Imagen del autor

Joseph J. Thorndike

Autor de Discovery of Lost Worlds

66+ Obras 1,806 Miembros 33 Reseñas

Sobre El Autor

Créditos de la imagen: By Virginia Thorndike - Family photograph, copyright by John Thorndike, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7652019

Obras de Joseph J. Thorndike

Discovery of Lost Worlds (1979) 151 copias
Mysteries of the Deep (1980) 45 copias
Horizon Magazine Volume 02 Number 06 1960 July (1960) — Editor — 16 copias
The Architects (2017) 6 copias
Mysteries of the Past (1983) 3 copias

Obras relacionadas

The American Heritage Book of Great Historic Places (1957) — Editor-in-Chief — 175 copias
Horizon Magazine Volume 17 Number 01 1975 Winter (1968) — Introducción — 25 copias

Etiquetado

Conocimiento común

Nombre legal
Thorndike, Joseph Jacobs
Fecha de nacimiento
1913
Género
male
Ocupaciones
editor
Organizaciones
Horizon

Miembros

Reseñas

 
Denunciada
mahallett | Feb 15, 2020 |
Easily the best article was on the troubadours of the middle ages, who originated in southern France and who were the first (in the west, in centuries) to appreciate love and pleasure. Prior to that, as Frederic V. Grunfeld explains in the article, the philosophers of classical antiquity believed love was a sort of madness, and the fathers of the Christian church that physical love was a mortal sin and women to be corrupters (Clement of Alexandria writing “Every woman ought to be overwhelmed with shame at the thought that she is a woman”). Bernart de Ventadorn writes of his hopes that his mistress will have the courage “to have me come one night there where she undresses, and make me a necklace of her arms.” Beatrice, Countess of Die, writing to her lover the troubadour knight Raimbaut d’Orange, says “how I would like to hold him one night in my naked arms, and see him joyfully use my body as a pillow…”. It’s all so wonderfully liberated, and there were political elements as well, with one song about social injustice going “If a poor man robs a bedsheet, he’s called a thief and bows his head, but if a rich man robs a treasure, he is honored in the court…If some beggar robs a bridle, he’ll be hung by a man who’s robbed a horse.” Unfortunately, it would be relatively short-lived, as Pope Innocent III would proclaim a military crusade from the north of France against them that all but eradicated Provencal civilization. Very well written, and with beautiful illustrations from 13th century.

Another nice article is on how Calouste Gulbenkian acquired his massive fortune, and used it to amass a wonderful collection of art (which now resides in a museum in his name in Lisbon). The standout for me was Rubens portrait of his second wife Helena Fourment at the time of their marriage (Rubens, 53, Fourment, 16), which had belonged to Catherine the Great, but was among the many artworks foolishly sold by the emerging Soviet state. Another was Rembrandt’s ‘Portrait of an Old Man’.

The others are pretty nondescript, though I loved this line in the article on Edward Gibbon, author of ‘The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’. “Every period that he chronicles marks a steady falling off. Though men of goodwill are constantly struggling to control and check the fatal process, unreason prevails over reason, superstition over faith in human values, cruelty and cupidity over the rule of peace and law.” Let’s hope the same won’t be said of the American Empire someday, with Trump playing the part of Commodus.
… (más)
½
2 vota
Denunciada
gbill | Jan 31, 2018 |
Interesting articles included:

An analysis of the ancient practice in Babylonia, described by Herodotus, of every woman being required to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and sleep with a stranger once in her life. It included some psychadelic photography by Herbert Migdoll of the modern ballet Astarte, as well as this passage from the 8th century Sufi mystic Rabiah about remaining chaste despite this sort of thing:

“I have made Thee (God) the companion of my heart,
But my body is available for those who desire its company.
My body is friendly towards its guests,
But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul.”

The context and summaries of some of Canterbury Tales, reminding me of some of the more ribald bits, and also Chaucer’s commentary against the corruption and irregularities in the Church at the time. Unfortunately it includes a few negative comments against prevailing trends in the then-current arts, e.g. a dig at Samuel Beckett’s ‘Godot’, reminding me of another book from 1971, Kingsley Amis’s ‘Girl, 20’.

The culture and history of the Ashanti people in present-day Ghana against the British Empire, which included the mystery of their sacred ‘golden stool’, as well as the severity and barbarism of the “civilizing hero” Sir Garnet Wolseley.

An analysis of Giorgione’s ‘The Tempest’, which, while unsatisfying, provided several large close-ups, and a history of all the conjectures around the painting (which apparently hasn’t been settled in the 46 years since the article was written).

Lastly, the history of Marcus Licinius Crassus, the Roman general who led a disastrous military campaign, headstrong, not heeding advice, shunning allies, and rashly seeking quick glory. One feels for the 20,000 soldiers who died and 10,000 who were taken prisoner, out of a force of 50,000. So meaningless, and a story played out and again and again over history. Do the characteristics of Crassus sound familiar to us today? They certainly did to Charles Fair, the author of the piece, who likened him to General Westmoreland in Vietnam at the time.
… (más)
½
1 vota
Denunciada
gbill | Mar 11, 2017 |

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Estadísticas

Obras
66
También por
2
Miembros
1,806
Popularidad
#14,252
Valoración
3.9
Reseñas
33
ISBNs
20

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