germany in 1958, his rise was meteoric. In short order, he claimed national celebrity and notoriety as the head of the literary section of the leading newspaper and host of his own television program. He frequently flabbergasted viewers with his bold pronouncements and flexed his power to make or break a writer's career. His list of friends and enemies rapidly expanded to include every influential player on the German literary scene, including Grass and Heinrich Böll. This, together with his keen critical instincts, makes his memoir an indispensable guide to contemporary German culture as well as an absorbing eyewitness history of some of the twentieth century's most important events.

Customer Reviews:

Discover the book--it's worth it!.......2007-10-10

It is interesting how often we see a person through his profession and work. You see an older man on television discussing books, you know that he is a literary critic writing reviews and books. Sure, they say that he is the one, that he is 'the Pope' of German letters, but if you are not interested in literature why would you care about a bookish man. What could be interesting about his life? If you are that person, reconsider. True, parts of the book are about literature and won't appeal to some (though try not to skip them either), but there is so much more. If not for the fact that author's early life happened in so tragic years of Nazi Germany, World War II, and the Holocaust, one could call the book a thriller, an adventure of an extraordinary height. The tragedy of these years makes the story real and sobering, but exciting nevertheless. Born in Poland of Polish Jewish parents, moved to Germany, deported by the Nazis back to Poland, survived Warsaw Ghetto and the war, served as Polish diplomat in England, wrote for Polish papers, returned to West Germany, became the leading literary critic in Germany. Read, read, and read one more time.

Warsaw ghetto.......2002-08-23

The most moving part of this book is its description of life in the Warsaw ghetto -- of how the Jews created a symphony orchestra and the Nazis' response to it, of the way that the Nazis chose which Jews were to be "resettled" and which would temporarily be allowed to live, and of Reich-Ranicki's and his wife's means of survival. I wish that Reich-Ranicki had been more introspective in the book, but one can't have everything -- it's a great book nonetheless.

The Author of Me-Me-Me, I-I-I.......2002-02-12

The concept of this work is both unique and intriguing while the execution was boring and trite. I'm certain that persons more familiar with German literature and authors will take great offense at my brief analysis but I learned more about everyone else in Germany than I did about Marcel Reich-Raniki. The first half of the book did keep me interested but always wanting for more, more about him & his wife and a lot less about Max Frisch et al. I was also put-off by his constant references to himself and how important he was. He was lucky to survive the holocost, lucky to have such a position in Germany after the war, but should have left the writing to those whom he reviewed.

Marcel Reich-Ranicki: Selfmade Man Extraordinaire.......2001-10-06

Considering how little is translated and published here in the U.S. from the German, it is heartening that Marcel Reich-Ranicki's autobiography is among the chosen. It is a moving testimony of a life dislocated and reconstructed several times over, of a youth in Berlin, survival in the Warsaw Ghetto,life in post-War Poland, and a return to West Germany, where he rose to be the the most esteemed and, I suppose, also feared literary critic. His portrayal of the German literary scene from the sixties through the nineties by means of vignettes of its chief representatives is poignant and revealing. His assessment including that of his own role within it is likely to have provoked controversy.

Throughout the book emerges the self-portrait of a courageous,persevering, and also pained and sensitive man, who as a much-published author, radio and television personality seems to have been simultaneously at the center and at the margins of German cultural life for four decades.

I happened to be in the midst of reading the German version of the book when the events of September 11 threw our world out of kilter. Day after day I went back to Reich-Ranicki's "Mein Leben" with bated breath to escape from the present, not into an idyllic past, but to gain perspective on human suffering from a wise old man who describes his own lifelong anguish without sentimentality or moralizing. There may be other takes on his life story, but no one can deny his undying passion for the literature of the German language and his pursuit of it against all odds. To have an English translation to share with my friends is indeed something to write home about.

It is ironic, to say the least, that Reich-Ranicki, who was born in Poland, raised in Berlin, deported to Poland because of being a Jew, should be called "the Pope of German Letters." But then was he, whom the popes represent on Earth, not also a Jew? (with apologies to G.E.Lessing).

binding.......2001-08-05

Marcel Reich-Ranicki deserves only praise for his autobiography. Generally known as a critic, many claim a quite harsh one, he turns the coin and proves that against all odds and unfortunate for the poor victims of his harsh criticism, who desperately tried to cling and hold to the idea that this man might criticise like a God, but he cannot write like One, when it comes to a piece of literature. But in fact, this is a man of words, of literature and keeping a reader interested, not only in his life, but also in a decade of misery and destruction that should not have been. The reoccurring questions that came to my mind while reading: What would I have done, Where would I have been, arise again and again, but can never be answered... And if you had the chance to enjoy looking at Marcel Reich-Ranicki while reading his own words at Frankfurt (an evening held by the "Deutsche Bank"), you might have been sitting next to me. And I suppose, none of us would want to miss this once in a "second" opportunity.

Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience

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The Pacific War from the homefront.
Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience
What National Panic makes us think.
Perspectives
An important account of the Japanese American internment

Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience

Manufacturer: Heyday Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Japan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1890771309

Book Description

The only anthology of its kind, Only What We Could Carry is a collection of literature from the internment experience, including poetry and fiction written and published in the camps, personal diaries, letters, and the haunting recollections of other American citizens who saw what was happening.

Customer Reviews:

The Pacific War from the homefront........2007-08-28

For World War II history buffs, this book is an excellent view from the eyes of Japanese Americans. They were amazing people in how they dealt with the situation.
One section of the book gets a little bogged down covering the issue of "Question 28", and I passed over the poetry, but beyond that it is a great read.

Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience.......2007-08-25

I thought I knew a good bit about the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II before I read this book, but I was badly mistaken. This is a very good gathering of different sources: journal excerpts, recollections, legal documents, photos, poetry, ect., that give a complete and horrible picture of these events. The parallels to an unfortunate number of things happening currently in our government/society are a real demonstration of the adadge that if we don't learn from history we are condemned to repeat it.

What National Panic makes us think........2003-09-11

Only what we could carry, edited by Lawson Fusao Inada, is a compilation of photography, drawings, poems, personal stories, legal documents, and memoirs of the Japanese Americans that were put into internment by the American government after the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor. Not only did this book include the interneesEexperience and their feelings, the interneesEAmerican friends and the media who were on the government side were included.

Some of the interesting facts in this book were the propaganda images. One that really struck me as an interesting propaganda was titled, "How to spot a Jap.E In a cartoon style, it mentions the differences between a Chinese and a Japanese. The drawings are put there so that it'll be easy for the public to differentiate them. I'm Japanese and I found this propaganda amusing. By just looking or reading the propaganda, it gives the reader the history and portrays how so many Americans were narrow minded and easily persuaded.

Perspectives.......2001-11-05

This book has an impressive collection of accounts from various sources and manages to touch upon any significant Japanese American experience during World War II.
I purchased this book for its coverage of the Nisei 100th and 442nd batalions, and was impressed at the varied perspectives included. From an excerpt from Daniel Inouye's account to a reflection by a concentration camp survivor liberated by men of the 442nd, Only What We Could Carry certainly covers the map.
A good source for those studying any aspect of Japanese American life during the war, and an excellent one for those studying the subject in general.

An important account of the Japanese American internment.......2001-01-17

Only What We Could Carry provides an important account of the Japanese American internment experience after the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor. Personal documents, art and propaganda are presented in a title which captures the camp experience in a series of personal autobiographical revelations. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

Dude... I cried at certain parts of this book...
Grand Entertaining Sweep of History
Outstanding, with lessons for today
Lost in the Translation
Breathtaking!

The Deluge (2 volume set)
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Manufacturer: Hippocrene Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0870520040

Book Description

This is volume two of a two-volume work, the sequel to "With Fire and Sword," a massive book called one of the greatest in European literature. "The Deluge" continues the sweeping saga of war and rebellion that threatened the kingdom of Poland and changed the face of Eastern Europe in the 17th Century. This historical novel of Poland, Sweden and Russia, is a masterful blend of history and imagination, filled with nonstop action and adventure. Sienkiewicz's work is the sweeping saga of a nation caught in the throes of a civil war, of a people struggling for survival, and of events that forever changed the face of Eastern Europe. Number two in his trilogy on the history of Poland, it tells the love story of a man and a woman tragically separated by foolishness, pride, confusion and the Swedish invation of Poland in the 1500s which divided a nation against itself and drew the best and worst out of its citizens

This authorized, unabridged edition was translated from the Polish by Jeremiah Curtin.

Customer Reviews:

Dude... I cried at certain parts of this book..........2006-06-17

and that never happened before. I will confess I picked up this book because of the cover. I was waiting for a study group at the main library at Boston College. It was a new release and had on the cover a beatiful painting of charging polish hussars. I said to myself this looks real cool. I read the first chapter standing at the lobby because my stupid study group was late. I was instantly addicted. I borrowed and finished it in less than a week and then borrowed that second volume.

It was such a moving experience. Pan Andy, Fat Zagloba, and Mikey just leapt from the pages and off I went on a high adventure with these guys. This is better than Tolkien or any fantasy adventure ever written. I really felt like I was with these guys trying to free their country from oblivion.

Grand Entertaining Sweep of History.......2006-03-09

I own a ninety year old translation of With Fire and Sword. The translation is a bit stilted (as was our English back then),but the cover is falling off from my avid reading. When I found the Kuniczak translation of The Deluge, I couldn't wait to read more, and this does not disappoint. The fresh idiomatic English is mostly smooth, (although a few expressions stand out as more modern slang). Once again, Pan Zagloba roars across the pages and the "little colonel" Wolodyovski does his best defending the Motherland, and at the same time, to catch the eye of pretty girls. The drama and characters of 17th century Poland and Lithuania cannot help to inspire an interest in this area. I was amazed when I read the true story of the politics and shifting alliances of the region, and to imagine a powerful SWEDISH army (oxymoron these days). A true classic that never gets old.

Outstanding, with lessons for today.......2004-04-07

The stormy romance between Andei Kmicic and Olenka Billevich seems like an allegory of the relationship between the Polish szlachta and Poland itself. The petty squabbling, quarreling, and self-serving behavior of the szlachta alienates them from their country as Kmicic's headstrong and reckless behavior alienates him from the woman he loves. "It seemed to Kmita then that Poland and Olenka were one and the same, and that he had doomed them both and handed them voluntarily to the Swedes" (Kuniczak translation, p. 753). Sienkiewicz obviously wishes to leave a clear lesson here for the free people of any nation.

The story foreshadows two issues that emerged during the Second World War: the Germans who were "only following orders" and the Vichy French who collaborated with the Germans. What is one supposed to do when his superior orders him to do something that is obviously wrong? At what point does acquiescence to a victorious invader for the purpose of avoiding further harm to one's country become collaboration with an enemy? Can someone collaborate with the enemy for the purpose, as Janusz Radziwill claimed, of turning on him and overthrowing him at a more opportune moment? (The few colonels who went along with Radziwill were in a semi-feudal system in which a retainer obeyed his lord and the lord was supposed to obey the King. Radziwill's foreign mercenaries had no such dilemma because they owed their loyalty only to their paymaster.)

During the 1970s, the United States began to lose the manufacturing capability that led to victory in the Second World War. Our Congress has its own Opalinskis and Radziwills, people whose first priority is their own political success as opposed to service to the country. They are unwilling or unable to understand that wealth must be created through agriculture, mining, and manufacturing, and that it cannot be legislated into existence. The Senatorial filibuster is now used to block judicial appointments, as the Liberum Veto was once used to break up the Sejm. The jester Ostrozka showed how the handwriting was on the wall for the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth's ideological successor and heir, the United States, needs to take the same warning very seriously lest it suffer the same fate.

Lost in the Translation.......2002-06-09

By all means, buy this edition if it is your only way to enter the marvelous world that Sienkiewicz has given to Poland and to posterity. Discover why the Trilogy has been a best-seller in its native land for more than a century. Epic adventure, star-crossed love, villains, heroes, treachery, heartbreak and humor. Sienkiewicz wrote to lift up the hearts of his people, and if he doesn't lift yours, see a cardiologist immediately.

But beg or borrow if you can, and steal if you must, the translation by W.S. Kuniczak that was published in the early 1990s. Discover what happens when a novelist translates. Kuniczak is true not just to the sentences, but to the spirit of the work. He blows the dust out of the century-old writing and lets it shine. And for readers not on intimate terms with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th Century (admit it), he effortlessly drops in helpful hints.

Here's how Curtin starts:

There was in Jmud a powerful family, the Billeviches, descended from Mendog, connected with many, and respected, beyond all, in the district of Rossyeni. ... Their native nest, existing to this day, was called Billeviche; ... In later times they branched out into a number of houses, the members of which lost sight of one another. They all assembled only when there was a census at Rossyeni of the general militia of Jmud on the plain of the invited Estates.

And Kuniczak:

In the part of the old Grand Duchy of Lithuania that was known as Zmudya, and which antedated the times of recorded history, there lived an ancient family named Billevitch, widely connected with many other houses of Lithuanian gentry, and respected more than any other in the Rosyen region. ... Their family seat, known as Billevitche ... so that in time they split into several branches that seldom saw each other. Some of them got together now and then when the Zmudyan gentry gathered for the annual military census near Rosyen on a plain called Stany...

Honestly, which version would you rather spend 1700 pages with? The native nest or the family seat?

(And just by the by, when will a smart publisher sell the Sienkiewicz Trilogy alongside Tolkien? Why do they squirrel it away with the Serious Literature in Translation that mostly gathers dust? There's millions and millions of dollars in these books, lying around, waiting for someone to market them properly.)

Breathtaking!.......2001-04-12

This book, the second in the famous Sienkiewicz Trilogy, is not a two-volume set for show. The book is 1700+ pages long! As usual with Sienkiewicz, however, the pages are required to tell the story. This novel brings back the main characters from "With Fire And Sword" though they play a somewhat smaller role, especially Pan Yan and Helen. Two new main characters take center stage.

Andrei is a wild knight whose thoughtless, self-absorption mirrors the attitudes of the ruling class in Poland at the time. His attitude leads him down a terrible road and then forces him to make the hard, arduous climb back from nothing once he realizes his error. The skill with which Sienkiewicz intertwines Andrei's descent and redemption with the greater struggle of Poland against Sweden is brilliant! On the other hand, there's Olenka who is loved by Andrei. She seems to represent Poland itself and the ethics which are required to preserve something worth fighting for. She is the moral center of the novel even when she's not in the foreground of the action.

Their love story plays out in the midst of a tale of war that involves the invasion of Poland from three countries at the same time (the 'deluge' of the title). We meet the Kings of two countries, the nobles under them with their own agendas, and the soldiers fighting on as power shifts from one side to the other in an international game where the winners get crowns and the losers lose everything.

Just a sample of a few threads in the story: the siege of a holy shrine, a knight leading a small band of raiders against an army, a woman taken captive by a warlord and makes him regret iit, a country defeated not by the army of its enemies but by something more deadly from within, the plots of a noble family to rip apart an entire nation solely to rule a part of it themselves, the attempt to return an exiled King to his country through wild mountains full of enemy soldiers. This is just a sample! The scope of this novel is absolutely unsurpassed and, best of all, Sienkiewicz has the imagination, characters and events to keep it interesting for over 1,700 pages! You really do feel as though you've lived the two years that are encompassed by this novel. So much happens.

In less capable hands, "The Deluge" could have been just a boring history lesson. Sienkiewicz weaves all the history and political figures of the time with his own characters to crystallize a crucial point in a nation's history. In addition, he crafts a story that is unbelievably complex and yet thouroughly entertaining from first page to last.

Book Description

As an essayist, philosopher, ex-pencil manufacturer, notorious hermit, tax protester, and all-around original thinker, Thoreau led so singular a life that he is in some ways a perfect candidate for the historical and biographical treatments made possible by the Historical Guides to American Authors series format. William E. Cain, the volume editor, includes contributions on his relationship with 19th century authority and concepts of the land, which should help the volume's reach beyond those who read Thoreau for illumination to those general readers who love him for embodying the spirit of American rebellion.

The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures

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Solid foundational work
Great Resource
Easy to read and full of good information
Modern, balanced, informative, attractive
Coogan is a Winner!

The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures
Michael D. Coogan
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195139119

Book Description

Lucidly written by a leading biblical scholar, this balanced, engaging, and up-to-date introduction to the Hebrew scriptures distills the best of current scholarship. Employing the narrative chronology of the Bible itself and the history of the ancient Near East as a framework, author Michael D. Coogan covers all the books of the Hebrew Bible, along with the deuterocanonical books included in the Bible used by many Christians. He treats every book of the canon with careful attention to its historical context, its particular genre, and its distinctive features. Dealing in detail with ancient Near Eastern sources and archaeological data, Coogan works from a primarily historical and critical methodology but also introduces readers to literary analysis and other interpretive strategies, especially current ones. The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures is enhanced by a glossary, timelines, photos, illustrations, maps, and a four-color insert on Jerusalem in biblical times. Strategically placed boxes address issues that often puzzle readers of the Bible, provide models of interpretation of particular texts, and discuss their significance for Judaism and Christianity. Each chapter includes key terms, questions for review and discussion, and suggestions for further reading. Providing a non-denominational and non-doctrinal treatment, The Old Testament is accessible to students of all backgrounds. It offers a unique and captivating introduction to the Hebrew scriptures themselves and to how they have been--and can be--interpreted.

Customer Reviews:

Solid foundational work.......2007-10-06

This text is a thoughtful, informed overview of the Hebrew Scriptures. Useful for layperson or student. Easy reading.

Great Resource.......2007-08-31

I ordered this book for a Scripture course I will be taking. It is lavish and informative; like a small encyclopedia, actually.Coogan is known for readable work and in-depth scholarship. I heartily recommend this book.

Easy to read and full of good information.......2006-11-09

Coogan has assembled in one place an easy read and fact filled guide to Hebrew Scriptures. The resource is well organized in its approach to Hebrew Scripture and contains historical background material not found else where. A must for any serious scholar interested in studying Hebrew Scripture and knowing more about the historical times of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Modern, balanced, informative, attractive.......2006-01-25

Coogan is one of the leading Bible experts, a co-editor of the Oxford Bible Dictionary with Metzger. His point of view is balanced, educated, a "real teacher's" approach.

The "Old Testament" book is a nicely done textbook. The maps reflect accurately the book discussion, the diagrams are clear and not very crowded, and the references at the end of each chapter are the best starting points for further exploration of specific topics. As the title indicates, this is an introduction (read: university freshman/sophomore level) to the history of the Old Testament, with an equal discussion of the literary merits of the book(s). The book can easily be read on one's own, because it is clearly written, and well organized. The chapters of the book are set up "historically", and there is an excellent discussion of the actual history/archaeology matching the Old Testament texts. The archaeological support for the Old Testament is superb; it makes you see the OT from a deeper, different perspective. I especially liked the fact that the book is balanced, and does not "interpret" theological points (that's up to each reader, I think).

The book is also very attractive, the print size reads very easily. To get the most out of the book, one would probably need a modern Old Testament translation (the Oxford NRSV with the Apocrypha would be ideal, or the Harper/Collins edition). I can easily see the book becoming a standard university textbook, just like Ehrman's New Testament textbook.

As much as I liked reading the book, I would love having a few more appendices. For example, a (brief) discussion of the Septuagint, possibly some commentary/interpretation from rabbinic sources, possibly discussion of the Qumran texts.

Coogan is a Winner!.......2005-12-15

Michael Coogan writes well and delivers the story of the Hebrew Bible with a good balance. He shows in clear language how to understand this text and the contribution of scholars of all traditions in this understanding. The introduction is very straight forward. The layout is very attractive. Pertinent illustrations show the connection of modern scholarship to our understanding of the text. The appendix on the canon is very clear and concise. This is an exciting read for anyone. This is the best introduction available for students of the Hebrew Bible.

A Passionate Sisterhood: Women of the Wordsworth Circle

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A Remarkable Depiction of Remarkable Women
Women and poetry

A Passionate Sisterhood: Women of the Wordsworth Circle
Kathleen Jones
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312227310

Amazon.com

The complicated tangle of their relations reads like something out of a fat English novel. At the close of the 18th century, the Fricker sisters wed three close friends, two of whom would indelibly shape Romantic literature. Sexy, impulsive Sarah found her match in Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Mary, the intellectual one, married Robert Lovell, who left her a widow at 25; and self-effacing Edith, given to depression, won Robert Southey despite his family's disapproval. Coleridge later fell in love with Sara Hutchinson, younger sibling of his pal William Wordsworth's wife, Mary, and childhood friend of William's beloved sister, Dorothy. For many years, most of them lived in England's Lake District, which the Romantic poets made famous while they squabbled among themselves. Even as relationships among the older generation deteriorated, Dora Wordsworth, Edith May Southey, and Sara Coleridge formed a close bond that maintained their parents' connections. Kathleen Jones's engaging, accessible prose keeps the narrative moving at a brisk clip, untangling the Wordsworth circle's often snarled interactions with impressive clarity. Drawing on extensive correspondence that pithily reveals the forceful personalities involved, she paints a colorful group portrait highlighting the women's often overlooked role in forging the personal and intellectual ties that sustained an influential English cultural movement. --Wendy Smith

Book Description

In this group biography of the women who featured in the lives of the poets William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey, Kathleen Jones takes us into the kitchens, sickrooms, and eventually the madwoman's attics of these major Romantic households. The image of the familiar rustic idyll of Romantic poetry depends upon the bracing way these women bore the brunt of domestic realities. Their letters and journals form the basis for an illuminating new account of their interconnected lives--their passionate attachments, jealousies, the deaths of children, the realities of chronic ill health--at the same time contributing to our understanding of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey as all-too-fallible human beings.

Customer Reviews:

A Remarkable Depiction of Remarkable Women.......2000-07-25

In this book, Kathleen Jones provides excellent insight into the lives of the women involved with the early English Romantic poets (William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey). The reader is struck at the difficulty of these women's daily lives, allied as they were (through marriage or sisterhood) to men whose reputations were growing at such a rate that they often failed to provide their families with the emotional support one might have expected. Of course, such a comment may reflect this reader's contemporary expectations, but surely Coleridge's abandonment of his family, for example, is shocking in any era. Sara Coleridge and the two Dorothy Wordsworths (sister and daughter to the great poet), especially, come to life with great zest. It is a shame in such an otherwise interesting and readable biography that Jones does not provide more of a social context for these people's actions; had she done so, this biography would have approached the quality of, say, Amanda Foreman's _Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire_. Nevertheless, for anyone interested in women's history or the Romantic movement in England, this book should be most appealing.

Women and poetry.......2000-07-23

If you've ever wanted to know more about the women in the lives of some of England's greatest poets, then this is the book for you. Edith and Sarah Fricker were married to Robert Southey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who, along with William Wordsworth, wrote some of the best-loved poetry in the English language. However, this is not a book about the great men and their problems with the Muse. It's about the women in their lives, their wives, sisters and daughters, and how they coped with everyday life with poetry and genius as their everyday companions. The Lake poets were geniuses, and not always easy to live with. The women in their lives were often forced to live with incompatible people, run households on very little money, and cope with pregnancy, birth, death and illness. Often, the poet was too busy with his Muse to be of much practical help. The strength of Mary and Dorothy Wordsworth, Sarah Coleridge, their sisters and daughters was admirable under often difficult circumstances. "A passionate sisterhood" describes the other side of the Romantic ideal of the poet's genius. It shows us what it was like for the poet's family, and their struggles make for fascinating reading.

Antología de autores españoles: antiguos y modernos, Vol. 1

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Important for any Spanish library, en espanol tambien

Antología de autores españoles: antiguos y modernos, Vol. 1
Antonio Sanchez-Romeraldo , and Fernando Ibarra
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0130338389

Customer Reviews:

Important for any Spanish library, en espanol tambien.......1999-08-06

As a Spanish literature major, I found that this book is a wonderful asset to my library. It broadly covers Spanish literature until its own Golden Age. It is well worth reading for anyone who is serious about Spanish literature.

Era un estudiante universitario en la literatura espanola, y creo que este libro es muy importante por un libreria completa. Cubre la literatura desde el principio hasta el Siglo del Oro. Es beneficio leer por culquiera persona quien es seria sobre la literatura espanola.

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