Baswood's books and music part 1
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CharlasClub Read 2016
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1baswood
Reading projects for this year are remarkably similar to last years:
16th century literature and history:
Ronsard the poet by Terence Cave and other books connected with the Pleiade group of 16th century French poets.
The Earlier Tudors by J D Mackie (part of the Oxford English History series)
A New History of Early English Drama by John D Cox leading to reading pre Shakespeare plays.
Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition; Norton critical editionby Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca.
Books Published in 1914
The Emperor of Portugallia by Selma Lagerlof
The Flying Inn by G K chesterton
Innocent: her fancy and his fact by Marie Corelli
Kazan by James Oliver Curwood
The Mutiny of the Elsinore by Jack London
The Return of Tarzan and The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Our Mr Wren Sinclair Lewis
Sinister Street Compton Mackenzie
Science Fiction
The Consolidator Daniel Defoe (considered to be part of history of SF)
The Puppet Masters by Robert A Heinlein
Honeymoon in Space George Griffiths
City at World's End by Edmond Hamilton
Limbo Bernard Wolfe
Books by Doris Lessing
Winter in July
The Sun between their feet
The Four gated City
Briefing for a descent into Hell
The story of a Non-marrying man
Memoirs of a Survivor
Shikasta
I am working my way slowly through two books on history of classical music:
Music from the Earliest Notations to the sixteenth Century by Richard Taruskin
Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe, 1400-1600 by Alan W Atlas
I will be listening to some of the music described in those books.
I am also slowly working my way through my vast collection of Jazz and Rock records.
16th century literature and history:
Ronsard the poet by Terence Cave and other books connected with the Pleiade group of 16th century French poets.
The Earlier Tudors by J D Mackie (part of the Oxford English History series)
A New History of Early English Drama by John D Cox leading to reading pre Shakespeare plays.
Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition; Norton critical editionby Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca.
Books Published in 1914
The Emperor of Portugallia by Selma Lagerlof
The Flying Inn by G K chesterton
Innocent: her fancy and his fact by Marie Corelli
Kazan by James Oliver Curwood
The Mutiny of the Elsinore by Jack London
The Return of Tarzan and The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Our Mr Wren Sinclair Lewis
Sinister Street Compton Mackenzie
Science Fiction
The Consolidator Daniel Defoe (considered to be part of history of SF)
The Puppet Masters by Robert A Heinlein
Honeymoon in Space George Griffiths
City at World's End by Edmond Hamilton
Limbo Bernard Wolfe
Books by Doris Lessing
Winter in July
The Sun between their feet
The Four gated City
Briefing for a descent into Hell
The story of a Non-marrying man
Memoirs of a Survivor
Shikasta
I am working my way slowly through two books on history of classical music:
Music from the Earliest Notations to the sixteenth Century by Richard Taruskin
Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe, 1400-1600 by Alan W Atlas
I will be listening to some of the music described in those books.
I am also slowly working my way through my vast collection of Jazz and Rock records.
2AlisonY
Particularly looking forward to your thoughts on the Lessing's books as your year progresses.
3theaelizabet
Happy New Year, Bas. I'll be especially interested in your reading of pre-Shakespeare plays.
5janeajones
Happy New Year, Barry!
6SassyLassy
Looking forward to more Tudors and Lessing, and of course, more music. That Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition looks intriguing for a start.
11baswood
The Ugly Renaissance: Sex, greed, violence and depravity in an age of beauty by Alexander Lee
“Its cities were filled with depravity and inequality, its streets thronged with prostitutes and perverted priests, and its houses played home to seduction, sickness, shady back-room deals, and conspiracies of every variety. Bending artists to their will, its foremost patrons were corrupt bankers yearning for power, murderous mercenary generals teetering on the edge of sanity, and irreligious Popes hankering after money and influence. And it was an age in which other peoples and cultures were mercilessly raped, while anti-Semitism and Islamophobia reached fever-pitch and even more insidious forms of bigotry and prejudice were developed to accommodate the discovery of new lands………a very ugly Renaissance indeed.”
Alexander Lee sets out to debunk a popular view of the Italian Renaissance: that it was a sort of rebirth from the dark ages of medievalism and because it is represented to us by endless reproductions of its paintings, sculpture and architecture, has lodged in our minds as a ‘golden age’. The evidence of the artistic achievements have survived and tourists flock to Florence and Rome to see and hear about the great works of art and it is no great leap to assume that so many artistic masterpieces must have been made during an age of enlightenment. He admits there has been much written about the social and economic history, but this has not permeated through in ways that provide a more balanced view. Lee sometimes gets carried away with his condemnation of the society (see the above paragraph) but can be forgiven because of his stated aims of redressing the balance and his attempts to write a more accessible story of the period.
He has some interesting things to say and for the most part says them very well. The first part concentrates on the life of the artists and his first choice is Michelangelo. He imagines a walk through Florence that the artist must have taken when he made the journey from his home to where he had set up his studio to carve his statue of David. He describes the things he might have seen along the way and it serves to place the reader in the world of a thriving sixteenth century city. He does not spare Michelangelo himself, pointing out that he was as arrogant as he was talented, he was dirty and disorganised and as easily embroiled in fights as he was susceptible to be bullied by the Pope. However by placing the artist in his milieu, by describing his daily chores and the vicissitudes of a busy workshop environment, it is not difficult to imagine Michelangelo as a man rather than just an iconic artist. It could be argued that Georgio Vasari in his The Lives of the artists had done something similar at the time and Lee does mine that book for anecdotes, but Vasari was writing for an audience that would have been all to aware of the conditions under which Michelangelo worked. Lee takes his views further and while not taking the reader too far down the path of Michelangelo’s sexuality; scandalous or not, he makes some interesting observations about the combination of spiritual and sensual pleasures.
Part II describes the World of the Renaissance patron, those people that commissioned the great works of art. There is a thorough examination of the mercantile class, the bankers and the emergence of a capitalist economy based on greed and a hankering after raw power. Money ruled most of the thoughts and actions of leading Florentine families. The Medici’s were bankers who thrived in a world where money ruled and as Lee points out little has changed since the Renaissance. The Popes were of course major players intent on keeping for themselves and their families one of the richest prizes in Christendom. They were also in effect war lords some riding into battle, others hiring Condottieri (mercenaries) to do their bidding. Lee gets further than most writers in examining this link between money, power and art. There was a need to make a splash to demonstrate power in impressive architecture, but equally there was a need to ‘save their souls’ with dedications and religious works that somehow expressed a humility. This can be seen in some of the paintings and frescoes and Lee uses these to make his points.
Part III looks at The Renaissance and the World. It certainly debunks any thoughts that people might have that the period was one of tolerance and understanding. It was an age of exploitation and rapine and Lee gives examples of how the Florentines viewed the world outside. This should come as no surprise, but stacking it all up in chapter after chapter does bring this home to the reader. Florentines in particular tended to look askance at the godless world outside of their city and generally were only interested if there was money in it. Being an inland city there was no natural maritime expertise, but one still wonders why there was so little interest in the New World discoveries. Lee’s short answer is that they saw no monetary gain.
Alexander Lee is conscious that he is writing a book that may attract the more general and curious reader and there are many stories and anecdotes about sex, power plays and atrocities, most of which are backed up by documentary evidence and Lee is careful not to overstep the bounds into sensationalism. He uses conjecture lightly and while he is relentless in making his points one has sympathy with his aims of debunking myths. After all, as he says the real wonder is that such great art could come from such a corrupt society.
Lee treads a difficult line between writing a popular exposé and a thoughtful and well documented history of the period. I think on the whole he is successful; there are copious notes of sources, a well thought through bibliography and appendices and illustrations that he uses wisely to help the reader and to make his points. When you pick up a book with a subtitle of ‘Sex, greed violence and depravity in an age of Beauty” you may not be too sure of what you will find beneath the cover. In this case you will find plenty of examples of excesses, but they will be couched in some thoughtful and at times wordy prose. I enjoyed the read and found much to think about and so 4 stars.
“Its cities were filled with depravity and inequality, its streets thronged with prostitutes and perverted priests, and its houses played home to seduction, sickness, shady back-room deals, and conspiracies of every variety. Bending artists to their will, its foremost patrons were corrupt bankers yearning for power, murderous mercenary generals teetering on the edge of sanity, and irreligious Popes hankering after money and influence. And it was an age in which other peoples and cultures were mercilessly raped, while anti-Semitism and Islamophobia reached fever-pitch and even more insidious forms of bigotry and prejudice were developed to accommodate the discovery of new lands………a very ugly Renaissance indeed.”
Alexander Lee sets out to debunk a popular view of the Italian Renaissance: that it was a sort of rebirth from the dark ages of medievalism and because it is represented to us by endless reproductions of its paintings, sculpture and architecture, has lodged in our minds as a ‘golden age’. The evidence of the artistic achievements have survived and tourists flock to Florence and Rome to see and hear about the great works of art and it is no great leap to assume that so many artistic masterpieces must have been made during an age of enlightenment. He admits there has been much written about the social and economic history, but this has not permeated through in ways that provide a more balanced view. Lee sometimes gets carried away with his condemnation of the society (see the above paragraph) but can be forgiven because of his stated aims of redressing the balance and his attempts to write a more accessible story of the period.
He has some interesting things to say and for the most part says them very well. The first part concentrates on the life of the artists and his first choice is Michelangelo. He imagines a walk through Florence that the artist must have taken when he made the journey from his home to where he had set up his studio to carve his statue of David. He describes the things he might have seen along the way and it serves to place the reader in the world of a thriving sixteenth century city. He does not spare Michelangelo himself, pointing out that he was as arrogant as he was talented, he was dirty and disorganised and as easily embroiled in fights as he was susceptible to be bullied by the Pope. However by placing the artist in his milieu, by describing his daily chores and the vicissitudes of a busy workshop environment, it is not difficult to imagine Michelangelo as a man rather than just an iconic artist. It could be argued that Georgio Vasari in his The Lives of the artists had done something similar at the time and Lee does mine that book for anecdotes, but Vasari was writing for an audience that would have been all to aware of the conditions under which Michelangelo worked. Lee takes his views further and while not taking the reader too far down the path of Michelangelo’s sexuality; scandalous or not, he makes some interesting observations about the combination of spiritual and sensual pleasures.
Part II describes the World of the Renaissance patron, those people that commissioned the great works of art. There is a thorough examination of the mercantile class, the bankers and the emergence of a capitalist economy based on greed and a hankering after raw power. Money ruled most of the thoughts and actions of leading Florentine families. The Medici’s were bankers who thrived in a world where money ruled and as Lee points out little has changed since the Renaissance. The Popes were of course major players intent on keeping for themselves and their families one of the richest prizes in Christendom. They were also in effect war lords some riding into battle, others hiring Condottieri (mercenaries) to do their bidding. Lee gets further than most writers in examining this link between money, power and art. There was a need to make a splash to demonstrate power in impressive architecture, but equally there was a need to ‘save their souls’ with dedications and religious works that somehow expressed a humility. This can be seen in some of the paintings and frescoes and Lee uses these to make his points.
Part III looks at The Renaissance and the World. It certainly debunks any thoughts that people might have that the period was one of tolerance and understanding. It was an age of exploitation and rapine and Lee gives examples of how the Florentines viewed the world outside. This should come as no surprise, but stacking it all up in chapter after chapter does bring this home to the reader. Florentines in particular tended to look askance at the godless world outside of their city and generally were only interested if there was money in it. Being an inland city there was no natural maritime expertise, but one still wonders why there was so little interest in the New World discoveries. Lee’s short answer is that they saw no monetary gain.
Alexander Lee is conscious that he is writing a book that may attract the more general and curious reader and there are many stories and anecdotes about sex, power plays and atrocities, most of which are backed up by documentary evidence and Lee is careful not to overstep the bounds into sensationalism. He uses conjecture lightly and while he is relentless in making his points one has sympathy with his aims of debunking myths. After all, as he says the real wonder is that such great art could come from such a corrupt society.
Lee treads a difficult line between writing a popular exposé and a thoughtful and well documented history of the period. I think on the whole he is successful; there are copious notes of sources, a well thought through bibliography and appendices and illustrations that he uses wisely to help the reader and to make his points. When you pick up a book with a subtitle of ‘Sex, greed violence and depravity in an age of Beauty” you may not be too sure of what you will find beneath the cover. In this case you will find plenty of examples of excesses, but they will be couched in some thoughtful and at times wordy prose. I enjoyed the read and found much to think about and so 4 stars.
12Oandthegang
Hello, and Happy New Year. The Ugly Renaissance is frequently referenced at the moment, so I was interested in your review, but I think I will pass on this one. I will be very interested in any reviews you post of performances/recordings of Renaissance music.
13kidzdoc
Nice review of The Ugly Renaissance, Barry.
14cabegley
The Ugly Renaissance sounds very interesting, Barry--onto the wish list it goes!
15janeajones
Interesting review -- it was the best of times, it was the worst of times -- aren't they all? I think I'm getting cynical in my old age.
16tonikat
Thanks Barry a very enjoyable review - again you make me reconsider my own reading directions. Happy New Year.
17rebeccanyc
What they all said about your review! But I'll just enjoy your review; I don't think this book is for me.
18SassyLassy
>11 baswood: Sounds like a terrific book. It never seemed possible that everyone was living well at that time, after all, someone washed all those clothes, towed the barges and fought in the wars. I've always wanted a book that would tell me about them and put them in their setting.
19FlorenceArt
>11 baswood: Great review! Based on the title (or rather the subtitle), I wouldn't have been very interested in this book, but now... I think it might end up in my wishlist.
20dchaikin
Looking forward to your thread Barry. I think the Ugly Renaissance might have too much of an agenda for me, even if he has a point. But then did any of that come as a surprise?
21baswood
>20 dchaikin: No it didn't come as a surprise, because as you know I have read quite a few books on the Renaissance and most of the information that Lee brings to the table could be found in The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance by John Hale. However Lee puts his own slant on this information bringing it together to provide some excellent background material. His chapters on how and why the artists were funded and what was expected of them were very good indeed and he does remind us just how difficult life was at the time.
22Lunarreader
Hello Baswood, hope all is well and will only get better in 2016. :)
Intrigued on how you purchase your books on the 16th century poets .... in your small village in SW-France. :)
London can't be a big problem for this so maybe you still purchase them over there?
Are you a fan of Doris Lessing ? I heard some mixed opinions on her writing, so curious to know what you think about it. Or are you just discovering her with this challenge?
Greetings from Flanders,
Lunarreader
Intrigued on how you purchase your books on the 16th century poets .... in your small village in SW-France. :)
London can't be a big problem for this so maybe you still purchase them over there?
Are you a fan of Doris Lessing ? I heard some mixed opinions on her writing, so curious to know what you think about it. Or are you just discovering her with this challenge?
Greetings from Flanders,
Lunarreader
23OscarWilde87
Hey there! Just dropped by to leave a star.
24Poquette
>11 baswood: Intriguing review of The Ugly Renaissance. Sounds like a must read for me. This is my first wish listed book for 2016! Will try to keep up this year! ;-)
25baswood
>22 Lunarreader: I buy books through the internet ABE books is my favourite source. It is a long way for me to find an English bookshop especially one that specialises in books I want to read.
However much of the stuff I read is free on the internet: archive.org is a great source for older books.
I became interested in Doris Lessing through her short stories and her science fiction novels Shikasta is a favourite. I like to have a project and to pick an author and steadily read everything until I get bored. A few years ago I read almost everything written by Patrick White and then over twenty novels by H G Wells (but I got a little bored and did not attempt to read the whole 70 or so books by him). I think I might make it through all of Lessing's books.
However much of the stuff I read is free on the internet: archive.org is a great source for older books.
I became interested in Doris Lessing through her short stories and her science fiction novels Shikasta is a favourite. I like to have a project and to pick an author and steadily read everything until I get bored. A few years ago I read almost everything written by Patrick White and then over twenty novels by H G Wells (but I got a little bored and did not attempt to read the whole 70 or so books by him). I think I might make it through all of Lessing's books.
27reva8
>1 baswood: Happy New Year! That was a great review of Alexander Lee's book.
28baswood
Oby, Norfolk England; a forgotten village.
The long-ships drove up the Bure, and the horned men were
there to rape and to burn,
Seeding their names, Rollesby and Billockby, Fleggburgh,
Clippesby and Thurne,
Ashby and Oby. Our church roofs came from the rot of each
oak-warped stern.
But the Nazarene grip was strong. The surge of energy in
the whoring blood
Settled for the purpled moan of the organ, the heifer
chewing her cud,
And the cart with its thwarted axle broken and stuck in
December mud.
I drive to the service at Clippesby, a mile along
sugar-beet-sodden-road.
My lights throw up the parishioners, whipped by the
Christian goad
And the hope of Heaven, their faces pinched by a cold,
unearthly woad
Into shapes of bread and wine. Their archangels gloat and
wither on spruce,
Bald winter's fuel from Norway. The tied surplice is
shaken loose,
And the paean rises, the bitter semen of prayer squeezed
like a juice.
Nothing can alter the sounded heritage from the
throbbing brine,
The keels lifting above the waves. Let humility
be divine.
All arrogance is human, the black ride of the Vikings
is mine.
George Macbeth
29Lunarreader
>25 baswood:
Thanks for the information and your elaboration on Doris Lessing.
And certainly thanks for the tip on Archive.org , this can become very handy with my daughter studying litterature and linguistics.
Best regards,
Herman
Thanks for the information and your elaboration on Doris Lessing.
And certainly thanks for the tip on Archive.org , this can become very handy with my daughter studying litterature and linguistics.
Best regards,
Herman
30baswood
The Corner that held them - Sylvia Townsend Warner.
The first thing I look for in an historical novel is the authors ability to place the reader in the time and place of her choosing (much the same could be said for science fiction and fantasy novels, but they have the advantage of placing their readers in an uncertain future rather than a historical past). Warner achieves this transportation back in time with consummate ease and she goes further by conveying convincingly the mindset of village people in 14th century England, however the main characters in The Corner That held Them are not ordinary village people: they are convent nuns living near the marshlands of Oby in Norfolk and her great achievement is allowing us to see the world through their eyes. It is unusual to find a book that hardly puts a foot wrong in distancing a 20th century viewpoint from one of a period so far back in history.
Most of the nuns were placed in the convent by their families and it was their job to serve god in prayer and virtue, their life was special and most spent their lives in a community that we would call institutionalised. In her first chapter Warner introduces the convent by sketching in the history of its founding and the book then proceeds to cover the period from April 1349 to March 1382: from the coming of the Plague to just beyond the peasants revolt of the summer of 1381. Two bookends that serve to enclose the lives of the women and their priest who pass through the book leaving fragmentary but lasting impressions. Four Prioresses are elected during this time and the lives of the nuns come and go; serving god and the convent, bickering, fighting, manoeuvring for position doing their duty and preparing for death. Ralph Kello (Sir Ralph) the nun’s priest is one of the few constant characters during this time outliving all of his nuns and hiding a terrible secret. There is no central story other than the nuns continual struggle to maintain their place in a world that is slowly changing. They are always short of money, their convent is poorly situated and they are dependent on the ancient rites and tithes that are slowly being eroded. Warner engages the reader in the nuns struggles, their daily routines, their brief moments of joy and their acceptance of a life that has them peering myopically at a world outside of their wicket gate.
Warner’s most striking achievement is to introduce her readers to the religious climate that was so much a part of 14th century life. Very important for the nuns of course whose lives were ruled by their religious (catholic) devotions, but also important for those outside of the convent because the religious communities were a part of everyday life and governed their day to day existence in varying degrees. We learn about the work that must be done on convent lands, the services that the nuns expected to be given to them and for their part their duties as providers of relief to the poor, these duties were onerous on both sides and it was duty allied with a fear of God (or more accurately a fear of the power of the church) that kept people in check. Warner is careful to make clear that it was an accepted belief that souls could be saved by people’s actions during their life on earth. The nuns were clear about this and their devotion and chastity could save their souls and help to save others. It was a time when religious people heard the voice of God or of the saints, they had visions, they fasted and were scourged as a matter of course. They made pilgrimages, visited shrines and fervently prayed, but they also sought answers to questions, sometimes believing in God’s will, but also clinging to more pagan and superstitious beliefs. Life was much more of a mystery to them and they needed some sort of answer to fill the gaps.
Warner writes beautifully about the landscape, the hot summers and cold wet winters, flowing water is used as a metaphor for changes to the lives inside the convent as the local river changes course after winter floods. Life ebbed and flowed around the seasons. She is careful not to reveal everything that happens, leaving the reader to form their own conclusion; for example it is not clear whether dame Susana committed suicide under the falling spire, or who played the greater part in the murder of Magdalen Figg. There is a mystery attached to some of the main events making this a thoughtful and at times puzzling read. Information was hard to come by, communications were slow and many a story became distorted in the telling and retelling and we get a sense of this through Warners prose.
There are dramatic moments: a spire collapses, plague visits the convent, there are elopements, murders and violence, but there are also some beautiful moments, for example; the novice nuns believing they can learn to fly, the joy of singing and individual acts of kindness. The Characters are very well described and their foibles, dreams, and ambitions become the stuff that drives the book along.
Sylvia Townsend Warner was a lover of early music and she brings her knowledge to bear on one of the best pieces of writing that I have read on the joy of hearing and performing new music. Singing was a part of religious life and the excitement of discovering new music of the Ars Nova from the continent provides a night to remember for the young Henry Yellowlees. Warner is able to describe why the music was so different and to imagine the effect it would have on a lover of music performing it for the first time. It is also historically accurate as is so much of this book. The peasants revolt of 1381 when the sturdy beggars united with labourers and farmworker to march on London is woven into the story as is the visitation of the black death.
It is hard to believe that “the Corner that Held Them was published in 1948 as its view of history seems more up to date with current thinking. She is not tempted to romanticise the past nor does she overindulge in cruelties or violence; no wisecracks, no jokes, no dumbing down, she just goes about painting her near perfect temporal portrait of a corner of England that happened to hold a convent of nuns in the late fourteenth century. What a great way to start a new year of reading with this special book and so 4.5 stars.
The first thing I look for in an historical novel is the authors ability to place the reader in the time and place of her choosing (much the same could be said for science fiction and fantasy novels, but they have the advantage of placing their readers in an uncertain future rather than a historical past). Warner achieves this transportation back in time with consummate ease and she goes further by conveying convincingly the mindset of village people in 14th century England, however the main characters in The Corner That held Them are not ordinary village people: they are convent nuns living near the marshlands of Oby in Norfolk and her great achievement is allowing us to see the world through their eyes. It is unusual to find a book that hardly puts a foot wrong in distancing a 20th century viewpoint from one of a period so far back in history.
Most of the nuns were placed in the convent by their families and it was their job to serve god in prayer and virtue, their life was special and most spent their lives in a community that we would call institutionalised. In her first chapter Warner introduces the convent by sketching in the history of its founding and the book then proceeds to cover the period from April 1349 to March 1382: from the coming of the Plague to just beyond the peasants revolt of the summer of 1381. Two bookends that serve to enclose the lives of the women and their priest who pass through the book leaving fragmentary but lasting impressions. Four Prioresses are elected during this time and the lives of the nuns come and go; serving god and the convent, bickering, fighting, manoeuvring for position doing their duty and preparing for death. Ralph Kello (Sir Ralph) the nun’s priest is one of the few constant characters during this time outliving all of his nuns and hiding a terrible secret. There is no central story other than the nuns continual struggle to maintain their place in a world that is slowly changing. They are always short of money, their convent is poorly situated and they are dependent on the ancient rites and tithes that are slowly being eroded. Warner engages the reader in the nuns struggles, their daily routines, their brief moments of joy and their acceptance of a life that has them peering myopically at a world outside of their wicket gate.
Warner’s most striking achievement is to introduce her readers to the religious climate that was so much a part of 14th century life. Very important for the nuns of course whose lives were ruled by their religious (catholic) devotions, but also important for those outside of the convent because the religious communities were a part of everyday life and governed their day to day existence in varying degrees. We learn about the work that must be done on convent lands, the services that the nuns expected to be given to them and for their part their duties as providers of relief to the poor, these duties were onerous on both sides and it was duty allied with a fear of God (or more accurately a fear of the power of the church) that kept people in check. Warner is careful to make clear that it was an accepted belief that souls could be saved by people’s actions during their life on earth. The nuns were clear about this and their devotion and chastity could save their souls and help to save others. It was a time when religious people heard the voice of God or of the saints, they had visions, they fasted and were scourged as a matter of course. They made pilgrimages, visited shrines and fervently prayed, but they also sought answers to questions, sometimes believing in God’s will, but also clinging to more pagan and superstitious beliefs. Life was much more of a mystery to them and they needed some sort of answer to fill the gaps.
Warner writes beautifully about the landscape, the hot summers and cold wet winters, flowing water is used as a metaphor for changes to the lives inside the convent as the local river changes course after winter floods. Life ebbed and flowed around the seasons. She is careful not to reveal everything that happens, leaving the reader to form their own conclusion; for example it is not clear whether dame Susana committed suicide under the falling spire, or who played the greater part in the murder of Magdalen Figg. There is a mystery attached to some of the main events making this a thoughtful and at times puzzling read. Information was hard to come by, communications were slow and many a story became distorted in the telling and retelling and we get a sense of this through Warners prose.
There are dramatic moments: a spire collapses, plague visits the convent, there are elopements, murders and violence, but there are also some beautiful moments, for example; the novice nuns believing they can learn to fly, the joy of singing and individual acts of kindness. The Characters are very well described and their foibles, dreams, and ambitions become the stuff that drives the book along.
Sylvia Townsend Warner was a lover of early music and she brings her knowledge to bear on one of the best pieces of writing that I have read on the joy of hearing and performing new music. Singing was a part of religious life and the excitement of discovering new music of the Ars Nova from the continent provides a night to remember for the young Henry Yellowlees. Warner is able to describe why the music was so different and to imagine the effect it would have on a lover of music performing it for the first time. It is also historically accurate as is so much of this book. The peasants revolt of 1381 when the sturdy beggars united with labourers and farmworker to march on London is woven into the story as is the visitation of the black death.
It is hard to believe that “the Corner that Held Them was published in 1948 as its view of history seems more up to date with current thinking. She is not tempted to romanticise the past nor does she overindulge in cruelties or violence; no wisecracks, no jokes, no dumbing down, she just goes about painting her near perfect temporal portrait of a corner of England that happened to hold a convent of nuns in the late fourteenth century. What a great way to start a new year of reading with this special book and so 4.5 stars.
31baswood
>28 baswood: The corner that held them is centered on Oby in Norfolk and in that book is a story of how the Vikings came up the local river. That the vikings did come up the river is not disputed by the local people, but where they got to and how long they stayed is. The Vikings were of course pagans. George Macbeth lived in Oby for a short time and must have heard a similar story.
32janeajones
Gorgeous review. I have this one -- must read it.
33mabith
>30 baswood: Wonderful review. I've been lazy about getting to Warner's books after having them recommended by someone I deeply respect (of course the library has nothing by her and there are none in audio format available), so your review was timely for me.
34kidzdoc
Wow. Fabulous review of The Corner that Held Them, Barry. I'll certainly be looking for this book later this year.
35sibylline
I am sold on The Corner that Held Them. Onto the WL heap it goes. I like her writing very much. Terrific review!
Love your reading goals. I've read only the Heinlein and maybe the Hamilton although both could do with rereads. And a scattering of other books by the authors listed.
Don't know if I "like" Lessing enough to have her on a "read all" list. I might try to read Shikasta at the same time as you if you give me a little warning so I can nab a copy.
My main author project continues to be Iris Murdoch, not at all bored with her yet. Also slowly working my way through Iain Banks, not bored with him yet either (and not likely to be!) It's great to have some reading goals, otherwise I'm not focussed at all. I would like to reread all of Pynchon and I would like to finish my first round of John Cowper Powys but I keep hoarding his work! Silly!
Love your reading goals. I've read only the Heinlein and maybe the Hamilton although both could do with rereads. And a scattering of other books by the authors listed.
Don't know if I "like" Lessing enough to have her on a "read all" list. I might try to read Shikasta at the same time as you if you give me a little warning so I can nab a copy.
My main author project continues to be Iris Murdoch, not at all bored with her yet. Also slowly working my way through Iain Banks, not bored with him yet either (and not likely to be!) It's great to have some reading goals, otherwise I'm not focussed at all. I would like to reread all of Pynchon and I would like to finish my first round of John Cowper Powys but I keep hoarding his work! Silly!
36sibylline
Bless Library Thing! Apparently I OWN a copy of The Corner that Held Them.... somewhere in my (not so) vast Virago collection. I would have happily gone out and looked for a duplicate. Of course, now I have to find it. A challenge LT can't help me with.
37rebeccanyc
I loved The Corner That Held Them too. I twas one of my favorites the year I read it.
38FlorenceArt
Wonderful review! I had never heard of this book or its author. Wishlisted!
39cabegley
>30 baswood: Great review of The Corner That Held Them, Barry! I've been meaning to read this one for far too long, and will now push it up the pile.
40SassyLassy
>28 baswood: So glad you posted that picture and the wonderful poem. The picture is what I had in mind when I read The Corner that Held Them and now I know such a place actually still exists. The poem is superb and so strong on image.
I read the Warner book a couple of months before reading Nuns Behaving Badly, and the two worked well together. I had not known about Warner and music.
I read the Warner book a couple of months before reading Nuns Behaving Badly, and the two worked well together. I had not known about Warner and music.
41baswood
>35 sibylline: Iris Murdoch and Ian Banks sound great author reads. John Cowper Powys as well although he does take some reading. I have Owen Glendower on my shelf to read when I am feeling like a challenge.
I will tell you when I get to Shikasta (probably towards the end of this year)
>37 rebeccanyc: It was your review that made this a must read for me.
>40 SassyLassy: I have Nuns Behaving badly on my shelf to read soon.
Thanks everyone else for stopping by
I will tell you when I get to Shikasta (probably towards the end of this year)
>37 rebeccanyc: It was your review that made this a must read for me.
>40 SassyLassy: I have Nuns Behaving badly on my shelf to read soon.
Thanks everyone else for stopping by
42theaelizabet
Sylvia Townsend Warner sounds like a particularly smart writer. Definitely going to put this on that imaginary list of mine. By the way--in case I haven't mentioned it before--you write amazing reviews.
43RidgewayGirl
Excellent review. I enjoyed reading it and will look for a copy of The Corner that Held Them.
44dchaikin
I love your reviews Bas. Wonderful review of The Corner the Held Them, and of the lead in with the pictures and poem. On to the wishlist...
46The_Hibernator
>1 baswood: Funny, I was thinking of The Puppet Masters just today. I just finished Heinlein's The Rolling Stones and remembered that I've always wanted to read Puppet Masters. Perhaps I'll look it up soon.
>11 baswood: That looks like a fascinating book. I'll have to check if I can get it on audio.
Hope you had a great weekend!
>11 baswood: That looks like a fascinating book. I'll have to check if I can get it on audio.
Hope you had a great weekend!
48baswood
Robinson Crusoe (A Norton critical edition) by Daniel Defoe.
Published in 1719 there are claims that this is the first English novel, however I rather think that Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur published in 1485 has a better shout for that honour. Still, when I decided to read Robinson Crusoe I was as much interested in the historicity of the book as in the book itself. There have been through the ages many abridged versions squarely aimed at children or a very young adult market and when I was a kid it was one of those books like Treasure Island, Black Beauty, or The Coral Sea that were available to read: no sex, no romance nothing to trouble innocent minds and of course a stirring paean to a Protestant work ethic to boot. I read the Norton Critical edition that has an annotated version of the various editions published in 1719 with modernised spelling and punctuation.
The title page of the 1719 version claims that “The life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner” was written by himself and so the novel is in the first person and the title page goes on to say that he lived 28 years all alone on an uninhabited island on the coast of America. We know therefore that he was eventually rescued and what his readers would have known way back in the early eighteenth century was that there were uninhabited islands somewhere across the ocean and there were recent news items of men who had survived alone after being marooned. The story is a familiar one to most of us even to those like me who have not read it before. Robinson Crusoe as a young man craves to go to sea despite the advice of his father to work in the family business. He gets captured by Turkish pirates and becomes a slave somewhere in North Africa, he escapes with the help of another slave: Xury and winds up in Brazil where he becomes a plantation owner. He agree to take ship again in a quest to buy negro slaves from Africa, he gets shipwrecked and is the only survivor to make landfall. It is an uninhabited island and after salvaging many useful items from the wrecked ship he lives alone untroubled for 15 years. The discovery of a footprint on the beach throws him into turmoil and his fears are enhanced when he sees evidence of a visit by cannibals; he finds human remains near a fire- pit. It is a further nine years until he confronts the cannibals and rescues one of their captives whom he calls his man Friday. Friday becomes his slave and they live for a further 4 years alone together before a passing ship leads to more adventures and their eventual release from the island. More adventures are crammed into the final 20 pages when on another trip Crusoe and Friday battle a wolf pack travelling across France.
After a hectic start to the novel and Crusoe’s shipwreck the action slows down as a third of the book is taken up by Crusoe’s industry in making himself lord of his Island. The discovery of the footprint changes the tone of the book, because Crusoe now has two live with his fear of the cannibals and we are two thirds of the way through before he effects the release of Friday. The final third is full of more adventures giving the novel a different pace again. The structure is uneven and critics over the years have put various interpretations on the moral of the story. It was an instant success and Defoe’s preface to an early edition was at pains to point out “it was a religious application of events and it was an instruction to others by this example.” This point certainly holds true for the first part of the novel as Crusoe by sheer hard work tames his island, sets his mind to civilising his environment and experiences a religious conversion. At this point we can see Defoe’s ideas on the dignity of labour or the triumphs of the therapy of work and self-help. Some people have read it as a back to nature experience, but this does not hold with Crusoes attempts to industrialise his island. Defoe was himself a pamphleteer writing about Puritan ideas and thoughts and so it is no surprise that Crusoe becomes at “one with God,” but the discovery of the foot print brings back all his previous fears and he becomes a haunted, frightened figure spending all his energy in trying to make himself secure. He even thinks about destroying all that he has built in an attempt to erase all evidence of his occupation. He eventually overcomes his fears and after turning his thoughts to the idea of ORIGINAL SIN:
“I have been in all my Circumstances a Memento to those touched with the general Plague of Mankind, whence, for ought I know, one half of their Miseries flow; I mean, that of not being satisfied by their station wherein God and nature has placed them, for not to look back on my primitive Condition, and the excellent advice of my father, the Opposition to which, was, as I may call it my ORIGINAL SIN; my subsequent Mistakes of the same kind had been the Means of my coming into this miserable Condition………”
he fortifies himself in the time honoured Christian fashion of “disobedience-punishment-repentance-deliverence.”
James Joyce an admirer of Robinson Crusoe claimed that:
“The whole Ango-Saxon spirit is in Crusoe: the manly independence; the unconscious cruelty; the persistence; the slow yet efficient intelligence; the sexual apathy; the practical, well-balanced religiousness; the calculating taciturnity. Whoever reads this simple, moving book in the light of subsequent history cannot help but fall under its spell.”
Many people have fallen under the books spell and I think this is because of Defoe’s skill in delivering to his readers the thoughts, hopes and fears that go on inside the head of Crusoe as he faces his challenges, his doubts and his fears. As readers we are made to feel Crusoe’s unique situation and we want him to succeed. This might have been easier for readers in the past, because today we cannot avoid seeing Crusoe’s racism, sexism, and as Joyce says his unconscious cruelty: for example Crusoe thinks nothing of selling his fellow escapee Xury back into slavery, the cannibals are less than human and man Friday is nothing more than his slave.
There is action and adventure in the story, shipwrecks, a pitched battle with the cannibals and finally a very strange interlude with a wolf-pack and a bear, but this is not why we would read the book today. I think it is to be read for the characterisation of Robinson Crusoe and his place in the history of literature. It might not be the first English novel, but it might be the first novel that gives us an insight into a man facing an extreme situation and one that comes true to life from an eighteenth century perspective. Who am I to argue that this is not a five star read.
Published in 1719 there are claims that this is the first English novel, however I rather think that Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur published in 1485 has a better shout for that honour. Still, when I decided to read Robinson Crusoe I was as much interested in the historicity of the book as in the book itself. There have been through the ages many abridged versions squarely aimed at children or a very young adult market and when I was a kid it was one of those books like Treasure Island, Black Beauty, or The Coral Sea that were available to read: no sex, no romance nothing to trouble innocent minds and of course a stirring paean to a Protestant work ethic to boot. I read the Norton Critical edition that has an annotated version of the various editions published in 1719 with modernised spelling and punctuation.
The title page of the 1719 version claims that “The life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner” was written by himself and so the novel is in the first person and the title page goes on to say that he lived 28 years all alone on an uninhabited island on the coast of America. We know therefore that he was eventually rescued and what his readers would have known way back in the early eighteenth century was that there were uninhabited islands somewhere across the ocean and there were recent news items of men who had survived alone after being marooned. The story is a familiar one to most of us even to those like me who have not read it before. Robinson Crusoe as a young man craves to go to sea despite the advice of his father to work in the family business. He gets captured by Turkish pirates and becomes a slave somewhere in North Africa, he escapes with the help of another slave: Xury and winds up in Brazil where he becomes a plantation owner. He agree to take ship again in a quest to buy negro slaves from Africa, he gets shipwrecked and is the only survivor to make landfall. It is an uninhabited island and after salvaging many useful items from the wrecked ship he lives alone untroubled for 15 years. The discovery of a footprint on the beach throws him into turmoil and his fears are enhanced when he sees evidence of a visit by cannibals; he finds human remains near a fire- pit. It is a further nine years until he confronts the cannibals and rescues one of their captives whom he calls his man Friday. Friday becomes his slave and they live for a further 4 years alone together before a passing ship leads to more adventures and their eventual release from the island. More adventures are crammed into the final 20 pages when on another trip Crusoe and Friday battle a wolf pack travelling across France.
After a hectic start to the novel and Crusoe’s shipwreck the action slows down as a third of the book is taken up by Crusoe’s industry in making himself lord of his Island. The discovery of the footprint changes the tone of the book, because Crusoe now has two live with his fear of the cannibals and we are two thirds of the way through before he effects the release of Friday. The final third is full of more adventures giving the novel a different pace again. The structure is uneven and critics over the years have put various interpretations on the moral of the story. It was an instant success and Defoe’s preface to an early edition was at pains to point out “it was a religious application of events and it was an instruction to others by this example.” This point certainly holds true for the first part of the novel as Crusoe by sheer hard work tames his island, sets his mind to civilising his environment and experiences a religious conversion. At this point we can see Defoe’s ideas on the dignity of labour or the triumphs of the therapy of work and self-help. Some people have read it as a back to nature experience, but this does not hold with Crusoes attempts to industrialise his island. Defoe was himself a pamphleteer writing about Puritan ideas and thoughts and so it is no surprise that Crusoe becomes at “one with God,” but the discovery of the foot print brings back all his previous fears and he becomes a haunted, frightened figure spending all his energy in trying to make himself secure. He even thinks about destroying all that he has built in an attempt to erase all evidence of his occupation. He eventually overcomes his fears and after turning his thoughts to the idea of ORIGINAL SIN:
“I have been in all my Circumstances a Memento to those touched with the general Plague of Mankind, whence, for ought I know, one half of their Miseries flow; I mean, that of not being satisfied by their station wherein God and nature has placed them, for not to look back on my primitive Condition, and the excellent advice of my father, the Opposition to which, was, as I may call it my ORIGINAL SIN; my subsequent Mistakes of the same kind had been the Means of my coming into this miserable Condition………”
he fortifies himself in the time honoured Christian fashion of “disobedience-punishment-repentance-deliverence.”
James Joyce an admirer of Robinson Crusoe claimed that:
“The whole Ango-Saxon spirit is in Crusoe: the manly independence; the unconscious cruelty; the persistence; the slow yet efficient intelligence; the sexual apathy; the practical, well-balanced religiousness; the calculating taciturnity. Whoever reads this simple, moving book in the light of subsequent history cannot help but fall under its spell.”
Many people have fallen under the books spell and I think this is because of Defoe’s skill in delivering to his readers the thoughts, hopes and fears that go on inside the head of Crusoe as he faces his challenges, his doubts and his fears. As readers we are made to feel Crusoe’s unique situation and we want him to succeed. This might have been easier for readers in the past, because today we cannot avoid seeing Crusoe’s racism, sexism, and as Joyce says his unconscious cruelty: for example Crusoe thinks nothing of selling his fellow escapee Xury back into slavery, the cannibals are less than human and man Friday is nothing more than his slave.
There is action and adventure in the story, shipwrecks, a pitched battle with the cannibals and finally a very strange interlude with a wolf-pack and a bear, but this is not why we would read the book today. I think it is to be read for the characterisation of Robinson Crusoe and his place in the history of literature. It might not be the first English novel, but it might be the first novel that gives us an insight into a man facing an extreme situation and one that comes true to life from an eighteenth century perspective. Who am I to argue that this is not a five star read.
49rebeccanyc
Your thoughts are very interesting about Robinson Crusoe. I may have read it as a child, but I have no memory of it so maybe I didn't.
50SassyLassy
Great review. This is a book I loved as child and read several times. A few years ago I reread it and the thing that surprised me the most was Crusoe's dedicated examination of his religious beliefs. Of course, alone on an island for twenty-eight years many of us might do the same, but it was unexpected to me. It was fascinating to reread with all the contemporary caveats you mention. The part where Crusoe finds the footprint is still thrilling.
Have you read any of Alexander Selkirk's writing on his ordeal? He is believed to be the model for Crusoe.
Have you read any of Alexander Selkirk's writing on his ordeal? He is believed to be the model for Crusoe.
51baswood
>50 SassyLassy: In the Norton critical edition there are three pieces written contemporaneously about Alexander Selkirk's four years on Juan Fernandez Island as well as latter day criticism as to whether or not it was an inspiration for Defoe's book
There is also an account by William Dampier about a "Moskito Indian" who spent over three years on that same Island.
There is also an account by William Dampier about a "Moskito Indian" who spent over three years on that same Island.
52reva8
>30 baswood: This is a great review of The Corner that Held Them, and now I'm tempted to add this to the teetering pile of books to read. On a (very tenuously) related note, have you read Robyn Cadwallader's The Anchoress? It's historical fiction.
53baswood
>52 reva8: No I have not read the book by Robyn Cadwallader, but the connection is not all that tenuous because one of the nuns in The Corner That Held Them applied to become an anchoress.
54AlisonY
>52 reva8: I read The Anchoress at the end of last year. Really enjoyed it.
55Poquette
>48 baswood: Wonderful review of Robinson Crusoe, Barry! I read it as a child and was unaware that it was abridged, but it was definitely an edition for young people complete with dramatic illustrations. At any rate, it is fun to revisit through your review.
56reva8
>53 baswood: Oh, really? That's interesting. I was so fascinated by the concept. >54 AlisonY: I will have to back and track down your thread for that! Adding both to my TBR.
57NanaCC
>30 baswood: I added The Corner That Held Them to my list of books to borrow eventually from my daughter. Your thread is always dangerous to my wishlist or TBR, due to your compelling reviews.
>48 baswood: I must have read a very watered down version of Robinson Crusoe as a child, as your review makes it sound so much different than my faulty memory of it.
>48 baswood: I must have read a very watered down version of Robinson Crusoe as a child, as your review makes it sound so much different than my faulty memory of it.
58FlorenceArt
I had no idea Robinson Crusoe was so old! I'm not sure I've read even an abridged version, though of course I remember the most well-known parts of the story, and they are associated, vaguely, with illustrations, in my memory. You've made me wonder if I should read it now.
59baswood
>58 FlorenceArt: It is one of those books that does make us wonder if we have ever read it, because the basic plot is so imbued in our culture. It has some surprises though if you read the unabridged version today.
60Linda92007
Hi Barry. Just catching up. I noted with interest the Doris Lessing books that you plan to read this year, as I have not heard of most of them. I am interested in reading more of her work and look forward to continuing to follow your reviews.
Your review of The Corner That Held Them has intrigued me and I am planning to order the one copy out there in our library system. The Anchoress, mentioned by reva, also sounds fascinating. Although raised Catholic, I was not aware of this extreme form of the religious life.
Robinson Crusoe has also landed on the list. I had not previously had much interest in reading it, but your excellent review has revealed added dimensions of the work.
Your review of The Corner That Held Them has intrigued me and I am planning to order the one copy out there in our library system. The Anchoress, mentioned by reva, also sounds fascinating. Although raised Catholic, I was not aware of this extreme form of the religious life.
Robinson Crusoe has also landed on the list. I had not previously had much interest in reading it, but your excellent review has revealed added dimensions of the work.
61janeajones
Great review of Robinson Crusoe -- I think I read it decades ago, but don't remember much of what you mention, especially the religious stuff. My more recent readings of Defoe have been Moll Flanders, Roxana and A Journal of the Plague Year -- very different characteristics from Robinson.
62theaelizabet
Great review, Barry, as always. I've never read this, but now I'm interested. There appears to be more to it than I supposed.
>52 reva8: and >54 AlisonY: The Anchoress was such an intriguing book and subject. I think I read more about the subject matter than the length of the book itself.
>52 reva8: and >54 AlisonY: The Anchoress was such an intriguing book and subject. I think I read more about the subject matter than the length of the book itself.
63dchaikin
Fascinating review of Robinson Crusoe. It does sound like a bit of work, especially adding the Nortan Critical Edition extras.
65baswood
Winter in July by Doris Lessing
This is a collection of seven short stories all set in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) where Doris Lessing spent most of the first 30 years of her life. They were originally published in 1964 while she was writing her Children of Violence novels also set in Southern Africa and so her writing mind was steeped in her memories of her early life in a fiercely colonial country. They are bleak in a way that only a certain displacement; at times verging on hostility can make people feel who are caught in the wrong time and in the wrong place. That wrong time and wrong place was Southern Rhodesia where an increasingly nationalistic white minority government was holding sway over a cowed and silent black majority.
All the stories are set in the Veld; the wide open rural landscapes of Southern Africa and they feature white settlers living in small isolated communities struggling to tame an environment that can be unforgiving. Mostly they take the point of view of the females, wives, girlfriends, lovers who feel the isolation much more keenly than their male counterparts. The men can get on with running the huge farms, while the women are left to their own devices, managing their children and the native servants; divorced from much of society and increasingly divorced from their men who live in their man’s world on the farm. The sights sounds smells of a wild and largely untamed countryside seep through the stories providing a backdrop that shapes the lives of Lessing’s protagonists. The rural native black population who provide the manpower that supports the lives of the white settlers has been wrenched out of their village life to reside in Kraals or compounds and are misunderstood at best and castigated and punished at worst by their white masters.
Nobody wins in these stories. The white farmers who take a more sympathetic line with their black labourers are undone by their failure to understand the way the natives see their world and by an unsympathetic government who frown on any leniency. The Afrikaners (white Dutch Settlers) who in these stories are the ‘poor whites’ and are particularly abusive and violent, suffer as a result. The women who try and make a life for themselves on the farms are open to petty jealousies or hostilities from their peers while facing a conflict with their black servants and incomprehension of their issues from their male partners.
Lessing’s view of her past life is accurately recorded in these stories, it is a jaundiced view of the white community, but one that is imbued by the love of rural Southern Africa. They are vivid well written stories that never fail to portray a world that remained hidden from most of her contemporary readers and because of the milieu that Lessing has chosen for all the stories they work together in painting a picture of a society doomed to fail. They are available in two volumes of her collected African Short stories, but if you want to dip into a selection this collection is as good as any. 4 Stars.
This is a collection of seven short stories all set in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) where Doris Lessing spent most of the first 30 years of her life. They were originally published in 1964 while she was writing her Children of Violence novels also set in Southern Africa and so her writing mind was steeped in her memories of her early life in a fiercely colonial country. They are bleak in a way that only a certain displacement; at times verging on hostility can make people feel who are caught in the wrong time and in the wrong place. That wrong time and wrong place was Southern Rhodesia where an increasingly nationalistic white minority government was holding sway over a cowed and silent black majority.
All the stories are set in the Veld; the wide open rural landscapes of Southern Africa and they feature white settlers living in small isolated communities struggling to tame an environment that can be unforgiving. Mostly they take the point of view of the females, wives, girlfriends, lovers who feel the isolation much more keenly than their male counterparts. The men can get on with running the huge farms, while the women are left to their own devices, managing their children and the native servants; divorced from much of society and increasingly divorced from their men who live in their man’s world on the farm. The sights sounds smells of a wild and largely untamed countryside seep through the stories providing a backdrop that shapes the lives of Lessing’s protagonists. The rural native black population who provide the manpower that supports the lives of the white settlers has been wrenched out of their village life to reside in Kraals or compounds and are misunderstood at best and castigated and punished at worst by their white masters.
Nobody wins in these stories. The white farmers who take a more sympathetic line with their black labourers are undone by their failure to understand the way the natives see their world and by an unsympathetic government who frown on any leniency. The Afrikaners (white Dutch Settlers) who in these stories are the ‘poor whites’ and are particularly abusive and violent, suffer as a result. The women who try and make a life for themselves on the farms are open to petty jealousies or hostilities from their peers while facing a conflict with their black servants and incomprehension of their issues from their male partners.
Lessing’s view of her past life is accurately recorded in these stories, it is a jaundiced view of the white community, but one that is imbued by the love of rural Southern Africa. They are vivid well written stories that never fail to portray a world that remained hidden from most of her contemporary readers and because of the milieu that Lessing has chosen for all the stories they work together in painting a picture of a society doomed to fail. They are available in two volumes of her collected African Short stories, but if you want to dip into a selection this collection is as good as any. 4 Stars.
66theaelizabet
Bas, are the pictures from the book?
67baswood
>66 theaelizabet: No, but I particularly like the black and white photo of the farmer which was taken in Southern Rhodesia, but I do not know the date.
68Simone2
Great review of The Corner that held them! I had never heard of it, but will add it to my wishlist now, I do love those old gothics like The Monk and The Woman in White.
69Oandthegang
>48 baswood: I have been trying to find my copy of The Master Of Ballantrae (I see from Touchstones that it is subtitled 'A Winter's Tale', so perhaps another one to add to the winter reading list) as I'm sure that the family retainer who narrates the story makes frequent reference to Robinson Crusoe, a copy of which he owns and seems to consult as a sort of cross between the Bible and the I Ching, but without knowledge of the significance of Crusoe when I read The Master I have probably missed a lot.
Jonathan Rose in The Intellectual Life Of The British Working Classes has an interesting section on Robinson Crusoe and the different readings of it, including a warning to modern readers that any attempt to read a 'definitive' version and understand how it would have been read by eighteenth century readers will be frustrated by the fact that few of them could afford the entire book, so there were sundry abridgements, including one which was only eight pages long. The essence of all versions is Crusoe alone on his desert island before the discovery of other inhabitants. Alison Uttley recalled that during her childhood on a farm in Derbyshire in the late nineteenth century Robinson Crusoe would be read aloud every winter, the family identifying strongly with Crusoe and his struggles. "He lived a life they could understand... each one translated the tale into terms of his own experiences on the farm, and each shared that life of loneliness they knew.." Coe says "In a hierarchical and conformist society that offered little freedom for the labouring classes, Crusoe was read as a fable of individualism. It showed what one working man could do without landlords, clergymen, or capitalists. .. .. (the parable) collapsed all social distinctions into one person." (Not sure how this can be squared with his relationships with non-Europeans.)
If I've read any version of Crusoe it was probably an Illustrated Classic comic. Your review certainly makes the real thing look tempting.
Jonathan Rose in The Intellectual Life Of The British Working Classes has an interesting section on Robinson Crusoe and the different readings of it, including a warning to modern readers that any attempt to read a 'definitive' version and understand how it would have been read by eighteenth century readers will be frustrated by the fact that few of them could afford the entire book, so there were sundry abridgements, including one which was only eight pages long. The essence of all versions is Crusoe alone on his desert island before the discovery of other inhabitants. Alison Uttley recalled that during her childhood on a farm in Derbyshire in the late nineteenth century Robinson Crusoe would be read aloud every winter, the family identifying strongly with Crusoe and his struggles. "He lived a life they could understand... each one translated the tale into terms of his own experiences on the farm, and each shared that life of loneliness they knew.." Coe says "In a hierarchical and conformist society that offered little freedom for the labouring classes, Crusoe was read as a fable of individualism. It showed what one working man could do without landlords, clergymen, or capitalists. .. .. (the parable) collapsed all social distinctions into one person." (Not sure how this can be squared with his relationships with non-Europeans.)
If I've read any version of Crusoe it was probably an Illustrated Classic comic. Your review certainly makes the real thing look tempting.
70ELiz_M
>69 Oandthegang: That sounds remarkably like The Moonstone:
https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/engl-161-spring2013/2013/01/30/robinson-cru...
"For Betteredge, Robinson Crusoe is much more than a novel: it is his sanctuary and advice guide. He consults it by arbitrarily turning the pages, treating the passages he finds with religious reverence bordering on obsession. Betteredge “has worn out six stout Robinson Crusoes with hard work in his service” (22). He even goes so far as to say that “such a book as Robinson Crusoe never was written, and never will be written again” (22). I think we would be remiss to take this statement as only an indication of an old man’s madness (whether or not we trust Betteredge as a narrator is an entirely different question)."
https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/engl-161-spring2013/2013/01/30/robinson-cru...
"For Betteredge, Robinson Crusoe is much more than a novel: it is his sanctuary and advice guide. He consults it by arbitrarily turning the pages, treating the passages he finds with religious reverence bordering on obsession. Betteredge “has worn out six stout Robinson Crusoes with hard work in his service” (22). He even goes so far as to say that “such a book as Robinson Crusoe never was written, and never will be written again” (22). I think we would be remiss to take this statement as only an indication of an old man’s madness (whether or not we trust Betteredge as a narrator is an entirely different question)."
71baswood
>69 Oandthegang: and >70 ELiz_M: Thank you for your interesting observations.
There have been some who have identified Robinson Crusoe as the ultimate Capitalist - slave trader and all.
I can understand an abridged version (or even an unabridged version) being read aloud as an example of how a man alone can single handedly overcome all difficulties.
There have been some who have identified Robinson Crusoe as the ultimate Capitalist - slave trader and all.
I can understand an abridged version (or even an unabridged version) being read aloud as an example of how a man alone can single handedly overcome all difficulties.
73Oandthegang
>70 ELiz_M: Arghh! That must be what I was thinking of. Now I will have to reread them both! (I can't even remember reading The Moonstone, but The Master is definitely a good read for a story of evil)
74Linda92007
Great review of Winter in July, Barry. I may make this one my next Lessing read, as it sounds like it has commonalities with The Grass Is Singing, which I thought was excellent.
75SassyLassy
>79 baswood: Great link. That looks like a really interesting course. This is the year for me to reread The Moonstone. I am a huge Wilkie Collins fan.
>65 baswood: Wonderful evocation of that sense of displacement. Also, as you say, nobody wins.
Looking forward to more of your Lessing reads.
>65 baswood: Wonderful evocation of that sense of displacement. Also, as you say, nobody wins.
Looking forward to more of your Lessing reads.
76baswood
Brecker Brothers - Out of the Loop - 1994
Becker Brothers - Return of the Brecker Brothers - 1992
The Brecker Brothers were Randy Brecker on trumpet and Michael Brecker on saxophones and between 1975 and 1980 they released a series of records that could loosely be described as jazz fusion. Tightly arranged with Randy writing much of the material and as the group progressed they moved into funk territory even crossing over to disco: they sold a lot of records and had a few hits.
They reformed the group in the 1990s and these two CD’s were the result. During the intervening years Michael Brecker had developed into a world class saxophone player and shares composing credits with his brother. The music now leans more towards smooth jazz, but still with elements of funk but the disco elements have long since disappeared. The material is as strong as ever and the group consists of guitars, keyboards and drums beautifully recorded on both these discs. Superb arrangements highlight some great tunes and most of the solo space is shared by the two brothers, but there is also plenty of great guitar riffs and keyboard fills. It is difficult to choose between the two Cds as they both feature some electric playing by Michael Brecker and the varied sounds and grooves make every track a joy to swing along to. Perhaps my favourite track is “Thats All There Is to Do” which features a marvellous deadpan vocal from Randy and some nice trumpet.
Gorgeous music and as good as jazz fusion gets and so five stars for both Cds.
Some tracks:
https://youtu.be/_1GxJpLJ7y0
https://youtu.be/x5cyR_1P3rs
https://youtu.be/RAhEnzR_z2A
https://youtu.be/UCSMqKLzrX8
77dchaikin
>65 baswood: Enjoyed your latest Lessing review.
79baswood
City at World’s End by Edmond Hamilton
Science fiction from 1951 that keeps the pages turning on a well told tale. Pulp fiction it might be, but when the writing is as smooth as this and the ideas are good then you could do worse than spend an afternoon with this book. The City at World’s end is Middletown America and a mysterious atomic explosion catapults the city through the time and space continuum far into the future. It is still earth but the sun is coming to the end of it’s life and earth is a cold desolate planet.
Middletown is home to its own secret atomic research station and it is the scientist who are the heroes in this book. They must solve the problems of survival for a town of fifty thousand people on a dead planet. When the chance comes to leave their town the people do not want to go, they are ferociously proud of their patrimony and led by a short sighted but passionate mayor they dig in their heels.
Largely free of the worst sexism that can make some of the science fiction from this period a struggle to read Hamilton keeps things fairly simple, but not too simple, problems are not solved by American muscle and the characters have some depth. A pretty good story with a theme running through it that might reflect small town American views at the start of the cold war. Imaginative and with it’s own logic it will please readers who like these stories. I do and will be on the lookout for more reads by Edmond Hamilton (who was married to Leigh Brackett one of the few female popular science fiction authors). 3.5 stars.
Science fiction from 1951 that keeps the pages turning on a well told tale. Pulp fiction it might be, but when the writing is as smooth as this and the ideas are good then you could do worse than spend an afternoon with this book. The City at World’s end is Middletown America and a mysterious atomic explosion catapults the city through the time and space continuum far into the future. It is still earth but the sun is coming to the end of it’s life and earth is a cold desolate planet.
Middletown is home to its own secret atomic research station and it is the scientist who are the heroes in this book. They must solve the problems of survival for a town of fifty thousand people on a dead planet. When the chance comes to leave their town the people do not want to go, they are ferociously proud of their patrimony and led by a short sighted but passionate mayor they dig in their heels.
Largely free of the worst sexism that can make some of the science fiction from this period a struggle to read Hamilton keeps things fairly simple, but not too simple, problems are not solved by American muscle and the characters have some depth. A pretty good story with a theme running through it that might reflect small town American views at the start of the cold war. Imaginative and with it’s own logic it will please readers who like these stories. I do and will be on the lookout for more reads by Edmond Hamilton (who was married to Leigh Brackett one of the few female popular science fiction authors). 3.5 stars.
80FlorenceArt
>79 baswood: Interesting review! I've never read anything by Edmond Hamilton. I'll consider him for the wishlist.
81valkyrdeath
>79 baswood: I didn't know anything about this one. It's nice to find more science fiction from that era where the scientists were the heroes rather than the people causing the problems as they often seemed to be at that time, especially in film sci-fi. I'll keep a look out for something by Edmond Hamilton.
82theaelizabet
The Brecker Brothers are new to me. I liked King of the Lobby, but then I'm a sucker for Funk.
83kidzdoc
Fabulous reviews of Robinson Crusoe and Winter in July, Barry.
I'm only vaguely familiar with Michael Brecker, so I'll come back to listen to those YouTube selections later today. TYIA.
I'm only vaguely familiar with Michael Brecker, so I'll come back to listen to those YouTube selections later today. TYIA.
84The_Hibernator
Great review of Robinson Crusoe!
85baswood
As I was fencing, freak misfortune pinned
My Left arm with a broken sword’s sharp thrust
And so its point, half blunt, half jagged, pierced
Me at the elbow, made a bone deep wound.
My arm began to shed blood all around,
And then the beauty who kills me, infused
with pity, tried with a care to staunch it, nursed
And dressed the injury with her own hand.
Alas, if you’ve some wish to give relief
(I said then) to the wounds that scar my life,
And give it the strength it had at its start,
Don’t probe this here, but let your pity keep
On going, to the wound Love scores so deep
With your fine eyes in the core of my heart.
Pierre de Ronsard sonnet CLXX from Les Amours de Cassandra
86baswood
Cassandra (Fyfieldbooks) by Pierre de Ronsard, translated by Clive Lawrence.
Pierre de Ronsard (1524-85) French renaissance man was the leader of a group of poets labelled The Brigade (Pléaide), whose aim was to revolutionise the poetry of his recent past. Rejecting the French literary tastes of the time he turned instead to classical and Italian poetic models, using powerful imagery, some from from ancient mythology, to make them his own. His output was prolific but today he is remembered mainly for his love poetry and Les Amours de Cassandra was his first collection. There are 228 sonnets, three songs, three elegies and a couple of other poems all about a love affair that was never consummated.
For a poet who set out to change the face of French poetry it would seem curious he would choose to base this sequence of poems on the traditions of Petrarch the leading Italian Renaissance poet who lived over 200 years earlier. Petrarch’s most famous collection is the Canzoniere a collection of 366 poems many of which are in sonnet form concerning his unrequited love affair with Laura; and so for Laura we could substitute Cassandra in Ronsard’s collection. Therefore there are some striking similarities enhanced by the fact that Ronsard used the Petrarchan rhyming scheme and sonnet form and so we must ask ourselves what if anything did Ronsard add to the mixture or how did he make his sequence different from Petrarch’s earlier masterpiece.
The first thing that is evident is that Ronsard uses an overlay of classical mythology to many of the sonnets. He has chosen the name Cassandra who was a figure in the mythology of the Trojan Wars and in some of the sonnets her story in those wars are referenced to the speaker (Ronsard’s) own battles with his love for Cassandra. Other hero’s from Greek mythology also make an appearance and serve to link many of the poems to the classical tradition. In later editions of the poetry; notes to help readers through some of the classical references were added. Secondly although Ronsard’s affair with Cassandra was never consummated he gets much closer to her than Petrarch ever got to Laura. Petrarch’s poems were very much in the tradition of fine d’amours; a courtiers expression of love for an idyllic presence. While Petrarch is content to worship the ground on which Laura walks Ronsard gets more up close and personal with Cassandra: he has conversations with her, erotic dreams and on one occasion even a kiss. Thirdly Ronsard’s poems are much more securely placed in the natural world. He uses the countryside around Vendome to provide an added dimension to the sonnets. The river Loire is a powerful source and metaphor to much that is going on in the mind and heart of the poet, flowing water, the changing seasons are reflected in the poets changing moods. While Petrarch certainly has his moments of doubt and pain in his futile chase after Laura, Ronsard is not above feeling bitter, even hostile in the face of Cassandra’s continued rejection of his suite.
Both Laura and Cassandra have been identified as real people. Petrarch courted his Laura from the first moment that he saw her (as did Ronsard his Cassandra) and continued to be in love with her even after she died; at least a third of the collection focuses on his longing to join her in some sort of afterlife. Ronsard’s courting of Cassandra seems to have lasted for about seven years and he was apparently a bit sniffy about Petrarch love affair saying that he should have moved on. Ronsard certainly moved on writing two more amours collections to Marie and Helen respectively.
Comparing the two collections which I was bound to do, I find that each have their own qualities. Overall Petrarchs Canzioniere have a more gentle dream like quality although as a reader we are left in no doubt of the passion that the poet is feeling. He seems to be continually begging for our sympathy - woe is me to be suffering the pangs of love and suffering them so deeply that his very life seems to be in danger. Ronsard on the other hand never seems to be so overcome that he is in danger of destroying himself, even in his darkest moments he is optimistic of success and enjoys to some extent the pains that he is suffering. In both collections the poets lurch from optimism to extreme pessimism almost from sonnet to sonnet, but Ronsard is more inclined to see some cruelty in the way he is treated and he is in some respects more down to earth.
The fourteen line sonnet with its twists and turns and sometimes pithy final lines or couplets is one of my favourite poetic forms. However reading so many (in both collections) without any story development can be a strain on concentration. It is inevitable that some individual poems will stand out while many of them will sound similar with only minor variations on a theme. Both collections do fall into the trap of seeming to be repetitious and yet there is usually something to hold the attention, this is probably more true of the Cassandra collection.
I read Les Amours de Cassandra in a translation by Clive Lawrence who admits to sacrificing a little accuracy in his attempts to follow the rhyming scheme of the original French. I also had the Gallimard modern French translation when I thought it necessary to get nearer to the original. I think that Clive Lawrence does an excellent job with his translation and his introduction is informative and lively and so 4.5 stars.
Here is a sonnet from the collection by Ronsard translated by Clive Lawrence
Against my will, your eyes’ spellbinding light
Overpowers my soul, and when I speak
Of how I’m dying, all you do is shake
With Laughter - my disease is your delight.
At least, since nothing better will requite
My love, let me sigh as my life’s strings break.
Your fine eyes’ gross pride ties me to a stake,
Without your laughing at my careworn state.
To mock my lost health, laugh at all my pain,
Double my wretchedness with blithe disdain,
Hate one who loves you and live on the sounds
Of pain he utters; to break faith, breach duty -
Ah, can’t you see how that, my cruel beauty,
Is to smear blood and murder on your hands?
Pierre de Ronsard (1524-85) French renaissance man was the leader of a group of poets labelled The Brigade (Pléaide), whose aim was to revolutionise the poetry of his recent past. Rejecting the French literary tastes of the time he turned instead to classical and Italian poetic models, using powerful imagery, some from from ancient mythology, to make them his own. His output was prolific but today he is remembered mainly for his love poetry and Les Amours de Cassandra was his first collection. There are 228 sonnets, three songs, three elegies and a couple of other poems all about a love affair that was never consummated.
For a poet who set out to change the face of French poetry it would seem curious he would choose to base this sequence of poems on the traditions of Petrarch the leading Italian Renaissance poet who lived over 200 years earlier. Petrarch’s most famous collection is the Canzoniere a collection of 366 poems many of which are in sonnet form concerning his unrequited love affair with Laura; and so for Laura we could substitute Cassandra in Ronsard’s collection. Therefore there are some striking similarities enhanced by the fact that Ronsard used the Petrarchan rhyming scheme and sonnet form and so we must ask ourselves what if anything did Ronsard add to the mixture or how did he make his sequence different from Petrarch’s earlier masterpiece.
The first thing that is evident is that Ronsard uses an overlay of classical mythology to many of the sonnets. He has chosen the name Cassandra who was a figure in the mythology of the Trojan Wars and in some of the sonnets her story in those wars are referenced to the speaker (Ronsard’s) own battles with his love for Cassandra. Other hero’s from Greek mythology also make an appearance and serve to link many of the poems to the classical tradition. In later editions of the poetry; notes to help readers through some of the classical references were added. Secondly although Ronsard’s affair with Cassandra was never consummated he gets much closer to her than Petrarch ever got to Laura. Petrarch’s poems were very much in the tradition of fine d’amours; a courtiers expression of love for an idyllic presence. While Petrarch is content to worship the ground on which Laura walks Ronsard gets more up close and personal with Cassandra: he has conversations with her, erotic dreams and on one occasion even a kiss. Thirdly Ronsard’s poems are much more securely placed in the natural world. He uses the countryside around Vendome to provide an added dimension to the sonnets. The river Loire is a powerful source and metaphor to much that is going on in the mind and heart of the poet, flowing water, the changing seasons are reflected in the poets changing moods. While Petrarch certainly has his moments of doubt and pain in his futile chase after Laura, Ronsard is not above feeling bitter, even hostile in the face of Cassandra’s continued rejection of his suite.
Both Laura and Cassandra have been identified as real people. Petrarch courted his Laura from the first moment that he saw her (as did Ronsard his Cassandra) and continued to be in love with her even after she died; at least a third of the collection focuses on his longing to join her in some sort of afterlife. Ronsard’s courting of Cassandra seems to have lasted for about seven years and he was apparently a bit sniffy about Petrarch love affair saying that he should have moved on. Ronsard certainly moved on writing two more amours collections to Marie and Helen respectively.
Comparing the two collections which I was bound to do, I find that each have their own qualities. Overall Petrarchs Canzioniere have a more gentle dream like quality although as a reader we are left in no doubt of the passion that the poet is feeling. He seems to be continually begging for our sympathy - woe is me to be suffering the pangs of love and suffering them so deeply that his very life seems to be in danger. Ronsard on the other hand never seems to be so overcome that he is in danger of destroying himself, even in his darkest moments he is optimistic of success and enjoys to some extent the pains that he is suffering. In both collections the poets lurch from optimism to extreme pessimism almost from sonnet to sonnet, but Ronsard is more inclined to see some cruelty in the way he is treated and he is in some respects more down to earth.
The fourteen line sonnet with its twists and turns and sometimes pithy final lines or couplets is one of my favourite poetic forms. However reading so many (in both collections) without any story development can be a strain on concentration. It is inevitable that some individual poems will stand out while many of them will sound similar with only minor variations on a theme. Both collections do fall into the trap of seeming to be repetitious and yet there is usually something to hold the attention, this is probably more true of the Cassandra collection.
I read Les Amours de Cassandra in a translation by Clive Lawrence who admits to sacrificing a little accuracy in his attempts to follow the rhyming scheme of the original French. I also had the Gallimard modern French translation when I thought it necessary to get nearer to the original. I think that Clive Lawrence does an excellent job with his translation and his introduction is informative and lively and so 4.5 stars.
Here is a sonnet from the collection by Ronsard translated by Clive Lawrence
Against my will, your eyes’ spellbinding light
Overpowers my soul, and when I speak
Of how I’m dying, all you do is shake
With Laughter - my disease is your delight.
At least, since nothing better will requite
My love, let me sigh as my life’s strings break.
Your fine eyes’ gross pride ties me to a stake,
Without your laughing at my careworn state.
To mock my lost health, laugh at all my pain,
Double my wretchedness with blithe disdain,
Hate one who loves you and live on the sounds
Of pain he utters; to break faith, breach duty -
Ah, can’t you see how that, my cruel beauty,
Is to smear blood and murder on your hands?
87NanaCC
>86 baswood: Great review! It isn't a book that I would read, but I always enjoy learning through your reviews.
88cabegley
>85 baswood: and >86 baswood: I really enjoyed both poems and your review, particularly the background!
89edwinbcn
Penguin Classics has a nice anthology of poetry by Ronsard in a bilingual French + English edition.
90baswood
>89 edwinbcn: I am reading the penguin classics book at the moment.
92baswood
Ronsard and Rabelais
Epitaph for Francois Rabelais (translated in prose form by Malcolm Quainton and Elizabeth Vinestock) from a poem by Ronsard
If nature engenders something from a dead man who lies rotting, and if generation comes from corruption, a vine will be born from the stomach and belly of our worth Rabelais, who drank constantly while he was alive,
for with a single swig his great gob would by itself have drunk more wine, draining it, nose first, in two shakes, than a pig drinks sweet milk, or than Iris drinks rivers, or than the tawny shore drinks waves.
Never however early in the morning, did the sun see him when he had not been drinking, and never in the evening, however late, did black night see him not drinking, for being parched, the good fellow drank night and day without a break.
But when blazing Dog Days brought round the burning season, he rolled up his sleeves, and lay spread eagled on the rush-strewn floor amid the drinking vessels, and without any shame, becoming filthy among greasy dishes, he wallowed in the wine like a frog in the mire; then drunk, he sang the praises of his friend, good Bacchus, recounting how the Thebans were subjugated by him, and how his mother was visited by his father too hotly, who instead of doing it to her, burned her alive, alas!
He sang of the great club and the mare of Gargantua, of great Panurge, and the land of the credulous Papimanes, their laws, their ways and their homes, and of Jean des Entommeures, and of Epistemon's battles. But Death, who was not a drinker, hauled the drinker out of his world, and now makes him drink from the water that flows murkily into the bosom of the wide river Acheron.
Now you who pass by, whoever you may be, hang drinking vessels over his grave, hang some sparkling wine there, and some bottles, sausages and hams; for, if beneath his tombstone his soul still has some feeling, he prefers these to lillies, however freshly they are picked.
I rather fancy that the aptly named Elizabeth Vinestock translated this - and Ronsard liked his wine, so I believe.
Epitaph for Francois Rabelais (translated in prose form by Malcolm Quainton and Elizabeth Vinestock) from a poem by Ronsard
If nature engenders something from a dead man who lies rotting, and if generation comes from corruption, a vine will be born from the stomach and belly of our worth Rabelais, who drank constantly while he was alive,
for with a single swig his great gob would by itself have drunk more wine, draining it, nose first, in two shakes, than a pig drinks sweet milk, or than Iris drinks rivers, or than the tawny shore drinks waves.
Never however early in the morning, did the sun see him when he had not been drinking, and never in the evening, however late, did black night see him not drinking, for being parched, the good fellow drank night and day without a break.
But when blazing Dog Days brought round the burning season, he rolled up his sleeves, and lay spread eagled on the rush-strewn floor amid the drinking vessels, and without any shame, becoming filthy among greasy dishes, he wallowed in the wine like a frog in the mire; then drunk, he sang the praises of his friend, good Bacchus, recounting how the Thebans were subjugated by him, and how his mother was visited by his father too hotly, who instead of doing it to her, burned her alive, alas!
He sang of the great club and the mare of Gargantua, of great Panurge, and the land of the credulous Papimanes, their laws, their ways and their homes, and of Jean des Entommeures, and of Epistemon's battles. But Death, who was not a drinker, hauled the drinker out of his world, and now makes him drink from the water that flows murkily into the bosom of the wide river Acheron.
Now you who pass by, whoever you may be, hang drinking vessels over his grave, hang some sparkling wine there, and some bottles, sausages and hams; for, if beneath his tombstone his soul still has some feeling, he prefers these to lillies, however freshly they are picked.
I rather fancy that the aptly named Elizabeth Vinestock translated this - and Ronsard liked his wine, so I believe.
93Jargoneer
Just catching up.
Re the conversation about Robinson Crusoe. One of the things that a contemporary readership would be familiar with is the story of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who spent over 4 years as a castaway on one of the Juan Fernández Islands. (The one he was trapped on is now called 'Alexander Selkirk Island', its smaller companion, 'Robinson Crusoe Island').
>76 baswood: - I've never taken the Brecker brothers that seriously as jazz musicians due to the amount of session work they did, from Steely Dan to Aerosmith. From your review I have been unfairly judging them.
>79 baswood: - Hamilton's wife, Leigh Brackett, also co-wrote the screenplay to the Howard Hawks' version of The Big Sleep. She then promptly retired from screen-writing as a result of getting married to Hamilton and didn't return until 1959's Rio Bravo, again directed by Hawks. Her last screen-writing job - The Empire Strikes Back.
Re the conversation about Robinson Crusoe. One of the things that a contemporary readership would be familiar with is the story of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who spent over 4 years as a castaway on one of the Juan Fernández Islands. (The one he was trapped on is now called 'Alexander Selkirk Island', its smaller companion, 'Robinson Crusoe Island').
>76 baswood: - I've never taken the Brecker brothers that seriously as jazz musicians due to the amount of session work they did, from Steely Dan to Aerosmith. From your review I have been unfairly judging them.
>79 baswood: - Hamilton's wife, Leigh Brackett, also co-wrote the screenplay to the Howard Hawks' version of The Big Sleep. She then promptly retired from screen-writing as a result of getting married to Hamilton and didn't return until 1959's Rio Bravo, again directed by Hawks. Her last screen-writing job - The Empire Strikes Back.
94baswood
Ronsard the Poet Edited by Terence Cave
Published by University Paperbacks this is a collection of essays on the poetry of Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585). The essays cover many aspects of Ronsard’s prolific output and although they are not a chronological study they have been well edited by Terence Cave and provide an excellent introduction to the whole range of his poetry. Ronsard is probably best remembered for his love poetry and his role as leader of the Pléiade group in 16th century renaissance France, but the essays emphasise as well his role as a courtier at the French court and his requirement to produce poems for state occasions; jousting tournaments, masques and parades, government propaganda, epitaphs and odes.
The first essay provides a general critique of the poetry bringing out it’s main themes and style, this is followed by a closer look at the love poetry concentrating on the Amours de Cassandra and the Sonets for Helen. Terence Cave’s excellent preface points out that to really understand the major themes then the reader needs to understand the viewpoint of a 16th century renaissance man and the next two essays go a long way into examining this criteria. The first covers the role that neoplatonism played in Ronsard’s thoughts and includes a brief review of the universe as it was understood by educated people at the time: concentric circles, the harmony of the spheres and the four basic elements with the earth at the centre and a God like presence outside the cosmos. The second essay deals with Ronsard’s mythological universe: as a well read humanist thinker Ronsard had at his disposal a whole series of stories from mainly Greek mythology and he uses them throughout his oeuvre. There is an interesting essay on the idea of music in the poetry and Brian Jeffrey dispels the myth that Ronsard was a musician who wrote many of his poems to be set to music. An essay on the political and polemical works provides much needed background on the state of the nation. Ronsard was a catholic and he writes to underpin the governments position at a time when France was entering into its religious war period. The penultimate essay deals with the later poetry at a time when Ronsard had effectively retired from public life. The final essay looks at one of Ronsard’s love sonnets from the Amours de Marie collection and is interesting because it examines his writing methods. Ronsard was in the habit of revising his poems for various collections and publications and by looking at various versions of the same poem the reader gets an idea of his way off working.
All in all the essays provide an extensive overview of the poetry and although written by different authors they have been edited so effectively that they seem almost seamless. There are many extracts from the poetry, for use as examples, and these are in the original 16th century French with no English translations, however the commentary on them is usually detailed enough to make them coherent to non French speakers. These essays do serve to enhance any readings of Ronsard’s poetry and they will encourage the reader to go further than just the love poetry. A four star read for those that like this sort of thing
Selected Poems (penguin classics) Pierre de Ronsard.
Described as a new dual-language edition. What you get is the original poems set out in 16th century French with a prose translation underneath. Therefore to get the most out of this volume you will need some understanding of the French language. I do like the fact that the prose translation appears always on the same page as the poetry which enables the reader easily to check the translation at a glance. There is a good introduction and plenty of notes on each of the poems and even a short essay on how to read French poetry. A glossary of names and places and a chronology of contexts completes a well thought out publication.
The selections seem to cover most aspects of Ronsards poetry. There are of course examples from his three Livres de Amours, odes and elegies, however what I found most fascinating were selections from his hymns. These cover Ronsards view on his inpiration, his fame, his place in history etc, however in Les Daimons he speaks of the popularly held belief in the sphere of the demons and how they influence peoples lives on earth. There are extracts from the political poems and finally poems dictated when he was on his death bed.
The selection leads you to want to read more as you appreciate Ronsards scope and breadth. He could be bawdy, fair minded, political and he wrote some beautiful lyrical poetry. He also had a wicked sense of humour. A brilliant mind and well represented in these poems. 4 stars.
An example of a prose translation >92 baswood:
Published by University Paperbacks this is a collection of essays on the poetry of Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585). The essays cover many aspects of Ronsard’s prolific output and although they are not a chronological study they have been well edited by Terence Cave and provide an excellent introduction to the whole range of his poetry. Ronsard is probably best remembered for his love poetry and his role as leader of the Pléiade group in 16th century renaissance France, but the essays emphasise as well his role as a courtier at the French court and his requirement to produce poems for state occasions; jousting tournaments, masques and parades, government propaganda, epitaphs and odes.
The first essay provides a general critique of the poetry bringing out it’s main themes and style, this is followed by a closer look at the love poetry concentrating on the Amours de Cassandra and the Sonets for Helen. Terence Cave’s excellent preface points out that to really understand the major themes then the reader needs to understand the viewpoint of a 16th century renaissance man and the next two essays go a long way into examining this criteria. The first covers the role that neoplatonism played in Ronsard’s thoughts and includes a brief review of the universe as it was understood by educated people at the time: concentric circles, the harmony of the spheres and the four basic elements with the earth at the centre and a God like presence outside the cosmos. The second essay deals with Ronsard’s mythological universe: as a well read humanist thinker Ronsard had at his disposal a whole series of stories from mainly Greek mythology and he uses them throughout his oeuvre. There is an interesting essay on the idea of music in the poetry and Brian Jeffrey dispels the myth that Ronsard was a musician who wrote many of his poems to be set to music. An essay on the political and polemical works provides much needed background on the state of the nation. Ronsard was a catholic and he writes to underpin the governments position at a time when France was entering into its religious war period. The penultimate essay deals with the later poetry at a time when Ronsard had effectively retired from public life. The final essay looks at one of Ronsard’s love sonnets from the Amours de Marie collection and is interesting because it examines his writing methods. Ronsard was in the habit of revising his poems for various collections and publications and by looking at various versions of the same poem the reader gets an idea of his way off working.
All in all the essays provide an extensive overview of the poetry and although written by different authors they have been edited so effectively that they seem almost seamless. There are many extracts from the poetry, for use as examples, and these are in the original 16th century French with no English translations, however the commentary on them is usually detailed enough to make them coherent to non French speakers. These essays do serve to enhance any readings of Ronsard’s poetry and they will encourage the reader to go further than just the love poetry. A four star read for those that like this sort of thing
Selected Poems (penguin classics) Pierre de Ronsard.
Described as a new dual-language edition. What you get is the original poems set out in 16th century French with a prose translation underneath. Therefore to get the most out of this volume you will need some understanding of the French language. I do like the fact that the prose translation appears always on the same page as the poetry which enables the reader easily to check the translation at a glance. There is a good introduction and plenty of notes on each of the poems and even a short essay on how to read French poetry. A glossary of names and places and a chronology of contexts completes a well thought out publication.
The selections seem to cover most aspects of Ronsards poetry. There are of course examples from his three Livres de Amours, odes and elegies, however what I found most fascinating were selections from his hymns. These cover Ronsards view on his inpiration, his fame, his place in history etc, however in Les Daimons he speaks of the popularly held belief in the sphere of the demons and how they influence peoples lives on earth. There are extracts from the political poems and finally poems dictated when he was on his death bed.
The selection leads you to want to read more as you appreciate Ronsards scope and breadth. He could be bawdy, fair minded, political and he wrote some beautiful lyrical poetry. He also had a wicked sense of humour. A brilliant mind and well represented in these poems. 4 stars.
An example of a prose translation >92 baswood:
95theaelizabet
Wanted to make sure you saw this: http://www.openculture.com/2016/01/jules-verne-accurately-predicts-what-the-20th...
96edwinbcn
Interesting to see that French and French literature are gradually taking a larger place in your reading.
97kidzdoc
Nice reviews of Cassandra and Ronsard the Poet, Barry.
98rebeccanyc
Enjoyed catching up with your reviews, and enjoyed the poems too.
100baswood
Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the edge of the World by Joan Druett
“Deciding which version of each little event was closer to the truth was an interesting challenge” says Joan Druett in her authors note at the end of her account of two shipwrecks that happened in 1864. At the edge of the world refers to the Aukland islands group in the sub antarctic waters that lie 220 miles due south of New Zealand, where the weather is usually very unpleasant. Individuals within both groups of survivors, published accounts of their ordeals and it is from these that Druett has woven together her story of the events.
In January 1864 the Grafton was wrecked in a violent storm off the coast of the Aukland Islands, there were five survivors who made it ashore. The Islands had no settled population and the five men became castaways for eighteen months. In May of the same year The Invercauld was wrecked at the opposite end of the Islands and nineteen men made it ashore. Appalling weather and a mountainous terrain kept the two groups of castaways far apart. The Invercauld group spent 12 months on the islands but only three of the nineteen survived, whereas all five of the Grafton group made it back to civilisation.
Joan Druett has written a sort of documentary of the shipwrecks and by contrasting the two groups and moving from one story to the other she has highlighted why the small group were more successful than the larger group. Reading her account of the Grafton group is very much like reading Robinson Crusoe. Hard work, a never say die attitude and an ability to adapt and make the most of their surroundings along with their Christian ideals were the backbone to their survival. It was significant also that they managed to work together with a certain amount of camaraderie and a democratically elected leader. The Invercauld group by contrast could not overcome their reliance on the hierarchy of their naval rankings and when this failed to provide leadership the group fell apart.
These are not earth shattering events on the world’s stage, but are full of human interest. Reading about people coping with extreme conditions is fascinating to many of us and in this case knowing that the events described happened more or less as Druitt tells us, gives us a feeling of authenticity that we get when reading an extraordinary story in the newspapers. A real life adventure, although one few of us would wish to share is told brilliantly by an author who has painstakingly researched her subject and come up with an angle that is entertaining and enlightening. I was just glad to have experienced this from the comfort of my warm weatherproof study. 4 stars.
“Deciding which version of each little event was closer to the truth was an interesting challenge” says Joan Druett in her authors note at the end of her account of two shipwrecks that happened in 1864. At the edge of the world refers to the Aukland islands group in the sub antarctic waters that lie 220 miles due south of New Zealand, where the weather is usually very unpleasant. Individuals within both groups of survivors, published accounts of their ordeals and it is from these that Druett has woven together her story of the events.
In January 1864 the Grafton was wrecked in a violent storm off the coast of the Aukland Islands, there were five survivors who made it ashore. The Islands had no settled population and the five men became castaways for eighteen months. In May of the same year The Invercauld was wrecked at the opposite end of the Islands and nineteen men made it ashore. Appalling weather and a mountainous terrain kept the two groups of castaways far apart. The Invercauld group spent 12 months on the islands but only three of the nineteen survived, whereas all five of the Grafton group made it back to civilisation.
Joan Druett has written a sort of documentary of the shipwrecks and by contrasting the two groups and moving from one story to the other she has highlighted why the small group were more successful than the larger group. Reading her account of the Grafton group is very much like reading Robinson Crusoe. Hard work, a never say die attitude and an ability to adapt and make the most of their surroundings along with their Christian ideals were the backbone to their survival. It was significant also that they managed to work together with a certain amount of camaraderie and a democratically elected leader. The Invercauld group by contrast could not overcome their reliance on the hierarchy of their naval rankings and when this failed to provide leadership the group fell apart.
These are not earth shattering events on the world’s stage, but are full of human interest. Reading about people coping with extreme conditions is fascinating to many of us and in this case knowing that the events described happened more or less as Druitt tells us, gives us a feeling of authenticity that we get when reading an extraordinary story in the newspapers. A real life adventure, although one few of us would wish to share is told brilliantly by an author who has painstakingly researched her subject and come up with an angle that is entertaining and enlightening. I was just glad to have experienced this from the comfort of my warm weatherproof study. 4 stars.
101rachbxl
Catching up with your eclectic thread. I love the Oby poem, and The Corner that Held Them has gone on my wishlist.
102theaelizabet
I'm just catching up on some of your reviews and am finding that they provide a fine education. I'm likely never going to read de Ronsard, but I'm glad that you did, so that I can at least have some intelligently rendered exposure.
I am adding Island of the Lost, however, to my tbr.
I am adding Island of the Lost, however, to my tbr.
103rebeccanyc
I'm glad you enjoyed Island of the Lost.
104RidgewayGirl
Island of the Lost sounds fantastic.
105NanaCC
>100 baswood:. I'm so glad you liked Island of the Lost. It was on my favorites list when I read it in 2013.
106cabegley
>100 baswood: Nice review of Island of the Lost. I really enjoyed this book--I should look for more by her.
107ChocolateMuse
bas, I'm excited about The Corner That Held Them. I hate to start name-dropping old friends so early on and promise I won't do it much, but I can't help saying that you'll probably remember old Porius who posted here (and elsewhere) about 5 years ago - he used to speak so highly of Sylvia Townsend Warner that I will forever associate STW with him. I have a book of her short stories, and although I am not a short story reader in general, I did read those and loved them. Your explanation of The Corner That Held Them sounds fascinating.
108OscarWilde87
>48 baswood: Great review and a great picture! I had to look up how I rated Robinson Crusoe (4 stars) but I definitely agree that is a book that is well worth reading, even, or especially, today.
Edited: I posted this a bit early as I was still reading through the rest of the thread. Island of the Lost sounds very interesting.
Edited: I posted this a bit early as I was still reading through the rest of the thread. Island of the Lost sounds very interesting.
109baswood
John Hammond Jnr - solo (live); 1976
Gary Moore - After hours; 1992
Two white boys who made a good living playing and singing the blues; John Hammond is still with us but Gary Moore died in 2011. They were both excellent guitarists steeped in blues guitar playing and I think in both cases much better blues instrumentalists than singers. Both of them had good voices, but not great blues voices.
The John Hammond live set from 1976 features him on acoustic guitar as an interpreter of black blues legends. He plays songs made famous by Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Jimmy Reed Robert Johnson, Billy boy Arnold and others. Remembering that this is a live recording he demonstrates superb guitar technique, playing bottleneck, slide, finger picking and Barrelhouse styles. He really has those guitar styles off pat with some intricate playing. He plays harmonica and stamps his foot on a selection of songs that will be familiar to people who enjoy listening to acoustic American blues. It’s his voice however that fails to convince and makes him sound what he is on this record: a white boy playing and singing the blues. His voice is strong and powerful, but it lacks character. The concert sounds like a good one and had you been there, no doubt you would have been mesmerised by his guitar technique, but listening today it sounds like concert hall blues. 3 stars.
Gary Moore plays electric guitar on this studio record from 1992. It is a mixed bag of songs; some traditional and some original. There are various backing tracks ranging from a vibrant horn led band to an atmospheric ballad with strings, but on all the tracks Moore plays electric guitar with plenty of room for solos. The music styles range from blues to rock and having been recorded at various studios with different engineers and backing bands there is no feeling of continuity to the record. A record made to showcase some blistering guitar work by Gary Moore in different settings and a hit and miss collection of songs: seven of the eleven track are originals by Gary Moore. Once again in my opinion Moore is a better guitar player than vocalist and so when B B King helps him out on “Since I met You Baby” you can appreciate just what is missing. 3.5 stars.
Song Cycle - Van Dyke Parks 1968
Lost item, hidden gem, whatever you like to call it this is a wonderfully original collection of songs that failed to sell back in the late sixties and which I heard for the first time a couple of weeks ago. The opening track starts with a country/rock song Vine Street that suddenly stops halfway through an orchestral arrangement wafts in and Parks announces that he played third guitar on that track and he wonders what happened to the other guys who played with him, from then on we have an original song with sumptuous strings and Parks very sixties pop style vocals. The rest of the album features his songs with varied orchestral backing and it is the originality of the arrangements that grab the attention, dance band, country style, classical influences rub shoulders in each song. If you were ever impressed by Paul Buckmaster’s string arrangements on David Bowie’s Space Oddity album then you will have some idea of the depth of the arrangements on Park’s album. Great music, totally original and a sheer delight to listen to. Frank Zappa would have been proud of this and so 5 stars.
Song Cycle on youtube https://youtu.be/bKYHRpQWUwU
110baswood
>103 rebeccanyc: >105 NanaCC: It was your reviews that led me to this read, thank you very much
I have chosen it for my bookclub to read along with Robinson Crusoe.
I have chosen it for my bookclub to read along with Robinson Crusoe.
111baswood
>107 ChocolateMuse: I am tempted to read more of Sylvia Townsend Warner. I loved what she said about music in The Corner that Held Them as a music lover Lorena you might enjoy the part of it too.
112baswood
>95 theaelizabet: fascinating Teresa. I am tempted to get this.
113baswood
The Emperor of Portugallia by Selma Lagerlo
A folksy tale of a poor peasant’s love for his daughter: set in rural Sweden or Denmark sometime in the mid 19the century. It has charm with elements of the supernatural and an atmosphere that drew this reader in gradually to agree that it was well worth reading. Published in 1914 by Selma Lagerlof a Swedish writer who was the first woman to win the nobel prize for literature back in 1909. She was awarded the prize for her lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterised her writings and all these elements are here in The Emperor of Portugallia.
Jan of Ruffluckcroft is a peasant farmer and we are introduced to him as he awaits the birth of his only child. It is a wet miserable day and Jan has been locked outside of his hut while the women attend to his wife, he bemoans his fate; working hard for the feudal lord just to make ends meet with no prospects and married to a local woman who he describes as ugly. At last he is let back inside to be presented with his daughter and suddenly his heart starts beating hard inside his chest and he now has something to live for. He names the child Glory Goldie Sunnyside and as she grows up the two become good friends and Jan relies on her increasingly for her intelligence and wit. The old feudal Lord is killed in an accident and the new owner of Jan’s house lands him with a bill he cannot pay. Glory Goldie now 17 years old says she will go to Copenhagen to earn the money. She catches the ferry and that is the last that the doting parents see of their beautiful daughter, she writes one letter and disappears, rumours come back to the village that she has ‘gone wrong’. Jan is devastated and invents for himself an alternative world where Glory Goldie has made her way in the world and she is the Emperess of Portugallia and Jan is the Emperor. This fantasy takes over his life in such a way that he enacts the airs and graces of an emperor in his village and is more or less given leave to do so by the villagers who grieve with him for his loss.
Village life and the characters within it are brilliantly conjured up in this novel. The hierarchy is well established from The Lord of Falla down to the peasant farmers and the vagabonds, but there is much goodwill and kindness in evidence and people generally get along with their life. Festivals, church services and other social events are captured with a sympathetic eye by Lagerlof with an underlying sense of humour and an air of mischief and mystery. Jan becomes an increasingly eccentric character, but one that can still live and work in a village where people can accept that such things can be so, especially as they are still in tune with folk legends and mysteries in a world that exists vaguely outside of the village community.
The homespun folksy philosophy of the first few chapters was a little saccharine for my taste, but as the story developed and the characters came to life I found myself ‘drawn in’. The novel seemed also to become a little darker, especially when Glory Goldie disappears. The feel good factor is laced with a mysterious undertone and when the novel reaches its climax I was totally in sympathy. The novel was translated in to English in 1916 and is easy to read and free on the Gutenberg Project 3.5 stars.
114kidzdoc
Fabulous review of Island of the Lost, Barry! That goes right onto the wish list. I enjoyed your review of Emperor of Portugallia as well.
Thanks for the album reviews; I'll listen to the music in the links this weekend.
Thanks for the album reviews; I'll listen to the music in the links this weekend.
115sibylline
Love the review of the Hamilton!
Ah, I used to be a big John Hammond fan. Nice to be reminded.
Ah, I used to be a big John Hammond fan. Nice to be reminded.
116rebeccanyc
>111 baswood: I also enjoyed Lolly Willowes, which was wickedly funny, but I think I liked The Corner That Held Them more. I didn't like Mr. Fortune's Maggot as much, but I still enjoyed it.
>113 baswood: I never heard of this book, but I liked The Saga of Gosta Berling and The Treasure, or Herr Arne's Hoard.
>113 baswood: I never heard of this book, but I liked The Saga of Gosta Berling and The Treasure, or Herr Arne's Hoard.
117SassyLassy
Off to dig out my Gary Moore.
118baswood
>116 rebeccanyc: Went back to read your reviews of the Selma Lagerlof books and I am going to put them on my kindle
119RidgewayGirl
I am constantly reminded about how many Nobel laureates there are that I have not even heard of. Excellent review of The Emperor of Portugallia, Bas.
120ChocolateMuse
I don't know how you find these books, bas. The Emperor of Portugallia sounds fascinating.
122rebeccanyc
>118 baswood: Thanks.
123dukedom_enough
>79 baswood: >80 FlorenceArt: >81 valkyrdeath:
If I may comment late on City at World's End: Hamilton started his career in the 1920s, and spent most of it writing pulp adventures with titles like "The Atomic Conquerors" and "The Universe Wreckers". He wrote more thoughtful stories such as this one only later. If you're looking for more stories like this, be wary of anything he published before 1950. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with energetic pulp, but one wants to know in advance whether a story will be just a series of space battles.
Great to see all your reviews.
If I may comment late on City at World's End: Hamilton started his career in the 1920s, and spent most of it writing pulp adventures with titles like "The Atomic Conquerors" and "The Universe Wreckers". He wrote more thoughtful stories such as this one only later. If you're looking for more stories like this, be wary of anything he published before 1950. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with energetic pulp, but one wants to know in advance whether a story will be just a series of space battles.
Great to see all your reviews.
124The_Hibernator
>100 baswood: that looks like a really interesting book!
125deebee1
I love your reviews, barry. The Corner That Held Them looks like a must-read for me. I've been dipping in and out of late medieval Europe, but have yet to get to a fiction read about that period. I particularly look forward to the continuation of your Doris Lessing project.
126baswood
>123 dukedom_enough: Thanks for the tip. There is pulp and then there is real pulp?
>125 deebee1: Nice to see you back deebee
>125 deebee1: Nice to see you back deebee
127baswood
The Third Heaven Conspiracy by Giulio Leoni
An historical novel written by a professor of Italian Literature and it shows. That is not to say that the book suffers from any academic dryness, because it doesn't, but you do get an historical novel written by an author who attempts to give the reader some idea of the world view of his medieval characters. How much of this will be of interest to the reader will depend on their feel for turn of the 14th century Florence. It may well be confusing for some. Here is an example of a conversation of learned men who are looking/gazing at a dancer in a Tavern in Florence.
"her presence undoubtedly ignites heat in mens bodies and predisposes them for copulation. This occurs by operation of the luminous rays that emit from her body and penetrate the ocular cavities, dilating the mucous ducts through the action of their heat. It is a virtue that is characteristic of the female nature. Any shapely women who exposes herself to a man's eyes. generates the same reaction which is at the root of reproduction"
The conversation goes on to expound a theory about the effects of Pagan gods on human passion, however Leoni does not stray into Academic jargon and keeps his arguments on a level that general readers would understand.
Leon's novel is one of a series of four where he imagines that the famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was involved in murder mysteries. It dates from 1300 when Dante was a Prior (elected member of the ruling council) of Florence. The deadly feud between the Guelph and Ghibelline groupings and the divisions within the Florentine Council concerning the influence of the Pope in Rome form the historical backdrop to the story. Leoni is very good at providing his readers with a feel for 14th century Florence and together with his knowledge of how his characters would have thought about the issues of their day gives the novel some authenticity
The murder mystery itself is adequate and he comes up with a spectacular finale. He provides a glossary of Characters and historical items for those who don't know their Guelphs from their Ghibellines as well as a list characters within the novel. The novel was originally translated as "The Mosaic Murders" but later changed to "The Third Heaven Conspiracy" I enjoyed the read and because it chimed with how I imagined the characters might have behaved: I rate it at 3.5 stars but I don't think I will read any more in the series.
128baswood
Ars Nova - Philippe de Vitry 1291-1361
Philippe de Vitry has been credited with a new form of music (14th century) labelled the Ars Nova. He wrote a treatise on the new music (now lost) but a few motets written by him have survived. It was a new way of writing music and resulted in more rhythmic complexity. It allowed for individual musical lines to be noted as such and so enhanced the polyphony that was increasingly being used.
In Sylvia Townsend Warner’s book The Corner that Held Them she imagines an English curate coming to grips with the new musical notation for the first time. He has visited a Leper house in 14th century Norfolk where the Master of the house its a music lover. When the Master discovers the curate is a singer he can’t wait to try out some new music that he has discovered. With the help of one of the lepers who can sing the three of them enjoy an evening of music. Here is an extract from the book.
‘See these red notes are to be sung in the triple polation. And these red minims, following the black breve, show that the breve is imperfect. Bear that in mind and the rest will be simple. You have only to get the knack of it. Let us begin with an easy one. This is charming "Triste loysir”. Suppose I run through your part and give you an idea of it? when it comes to “more de moy" the longs are perfect and you will be enraptured.
But surely there was something wrong? it sounded very odd
No, there was nothing wrong. perhaps the interval unsettled you. You expected a fourth, no doubt. This is composed in the style of Ars Nova, it is disconcerting at times. Let us begin again. And hold on you will soon become accustomed top it.
This time he held on, though he felt himself astray, bewildered by the unexpected progressions, concords so sweet that they seemed to melt the flesh off his bones. Coming to Mors de moy, where the chaplains voice twittered in floriations high above his toiling longs, he could hardly contain himself for excitement”
Philippe De Vitry and the Ars Nova: 14th century motets - The Orlando Consort
This is vocal music and of the 19 tracks just under half of them were composed by Philippe de Vitry. There are four singers two counter tenors and two tenors. A feature of Ars Nova music was the increasing use of polyphony in secular music and all the motets here are secular. There are two and three part harmonies with more variety between the voices; gone are the long drone bass notes that are a feature of the older Ars Antiqua style. 4 stars
Johannes Ciconia Opera Omnia - Diabolus in Musica, La Morra.
Johannes Ciconia was a composer from the 14th century based in Italy. he was one of the leaders of the Trecento school and incorporated the ideas stemming from the Ars Nova of France. This is a double CD of his music featuring some profane compositions on CD 1 and motets and parts of the catholic mass on CD 2.
The first CD is a mixed bag of medieval music featuring three part harmonies from alto, mezzo-soprano, baritone and bass vocals with musical accompaniment from a variety of instruments. There are lutes, flutes, violins, harpsichords, organ and brass instruments beautifully arranged to set off the vocals. Sumptuous sounds and well recorded. It is the second CD however that is the real gem here. It is religious music and mainly choral. Some gorgeous melodies sung in the polyphonic Ars Nova Style. The tracks invariably start with a single voice with other voices coming in picking up on the phrasing and rhythms set by the lead vocal. Voices intertwine and their is a fluidity of sound between them. I particularly liked a couple of tracks featuring the Mezzo soprano and the alto voices in two part harmonies, however when four voices are used they make a lovely sound. Released in 2011 this is a must have CD and so five stars.
An Example on Youtube https://youtu.be/a7jK5G_9ZRo
Philippe de Vitry has been credited with a new form of music (14th century) labelled the Ars Nova. He wrote a treatise on the new music (now lost) but a few motets written by him have survived. It was a new way of writing music and resulted in more rhythmic complexity. It allowed for individual musical lines to be noted as such and so enhanced the polyphony that was increasingly being used.
In Sylvia Townsend Warner’s book The Corner that Held Them she imagines an English curate coming to grips with the new musical notation for the first time. He has visited a Leper house in 14th century Norfolk where the Master of the house its a music lover. When the Master discovers the curate is a singer he can’t wait to try out some new music that he has discovered. With the help of one of the lepers who can sing the three of them enjoy an evening of music. Here is an extract from the book.
‘See these red notes are to be sung in the triple polation. And these red minims, following the black breve, show that the breve is imperfect. Bear that in mind and the rest will be simple. You have only to get the knack of it. Let us begin with an easy one. This is charming "Triste loysir”. Suppose I run through your part and give you an idea of it? when it comes to “more de moy" the longs are perfect and you will be enraptured.
But surely there was something wrong? it sounded very odd
No, there was nothing wrong. perhaps the interval unsettled you. You expected a fourth, no doubt. This is composed in the style of Ars Nova, it is disconcerting at times. Let us begin again. And hold on you will soon become accustomed top it.
This time he held on, though he felt himself astray, bewildered by the unexpected progressions, concords so sweet that they seemed to melt the flesh off his bones. Coming to Mors de moy, where the chaplains voice twittered in floriations high above his toiling longs, he could hardly contain himself for excitement”
Philippe De Vitry and the Ars Nova: 14th century motets - The Orlando Consort
This is vocal music and of the 19 tracks just under half of them were composed by Philippe de Vitry. There are four singers two counter tenors and two tenors. A feature of Ars Nova music was the increasing use of polyphony in secular music and all the motets here are secular. There are two and three part harmonies with more variety between the voices; gone are the long drone bass notes that are a feature of the older Ars Antiqua style. 4 stars
Johannes Ciconia Opera Omnia - Diabolus in Musica, La Morra.
Johannes Ciconia was a composer from the 14th century based in Italy. he was one of the leaders of the Trecento school and incorporated the ideas stemming from the Ars Nova of France. This is a double CD of his music featuring some profane compositions on CD 1 and motets and parts of the catholic mass on CD 2.
The first CD is a mixed bag of medieval music featuring three part harmonies from alto, mezzo-soprano, baritone and bass vocals with musical accompaniment from a variety of instruments. There are lutes, flutes, violins, harpsichords, organ and brass instruments beautifully arranged to set off the vocals. Sumptuous sounds and well recorded. It is the second CD however that is the real gem here. It is religious music and mainly choral. Some gorgeous melodies sung in the polyphonic Ars Nova Style. The tracks invariably start with a single voice with other voices coming in picking up on the phrasing and rhythms set by the lead vocal. Voices intertwine and their is a fluidity of sound between them. I particularly liked a couple of tracks featuring the Mezzo soprano and the alto voices in two part harmonies, however when four voices are used they make a lovely sound. Released in 2011 this is a must have CD and so five stars.
An Example on Youtube https://youtu.be/a7jK5G_9ZRo
129dchaikin
Catching from numerous posts ago...this is such a terrific thread. I enjoy everything you post here, but the Ronsard stands out to me. I think I would need to learn some French before I even attempted it.
131thorold
>128 baswood: By the magic of streaming audio, I've been listening to those recordings this morning, and enjoying them very much - thanks for pointing them out!
14th century polyphony is just the thing for a lazy Sunday morning, apparently.
14th century polyphony is just the thing for a lazy Sunday morning, apparently.
132VivienneR
>128 baswood: Excellent music reviews as usual. Thanks for the link, a bonus.
133janeajones
Great review of the Leoni books -- they sound right up my alley.
I've read a bit of Selma Lagerlof -- The Saga of Gosta Berling, The Treasure and The Lowenskold Ring -- it's odd how new titles seem to keep popping up. I think The Saga of Gosta Berling is probably her best.
I've read a bit of Selma Lagerlof -- The Saga of Gosta Berling, The Treasure and The Lowenskold Ring -- it's odd how new titles seem to keep popping up. I think The Saga of Gosta Berling is probably her best.
134baswood
The Earlier Tudors by J D Mackie
This is part of the Oxford History of England series that was published between 1939 and 1965. It has since been superseded by the New Oxford History of England. The earlier Tudors was first published in 1952. It starts with an examination of the effects of the Renaissance on England before getting into the nitty gritty of the history with the aftermath of the Battle of Bosworth and the triumph of the house of Lancaster and the crowning of Henry VII in 1485. It guides us through the reign of Henry VII and then covers the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, the brief reign of Lady Jane Grey and finally the reign of Queen Mary; 600 pages later.
The book moves chronologically through the history of the earlier Tudor years covering all of the events with some analysis behind the facts. At the end of each reign their is a summary of England’s position in the world and some scene setting highlighting the issues facing the next monarch. This was indeed an Age of Kings (and Queens) with Henry VIII establishing himself as the supreme monarch both temporal and spiritual and so it feels opportune to take stock at the end of each reign. This volume is very good at detailing the political events of the period and also in sketching in the events on the continent to enable the reader to understand the foreign policy decisions. It does also purport to be a complete history and so there is plenty of scope given to social history, economic history and literature and the arts. It finishes with a final chapter on the achievements of the age.
Reading through this volume there is so much history to get through that it could be overwhelming for a reader with no background knowledge. The list of contents at the front of the book gives some reassurance and provides the details to enable the book to be used as a main text for studying the history of the period; the contents list provides a brief sentence that covers nearly every page of the book. There are appendices showing genealogy charts, lists of office holders and a brief history of coinage. The Bibliography is gloriously detailed with sections on music, literature and architecture (albeit that it is now out of date) and the index is all you would expect of a history of this sort.
This original Oxford History series obviously does not have the latest up to date commentaries, but as a more general reader this is hardly a deal breaker. The books are still widely available through second hand sources at a fraction of their original cost and so if you want to get serious about English History these are the books to read. There are fifteen volumes covering Roman Briton through to 1945 each having different historians as authors. I particularly enjoyed the full coverage given to the Earlier Tudors by J D Mackie and so five stars.
This is part of the Oxford History of England series that was published between 1939 and 1965. It has since been superseded by the New Oxford History of England. The earlier Tudors was first published in 1952. It starts with an examination of the effects of the Renaissance on England before getting into the nitty gritty of the history with the aftermath of the Battle of Bosworth and the triumph of the house of Lancaster and the crowning of Henry VII in 1485. It guides us through the reign of Henry VII and then covers the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, the brief reign of Lady Jane Grey and finally the reign of Queen Mary; 600 pages later.
The book moves chronologically through the history of the earlier Tudor years covering all of the events with some analysis behind the facts. At the end of each reign their is a summary of England’s position in the world and some scene setting highlighting the issues facing the next monarch. This was indeed an Age of Kings (and Queens) with Henry VIII establishing himself as the supreme monarch both temporal and spiritual and so it feels opportune to take stock at the end of each reign. This volume is very good at detailing the political events of the period and also in sketching in the events on the continent to enable the reader to understand the foreign policy decisions. It does also purport to be a complete history and so there is plenty of scope given to social history, economic history and literature and the arts. It finishes with a final chapter on the achievements of the age.
Reading through this volume there is so much history to get through that it could be overwhelming for a reader with no background knowledge. The list of contents at the front of the book gives some reassurance and provides the details to enable the book to be used as a main text for studying the history of the period; the contents list provides a brief sentence that covers nearly every page of the book. There are appendices showing genealogy charts, lists of office holders and a brief history of coinage. The Bibliography is gloriously detailed with sections on music, literature and architecture (albeit that it is now out of date) and the index is all you would expect of a history of this sort.
This original Oxford History series obviously does not have the latest up to date commentaries, but as a more general reader this is hardly a deal breaker. The books are still widely available through second hand sources at a fraction of their original cost and so if you want to get serious about English History these are the books to read. There are fifteen volumes covering Roman Briton through to 1945 each having different historians as authors. I particularly enjoyed the full coverage given to the Earlier Tudors by J D Mackie and so five stars.
135RidgewayGirl
The Leoni books sound interesting. I don't read much in the way of historical mysteries because they are too often just modern people playing dress-up. That Leoni gets into how people thought differently is interesting and I'll keep those mysteries in mind.
136cabegley
>134 baswood: Great review! I've been curious about this series for a while.
137ChocolateMuse
I very much enjoyed your post on Ars Nova, bas, especially the quote from Sylvia T.W. By tenuous association of ideas it reminds me of what my piano student said in this week's lesson - she's an adult beginner, and couldn't remember the name of a minim. She referred to the note as having "the emptiness inside". I like it. A note suffering from existential crisis.
138dchaikin
>134 baswood: I was going to say i'm just impressed you read the book, but I think I'm also a bit jealous. Maybe I need to pull out a thick history book.
>137 ChocolateMuse: no clue what a minim is, but entertained by the poor suffering note.
>137 ChocolateMuse: no clue what a minim is, but entertained by the poor suffering note.
139AnnieMod
>134 baswood:
This is my preferred work about the early Tudors - even if newer editions have more information and are a nice supplement, I am yet to find an author covering this specific topic better than Mackie.
This is my preferred work about the early Tudors - even if newer editions have more information and are a nice supplement, I am yet to find an author covering this specific topic better than Mackie.
140ChocolateMuse
This is a minim. Notice its stark emptiness:
(known as a 'half note' in the US)
(known as a 'half note' in the US)
141baswood
More Music (but of a different kind) that has at its core a stark emptiness.
Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along the Highway - 2006
Cult of Luna - Eternal Kingdom - 2008
Cult of Luna are a heavy metal band from Sweden and have been progressing since 1998 to the stage where they have produced two great albums in the progressive post rock sound that combines the best of hardcore and sludge with a more melodic flow that allows them to diverge into long pieces of music that satisfy on many levels. Heavy in the sense that the group have three/four guitarists, in addition to bass drums and some keyboards. There are no guitar solos rather their music seems to be heavily orchestrated to provide a depth of sound that combines with riffs and melodic sequences. When I first heard a track from the group on a metal magazine sampler I was impressed by the way that they built their song over a series of climaxes into something that reminded me of a late Bruckner symphony.
Somewhere Along the Highway is probably the high water mark for this group. It starts with some fuzzy guitars with feedback, whispered vocals and a disturbing percussion figure before launching into “Finland” with its heavy chord progression riffs, a marching drum beat and screamed vocals, but like most of the tracks the song seems to develop in stages. Drum patterns change, the guitars throwout melodic figures from the sludge and an edgy keyboard figure helps to provide a feeling of impending doom, there is a quieter passage before blocks of guitar chords leads into a more chimey guitar sound; the song has managed to move through its changes with ease. There are more heavy sounding tracks and a slow bassy atmospheric piece called “And With her Came the Birds”. The album ends with the two strongest songs in the collection. “Dim” has a progressive rock sound building from a simple guitar riff into a heavy melodic pattern and ending with a strange sounding keyboard figure. “Dark City, Dead Man” starts with some dark guitar chords and a percussion figure that harps back to the opening track. The three guitars then wallop in before a rhythmic riff is enhanced by a changing drum pattern; keyboards enhance the melodic line as the music changes again, building to a superb melody with the guitars underpinning a well orchestrated keyboard figure. It is exciting, full and intense, but lightened by that dancing melody that left this listener completely satisfied. The final two tracks of eleven and fifteen minutes respectively move through their changes in a way that feels organic: this is great musical development and makes this a five star listen.
The CD on youtube https://youtu.be/JLf_oYrkxjM
Eternal Kingdom released two years later, does not have the same organic flow as the previous release, but the group are still developing their sound. The vocals are all screamed or gargled and so like the previous release you really need to have the lyrics in front of you to understand the words and the words are more important on Eternal Kingdom because they tell a macabre story. The guitars are a little more adventurous; playing riffs off each other giving the music some more depth, they are particularly effective on Ghost Trail, which is the longest track and a standout for me. The collection contains an excellent instrumental all bass sounds and a great guitar line. There is plenty of doom laden excitement in the music and the changing patterns keep things interesting. The drum patterns are perhaps even more impressive and there are still some curious keyboard stabs and surprising melodic content amongst the heaviness. This is just a shade behind the previous release and so 4.5 stars
Following Betalus from Eternal Kingdom https://youtu.be/TulnmeaObio
Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along the Highway - 2006
Cult of Luna - Eternal Kingdom - 2008
Cult of Luna are a heavy metal band from Sweden and have been progressing since 1998 to the stage where they have produced two great albums in the progressive post rock sound that combines the best of hardcore and sludge with a more melodic flow that allows them to diverge into long pieces of music that satisfy on many levels. Heavy in the sense that the group have three/four guitarists, in addition to bass drums and some keyboards. There are no guitar solos rather their music seems to be heavily orchestrated to provide a depth of sound that combines with riffs and melodic sequences. When I first heard a track from the group on a metal magazine sampler I was impressed by the way that they built their song over a series of climaxes into something that reminded me of a late Bruckner symphony.
Somewhere Along the Highway is probably the high water mark for this group. It starts with some fuzzy guitars with feedback, whispered vocals and a disturbing percussion figure before launching into “Finland” with its heavy chord progression riffs, a marching drum beat and screamed vocals, but like most of the tracks the song seems to develop in stages. Drum patterns change, the guitars throwout melodic figures from the sludge and an edgy keyboard figure helps to provide a feeling of impending doom, there is a quieter passage before blocks of guitar chords leads into a more chimey guitar sound; the song has managed to move through its changes with ease. There are more heavy sounding tracks and a slow bassy atmospheric piece called “And With her Came the Birds”. The album ends with the two strongest songs in the collection. “Dim” has a progressive rock sound building from a simple guitar riff into a heavy melodic pattern and ending with a strange sounding keyboard figure. “Dark City, Dead Man” starts with some dark guitar chords and a percussion figure that harps back to the opening track. The three guitars then wallop in before a rhythmic riff is enhanced by a changing drum pattern; keyboards enhance the melodic line as the music changes again, building to a superb melody with the guitars underpinning a well orchestrated keyboard figure. It is exciting, full and intense, but lightened by that dancing melody that left this listener completely satisfied. The final two tracks of eleven and fifteen minutes respectively move through their changes in a way that feels organic: this is great musical development and makes this a five star listen.
The CD on youtube https://youtu.be/JLf_oYrkxjM
Eternal Kingdom released two years later, does not have the same organic flow as the previous release, but the group are still developing their sound. The vocals are all screamed or gargled and so like the previous release you really need to have the lyrics in front of you to understand the words and the words are more important on Eternal Kingdom because they tell a macabre story. The guitars are a little more adventurous; playing riffs off each other giving the music some more depth, they are particularly effective on Ghost Trail, which is the longest track and a standout for me. The collection contains an excellent instrumental all bass sounds and a great guitar line. There is plenty of doom laden excitement in the music and the changing patterns keep things interesting. The drum patterns are perhaps even more impressive and there are still some curious keyboard stabs and surprising melodic content amongst the heaviness. This is just a shade behind the previous release and so 4.5 stars
Following Betalus from Eternal Kingdom https://youtu.be/TulnmeaObio
142baswood
The Monikins by James Fenimore Cooper
I gave up on this 30% of the way through (according to my Kindle). It has been suggested that this is proto fantasy novel published in 1800. It is in fact a heavy-handed satire using the idea of a civilisation of monkey people that inhabit lands that parallel Britain, France and America. This may have been fun for Cooper to write but it is no fun to read. I lost patience with the over wordy prose and the weak story line. Possibly the satire could have been funny/amusing when published, but I suspect it would have been better not to have been published. One star.
I gave up on this 30% of the way through (according to my Kindle). It has been suggested that this is proto fantasy novel published in 1800. It is in fact a heavy-handed satire using the idea of a civilisation of monkey people that inhabit lands that parallel Britain, France and America. This may have been fun for Cooper to write but it is no fun to read. I lost patience with the over wordy prose and the weak story line. Possibly the satire could have been funny/amusing when published, but I suspect it would have been better not to have been published. One star.
144baswood
>143 janemarieprice: very apt Jane
145ursula
>140 ChocolateMuse: I had no idea notes were called different things in the non-American world. Also, I feel a little sad for half notes now!
147baswood
The Flying Inn by G K Chesterton
"The speech was made by an eccentric of course. Most of those who attended, and nearly all those that talked were eccentric in one way or another.”
The above quote is Chesterton’s description of the people that attended a soiree at the home of Lord Ivywood, but it could also refer to all the characters in this book. Sometime in England when the country like the rest of the world has fallen under the domination of a moslem regime headed by a Pasha: a couple of English eccentrics try and beat the ban on selling alcohol and end up leading a revolution. Published in 1914 one could be forgiven for thinking that this may sound like a possible comment on a world in our future, but this is not the case. Chesterton has set his unlikely story in a bucolic England where characters bumble around rather in the manner of a second rate story by H G Wells.
Lord Ivywood is the English face of the moslem regime and in effect a sort of Prime Minister whose residence in Pebbleswick by the sea is the centre for much of the story. He is a career politician and finds himself up against Humphrey Pump and Captain Dalroy who are bent on upsetting the applecart. The law says that alcohol can only be served at an inn where there is a public house sign and these are fast being destroyed. Humphrey Pump landlord of one of the last pubs in existence has the idea of uprooting his pub sign and setting it up where he pleases in an attempt to give people what they need - a drink. He is assisted by Captain Dalroy an Irish man-mountain who is fresh from negotiations with Lord Ivywood at Ithaca where a new treaty has been signed.
This book could best be described as a comedy, a romp or a farce and does show it’s age. Any satire is probably in the mind of the reader who must be careful not to be overly upset by some politically incorrect language by todays standards. I found it mildly amusing but instantly forgettable, but this may have been just what the reading public needed in 1914. There are songs and plenty of doggerel as we are invited to laugh at the witticisms of Humphrey Pump and Captain Dalroy; here is an example:
“You will find me drinking rum
Like a sailor in a slum
you will find me drinking beer like a Bavarian
You will find me drinking gin
In the lowest kind of inn
Because I am a rigid Vegetarian”
If this is the sort of stuff you find amusing then you might like The Flying Inn. They don’t write books like this anymore and so for curiosity value I rate it at 2.5 stars.
"The speech was made by an eccentric of course. Most of those who attended, and nearly all those that talked were eccentric in one way or another.”
The above quote is Chesterton’s description of the people that attended a soiree at the home of Lord Ivywood, but it could also refer to all the characters in this book. Sometime in England when the country like the rest of the world has fallen under the domination of a moslem regime headed by a Pasha: a couple of English eccentrics try and beat the ban on selling alcohol and end up leading a revolution. Published in 1914 one could be forgiven for thinking that this may sound like a possible comment on a world in our future, but this is not the case. Chesterton has set his unlikely story in a bucolic England where characters bumble around rather in the manner of a second rate story by H G Wells.
Lord Ivywood is the English face of the moslem regime and in effect a sort of Prime Minister whose residence in Pebbleswick by the sea is the centre for much of the story. He is a career politician and finds himself up against Humphrey Pump and Captain Dalroy who are bent on upsetting the applecart. The law says that alcohol can only be served at an inn where there is a public house sign and these are fast being destroyed. Humphrey Pump landlord of one of the last pubs in existence has the idea of uprooting his pub sign and setting it up where he pleases in an attempt to give people what they need - a drink. He is assisted by Captain Dalroy an Irish man-mountain who is fresh from negotiations with Lord Ivywood at Ithaca where a new treaty has been signed.
This book could best be described as a comedy, a romp or a farce and does show it’s age. Any satire is probably in the mind of the reader who must be careful not to be overly upset by some politically incorrect language by todays standards. I found it mildly amusing but instantly forgettable, but this may have been just what the reading public needed in 1914. There are songs and plenty of doggerel as we are invited to laugh at the witticisms of Humphrey Pump and Captain Dalroy; here is an example:
“You will find me drinking rum
Like a sailor in a slum
you will find me drinking beer like a Bavarian
You will find me drinking gin
In the lowest kind of inn
Because I am a rigid Vegetarian”
If this is the sort of stuff you find amusing then you might like The Flying Inn. They don’t write books like this anymore and so for curiosity value I rate it at 2.5 stars.
148FlorenceArt
Fun review Bas! Glad I dont need to read the book now.
149edwinbcn
>147 baswood:
Great pick, Barry. With 225 copies on LT and six reviews (including yours), the book gets quite a lot of attention.
While reading books from that period, I found that there is a genre which is described as "melodrama" suggesting such works should be regarded as a light diversion, nothing as serious as a novel. Even top-notch authors would dabble in that corner, probably to make an extra buck.
"the English face of the moslem regime"
Well, that sound fun enough....
Great pick, Barry. With 225 copies on LT and six reviews (including yours), the book gets quite a lot of attention.
While reading books from that period, I found that there is a genre which is described as "melodrama" suggesting such works should be regarded as a light diversion, nothing as serious as a novel. Even top-notch authors would dabble in that corner, probably to make an extra buck.
"the English face of the moslem regime"
Well, that sound fun enough....
150edwinbcn
Why are you focussing on 1914? Is it that much more interesting than 1915 or 1916, or are you simply lagging behind? I hope you will post them at Lit Cent.
I have 8 novels by Marie Corelli, but not Innocent, and I haven't read any of the others, yet.
This week, I was just considering to read The man who was Thursday, so funny to see your Chesterton review.
I have 8 novels by Marie Corelli, but not Innocent, and I haven't read any of the others, yet.
This week, I was just considering to read The man who was Thursday, so funny to see your Chesterton review.
151baswood
>150 edwinbcn: Yes as always Edwin I am lagging behind with my reading.
152edwinbcn
I will be interested to read your review of The mutiny of the Elsinore (1914).
Last year, I read Burning Daylight (1910) and John Barleycorn (1913), the latter is autobiographical fiction.
I read a comment somewhere that divides London's fiction into literary fiction, written prior to 1910, and pulp fiction, everything he wrote after 1910, when he had basically made his name.
Last year, I read Burning Daylight (1910) and John Barleycorn (1913), the latter is autobiographical fiction.
I read a comment somewhere that divides London's fiction into literary fiction, written prior to 1910, and pulp fiction, everything he wrote after 1910, when he had basically made his name.
154dchaikin
I'm kind of entertained by your experience with JF Cooper and Chesterton. I'm happily not planning to read either if them.
157baswood
The Four Gated City - Doris Lessing
E M Forster in Aspects of the Novel laid down his rules for writing a great novel and included much of what we would expect to find: the telling of a good story, character development, dialogue, point of view, rhythm and pattern, but in the final section of his book he says that to go beyond these ‘tools of the trade’ and to write that specially great book then the writer must include elements of fantasy and prophecy. The great writers who are able to do this whilst tackling universal themes include Dostoyevsky, Melville, E M Bronte and D H Lawrence and so now could we add Doris Lessing’s name to this list with her 1969 novel The Four Gated City?
The book certainly feels like a weighty tome at over 650 pages and does deal with so called universal themes and it is also a Bildungsroman in that we continue to follow the development of Martha Quest thinly disguised in places as Doris Lessing herself. It is the fifth book of her Children of Violence series and while the first four in the series deal with Martha/Doris’ early life in Southern Rhodesia (Zambia) this one starts with her arrival in London in the very early 1950’s when the city was still in the grip of the aftermath of the second world war. Martha has little money and must find work and accommodation (a rented room above a fish and chip shop) in South London where bomb craters are still very much part of the scenery. She meets Jack a procurer of women for the sex trade and balances this with the good natured working class family life of the cafe owners) who have “taken her in”. She adapts to the rhythm and pace of life and like many young visitors to a big city she walks and walks; sometimes taking buses but breathing in the atmosphere of the city. Desperate to move on, she uses her Southern Rhodesia connections to get a job as a live-in secretary/housekeeper to Mark Coldridge. She expects to stay for just three months while she gets herself settled in London, but fourteen years later she is still there. It appears to me that Lessing has now largely abandoned her autobiographical approach to the series and I think it is this that largely sets this book apart from the previous novels and makes it superior: a step up in class. She still of course uses her experiences in London to add detail and authenticity to her writing but now we are firmly in the head and mind of her character Martha Quest.
Mark Coldridge is the son of a well connected family. He owns a rambling house somewhere near central London and Martha comes into his life when he needs some organisation. Martha sets to the task of making rooms more habitable and it becomes a magnet for a sort of extended family for the younger Coldridges. Mark’s wife Lynda is in a mental institution but becomes well enough to be allowed out to live with a friend in the basement. Mark is in love wth his wife but she will not allow him to touch her, continuing to lead a shadowy existence with her mentally ill friend in a cocoon of their own choosing. The sickness in the basement is in danger of permeating through the household which now contains younger members of the family and Mark’s new left wing/communist cronies. Martha feels sucked in, sucked down to the basement.
”Mark and the comrades, all furious energy and defence: Lynda and her Dorothy in the twilight of their basement: Martha all passivity; the two sad children, who were the pasts and the future of the adult people: but an onlooker, someone looking into this house as if it were a box whose lid could be taken off would be struck by a curious fact. Martha defeated by the house, by the currents of personality in it, was the one person in it, who had no reason at all to be suffering; to be weighed down: yet she was the only person who (at that time during that particular spring) was weighed down, was suffering, who thought of death”
The house in Radlett Road is the centre of Martha’s life and yet she is not a member of the family, but we see the house and its occupants through her eyes as they grow and develop, Martha soaks up their issues like a sponge. As the years go by, the occupants change with Martha and Mark being the only constants, others come and go and Lynda is in and out of hospital.
The treatment of mental illness becomes a significant theme in the book and Marth’a own descent into near illness becomes a significant factor. The working of the mind the subtle lines of perceived mental incapacity/capacity becomes a central theme as Lessing takes this idea to open out her book into something of an apocalypse. This I think is the main feature of the books claim for greatness as it enters the world of a future dystopia nurtured it would appear from the currents that pass through the house in Radeltt road. Original certainly, prophetic maybe, but certainly containing an element of fantasy that would have delighted E M Forster.
A theme of how people adapt to those around them, how they manage to accommodate friends and family, how they are stirred by passions and how they cope with changing situations are superbly caught in this novel. Characters may do surprising things but they are not “out of character” in the way that Lessing has developed them. Mark Coldridge lies at the centre of the household a man locked in with his own desires and feelings, unable to talk about them. We know he is not a man without feelings, but his inability to express himself at that level is one of Lessings superb character creations and there are others just as finely drawn: Paul the young conman/entrepreneur shaped by his unstable home life who can be irrational or compassionate at the turn of a dime, Jimmy Woods a successful psychopath writing his science fiction novels and inventing machines that may do real harm, but functioning as a working partner to Mark: too many others to list.
The novel is also an important chronicle of the times. Lessing has always been a political animal and her experiences in the communist party and socialist groups is brought into play in her depiction of the politics of the late 1950’s early 1960’s. After the defeat of the Labour government in Britain after the war the left were in retreat. Marks uncle is a Labour MP, a socialist too far to the left to be of use when the Labour party finally comes back into power. Lessing is familiar with the intellectual groupings on the left and the right and it is here and in the class system that real power is held. The early sixties with the CND movement (campaign for nuclear disarmament) spilled over into popular culture and Lessing captures this with her depiction of a rally in Hyde Park at the culmination of one of the Aldermaston marches. Most of the Coldridge family and friends were marching or involved in the organisation. I was at the Hyde Park rally that Lessing describes and I felt I was back their savouring the atmosphere of those times. I think Lessing was consciously setting down markers of the significant events albeit from a left wing standpoint and this shapes her novel into something more than a Bildungsroman. It depicts an atmosphere that readers today may not be aware of or have forgotten and that is the threat of living with the possibility of nuclear war, when people faced imminent destruction perhaps for the first time; could it happen? many believed it could and would, and so it is logical for Lessing to take that next step and document a future dystopia.
While reading the novel I felt that there was a certain sprawl to it. perhaps it lacked E M Forster’s rhythm and pattern. The element that springs to mind is the episode where Martha transmorphs back into Doris Lessing and deals with her conflict with her mother. It feels as though Lessing is writing this passage as some sort of self-analysis of the issues that she faced. Does it fit with Martha’s own development? perhaps it does, however thinking back and writing this review makes me feel that there is more logic, more organic development than I was immediately aware of on a first reading. Having read all of Lessings previous novels I am certain that this is her finest achievement to date. It is certainly her most ambitious and even if it feels a little unbalanced, I think it is a great novel, perhaps a masterpiece and essential reading for me and one I hope to read again. A Five star read.
E M Forster in Aspects of the Novel laid down his rules for writing a great novel and included much of what we would expect to find: the telling of a good story, character development, dialogue, point of view, rhythm and pattern, but in the final section of his book he says that to go beyond these ‘tools of the trade’ and to write that specially great book then the writer must include elements of fantasy and prophecy. The great writers who are able to do this whilst tackling universal themes include Dostoyevsky, Melville, E M Bronte and D H Lawrence and so now could we add Doris Lessing’s name to this list with her 1969 novel The Four Gated City?
The book certainly feels like a weighty tome at over 650 pages and does deal with so called universal themes and it is also a Bildungsroman in that we continue to follow the development of Martha Quest thinly disguised in places as Doris Lessing herself. It is the fifth book of her Children of Violence series and while the first four in the series deal with Martha/Doris’ early life in Southern Rhodesia (Zambia) this one starts with her arrival in London in the very early 1950’s when the city was still in the grip of the aftermath of the second world war. Martha has little money and must find work and accommodation (a rented room above a fish and chip shop) in South London where bomb craters are still very much part of the scenery. She meets Jack a procurer of women for the sex trade and balances this with the good natured working class family life of the cafe owners) who have “taken her in”. She adapts to the rhythm and pace of life and like many young visitors to a big city she walks and walks; sometimes taking buses but breathing in the atmosphere of the city. Desperate to move on, she uses her Southern Rhodesia connections to get a job as a live-in secretary/housekeeper to Mark Coldridge. She expects to stay for just three months while she gets herself settled in London, but fourteen years later she is still there. It appears to me that Lessing has now largely abandoned her autobiographical approach to the series and I think it is this that largely sets this book apart from the previous novels and makes it superior: a step up in class. She still of course uses her experiences in London to add detail and authenticity to her writing but now we are firmly in the head and mind of her character Martha Quest.
Mark Coldridge is the son of a well connected family. He owns a rambling house somewhere near central London and Martha comes into his life when he needs some organisation. Martha sets to the task of making rooms more habitable and it becomes a magnet for a sort of extended family for the younger Coldridges. Mark’s wife Lynda is in a mental institution but becomes well enough to be allowed out to live with a friend in the basement. Mark is in love wth his wife but she will not allow him to touch her, continuing to lead a shadowy existence with her mentally ill friend in a cocoon of their own choosing. The sickness in the basement is in danger of permeating through the household which now contains younger members of the family and Mark’s new left wing/communist cronies. Martha feels sucked in, sucked down to the basement.
”Mark and the comrades, all furious energy and defence: Lynda and her Dorothy in the twilight of their basement: Martha all passivity; the two sad children, who were the pasts and the future of the adult people: but an onlooker, someone looking into this house as if it were a box whose lid could be taken off would be struck by a curious fact. Martha defeated by the house, by the currents of personality in it, was the one person in it, who had no reason at all to be suffering; to be weighed down: yet she was the only person who (at that time during that particular spring) was weighed down, was suffering, who thought of death”
The house in Radlett Road is the centre of Martha’s life and yet she is not a member of the family, but we see the house and its occupants through her eyes as they grow and develop, Martha soaks up their issues like a sponge. As the years go by, the occupants change with Martha and Mark being the only constants, others come and go and Lynda is in and out of hospital.
The treatment of mental illness becomes a significant theme in the book and Marth’a own descent into near illness becomes a significant factor. The working of the mind the subtle lines of perceived mental incapacity/capacity becomes a central theme as Lessing takes this idea to open out her book into something of an apocalypse. This I think is the main feature of the books claim for greatness as it enters the world of a future dystopia nurtured it would appear from the currents that pass through the house in Radeltt road. Original certainly, prophetic maybe, but certainly containing an element of fantasy that would have delighted E M Forster.
A theme of how people adapt to those around them, how they manage to accommodate friends and family, how they are stirred by passions and how they cope with changing situations are superbly caught in this novel. Characters may do surprising things but they are not “out of character” in the way that Lessing has developed them. Mark Coldridge lies at the centre of the household a man locked in with his own desires and feelings, unable to talk about them. We know he is not a man without feelings, but his inability to express himself at that level is one of Lessings superb character creations and there are others just as finely drawn: Paul the young conman/entrepreneur shaped by his unstable home life who can be irrational or compassionate at the turn of a dime, Jimmy Woods a successful psychopath writing his science fiction novels and inventing machines that may do real harm, but functioning as a working partner to Mark: too many others to list.
The novel is also an important chronicle of the times. Lessing has always been a political animal and her experiences in the communist party and socialist groups is brought into play in her depiction of the politics of the late 1950’s early 1960’s. After the defeat of the Labour government in Britain after the war the left were in retreat. Marks uncle is a Labour MP, a socialist too far to the left to be of use when the Labour party finally comes back into power. Lessing is familiar with the intellectual groupings on the left and the right and it is here and in the class system that real power is held. The early sixties with the CND movement (campaign for nuclear disarmament) spilled over into popular culture and Lessing captures this with her depiction of a rally in Hyde Park at the culmination of one of the Aldermaston marches. Most of the Coldridge family and friends were marching or involved in the organisation. I was at the Hyde Park rally that Lessing describes and I felt I was back their savouring the atmosphere of those times. I think Lessing was consciously setting down markers of the significant events albeit from a left wing standpoint and this shapes her novel into something more than a Bildungsroman. It depicts an atmosphere that readers today may not be aware of or have forgotten and that is the threat of living with the possibility of nuclear war, when people faced imminent destruction perhaps for the first time; could it happen? many believed it could and would, and so it is logical for Lessing to take that next step and document a future dystopia.
While reading the novel I felt that there was a certain sprawl to it. perhaps it lacked E M Forster’s rhythm and pattern. The element that springs to mind is the episode where Martha transmorphs back into Doris Lessing and deals with her conflict with her mother. It feels as though Lessing is writing this passage as some sort of self-analysis of the issues that she faced. Does it fit with Martha’s own development? perhaps it does, however thinking back and writing this review makes me feel that there is more logic, more organic development than I was immediately aware of on a first reading. Having read all of Lessings previous novels I am certain that this is her finest achievement to date. It is certainly her most ambitious and even if it feels a little unbalanced, I think it is a great novel, perhaps a masterpiece and essential reading for me and one I hope to read again. A Five star read.
158thorold
>157 baswood: Now, where did I put that duffle coat...? It is quite a book, isn't it? Great review!
159Linda92007
Fabulous review of The Four Gated City, Barry. I am very much enjoying your Lessing reviews. Is it important to have read the earlier books in the series before taking on this one?
160rebeccanyc
I read The Four-Gated City decades ago when I was going through a Doris Lessing phase. Of course, I've forgotten it; thanks for bringing it back to me.
161NanaCC
I will get to Doris Lessing some day. Your wonderful reviews always make her sound so interesting.
162FlorenceArt
As everybody said: wonderful review! I still haven't read Lessing. Must do it soon.
164cabegley
>157 baswood: Wow--terrific, thoughtful review! I haven't read Lessing yet, but I clearly need to get to her soon.
165kidzdoc
Superb review of The Four Gated City, Barry. I'll look for it soon.
166RidgewayGirl
Excellent review, Bas.
167janeajones
Like Rebecca, I read The Four Gated City decades ago. I seem to remember that Lessing was highly influenced by R.D. Laing, the psychotherapist, at the time. Great review.
168baswood
>159 Linda92007:. The Four Gated City stands on its own. Not necessary to read the others in the children of Violence series
Thanks everybody for your comments.
Thanks everybody for your comments.
171baswood
Nuns Behaving Badly
Nuns Behaving Badly: Tales of Music, Magic, Art & Arson in the Convents of Italy
Natalie F Smith was responsible for the book and Cover design for this University of Chicago Press publication and the above image appears both on the spine and on the back cover of the book. I can only think that Chicago University Press were desperate to sell some books because the image bears hardly any relation to the contents of the book. The author Craig A Monson points out that there is scant evidence in church/Vatican archives of any untoward sexual behaviour in the convents and it is significant that the title of his book is subtitled; Tales of Music, Magic Art and Arson.
In his prologue Monson describes himself as a topo d'archivio (an archive mouse and rat) and it was while doing research as a musicologist in the Vatican Archives he came across papers and letters pertaining to one Sister Elena Malvezzi at the convent of Sant' Agnese Bologna and from these documents a paper trail led him to put together a story concerning the difficulties presented to the church hierarchy by singing convent nuns. Convents were secure places where many unwanted females were placed by their families for their own protection; there were other reasons of course and while they were generally not coerced many young females found it difficult not to enter convent life if their families wished them to do so. Chanting and perhaps singing the liturgy was a significant part of their daily lives and nuns with a talent for music were able to give semi public performances. This could lead to far more contact with the outside world than was comfortable for church authorities and so there were instances where nuns found themselves in dispute with one of the most authoritarian societies on the planet.
Monson has found five little stories to feature in his book, the first involves a group who practised some black magic arts, dabbling in divining and love magic and it all sounds particularly low key and harmless from todays perspective, but I can understand that in 16th century Italy it may have been more significant. The second story is about a suspicious fire in a small convent in a Southern Italian Town that could have been raised by disgruntled nuns. The third tale concerns a nun of exceptional strong character who used her families patronage to create her own little kingdom within the convent. The fourth tale also depicts a power struggle within convent walls with hints of lesbian relationships and the fifth is the curious tale of an opera loving nun who slips out of the convent in disguise in order to attend some concerts.
There is nothing in these local tales that is going to shake the foundations of catholicism in Renaissance Italy, however Monson provides plenty of insights into Church and convent life and the tales are not without interest, especially as the author appears to be on the side of the nuns as they battle against overwhelming odds. Clearly Monson must speculate a little on the events, because the information to hand has to be developed and interpreted to provide some interest, but his archival sources are noted at the back of the book.
This is not an academic book, but one aimed at the interested reader, but perhaps Natalie F Smith aimed at an even wider readership with her hints of nunsploitation.
I found the book interesting and informative in a sort of micro-history way and Monson's prologue describing the Vatican archives was amusing. 3.5 stars.
Natalie F Smith
Nuns Behaving Badly: Tales of Music, Magic, Art & Arson in the Convents of Italy
Natalie F Smith was responsible for the book and Cover design for this University of Chicago Press publication and the above image appears both on the spine and on the back cover of the book. I can only think that Chicago University Press were desperate to sell some books because the image bears hardly any relation to the contents of the book. The author Craig A Monson points out that there is scant evidence in church/Vatican archives of any untoward sexual behaviour in the convents and it is significant that the title of his book is subtitled; Tales of Music, Magic Art and Arson.
In his prologue Monson describes himself as a topo d'archivio (an archive mouse and rat) and it was while doing research as a musicologist in the Vatican Archives he came across papers and letters pertaining to one Sister Elena Malvezzi at the convent of Sant' Agnese Bologna and from these documents a paper trail led him to put together a story concerning the difficulties presented to the church hierarchy by singing convent nuns. Convents were secure places where many unwanted females were placed by their families for their own protection; there were other reasons of course and while they were generally not coerced many young females found it difficult not to enter convent life if their families wished them to do so. Chanting and perhaps singing the liturgy was a significant part of their daily lives and nuns with a talent for music were able to give semi public performances. This could lead to far more contact with the outside world than was comfortable for church authorities and so there were instances where nuns found themselves in dispute with one of the most authoritarian societies on the planet.
Monson has found five little stories to feature in his book, the first involves a group who practised some black magic arts, dabbling in divining and love magic and it all sounds particularly low key and harmless from todays perspective, but I can understand that in 16th century Italy it may have been more significant. The second story is about a suspicious fire in a small convent in a Southern Italian Town that could have been raised by disgruntled nuns. The third tale concerns a nun of exceptional strong character who used her families patronage to create her own little kingdom within the convent. The fourth tale also depicts a power struggle within convent walls with hints of lesbian relationships and the fifth is the curious tale of an opera loving nun who slips out of the convent in disguise in order to attend some concerts.
There is nothing in these local tales that is going to shake the foundations of catholicism in Renaissance Italy, however Monson provides plenty of insights into Church and convent life and the tales are not without interest, especially as the author appears to be on the side of the nuns as they battle against overwhelming odds. Clearly Monson must speculate a little on the events, because the information to hand has to be developed and interpreted to provide some interest, but his archival sources are noted at the back of the book.
This is not an academic book, but one aimed at the interested reader, but perhaps Natalie F Smith aimed at an even wider readership with her hints of nunsploitation.
I found the book interesting and informative in a sort of micro-history way and Monson's prologue describing the Vatican archives was amusing. 3.5 stars.
Natalie F Smith
172janeajones
Interesting review... dreadful cover. I bet she didn't even read the book.
173dchaikin
An interesting story of marketing - giving a history book that would otherwise mainly attract history buffs a controversial title and cover. Perhaps Smith was told to make the book cover catching and more inline with a marketing goal than with the actual content. Or perhaps she told herself that. But the title is misinformation too and just as suggestive.
I liked your review, but I can't say I'm drawn to the book. Maybe the cover-content clash makes it less appealing. ??
I liked your review, but I can't say I'm drawn to the book. Maybe the cover-content clash makes it less appealing. ??
174SassyLassy
My cover is somewhat different and at least includes the subtitle:
but is still not one I would want to be seen in public with.
What I thought this book did well was demonstrate the few options open to unmarried well off women of the age, who did not seek a convent life and had to find ways to pursue their secular interests within the confines of a convent. As bas says though, not an academic book.
but is still not one I would want to be seen in public with.
What I thought this book did well was demonstrate the few options open to unmarried well off women of the age, who did not seek a convent life and had to find ways to pursue their secular interests within the confines of a convent. As bas says though, not an academic book.
175VivienneR
I've enjoyed your reviews of Doris Lessing. A long time ago I couldn't get enough of Lessing but your excellent reviews are making me want to start over again. Back in the 1990s he gave a lecture at the university where I worked, but for the life of me I can remember little except that I enjoyed it.
176baswood
>174 SassyLassy: Your copy probably has the image above >171 baswood: on the spine and the back cover.
177edwinbcn
The dirty mind is in the expectation. I probably would never have even touched the book about the nuns....
178kidzdoc
Nice review of Nuns Behaving Badly, Barry. Those covers are dreadful, and the book's title isn't much better.
180baswood
Mist by Miguel Unamuno
I have read some heavy handed pseudo-philosophy novels recently The Elegance of the Hedgehog immediately springs to mind and so it was a joy to read Unamuno’s Mist, which refuses to take itself too seriously although it deals with issues such as the insecurity of modern man and existential existence. Published in 1914 and translated from the Spanish by Marciano Guerre as recently as 2013 it starts by telling the simple story of Augusto Perez: a well to do young man who has recently lost his mother. He is out for his morning constitutional and for no particular reason finds himself following a young woman back to her house. He makes enquiries through the concierge and finds out that the young woman (Eugenia) is a piano teacher, he soon fancies himself as a suitor and makes more polite enquiries. Augusto lives alone with his two servants and a foundling dog and is vaguely seeking some direction to his life. He has monologues mainly addressed to his dog, has conversations with his servants and a couple of friends on the subject of women (whom he has only recently discovered) and finds himself chatting up his laundry maid Rosario. Eugenia rejects his suite as she is in love with the lazy out of work Mauricio, but when she learns about Rosario she feels slighted and sets out to win back Augusto.
The reader is alerted by the Prologue written by Victor Goti (who is a character in the novel) that all is not as it seems. A post prologue written by Unamuno questions the existence of Señor Goti and takes him to task about questioning the fate of Augusto. Goti has hinted in his prologue that Unamuno delights in playing tricks with metaphysical concepts and has been criticised for producing material that is for jesting and romping. It soon becomes clear that this is exactly what Unamuno is doing with Mist. There is irony and there is satire all encompassed in the story of Augusto’s love life which is a mystery to him and for which he seeks answers, but they all gets lost in the mist/fog of love. That may well be because of the characters that Augusto seeks out: for example the author and philosopher Paparrigopulos who is writing a book on a study of Spanish women maintaining that he only needs to study one. Paparrigopulos is also writing a book on forgotten Spanish authors who have had work published and is about to write a further book of that third class of authors; those who having thought of writing, had never got to the point of doing so.
Never trust yourself to a surgeon who has not amputated a limb of his own
Don’t take a woman to Paris; that is like taking codfish to Scotland
matrimony is an experiment …. a psychological experiment; paternity is also an experiment but … pathological
These are some of the nuggets of wisdom an ever more confused Augusto is given as he tries to make up his mind whether to pursue Eugenia or Rosario, of course he never really has that choice.
Half way into the book, Victor reveals that he is writing a novel which he calls a nivola and tells Augusto what he is doing. He says he is writing a novel just as we live and so he doesn’t know where it is going. He is asked if there is any psychology in it and he sidesteps this by saying that it will consist mainly of dialogue, because people like conversation even when it says nothing. He may be guiding his characters but at the end of the day they may well be guiding him “It often happens that an author ends by being the plaything of his own inventions” Umanuno then interjects himself to say:
“While Augusto and Victor were carrying on this ‘nivolistic' conversation, I the author of this nivola which you my dear readers are holding in your hand and reading, I was smiling enigmatically seeing my nivolistic characters advocating my case and justifying my methods of procedure. And I said to myself “Think how far these poor fellows are from suspecting that they are only trying to justify what I am doing with them! In the same fashion, whenever a man is seeking for reasons wherewith to justify himself, he is, strictly speaking, only seeking to justify God, and I am God of these two poor novelistic devils”
As a piece of Meta-fiction this book is taken right up to the denouement when Augusto travels to Salamanca to meet the author Unamuno to ague about his right to commit suicide. Unamuno will have none of it explaining that Augusto does not really exist. And so from a simple story of Augusto looking for a wife the reader is gently led down a path that becomes more weird, but the signs have been there from the start and the ride along the way if full of fun moments. I was soon entranced by this Novel/nivola’s unique atmosphere and so 4.5 stars.
I have read some heavy handed pseudo-philosophy novels recently The Elegance of the Hedgehog immediately springs to mind and so it was a joy to read Unamuno’s Mist, which refuses to take itself too seriously although it deals with issues such as the insecurity of modern man and existential existence. Published in 1914 and translated from the Spanish by Marciano Guerre as recently as 2013 it starts by telling the simple story of Augusto Perez: a well to do young man who has recently lost his mother. He is out for his morning constitutional and for no particular reason finds himself following a young woman back to her house. He makes enquiries through the concierge and finds out that the young woman (Eugenia) is a piano teacher, he soon fancies himself as a suitor and makes more polite enquiries. Augusto lives alone with his two servants and a foundling dog and is vaguely seeking some direction to his life. He has monologues mainly addressed to his dog, has conversations with his servants and a couple of friends on the subject of women (whom he has only recently discovered) and finds himself chatting up his laundry maid Rosario. Eugenia rejects his suite as she is in love with the lazy out of work Mauricio, but when she learns about Rosario she feels slighted and sets out to win back Augusto.
The reader is alerted by the Prologue written by Victor Goti (who is a character in the novel) that all is not as it seems. A post prologue written by Unamuno questions the existence of Señor Goti and takes him to task about questioning the fate of Augusto. Goti has hinted in his prologue that Unamuno delights in playing tricks with metaphysical concepts and has been criticised for producing material that is for jesting and romping. It soon becomes clear that this is exactly what Unamuno is doing with Mist. There is irony and there is satire all encompassed in the story of Augusto’s love life which is a mystery to him and for which he seeks answers, but they all gets lost in the mist/fog of love. That may well be because of the characters that Augusto seeks out: for example the author and philosopher Paparrigopulos who is writing a book on a study of Spanish women maintaining that he only needs to study one. Paparrigopulos is also writing a book on forgotten Spanish authors who have had work published and is about to write a further book of that third class of authors; those who having thought of writing, had never got to the point of doing so.
Never trust yourself to a surgeon who has not amputated a limb of his own
Don’t take a woman to Paris; that is like taking codfish to Scotland
matrimony is an experiment …. a psychological experiment; paternity is also an experiment but … pathological
These are some of the nuggets of wisdom an ever more confused Augusto is given as he tries to make up his mind whether to pursue Eugenia or Rosario, of course he never really has that choice.
Half way into the book, Victor reveals that he is writing a novel which he calls a nivola and tells Augusto what he is doing. He says he is writing a novel just as we live and so he doesn’t know where it is going. He is asked if there is any psychology in it and he sidesteps this by saying that it will consist mainly of dialogue, because people like conversation even when it says nothing. He may be guiding his characters but at the end of the day they may well be guiding him “It often happens that an author ends by being the plaything of his own inventions” Umanuno then interjects himself to say:
“While Augusto and Victor were carrying on this ‘nivolistic' conversation, I the author of this nivola which you my dear readers are holding in your hand and reading, I was smiling enigmatically seeing my nivolistic characters advocating my case and justifying my methods of procedure. And I said to myself “Think how far these poor fellows are from suspecting that they are only trying to justify what I am doing with them! In the same fashion, whenever a man is seeking for reasons wherewith to justify himself, he is, strictly speaking, only seeking to justify God, and I am God of these two poor novelistic devils”
As a piece of Meta-fiction this book is taken right up to the denouement when Augusto travels to Salamanca to meet the author Unamuno to ague about his right to commit suicide. Unamuno will have none of it explaining that Augusto does not really exist. And so from a simple story of Augusto looking for a wife the reader is gently led down a path that becomes more weird, but the signs have been there from the start and the ride along the way if full of fun moments. I was soon entranced by this Novel/nivola’s unique atmosphere and so 4.5 stars.
181thorold
I came across this recording of Unamuno reading some of his poems recently: http://youtu.be/nflKqPLxeL8 - fun to listen to even if you don't understand it all. He talks about how words die when they are written down, and how people should learn to read with their ears, not their eyes.
182janeajones
Fascinating review.
183dukedom_enough
>181 thorold:
There's a quote from jazz musician Eric Dolphy: "When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone, in the air. You can never capture it again." Similar idea.
There's a quote from jazz musician Eric Dolphy: "When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone, in the air. You can never capture it again." Similar idea.
184rebeccanyc
>180 baswood: Great review, but not for me.
185dchaikin
>180 baswood: great review and nice find (if you consider it a find. I hadn't heard of this author before. )
186baswood
The reign of Elizabeth another from the Oxford History of England series. This one covers the years 1558-1603 and is well up to standard for the series.
188baswood
Neils Klim’s Journey Underground by Ludvig Holberg, subtitled: being a narrative of his wonderful descent to the subterranean lands; together with an account of the sensible animals and trees inhabiting the planet Nazar and the Firmament.
Published in 1741 in Germany in Latin because Holberg feared repercussions from his native Denmark-Norway for a work that is satirical of governments and culture. Translated into English for todays readers it proves to be a fast moving account of Neils Klim’s travels around the planet of Nazar which embellishes the theory of a hollow earth. Neils sets off one morning to explore a deep pothole with a friend who lowers him down on a rope, this breaks on a sharp edge and Neils finds himself falling downwards for about 15 minutes. He eventually falls into another atmosphere seeing lands and seas and where he is attacked by an eagle like bird. He stabs the eagle and flutters down to the ground holding onto the mortally wounded bird. He finds himself in a land of tree people and after being presented to the governor he is taught their language in an attempt to make him into a useful citizen. Neils is impressed with the humanity of the tree people, (they even fasten branches to his body to make him look like them) but they are not impressed with him. They do not value his quick witted perception being more inclined to value thoughtful judgement and they assign him the task as running camp footman delivering important messages around the planet. Neils therefore gets to travel all over Nazar, he can move much faster than the tree people and describes all he sees along the way. Different varieties of trees have different cultures much of which is opposite to European ways of doing things and so Holberg takes the opportunity to satirise both Nazar and Europe.
He visits a land where there is a role reversal of the sexes; the reasoning being that males are endowed with greater bodily strength and endurance and so nature must have intended them to do all the work and this will keep them so busy that they will not have time to think, moreover continual physical work degrades the mind, therefore it is plain that the women should direct public affairs - do the thinking. In another land it is the women who take their chastity to market and the young men act as prostitutes selling them sex. All over the planet people are judged as insane if they indulge in religious disputes and are immediately imprisoned. On his travels Neils discovers a diary left by an inhabitant of the firmament who journeyed to the earth above and whose descriptions of what he sees there is like a sort of alien viewing Earth through a telescope and wondering at the stupidity on the planet. Here is an example:
“The presence of vice and crime in Europe may be perhaps be fairly inferred from the great number of gallows and scaffolds to be seen everywhere. Each town has its own executioner. I must for justice sake, clear England from this stigma: I believe there are no public murderers in that country: the inhabitants hang themselves.”
Neils eventually travels to the firmament where he at last discovers some homo sapiens, but they are woefully uncivilised. Neils is soon able to make himself king of these people and on the discovery of saltpetre he manufactures guns and trains them into an army. It is then only a short step to conquer other lands, but of course he is never satisfied and soon becomes tyrannical killing and maiming at his pleasure. Perhaps the ultimate satire on the human race.
This is the earliest published book that I have read that reads something like a modern day fantasy novel. It is light hearted and while the satire might have been feared back in the eighteenth century it has the effect of being more popular and amusing rather than literary when read today. I enjoyed the book and together with its historical value I rate it at 3.5 stars.
Published in 1741 in Germany in Latin because Holberg feared repercussions from his native Denmark-Norway for a work that is satirical of governments and culture. Translated into English for todays readers it proves to be a fast moving account of Neils Klim’s travels around the planet of Nazar which embellishes the theory of a hollow earth. Neils sets off one morning to explore a deep pothole with a friend who lowers him down on a rope, this breaks on a sharp edge and Neils finds himself falling downwards for about 15 minutes. He eventually falls into another atmosphere seeing lands and seas and where he is attacked by an eagle like bird. He stabs the eagle and flutters down to the ground holding onto the mortally wounded bird. He finds himself in a land of tree people and after being presented to the governor he is taught their language in an attempt to make him into a useful citizen. Neils is impressed with the humanity of the tree people, (they even fasten branches to his body to make him look like them) but they are not impressed with him. They do not value his quick witted perception being more inclined to value thoughtful judgement and they assign him the task as running camp footman delivering important messages around the planet. Neils therefore gets to travel all over Nazar, he can move much faster than the tree people and describes all he sees along the way. Different varieties of trees have different cultures much of which is opposite to European ways of doing things and so Holberg takes the opportunity to satirise both Nazar and Europe.
He visits a land where there is a role reversal of the sexes; the reasoning being that males are endowed with greater bodily strength and endurance and so nature must have intended them to do all the work and this will keep them so busy that they will not have time to think, moreover continual physical work degrades the mind, therefore it is plain that the women should direct public affairs - do the thinking. In another land it is the women who take their chastity to market and the young men act as prostitutes selling them sex. All over the planet people are judged as insane if they indulge in religious disputes and are immediately imprisoned. On his travels Neils discovers a diary left by an inhabitant of the firmament who journeyed to the earth above and whose descriptions of what he sees there is like a sort of alien viewing Earth through a telescope and wondering at the stupidity on the planet. Here is an example:
“The presence of vice and crime in Europe may be perhaps be fairly inferred from the great number of gallows and scaffolds to be seen everywhere. Each town has its own executioner. I must for justice sake, clear England from this stigma: I believe there are no public murderers in that country: the inhabitants hang themselves.”
Neils eventually travels to the firmament where he at last discovers some homo sapiens, but they are woefully uncivilised. Neils is soon able to make himself king of these people and on the discovery of saltpetre he manufactures guns and trains them into an army. It is then only a short step to conquer other lands, but of course he is never satisfied and soon becomes tyrannical killing and maiming at his pleasure. Perhaps the ultimate satire on the human race.
This is the earliest published book that I have read that reads something like a modern day fantasy novel. It is light hearted and while the satire might have been feared back in the eighteenth century it has the effect of being more popular and amusing rather than literary when read today. I enjoyed the book and together with its historical value I rate it at 3.5 stars.
189FlorenceArt
Sounds like great fun!
190valkyrdeath
>188 baswood: I've never heard of this one. It sounds interesting, especially considering when it was written.
191sibylline
>188 baswood: What a find! I think I have to WL it! Great review.
193baswood
The Gray Cloth: Paul Scheerbart's novel on Glass architecture Originally subtitled; and ten percent white a ladies novel.
“On one of the British Fiji Islands, Herr Krug was to build a convalescence home for elderly air chauffeurs” is the first sentence of one of the sections of this novel which has more of a feel of an extended essay. Herr Krug and his new wife travel around on their luxury airship from one destination to another. Her Krug is an architect passionate about coloured glass architecture and his fame has put him on the map for rich people and corporations who wish to create something different using Krug’s expertise. This is the world of the super rich in the mid 20th century as imagined by Paul Scheerbart writing in 1914. it is a visionary world and the book has a heady atmosphere as we travel with the Krugs and follow this artistic but business orientated couple's first year of marriage.
The Gray Cloth is in many ways a peculiar vision, but one that is not too difficult to foresee. It is rooted in unbounded capitalism and artistic achievement but carried to such extreme lengths that its irony becomes immediately apparent. This is a world with it’s head in the clouds and Scheerbarts text heightens that feeling with its short spacious sentences that play around the glass buildings like the beams of light they describe. Characters express themselves in short bursts of speech, as though they are frightened of interrupting the flow of Scheerbarts paean to coloured glass architecture. There is hardly any plot or storyline because this too might create a divergence from the fragile world of glass that hovers around a world that seems to be a plaything of the rich.
The book is almost a triumph of style over content, highlighted by one of its major themes: the peculiar but so fitting marriage contract. Herr Krug is attending an exhibition of silver work, which is being displayed in a building created by the architect. The exhibits take second place to the marvels of coloured light that are created by the glass architecture, the crowd in attendance we are told by Scheerbart are entranced by the design and technical achievements but Herr Krug almost sympathetically buys one of the expensive silver pieces for sale. He has lunch in the penthouse restaurant with his lawyer, the artist and her friend: fraulein Clara Weber a noted organ player:
“Then Herr Krug lifted a piece of pike liver up in the air and commented to Fräulein Clara Weber:
‘My most gracious lady, would you be prepared to live your whole life wearing only grey clothing - with ten percent white.’
He ate his piece of pike liver, and Miss Amanda whispered very softly:
‘That sounds like a marriage proposal’
‘That is what it is’ said the architect.
Fräulein Clara said very simply:
‘Yes!’
‘That I find’ said the lawyer to be a little hasty - and a little careless’ “
Having made his comment the lawyer immediately gets down to business and draws up the marriage contract. Clara must wear grey clothing with ten percent white at all times so as not to detract from Her Krug’s coloured glass architecture. She is in fact to provide a contrast to the world in which she will now live. Her Krug is clear that ladies should be more discreet in their outfits so as not to be a distraction from the glass architecture and Clara will lead the way. The Lawyer thinks this a little pretentious and warns Her Krug he should temper his lust for power a bit. Clara keeps to her contract; much to the dismay of her artistic friends, but she chafes against it at times, providing the interest in a will she/wont she theme that runs through the novel, but style and fashion are all important in this future world, there is hardly anything else and because the reader is caught up in this atmosphere of extreme pretentiousness the irony hits home.
Paul Scheerbart worked as a journalist in Berlin and this book published at the start of the First World War carries and identifies itself with the ideas of German expressionism. It is a subjective portrait of society, art and fashion based on vision and atmosphere rather than reality. It was not a great success at the time but has since been recognised as worthy of being re-examined in the light other works in the expressionist movement.
I enjoyed the read, its unique atmosphere, its irony and its humour kept me entertained. The descriptive writing has qualities that enhance the poetic mood of the book and the technical architectural ideas are presented in a simple easily understandable; if fantastic way. This edition was published by MIT press and has been introduced and translated by John A Stuart, who has also included some pastel drawings which are meant to challenge the reader to consider complex spatial configurations inspired by Scheerbarts narrative. I am not sure they quite do this, but they do enhance a beautifully presented book. A thing of somewhat ephemeral beauty, but beauty nonetheless and so 4 stars.
“On one of the British Fiji Islands, Herr Krug was to build a convalescence home for elderly air chauffeurs” is the first sentence of one of the sections of this novel which has more of a feel of an extended essay. Herr Krug and his new wife travel around on their luxury airship from one destination to another. Her Krug is an architect passionate about coloured glass architecture and his fame has put him on the map for rich people and corporations who wish to create something different using Krug’s expertise. This is the world of the super rich in the mid 20th century as imagined by Paul Scheerbart writing in 1914. it is a visionary world and the book has a heady atmosphere as we travel with the Krugs and follow this artistic but business orientated couple's first year of marriage.
The Gray Cloth is in many ways a peculiar vision, but one that is not too difficult to foresee. It is rooted in unbounded capitalism and artistic achievement but carried to such extreme lengths that its irony becomes immediately apparent. This is a world with it’s head in the clouds and Scheerbarts text heightens that feeling with its short spacious sentences that play around the glass buildings like the beams of light they describe. Characters express themselves in short bursts of speech, as though they are frightened of interrupting the flow of Scheerbarts paean to coloured glass architecture. There is hardly any plot or storyline because this too might create a divergence from the fragile world of glass that hovers around a world that seems to be a plaything of the rich.
The book is almost a triumph of style over content, highlighted by one of its major themes: the peculiar but so fitting marriage contract. Herr Krug is attending an exhibition of silver work, which is being displayed in a building created by the architect. The exhibits take second place to the marvels of coloured light that are created by the glass architecture, the crowd in attendance we are told by Scheerbart are entranced by the design and technical achievements but Herr Krug almost sympathetically buys one of the expensive silver pieces for sale. He has lunch in the penthouse restaurant with his lawyer, the artist and her friend: fraulein Clara Weber a noted organ player:
“Then Herr Krug lifted a piece of pike liver up in the air and commented to Fräulein Clara Weber:
‘My most gracious lady, would you be prepared to live your whole life wearing only grey clothing - with ten percent white.’
He ate his piece of pike liver, and Miss Amanda whispered very softly:
‘That sounds like a marriage proposal’
‘That is what it is’ said the architect.
Fräulein Clara said very simply:
‘Yes!’
‘That I find’ said the lawyer to be a little hasty - and a little careless’ “
Having made his comment the lawyer immediately gets down to business and draws up the marriage contract. Clara must wear grey clothing with ten percent white at all times so as not to detract from Her Krug’s coloured glass architecture. She is in fact to provide a contrast to the world in which she will now live. Her Krug is clear that ladies should be more discreet in their outfits so as not to be a distraction from the glass architecture and Clara will lead the way. The Lawyer thinks this a little pretentious and warns Her Krug he should temper his lust for power a bit. Clara keeps to her contract; much to the dismay of her artistic friends, but she chafes against it at times, providing the interest in a will she/wont she theme that runs through the novel, but style and fashion are all important in this future world, there is hardly anything else and because the reader is caught up in this atmosphere of extreme pretentiousness the irony hits home.
Paul Scheerbart worked as a journalist in Berlin and this book published at the start of the First World War carries and identifies itself with the ideas of German expressionism. It is a subjective portrait of society, art and fashion based on vision and atmosphere rather than reality. It was not a great success at the time but has since been recognised as worthy of being re-examined in the light other works in the expressionist movement.
I enjoyed the read, its unique atmosphere, its irony and its humour kept me entertained. The descriptive writing has qualities that enhance the poetic mood of the book and the technical architectural ideas are presented in a simple easily understandable; if fantastic way. This edition was published by MIT press and has been introduced and translated by John A Stuart, who has also included some pastel drawings which are meant to challenge the reader to consider complex spatial configurations inspired by Scheerbarts narrative. I am not sure they quite do this, but they do enhance a beautifully presented book. A thing of somewhat ephemeral beauty, but beauty nonetheless and so 4 stars.
194RidgewayGirl
I find myself tempted to look for a copy.
195FlorenceArt
How intriguing! Apparently there is no French translation, but the original German text can be read online here: http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/buch/-1747/1
I also found an ebook version that seems decent enough fo 0.99€. I might try it, the language seems to be relatively simple so maybe easy enough for my extremely rusty skills.
I also found an ebook version that seems decent enough fo 0.99€. I might try it, the language seems to be relatively simple so maybe easy enough for my extremely rusty skills.
196baswood
Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) A french medieval poet and composer who was probably better known during his lifetime as a composer of courtly love poetry. He stands out for us today as a composer of music because of the care he took with his legacy. He spent his final years in Rheims composing and supervising a complete works manuscript. Certain aspects of this legacy lived on after his death especially his musical compositions, many of which were set to his poems and provided inspiration for other musicians. Another claim to fame is that he is recognised as the composer of the first complete catholic Mass, however most of his music was for secular songs and their is a case for him being seem as the last of the great trouveres or troubadours. Machaut was able to re-elevate the art of the troubadour’s courtly love songs because of his craft in polyphony, which went far beyond that of the earlier musicians. Machaut took a new approach in writing for two, three or four voices in that he started with the highest voice and added voice parts underneath. It was a top down approach rather then a bottom up approach that had mostly been used previously. At their most luxuriant Machaut’s compositions could handle four voices creating a texture with depth and harmony that sounded different to what had gone before. However Machaut’s use of polyphony was sparing, with much of the music for many of his songs and lais written for single voices.
Machaut - La Messe de notre Dame + Songs from Le Voir Dit - Oxford Camerata
Machaut - Messe de Notre Dame + Le lai de la Fontienne - The Hilliard Ensemble
Machaut as a composer of songs and lais is curiously best known today for his religious music in that as far as we know he composed the first complete polyphonic work of the Ordinary of the Mass. It seems an entirely uncharacteristic work that has given him legendary status. It was a votive mass typical of the time; being made up of a Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei with a final short Ite Missa Est (The mass is ended thanks be to God)
The Oxford Camerata starts with the Kyrie that features a counter tenor prominent amongst the four voice harmony and the ear is led to follow his lines. There are numerous repetitions of each section and it all adds up to nearly nine minutes of superb choral music. It is a mass and so tempos are slow giving all the voices a chance to shine. The polyphony continues throughout the whole of the work sometimes three part harmony and sometimes two part. Le Livre dou voir dit is one of the most extraordinary poems of the middle ages. Its 9,094 lines of verse, arranged in octosyllabic rhyming couplets tells the story of the love of an elderly man and an adolescent admirer: Peronne. It is claimed that the elderly man was Machaut himself. They exchange letters and lyric poems, some set too music, which has been inserted into the narrative. The selection included her is made up of two ballads, three rondeau and one Lai. The Lai is for a single voice and at 19 and a half minutes it is a bit of an endurance test. The tune hardly varies and is sung in 14th century French. The ballads and Rondeaus are polyphonic and are tuneful and full of interest. This is a good disc that aims for authenticity, and sounds very good to me, especially as its on the Naxos budget label.
https://youtu.be/Y47JdUI_PhE
The Hilliard Ensemble is an altogether more polished affair, with some outstanding clarity in the rendition of the mass. The voices synch together effortlessly and it is interesting to compare their rendition of the mass with the Oxford Camarata. I prefer different sections by each ensemble for instance the Camarata’s rendition of the Kyrie with the forward counter tenor scores over the more restrained and integrated approach of the Hilliards. However the depth of sound achieved by the Hilliards in their Gloria makes the Cameratas sound a bit thin. The additional music on this disc is a complete rendition of Le Lai de la Fonteinne which is directed towards the virgin Mary in adoration and praise of the divine woman’s power. This lai therefore although set out like a courtly love song has a religious message. The music throughout this piece is varied and is beautifully sung by the Hilliards. Both of the Cds feature a basic four voice ensemble with no instrumentation and I rate them both at four stars.
Machaut Le Remede de Fortune - Marc Mauillon - Pierre Hamon.
This is an excellent example of Machaut’s secular music set to one of his poems. It is a narrative poem asking the question of whether man is truly at the mercy of fortune, or is there a remedy a means of countering her whims. Machaut describes Fortune in the work as being neither assured or stable, nor just, nor lawful and true. When she is thought to be charitable, she is greedy, harsh changing and frightful This CD features all the music written for the Lai and it is just too long for a single CD and so there is one CD with an hour of music and part two has about twenty five minutes and so not quite a double CD. This is secular music and so there is a small group of instrumentalists providing accompaniment to the four singers; violin, gothic harp, flutes and percussion are featured and provide restrained music adding beautiful textures to the voices.
“He who has no other pleasure in love
Than sweet thought and memory
With hope of satisfaction,
Would be wrong if he sought
The aid of any other comfort
Because to satisfy and sustain a heart
He who loves deeply must not seek further reward.”
This is the first verse and serves two show that this is a courtly love poem. The music is a mixture of small amounts of polyphony with mainly single voice sections and some spoken interjections. The gloriously named Vivabiancaluna BIFFI provides a female soprano voice which goes a long way to providing some variety. It is Marc Mauillon’s tenor that shoulders most of the burden especially in an epic 45 minute track, however with alternative accompaniment from gothic harp, period violin and flute and some expressive singing; my interest never flagged. Too get the full advantage from this disc then the lyrics should be followed and the booklet contains all the stanzas set out in 14th century French, modern French, and English lined up perfectly across each page and so you can follow with relative ease. It is a bold stroke to play and sing all the music from a single Lai and this group pull it off brilliantly. I loved the sounds of the words with the music and so 4.5 stars.
https://youtu.be/WMQWUbzpORg
Marchaut Chansons - Orlando Consort
Back to a four part choir only for this selection of songs from Machaut’s oeuvre. If you are going to make selections from a large amount of music then you get to pick the best tunes and this is probably what the Orlando Consort have done, because every track here; and there are 14 with over 75 minutes of music, is a winner. Robert Harre-Jones: alto, Angus Smith: tenor, Charles Daniels: tenor and Donald Greig: baritone sing beautifully throughout. Three tracks feature a single singer, but the rest are in glorious polyphony with the group sounding assured. As a guideline they probably come midway between the more idiosyncratic Oxford Camerata and the beautifully correct Hilliards. This is my favourite of the discs in my Machaut collection and so 5 stars.
Machaut - La Messe de notre Dame + Songs from Le Voir Dit - Oxford Camerata
Machaut - Messe de Notre Dame + Le lai de la Fontienne - The Hilliard Ensemble
Machaut as a composer of songs and lais is curiously best known today for his religious music in that as far as we know he composed the first complete polyphonic work of the Ordinary of the Mass. It seems an entirely uncharacteristic work that has given him legendary status. It was a votive mass typical of the time; being made up of a Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei with a final short Ite Missa Est (The mass is ended thanks be to God)
The Oxford Camerata starts with the Kyrie that features a counter tenor prominent amongst the four voice harmony and the ear is led to follow his lines. There are numerous repetitions of each section and it all adds up to nearly nine minutes of superb choral music. It is a mass and so tempos are slow giving all the voices a chance to shine. The polyphony continues throughout the whole of the work sometimes three part harmony and sometimes two part. Le Livre dou voir dit is one of the most extraordinary poems of the middle ages. Its 9,094 lines of verse, arranged in octosyllabic rhyming couplets tells the story of the love of an elderly man and an adolescent admirer: Peronne. It is claimed that the elderly man was Machaut himself. They exchange letters and lyric poems, some set too music, which has been inserted into the narrative. The selection included her is made up of two ballads, three rondeau and one Lai. The Lai is for a single voice and at 19 and a half minutes it is a bit of an endurance test. The tune hardly varies and is sung in 14th century French. The ballads and Rondeaus are polyphonic and are tuneful and full of interest. This is a good disc that aims for authenticity, and sounds very good to me, especially as its on the Naxos budget label.
https://youtu.be/Y47JdUI_PhE
The Hilliard Ensemble is an altogether more polished affair, with some outstanding clarity in the rendition of the mass. The voices synch together effortlessly and it is interesting to compare their rendition of the mass with the Oxford Camarata. I prefer different sections by each ensemble for instance the Camarata’s rendition of the Kyrie with the forward counter tenor scores over the more restrained and integrated approach of the Hilliards. However the depth of sound achieved by the Hilliards in their Gloria makes the Cameratas sound a bit thin. The additional music on this disc is a complete rendition of Le Lai de la Fonteinne which is directed towards the virgin Mary in adoration and praise of the divine woman’s power. This lai therefore although set out like a courtly love song has a religious message. The music throughout this piece is varied and is beautifully sung by the Hilliards. Both of the Cds feature a basic four voice ensemble with no instrumentation and I rate them both at four stars.
Machaut Le Remede de Fortune - Marc Mauillon - Pierre Hamon.
This is an excellent example of Machaut’s secular music set to one of his poems. It is a narrative poem asking the question of whether man is truly at the mercy of fortune, or is there a remedy a means of countering her whims. Machaut describes Fortune in the work as being neither assured or stable, nor just, nor lawful and true. When she is thought to be charitable, she is greedy, harsh changing and frightful This CD features all the music written for the Lai and it is just too long for a single CD and so there is one CD with an hour of music and part two has about twenty five minutes and so not quite a double CD. This is secular music and so there is a small group of instrumentalists providing accompaniment to the four singers; violin, gothic harp, flutes and percussion are featured and provide restrained music adding beautiful textures to the voices.
“He who has no other pleasure in love
Than sweet thought and memory
With hope of satisfaction,
Would be wrong if he sought
The aid of any other comfort
Because to satisfy and sustain a heart
He who loves deeply must not seek further reward.”
This is the first verse and serves two show that this is a courtly love poem. The music is a mixture of small amounts of polyphony with mainly single voice sections and some spoken interjections. The gloriously named Vivabiancaluna BIFFI provides a female soprano voice which goes a long way to providing some variety. It is Marc Mauillon’s tenor that shoulders most of the burden especially in an epic 45 minute track, however with alternative accompaniment from gothic harp, period violin and flute and some expressive singing; my interest never flagged. Too get the full advantage from this disc then the lyrics should be followed and the booklet contains all the stanzas set out in 14th century French, modern French, and English lined up perfectly across each page and so you can follow with relative ease. It is a bold stroke to play and sing all the music from a single Lai and this group pull it off brilliantly. I loved the sounds of the words with the music and so 4.5 stars.
https://youtu.be/WMQWUbzpORg
Marchaut Chansons - Orlando Consort
Back to a four part choir only for this selection of songs from Machaut’s oeuvre. If you are going to make selections from a large amount of music then you get to pick the best tunes and this is probably what the Orlando Consort have done, because every track here; and there are 14 with over 75 minutes of music, is a winner. Robert Harre-Jones: alto, Angus Smith: tenor, Charles Daniels: tenor and Donald Greig: baritone sing beautifully throughout. Three tracks feature a single singer, but the rest are in glorious polyphony with the group sounding assured. As a guideline they probably come midway between the more idiosyncratic Oxford Camerata and the beautifully correct Hilliards. This is my favourite of the discs in my Machaut collection and so 5 stars.
197mabith
>193 baswood: I'm not sure I'll ever even be tempted to pick up The Gray Cloth, but am really glad to have read your review. Sometimes I forget just how broad and endless book choices are.
199baswood
Briefing for a Descent into Hell by Doris Lessing
The briefing for a descent into hell is given at a conference chaired by Minna Erve, who represents the celestial Gods who have frequently in their history sent messengers down to earth to try and get humanity back on track. They are in despair at the continual backsliding into war, famine and other disasters that human kind inflict upon themselves and are bracing themselves for another attempt to sort things out. This is what a patient admitted at the Central Intake Hospital in London may believe. When he arrived he was confused, rambling, but amenable. He appeared to have been robbed because there was nothing on him to give any clue too his identity and he appeared to be suffering from acute amnesia. He rambled on about being on a voyage where all his shipmates had been lost and his boat was at the mercy of the currents.
This is Lessing’s eighth novel and her first that does not rely on autobiographical material. It was published in 1971 two years after she had completed her mammoth children of violence series which ended with the Four gated City. She had delved deep into her own life story for this undertaking, but with Briefing for a Descent into Hell she has cast herself free and is reliant on her imagination. Mental illness and its affects on people living with the condition was one of the themes of The Four Gated city and in this novel it takes centre stage. The patient at the Central Intake Hospital is a puzzle to his two doctors, one of whom (Doctor X) is reliant on drugs and shock treatment as methods of treatment. Doctor Y is more concerned in trying to understand the patient and encourages him to ramble on and then write down what is going on in his head. The first third of the book is mainly in the mind of the patient who may believe he is a messenger from one of the celestial gods. He certainly talks about alien abduction and describes vividly his dreams and fantasies. This makes the first part of the book feel like a science fiction novel, and similar in vein to Olaf Stapledon’s work in Starmaker. The patients stories gather in intensity and coherence as he describes a ruined stone city in the jungle inhabited by rat-dog people who battle with a tribe of monkeys while the patient attempts to keep a landing space for a crystal spaceship free from detritus. He finally succeeds in being taken off the earth and can look down at the mess that is humanity below. Is he one of the messengers of the Gods? His coherent story sounds convincing and this is Lessing’s point. Understanding and then interpreting the place where the mentally ill patient has got himself, is the surest way of treating the illness.
Lessing knew and was influenced by the theories of R D Laing, who was a practising psychiatrist and wrote extensively about mental health. (She even took LSD under his supervision and some of the patients stories feel like an LSD induced hallucinations.) R D Laing was revolutionary in valuing the content of psychotic behaviour and speech as a valid expression of distress. He believed that if you could interpret the symbolism then you might understand the cause and the treatment would be guided by what was discovered. Lessing takes R D Laings ideas further by hinting that the patients so-called psychotic ramblings may have some value not only for himself but for others: perhaps as a saviour for the human race.
The discovery by the hospital that the patient is Charles Watkins a professor who lectures on classics represents a change in emphasis in the novel. We come down to earth almost with a bump as the hospital staff communicate by letter and phone with his wife, family and colleagues. The novel becomes epistolary in form as various people write in with stories about Professor Watkins, who appears to have psychopathic tendencies. The Professer himself hallucinates, tells stories about his war experiences as he fights to regain a sense of who he is. His stay in hospital is prolonged with Doctor X putting pressure on him to undergo shock treatment. Lessing made me feel that the professor may be happier being mentally ill, which is quite some achievement.
This is not a science fiction novel, Lessing was still a little way from launching herself totally in that genre, but for the first part of this novel you could be forgiven for thinking you were reading one. The substantial passages that tell the stories inside the head of the patient/Charles Watkins feel out of kilter with the mystery of discovering who he is and whether he is going to get well, but this is probably Lessings technique in trying to portray mental illness and it works to some extent. She has a feel for describing fantasies of other worlds, whether they be utopias or dystopias and I missed some of this imaginative writing in the second half of the novel. An enjoyable novel that has nowhere near the scope of the excellent Four Gated City, but one which homes in on its themes and contains some of her most imaginative writing todate. A four star read.
The briefing for a descent into hell is given at a conference chaired by Minna Erve, who represents the celestial Gods who have frequently in their history sent messengers down to earth to try and get humanity back on track. They are in despair at the continual backsliding into war, famine and other disasters that human kind inflict upon themselves and are bracing themselves for another attempt to sort things out. This is what a patient admitted at the Central Intake Hospital in London may believe. When he arrived he was confused, rambling, but amenable. He appeared to have been robbed because there was nothing on him to give any clue too his identity and he appeared to be suffering from acute amnesia. He rambled on about being on a voyage where all his shipmates had been lost and his boat was at the mercy of the currents.
This is Lessing’s eighth novel and her first that does not rely on autobiographical material. It was published in 1971 two years after she had completed her mammoth children of violence series which ended with the Four gated City. She had delved deep into her own life story for this undertaking, but with Briefing for a Descent into Hell she has cast herself free and is reliant on her imagination. Mental illness and its affects on people living with the condition was one of the themes of The Four Gated city and in this novel it takes centre stage. The patient at the Central Intake Hospital is a puzzle to his two doctors, one of whom (Doctor X) is reliant on drugs and shock treatment as methods of treatment. Doctor Y is more concerned in trying to understand the patient and encourages him to ramble on and then write down what is going on in his head. The first third of the book is mainly in the mind of the patient who may believe he is a messenger from one of the celestial gods. He certainly talks about alien abduction and describes vividly his dreams and fantasies. This makes the first part of the book feel like a science fiction novel, and similar in vein to Olaf Stapledon’s work in Starmaker. The patients stories gather in intensity and coherence as he describes a ruined stone city in the jungle inhabited by rat-dog people who battle with a tribe of monkeys while the patient attempts to keep a landing space for a crystal spaceship free from detritus. He finally succeeds in being taken off the earth and can look down at the mess that is humanity below. Is he one of the messengers of the Gods? His coherent story sounds convincing and this is Lessing’s point. Understanding and then interpreting the place where the mentally ill patient has got himself, is the surest way of treating the illness.
Lessing knew and was influenced by the theories of R D Laing, who was a practising psychiatrist and wrote extensively about mental health. (She even took LSD under his supervision and some of the patients stories feel like an LSD induced hallucinations.) R D Laing was revolutionary in valuing the content of psychotic behaviour and speech as a valid expression of distress. He believed that if you could interpret the symbolism then you might understand the cause and the treatment would be guided by what was discovered. Lessing takes R D Laings ideas further by hinting that the patients so-called psychotic ramblings may have some value not only for himself but for others: perhaps as a saviour for the human race.
The discovery by the hospital that the patient is Charles Watkins a professor who lectures on classics represents a change in emphasis in the novel. We come down to earth almost with a bump as the hospital staff communicate by letter and phone with his wife, family and colleagues. The novel becomes epistolary in form as various people write in with stories about Professor Watkins, who appears to have psychopathic tendencies. The Professer himself hallucinates, tells stories about his war experiences as he fights to regain a sense of who he is. His stay in hospital is prolonged with Doctor X putting pressure on him to undergo shock treatment. Lessing made me feel that the professor may be happier being mentally ill, which is quite some achievement.
This is not a science fiction novel, Lessing was still a little way from launching herself totally in that genre, but for the first part of this novel you could be forgiven for thinking you were reading one. The substantial passages that tell the stories inside the head of the patient/Charles Watkins feel out of kilter with the mystery of discovering who he is and whether he is going to get well, but this is probably Lessings technique in trying to portray mental illness and it works to some extent. She has a feel for describing fantasies of other worlds, whether they be utopias or dystopias and I missed some of this imaginative writing in the second half of the novel. An enjoyable novel that has nowhere near the scope of the excellent Four Gated City, but one which homes in on its themes and contains some of her most imaginative writing todate. A four star read.
201valkyrdeath
>199 baswood: That sounds like something that would appeal to me. I've never read any Lessing but I'm starting to think I really should.
202AlisonY
Totally intrigued by your The Gray Cloth review. I had to read it a couple of times to get my head around what type of book it really is. Nicely done!
203janeajones
Excellent reviews of the Lessing and The Gray Cloth. I read the Lessing years ago, and your review brought it back to me. The Gray Cloth seems to have a particular Modernist sensibility that intrigues me.
205baswood
The Elizabethan Renaissance: The cultural achievement by A L Rowse
A L Rowse was not a man to keep his opinions to himself; he is quoted as describing 1960’s England as a "Slacker State":
"I don't want to have my money scalped off me to maintain other people's children. I don't like other people; I particularly don't like their children; I deeply disapprove of their proliferation making the globe uninhabitable. The fucking idiots - I don't want to pay for their fucking”.
A L Rowse was an author, historian, biographer, poet and probably self publicist. A man who became deeply misanthropic and was not averse to sharing his opinions; something of this comes across in his otherwise excellent history of the Elizabethan age (Queen Elizabeth I, 1558 - 1603), published in 1972. Fortunately he saw the Elizabethan age as a golden age and his passion for and knowledge of his subject ranks with the two historians Jacob Burckhardt and J H Huizinga to whom he inscribes the frontispiece of his book (although of course they were historians of an earlier era).
The cultural achievement is the third part of Rowse’s trilogy of books on the Elizabethan age. It covers Drama (particularly the importance of Shakespeare), language literature and society, words and music, Architecture and Sculpture, Painting, domestic arts, science and society, nature and medicine and mind and spirit (religion). There is an epilogue which attempts to place the Elizabethan age in perspective, that is perspective with the rest of Europe and succeeding ages.
Rowse’s forthright opinions and his ability to make his history lively are a feature of this book, together with his in depth knowledge of the period. If you are looking to read a historian that presents various shades of grey then this is not it. A L Rowse certainly has his heroes; Francis Bacon, William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, Thomas Hariot, Sir Philip Sydney and the Queen herself, but this is tempered with realistic portraits and an assessment of their impact on their society.
Rowse on George Chapman (Elizabethan dramatist, translator and poet):
Chapman reacted into an obscure intellectualism, which he justified by regarding himself as a superior spirit, with a hatred of the common man, and this he expressed obsessively……. The public reacted by never demanding a second edition of his books……. Others have seen in this strangulated poet the rival poet of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Such people have no sense of literature, and should get out of the field.
Rowse’s call for other critics, who do not agree with him to “get out of the field” is typical of his attitude, he is not above referring to such historians/writers as idiots and perhaps he has more in common with the Elizabethan poet George Chapman than he would have cared to believe.
I am sure there are more balanced histories of the Elizabethan era, but they may not be able to match Rowse’s peerless knowledge, or his passion for his subject. Perhaps we can mention his name in the same breath as Burckhardt and Huizinga and so I rate this as 4 stars.
A L Rowse was not a man to keep his opinions to himself; he is quoted as describing 1960’s England as a "Slacker State":
"I don't want to have my money scalped off me to maintain other people's children. I don't like other people; I particularly don't like their children; I deeply disapprove of their proliferation making the globe uninhabitable. The fucking idiots - I don't want to pay for their fucking”.
A L Rowse was an author, historian, biographer, poet and probably self publicist. A man who became deeply misanthropic and was not averse to sharing his opinions; something of this comes across in his otherwise excellent history of the Elizabethan age (Queen Elizabeth I, 1558 - 1603), published in 1972. Fortunately he saw the Elizabethan age as a golden age and his passion for and knowledge of his subject ranks with the two historians Jacob Burckhardt and J H Huizinga to whom he inscribes the frontispiece of his book (although of course they were historians of an earlier era).
The cultural achievement is the third part of Rowse’s trilogy of books on the Elizabethan age. It covers Drama (particularly the importance of Shakespeare), language literature and society, words and music, Architecture and Sculpture, Painting, domestic arts, science and society, nature and medicine and mind and spirit (religion). There is an epilogue which attempts to place the Elizabethan age in perspective, that is perspective with the rest of Europe and succeeding ages.
Rowse’s forthright opinions and his ability to make his history lively are a feature of this book, together with his in depth knowledge of the period. If you are looking to read a historian that presents various shades of grey then this is not it. A L Rowse certainly has his heroes; Francis Bacon, William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, Thomas Hariot, Sir Philip Sydney and the Queen herself, but this is tempered with realistic portraits and an assessment of their impact on their society.
Rowse on George Chapman (Elizabethan dramatist, translator and poet):
Chapman reacted into an obscure intellectualism, which he justified by regarding himself as a superior spirit, with a hatred of the common man, and this he expressed obsessively……. The public reacted by never demanding a second edition of his books……. Others have seen in this strangulated poet the rival poet of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Such people have no sense of literature, and should get out of the field.
Rowse’s call for other critics, who do not agree with him to “get out of the field” is typical of his attitude, he is not above referring to such historians/writers as idiots and perhaps he has more in common with the Elizabethan poet George Chapman than he would have cared to believe.
I am sure there are more balanced histories of the Elizabethan era, but they may not be able to match Rowse’s peerless knowledge, or his passion for his subject. Perhaps we can mention his name in the same breath as Burckhardt and Huizinga and so I rate this as 4 stars.
206janeajones
I'm not sure I'd put Huizinga's humanity and Rowse's misanthropy in the same breath.
207baswood
>206 janeajones: Good point
208AnnieMod
>205 baswood:
Both Rowse and Neale are products of their times and do not really suffer opinions lightly. Still worth reading them - they do know what they are talking about. :) Good review
Both Rowse and Neale are products of their times and do not really suffer opinions lightly. Still worth reading them - they do know what they are talking about. :) Good review
209FlorenceArt
>204 baswood: That letter to the Daily Telegraph is pretty funny. I'm interested by Rowse's books, but knowing nothing about English history I'd better acquire some basic knowledge first I think. Which is something I've been thinking about for a while but not yet acted upon.
211baswood
I Robot, Isaac Asimov
Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics are as well known to many people as the opening lines to William Blake’s poem The Tyger: they have become part of our popular culture and so just as people who claim not to like poetry (and you know who you are) can trot out the first line to Tyger then those who don’t read science fiction (and you also know who you are) are familiar with Asimov’s Robotic Laws.
The Three Laws of Robotics:
1) A Robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction allow a human being to come to harm
2) A Robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law
3) A Robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law.
The three laws appear as a frontispiece to Asimov’s I, Robot published in 1950, which consists of nine short stories written between 1940 and 1950 which were linked by a framing device for the books publication. Actually the stories fit together quite well and describe the history of Robotics as envisioned by the young author from 1950. The first story Robbie; features a nursemaid robot whose duties consist of looking after a child and he is one of the first prototypes; the last story takes place 56 years later when Robots are in control/running the earth for their masters, but are still functioning in accordance with the Three Laws.
Apart from the first story most of the others are themed around a challenge to the robotic laws, both by the robots and by the company and governments that make them. Robots used in mining operations on other planets are found to be more of a hindrance than a help: continually preventing their human colleagues from taking necessary risks. Robots used to design a new space ship make calculations that are beyond human understanding. Their “positronic" manufactured brains which allow them to reason and think are imprinted with the the three laws; but what happens when the imprinted laws are adjusted or when their own thoughts override their usefulness? Asimov does not get overly philosophical but in relating the issues back to his robotic laws he gives the stories a sense of cohesion and even of history.
The framing device is Susan Calvin who at the end of the book is the worlds foremost expert on robot psychology. She is being interviewed by a young journalist writing a feature on U. S. Robot and Mechanical Men Inc. the company that became the world leader in its field and is celebrating its seventy fifth year. It is Susan’s stories that are recorded and although related in the third person many of them feature her point of view. Her character develops as the stories unfold and Asimov does a reasonable job here, however the male characters are pretty much stock characters with the robots outshining them in personality and thoughtfulness.
Asimovs own predictions of future technology are wildly optimistic (as were many science fiction writers at that time). Robbie the first robot in the book is fully operational in 1996 and by 2050 man has developed space ships with warp drive and has colonised the stars. He is more accurate in predicting the rise of large industrial corporations that hold real power and who strive to break free of governments or work in partnership in the pursuit of profit. This isn’t great literature, but it is a landmark in science fiction and Asimov writes well enough to spin his thought provoking stories and to provide them with a framework that serves its purpose beautifully.
I have served my debt to popular culture; I have listened to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, I have sat through The Sound of Music and I have even read The DaVinci Code and so I would urge you to do likewise and read I, Robot. (have to confess to quite liking The Sound of Music, and Bohemian Rhapsody isn’t too bad, but Dan Brown …ugh). In my opinion it is up their with the best in its field and so it is a five star read.
Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics are as well known to many people as the opening lines to William Blake’s poem The Tyger: they have become part of our popular culture and so just as people who claim not to like poetry (and you know who you are) can trot out the first line to Tyger then those who don’t read science fiction (and you also know who you are) are familiar with Asimov’s Robotic Laws.
The Three Laws of Robotics:
1) A Robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction allow a human being to come to harm
2) A Robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law
3) A Robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law.
The three laws appear as a frontispiece to Asimov’s I, Robot published in 1950, which consists of nine short stories written between 1940 and 1950 which were linked by a framing device for the books publication. Actually the stories fit together quite well and describe the history of Robotics as envisioned by the young author from 1950. The first story Robbie; features a nursemaid robot whose duties consist of looking after a child and he is one of the first prototypes; the last story takes place 56 years later when Robots are in control/running the earth for their masters, but are still functioning in accordance with the Three Laws.
Apart from the first story most of the others are themed around a challenge to the robotic laws, both by the robots and by the company and governments that make them. Robots used in mining operations on other planets are found to be more of a hindrance than a help: continually preventing their human colleagues from taking necessary risks. Robots used to design a new space ship make calculations that are beyond human understanding. Their “positronic" manufactured brains which allow them to reason and think are imprinted with the the three laws; but what happens when the imprinted laws are adjusted or when their own thoughts override their usefulness? Asimov does not get overly philosophical but in relating the issues back to his robotic laws he gives the stories a sense of cohesion and even of history.
The framing device is Susan Calvin who at the end of the book is the worlds foremost expert on robot psychology. She is being interviewed by a young journalist writing a feature on U. S. Robot and Mechanical Men Inc. the company that became the world leader in its field and is celebrating its seventy fifth year. It is Susan’s stories that are recorded and although related in the third person many of them feature her point of view. Her character develops as the stories unfold and Asimov does a reasonable job here, however the male characters are pretty much stock characters with the robots outshining them in personality and thoughtfulness.
Asimovs own predictions of future technology are wildly optimistic (as were many science fiction writers at that time). Robbie the first robot in the book is fully operational in 1996 and by 2050 man has developed space ships with warp drive and has colonised the stars. He is more accurate in predicting the rise of large industrial corporations that hold real power and who strive to break free of governments or work in partnership in the pursuit of profit. This isn’t great literature, but it is a landmark in science fiction and Asimov writes well enough to spin his thought provoking stories and to provide them with a framework that serves its purpose beautifully.
I have served my debt to popular culture; I have listened to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, I have sat through The Sound of Music and I have even read The DaVinci Code and so I would urge you to do likewise and read I, Robot. (have to confess to quite liking The Sound of Music, and Bohemian Rhapsody isn’t too bad, but Dan Brown …ugh). In my opinion it is up their with the best in its field and so it is a five star read.
212sibylline
Snorting coffee up my nose reading about Rowse!
Glad that I, Robot held up for you. That is one I should reread since I think I was about 12 the last time . . . (I will say that I remember it better than one might expect).
Glad that I, Robot held up for you. That is one I should reread since I think I was about 12 the last time . . . (I will say that I remember it better than one might expect).
213rebeccanyc
>210 baswood: Great cartoon!
214janeajones
I haven't read I, Robot, but your review reminds me of Karel Capek's play, R.U.R.
215dukedom_enough
Though it's been 50+ years since I read I, Robot, I remember it well enough to say that it probably holds up better than most books of its era. But modern readers who aren't familiar with science fiction should probably look into something written more recently than this one, I think.
216baswood
>215 dukedom_enough: Yes it is very much of it's era: 1940's science fiction.
217thorold
I found re-reading I, robot a big disappointment - for some reason I really enjoyed it when I was about 14, but coming back to it it as an adult it just seemed to be incredibly clunky. Dialogue that is about as lively as a scripted documentary from the 1940s, a total lack of wit, and "characters" who are just there to pass on information and don't have any kind of individual personality. It made me wonder why he hadn't just written a non-fiction book about the possible impact of robots.
218OscarWilde87
Great review of I, Robot.
219bragan
>211 baswood: Isaac Asimov is way better than Dan Brown. :)
220AnnieMod
>211 baswood:, >219 bragan:
I had been rendered speechless by putting Brown in the same sentence with the rest
Great review :)
I had been rendered speechless by putting Brown in the same sentence with the rest
Great review :)
221baswood
The Story of Non-Marrying man and other Stories by Doris Lessing
This collection of short stories was published in 1972 and like many such collections some stories are better than others or as readers we like some stories better than others. The copyright of the stories range from 1963 to 1972 and there had been other collections published during this time and so it is possible that some of the stories had been left on the stocks as it were, perhaps not quite good enough to be collected.
There are thirteen stories and they start with “Out of the Fountain” which is a fable like story about a businessman/diamond cutter who is headhunted to cut a diamond for a very rich Egyptian man. The diamond cutter is attracted to one of the Egyptians daughter and politely makes her a present of a pearl; the pearl changes her life and Lessing explores the power that precious gems can hold for people in a charming story. The stories that follow are a mixed bag, with a few being little more than descriptive essays; for example “A year in Regents Park” is just that as the Author takes us through the year with her observations from her home nearby, ‘Spies I have known” is just a collection of anecdotes from the time that Lessing was involved in politics in South Rhodesia and “The Other Garden” is a description of a sort of hidden garden.
Then there are a couple of stories that appear to be very similar to other stories I have read, almost rewrites and so by the time I got to the last two stories I was thinking that this was perhaps her weakest collection. However the last two stories changed all that and as they take up nearly a third of the book length I have revised my opinion considerably. The Title Story is set in South Rhodesia and is the only one apart from “Spies I have Known” to be set in what has previously been fertile ground for Lessing. It is a good story with an element of mystery. The final story is ‘The Temptation of Jack Orkney and is a superb character study of a man coming to terms with the death of his father and the generation gap that exists with his son. It is worth getting a collection of Lessings short stories where this one is included. “Report on the Threatened City” is Lessings first completely science fiction story and feels in tone like a practice run for Shikasta. All in all a four star read.
This collection of short stories was published in 1972 and like many such collections some stories are better than others or as readers we like some stories better than others. The copyright of the stories range from 1963 to 1972 and there had been other collections published during this time and so it is possible that some of the stories had been left on the stocks as it were, perhaps not quite good enough to be collected.
There are thirteen stories and they start with “Out of the Fountain” which is a fable like story about a businessman/diamond cutter who is headhunted to cut a diamond for a very rich Egyptian man. The diamond cutter is attracted to one of the Egyptians daughter and politely makes her a present of a pearl; the pearl changes her life and Lessing explores the power that precious gems can hold for people in a charming story. The stories that follow are a mixed bag, with a few being little more than descriptive essays; for example “A year in Regents Park” is just that as the Author takes us through the year with her observations from her home nearby, ‘Spies I have known” is just a collection of anecdotes from the time that Lessing was involved in politics in South Rhodesia and “The Other Garden” is a description of a sort of hidden garden.
Then there are a couple of stories that appear to be very similar to other stories I have read, almost rewrites and so by the time I got to the last two stories I was thinking that this was perhaps her weakest collection. However the last two stories changed all that and as they take up nearly a third of the book length I have revised my opinion considerably. The Title Story is set in South Rhodesia and is the only one apart from “Spies I have Known” to be set in what has previously been fertile ground for Lessing. It is a good story with an element of mystery. The final story is ‘The Temptation of Jack Orkney and is a superb character study of a man coming to terms with the death of his father and the generation gap that exists with his son. It is worth getting a collection of Lessings short stories where this one is included. “Report on the Threatened City” is Lessings first completely science fiction story and feels in tone like a practice run for Shikasta. All in all a four star read.
223baswood
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
I am young, I am twenty years of age; but I know nothing of life except despair, death, fear, and the combination of completely mindless superficiality with an abyss of suffering. I see people being driven against one another, and silently, uncomprehendingly, foolishly, obediently and innocently killing one another. I see the best brains in the world inventing weapons and words to make the whole process that much more sophisticated and long lasting. And watching this with me are all my contemporaries, here and on the other side, all over the world - my whole generation is experiencing this with me. What would our fathers do if one day we rose up and confronted them, and called them to account? what do they expect from us when a time comes when there is no more war? For years our occupation has been killing - that was the first experience we had. Our knowledge of life is limited to death. What will happen afterwards? And what can possibly become of us.
It has been said that All quiet on the Western Front is one of the finest anti-war books ever written and I can believe it. Paul (the hero of the novel) has volunteered along with all his class mates to join the German Army soon after the start of the first world war, they are marched down to the recruitment office by their school master in a blaze of patriotic fervour. When Paul writes the above paragraph he is recovering in a military hospital from shrapnel wounds, he has survived at or near the front line for three years, but most of his class mates are dead. He is now one of the veterans but all he can look forward to is a return to duty once he has been passed fit. He knows nothing else but the war, and a bit like the opening scene in the film Apocalypse Now: when he is at war he wants to be home, but when he is home he wants to be back at the front. He is speaking now for a generation of young men and this is the powerful message coming off the pages of this book along with a sense of complete dislocation. How can his generation survive the war? How can they survive after the war?. To make this point the readers are taken through the horrors of front line trench warfare.
Those horrors are brought to life by the reader seeing them through Paul’s eyes. Erich Maria Remarque chose to write his novel in the first person; he was himself conscripted into the German army at age 18 and was wounded in the arm and leg by shrapnel. Having seen action himself he was able to provide a first hand account of the horrors of fighting a modern war from the point of view of an infantryman on the ground, and he does not hold back. The deafening noise of the guns, the flying metal, the gas attacks, the field hospital are all vividly described along with the state of mind of young men put in impossible situations. For many of them death and probably an agonisingly slow death at that, was waiting for them just up ahead, but the war machine had done its job and they stuck to their task, there was nothing else to be done.
Paul has questions that cannot be answered, but this does not stop him thinking aloud to us the readers. Those questions still cannot be answered as we now know that the war to end all wars: didn’t do that. Paul carries on following orders, witnessing the horrors around him with only a sort of gallows humour camaraderie with his immediate group of friend to support him. I am pleased to have picked this book off my shelf to read, it makes sobering reading and I found it to be quick read. A short sharp shock while reading and lots to ponder about afterwards. An important book and a five star read.
I am young, I am twenty years of age; but I know nothing of life except despair, death, fear, and the combination of completely mindless superficiality with an abyss of suffering. I see people being driven against one another, and silently, uncomprehendingly, foolishly, obediently and innocently killing one another. I see the best brains in the world inventing weapons and words to make the whole process that much more sophisticated and long lasting. And watching this with me are all my contemporaries, here and on the other side, all over the world - my whole generation is experiencing this with me. What would our fathers do if one day we rose up and confronted them, and called them to account? what do they expect from us when a time comes when there is no more war? For years our occupation has been killing - that was the first experience we had. Our knowledge of life is limited to death. What will happen afterwards? And what can possibly become of us.
It has been said that All quiet on the Western Front is one of the finest anti-war books ever written and I can believe it. Paul (the hero of the novel) has volunteered along with all his class mates to join the German Army soon after the start of the first world war, they are marched down to the recruitment office by their school master in a blaze of patriotic fervour. When Paul writes the above paragraph he is recovering in a military hospital from shrapnel wounds, he has survived at or near the front line for three years, but most of his class mates are dead. He is now one of the veterans but all he can look forward to is a return to duty once he has been passed fit. He knows nothing else but the war, and a bit like the opening scene in the film Apocalypse Now: when he is at war he wants to be home, but when he is home he wants to be back at the front. He is speaking now for a generation of young men and this is the powerful message coming off the pages of this book along with a sense of complete dislocation. How can his generation survive the war? How can they survive after the war?. To make this point the readers are taken through the horrors of front line trench warfare.
Those horrors are brought to life by the reader seeing them through Paul’s eyes. Erich Maria Remarque chose to write his novel in the first person; he was himself conscripted into the German army at age 18 and was wounded in the arm and leg by shrapnel. Having seen action himself he was able to provide a first hand account of the horrors of fighting a modern war from the point of view of an infantryman on the ground, and he does not hold back. The deafening noise of the guns, the flying metal, the gas attacks, the field hospital are all vividly described along with the state of mind of young men put in impossible situations. For many of them death and probably an agonisingly slow death at that, was waiting for them just up ahead, but the war machine had done its job and they stuck to their task, there was nothing else to be done.
Paul has questions that cannot be answered, but this does not stop him thinking aloud to us the readers. Those questions still cannot be answered as we now know that the war to end all wars: didn’t do that. Paul carries on following orders, witnessing the horrors around him with only a sort of gallows humour camaraderie with his immediate group of friend to support him. I am pleased to have picked this book off my shelf to read, it makes sobering reading and I found it to be quick read. A short sharp shock while reading and lots to ponder about afterwards. An important book and a five star read.
224NanaCC
Nice review of All Quiet on the Western Front, Barry. It was one of my favorites in 2014. Much to think about.
225avidmom
>211 baswood: I loved I, Robot when I read it last year; so glad you felt the same way.
All Quiet on the Western Front was required reading for my boys when they were in high school.
All Quiet on the Western Front was required reading for my boys when they were in high school.
226ursula
>223 baswood: I tried to read this a long time ago and just couldn't seem to get into it (in spite of liking both anti-war books and ones about WWI generally), and I've sort of avoided it since. I will pick it up again though; I always hear such good things about it.
227rebeccanyc
>223 baswood: I've been meaning to read this. Thanks for reminding me. Great review.
228thorold
>223 baswood: I read it when I was about the age the boys were when they were recruited: it's another of those books I'd be afraid of going back to in case it's lost its impact in the meantime. Good to hear that it hasn't!
229AlisonY
>223 baswood: compelling review - sounds like a great read.
That photograph - wow. Totally captures the horror of the world wars - horrendous.
That photograph - wow. Totally captures the horror of the world wars - horrendous.
230OscarWilde87
>223 baswood: Great review. It really is an important read.
231baswood
Jack Bruce - Songs for a tailor 1969 3.5 stars
Jack Bruce - Things We Like 1970 4 stars
Jack Bruce - Harmony Row 1971 3.5 stars
The Battered Ornaments - Mantle-piece 1969 5 stars.
Jack Bruce bass guitarist and singer with Cream (perhaps the best of the late 1960’s supergroups) went into the business of making his own records when the group split; with mixed results. Songs for a Tailor and Harmony Row consist of short songs of pop music length and both suffer from a lack of direction. There are good songs on both discs but they are such a mixed bag that they fail to gel into any coherence and some suffer from being badly mixed/engineered. Things we like is quite different: progressive jazz-rock titles that feature some amazing playing.
Jack Bruce - Songs for a tailor
Jack Bruce plays bass, organ, piano, cello and has Chris Spedding on guitar and Jon Hiseman on drums for most of the songs. They are enhanced by a brass section on four of the songs and while these players were at the forefront of the jazz rock scene at the time: Harry Beckett on trumpet Dick Heckstall-Smith and Art Theman on saxes, they are not given any space to shine and the arrangements are lacklustre. On top of this Jack Bruce’s bass sound is muddy in places and the songs fail to come to life in many cases they seem to be over before they have begun. The best tracks are by the smaller group; Rope Ladder to the Moon, Theme for an imaginary Western and He the Richmond. Jack Bruce wrote all the music with the lyrics written by Pete Brown; the same combination that made some classic songs with Cream.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4yI4MGeJZqe092xhu6e0CcuqBPe5ngMv
Jack Bruce - Things we Like
This was recorded in 1968 and had to wait a couple of years for release and it is easy to understand why. The group is Bruce on bass, Dick Heckstall-Smith on saxophones, Jon Hiseman on drums and a young John McLaughlin on electric guitar. The group are half of the progressive rock band Colosseum and sound very much like that band if they had leaned more towards jazz than rock, although Jon Hiseman was always a rock drummer rather than a jazz drummer, There are plenty of space for solos on this instrumental only disc; John McLaughlin lays down some blistering solos and Dick heckstall-smith gets to play plenty of his two saxophones at once party trick. Bruce himself is rather subdued. The tracks were recorded over a four day period and I guess there was little rehearsal time, and so what you have here is rock musicians stretching out to play and improvise, but when the musicians are this good then there will be some great moments. I think this is a very good CD.
https://youtu.be/qfvT3ImKdlc
Jack Bruce - Harmony Row
Back to a trio format for these better crafted songs. The guitarist is Chris Spedding and John Marshall is on drums. Bruce plays bass, piano and organ and once again it is Pete Brown writing the lyrics. A little more care seems to have been taken over the recording of these songs and the group play well together. Spedding in particular was at home playing different types of music from intricate acoustic guitar to way out electric bottle neck improvisations and he features prominently on these cuts. Bruce sings well throughout and plays some good piano especially on Can you Follow and Letter of Thanks. I prefer this CD to the earlier Songs for a Tailor.
https://youtu.be/t7r4edgItT4
The Battered Ornaments - Mantle-piece
This was a group led by Chris Spedding and Pete Brown, with bassist Roger Potter, drummer Rob Tait and saxophonist George Khan. Spedding and Brown seem to have saved their best material for this disc. Every song is a winner with some stunning playing by the group. Spedding’s London drawl vocals along with some excellent arrangements give this CD an overall group feel that is missing on Jack Bruce’s discs. Spedding gets to lay down some tight solos and George Khans quirky sax interludes give these songs a sound that enhances some great lyrics by Pete Brown. The playing is great, but the songs are important and the singer treats the words with the respect that they deserve. This has long been a favourite disc of mine and it is a five star recording. Also great album cover
And here is the magnificent Mantle-piece https://youtu.be/Oj9GIbhrn2U
233baswood
Innocent: Her Fancy and His Fact by Marie Corelli
In many ways the author of the book sounds more interesting than the book I have just read. Marie Corelli enjoyed great literary success from the publication of her first novel in 1886 until the First World War. Corelli’s novels sold more copies than the combined sales of popular contemporaries, including Arthur Conan Doyle, H G Wells and Rudyard Kipling, although critics often derided her work as “the favourite of the common multitude'. Apparently she dosed her fiction with mystical new age ideas, she was contemptuous of the press and was something of an eccentric. She lived with a female companion for much of her adult life and critics have noted that often there are erotic descriptions of her female characters in her novels.
A major criticism of her work is that it was overly melodramatic and this is certainly true of Innocent Her Fancy and his Fact, but then again it is unashamedly a romantic novel and a tragic one at that. Corelli’s prose is well written, however her continual striving to create an atmosphere can be a little repetitive. It certainly feels overdone. This is the story of Innocent, who as a young baby is abandoned to the care of an honest farmer by a mysterious stranger on a stormy night. She grows up into a waif like girl who is loved by all on the farm. She discovers some very old books in a trunk in a secret passage in the farm buildings; written on vellum in old French and spends her time translating and falling under the spell of the mysterious knight Sieur Amadis who wrote the books. She is innocent of the fact she is a foundling until the night before her protector (the old farmer) dies. She spurns an offer of marriage from the new young master of the farm who is passionately in love with her and travels to London to make a name for herself. Within two years she has become a famous novelist whose stories are based on the writings of Sieur Amadis. She falls in love with an artist also named Amadis and discovers that she is the daughter of Lady Blythe a cabinet ministers wife. From here on the coincidences and chance meetings pile up in ever more plot driven conventions, making it hard to take in any way seriously.
There are some interesting ideas amongst the gush. The old farmer runs a model farm which bans modern equipment and still manages to produce the best produce for miles around. There is a love of the old methods or the old ways and Innocence could be seen as an allegory of this battle against the mechanised age. The idea of the Sieur Amadis reaching out to Innocent from beyond the grave is well handled and Corelli has put a lot of thought in the character of Innocent herself. She could be seen as a photo feminist in the way she speaks out against the lot of women at the time:
“I do not want to marry anybody. It is the common lot of women - why should they envy or desire it, I cannot think! To give oneself up entirely to a man’s humours - to be glad of his caresses, and miserable when he is angry or tired - to bear his children and see them grow up and leave you for their own betterment as they would call it - oh what an old drudging life - a life of monotony, sickness and pain, and fatigue - and nothing higher done than what animals can do. There are plenty of women of the world who wish to stay at this level………….
Characterisation is strong throughout the book and the self centred lover Amadis is nicely contrasted with the young Robin the new manager of the farm. There are more good and kindly people of both sexes than bad and even the villains of the piece Amadis de Jocelyn and Mrs Blythe are not thoroughly evil.
Marie Corelli was coming to the end of her popularity when she published this book, whose themes looked backwards not forwards. Prosecuted for being a hoarder of food during the war did not help her cause. I tired of this book long before the end as it wound its inevitable route through a set of unlikely events. Not entirely without interest, with its hints of the gothic, but not one of the best books from 1914 that I have read. A 2.5 star read.
In many ways the author of the book sounds more interesting than the book I have just read. Marie Corelli enjoyed great literary success from the publication of her first novel in 1886 until the First World War. Corelli’s novels sold more copies than the combined sales of popular contemporaries, including Arthur Conan Doyle, H G Wells and Rudyard Kipling, although critics often derided her work as “the favourite of the common multitude'. Apparently she dosed her fiction with mystical new age ideas, she was contemptuous of the press and was something of an eccentric. She lived with a female companion for much of her adult life and critics have noted that often there are erotic descriptions of her female characters in her novels.
A major criticism of her work is that it was overly melodramatic and this is certainly true of Innocent Her Fancy and his Fact, but then again it is unashamedly a romantic novel and a tragic one at that. Corelli’s prose is well written, however her continual striving to create an atmosphere can be a little repetitive. It certainly feels overdone. This is the story of Innocent, who as a young baby is abandoned to the care of an honest farmer by a mysterious stranger on a stormy night. She grows up into a waif like girl who is loved by all on the farm. She discovers some very old books in a trunk in a secret passage in the farm buildings; written on vellum in old French and spends her time translating and falling under the spell of the mysterious knight Sieur Amadis who wrote the books. She is innocent of the fact she is a foundling until the night before her protector (the old farmer) dies. She spurns an offer of marriage from the new young master of the farm who is passionately in love with her and travels to London to make a name for herself. Within two years she has become a famous novelist whose stories are based on the writings of Sieur Amadis. She falls in love with an artist also named Amadis and discovers that she is the daughter of Lady Blythe a cabinet ministers wife. From here on the coincidences and chance meetings pile up in ever more plot driven conventions, making it hard to take in any way seriously.
There are some interesting ideas amongst the gush. The old farmer runs a model farm which bans modern equipment and still manages to produce the best produce for miles around. There is a love of the old methods or the old ways and Innocence could be seen as an allegory of this battle against the mechanised age. The idea of the Sieur Amadis reaching out to Innocent from beyond the grave is well handled and Corelli has put a lot of thought in the character of Innocent herself. She could be seen as a photo feminist in the way she speaks out against the lot of women at the time:
“I do not want to marry anybody. It is the common lot of women - why should they envy or desire it, I cannot think! To give oneself up entirely to a man’s humours - to be glad of his caresses, and miserable when he is angry or tired - to bear his children and see them grow up and leave you for their own betterment as they would call it - oh what an old drudging life - a life of monotony, sickness and pain, and fatigue - and nothing higher done than what animals can do. There are plenty of women of the world who wish to stay at this level………….
Characterisation is strong throughout the book and the self centred lover Amadis is nicely contrasted with the young Robin the new manager of the farm. There are more good and kindly people of both sexes than bad and even the villains of the piece Amadis de Jocelyn and Mrs Blythe are not thoroughly evil.
Marie Corelli was coming to the end of her popularity when she published this book, whose themes looked backwards not forwards. Prosecuted for being a hoarder of food during the war did not help her cause. I tired of this book long before the end as it wound its inevitable route through a set of unlikely events. Not entirely without interest, with its hints of the gothic, but not one of the best books from 1914 that I have read. A 2.5 star read.
234SassyLassy
As I mentioned on your other thread, she does sound interesting (the person that is), but maybe a bit of the fashion victim in there too?
235ChocolateMuse
Wonderful review of AQOTWF, Bas. I tried to read it once and didn't have the stomach for it. I must try again.
Interesting review in #233 as well. Love the quote.
Interesting review in #233 as well. Love the quote.
236sibylline
Fine review of the Remarque. I read it long ago and was stunned by it. I was thinking of it a lot while reading the Wade Davis on the 1920's attempts Everest this winter.
Impressed that you took on Corelli!
Impressed that you took on Corelli!
237thorold
>233 baswood: Corelli - Very interesting. I keep meaning to give her a try, for similar reasons to yours (so many early-20th-century writers were Corelli fans in their youth: Wodehouse for instance), but I somehow never quite get around to it. Sounds as though it shouldn't become a high priority...
>231 baswood: Jack Bruce - that's a name I vaguely remember being tossed around by musically with-it contemporaries when I was at school. Your reviews encouraged me to go and listen to a few tracks, with the idea that I'm more broad-minded now than forty years ago, but that was obviously a fallacy. It still sounded like a bunch of highly-skilled musicians amusing themselves without any thought for their audience. I obviously don't have the right genetic make-up to be get the point of that sort of music. A pity, because it would be very useful to be able to pontificate about it to the Ancient Britons I have lunch with from time to time... :-(
>231 baswood: Jack Bruce - that's a name I vaguely remember being tossed around by musically with-it contemporaries when I was at school. Your reviews encouraged me to go and listen to a few tracks, with the idea that I'm more broad-minded now than forty years ago, but that was obviously a fallacy. It still sounded like a bunch of highly-skilled musicians amusing themselves without any thought for their audience. I obviously don't have the right genetic make-up to be get the point of that sort of music. A pity, because it would be very useful to be able to pontificate about it to the Ancient Britons I have lunch with from time to time... :-(
238AlisonY
>233 baswood: great review of the Corelli book. Shame it wasn't a great read - your review had me quite hooked and it would probably have gone on the wish list pile otherwise.
240baswood
Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition: Norton critical Edition by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
An extraordinary first hand account of Spanish Conquistadores blown off course and making landfall in the uncharted land of the Florida panhandle in 1528. Cabeza de Vaca was the treasurer in Panfilo de Narvaez’s expedition which was intent on land grabbing, treasure hunting and slaving in Northern Mexico, but storms and hurricanes pitched them on an inhospitable coastal region that soon turned into a battle for survival, for which they were iill equipped. A fleet of five ships and 400 men were reduced to just four survivors who became slaves themselves before battling through Texas to the Pacific Ocean over six years later.
Cabeza de Vaca wrote his first version of his extraordinary adventures in 1537 for the King of Spain and his aim was to secure a post as Governor of the River Plate. It is therefore very much De Vaca’s view of events and he is very critical of Panfilo de Narvaez, but it is also a description of flora, fauna and native peoples encountered for the first time by Europeans, who find themselves in a hostile environment. It is a story of failure and one which costa most of them their lives. De Vaca’s account is matter of fact, but there is enough there to read between the lines, remembering that he is lost, bewildered, but very much a survivor, who becomes dependent on the natives (indians in the text). He is able to describe in some detail the customs and culture of the groups/tribes to whom he manages to attach himself. Here is an example:
“On the island I have described they (the indians) wanted to turn us into physicians without giving us any examinations or asking us for any diplomas, because they heal diseases by blowing on the patient, and with that puff of breath and their hands they drive illness out of him. And they ordered us to do the same so that we would at least be of some use to them. We laughed at this, saying it was ridiculous and that we did not know how to heal, so they took away our food until we did what they told us to. And seeing our obstinate refusal, an Indian told me that I did not know what I was saying when I said what he knew was useless, because the stones and other things that grow in the countryside have virtue……. “
The irony is that the conquistadores who came to conquer the land are soon reduced to a position of slavery. Their ships are wrecked, their horses prove useless in negotiating the swamp lands, their armour proves to be not very effective against well aimed arrows employed by skilful bowman, but worst of all is that they cannot find enough to eat and drink. They are in a world of hunter gatherers where the hunting and the gathering are slim pickings. They die from disease, starvation, hurricanes at sea and from hostile natives on land. They make poor decisions, being unable to negotiate successfully with the more friendly Indians and initially when they were at reasonable strength lured inland in a search for gold and slaves in a Country which was totally unknown to them.
Cabeza de Vaca is very much a man of his times. As a Christian he believes that through all the vicissitudes of war, he is following orders from his king who has a direct link with God and so he is already confessed and leaves his testament done and his soul secured. However de Vaca’s experiences lead him to take a more humane view of the treatment of the Indians, than is customary from their brutal treatment by their Spanish conquerors. He says:
“In order to entice all theses people into being Christians and into obedience to his Imperial Majesty, they must be attracted with good treatment, and that this way is the surest, and the other is not”
De Vaca and three companions; one of whom is an African, escape from their slavery and journey toward the hill country they have seen. Their years among the Indians have taught them how to survive. They eventually find themselves in Northern Texas an area that has come under partial control of the Spaniards. The Indians are frightened of them, but using their skills as physicians they attract a following who become a sort of rag-tag army not above looting and plundering as they go looking for civilisation and a means of getting back home.
The Norton Critical Edition contains a translation of Cabeza de Vaca’s 1542 published text, which is just over 90 pages in length and very readable. There are some other contemporaneous texts about the expedition and some sequels and finally some pages of criticism. I found the criticism extremely helpful in putting the account in perspective, especially from a geographical point of view. I think this is a unique document, a real telescope back to the 16th century, with a description of a part of the American Continent before colonisation. Five stars.
An extraordinary first hand account of Spanish Conquistadores blown off course and making landfall in the uncharted land of the Florida panhandle in 1528. Cabeza de Vaca was the treasurer in Panfilo de Narvaez’s expedition which was intent on land grabbing, treasure hunting and slaving in Northern Mexico, but storms and hurricanes pitched them on an inhospitable coastal region that soon turned into a battle for survival, for which they were iill equipped. A fleet of five ships and 400 men were reduced to just four survivors who became slaves themselves before battling through Texas to the Pacific Ocean over six years later.
Cabeza de Vaca wrote his first version of his extraordinary adventures in 1537 for the King of Spain and his aim was to secure a post as Governor of the River Plate. It is therefore very much De Vaca’s view of events and he is very critical of Panfilo de Narvaez, but it is also a description of flora, fauna and native peoples encountered for the first time by Europeans, who find themselves in a hostile environment. It is a story of failure and one which costa most of them their lives. De Vaca’s account is matter of fact, but there is enough there to read between the lines, remembering that he is lost, bewildered, but very much a survivor, who becomes dependent on the natives (indians in the text). He is able to describe in some detail the customs and culture of the groups/tribes to whom he manages to attach himself. Here is an example:
“On the island I have described they (the indians) wanted to turn us into physicians without giving us any examinations or asking us for any diplomas, because they heal diseases by blowing on the patient, and with that puff of breath and their hands they drive illness out of him. And they ordered us to do the same so that we would at least be of some use to them. We laughed at this, saying it was ridiculous and that we did not know how to heal, so they took away our food until we did what they told us to. And seeing our obstinate refusal, an Indian told me that I did not know what I was saying when I said what he knew was useless, because the stones and other things that grow in the countryside have virtue……. “
The irony is that the conquistadores who came to conquer the land are soon reduced to a position of slavery. Their ships are wrecked, their horses prove useless in negotiating the swamp lands, their armour proves to be not very effective against well aimed arrows employed by skilful bowman, but worst of all is that they cannot find enough to eat and drink. They are in a world of hunter gatherers where the hunting and the gathering are slim pickings. They die from disease, starvation, hurricanes at sea and from hostile natives on land. They make poor decisions, being unable to negotiate successfully with the more friendly Indians and initially when they were at reasonable strength lured inland in a search for gold and slaves in a Country which was totally unknown to them.
Cabeza de Vaca is very much a man of his times. As a Christian he believes that through all the vicissitudes of war, he is following orders from his king who has a direct link with God and so he is already confessed and leaves his testament done and his soul secured. However de Vaca’s experiences lead him to take a more humane view of the treatment of the Indians, than is customary from their brutal treatment by their Spanish conquerors. He says:
“In order to entice all theses people into being Christians and into obedience to his Imperial Majesty, they must be attracted with good treatment, and that this way is the surest, and the other is not”
De Vaca and three companions; one of whom is an African, escape from their slavery and journey toward the hill country they have seen. Their years among the Indians have taught them how to survive. They eventually find themselves in Northern Texas an area that has come under partial control of the Spaniards. The Indians are frightened of them, but using their skills as physicians they attract a following who become a sort of rag-tag army not above looting and plundering as they go looking for civilisation and a means of getting back home.
The Norton Critical Edition contains a translation of Cabeza de Vaca’s 1542 published text, which is just over 90 pages in length and very readable. There are some other contemporaneous texts about the expedition and some sequels and finally some pages of criticism. I found the criticism extremely helpful in putting the account in perspective, especially from a geographical point of view. I think this is a unique document, a real telescope back to the 16th century, with a description of a part of the American Continent before colonisation. Five stars.
241NanaCC
>240 baswood: great review ofChronicle of the Narvaez Expedition, Barry. I always learn something visiting your thread.
242theaelizabet
I'm ordering this one. How fascinating!
243rebeccanyc
>240 baswood: Great review and great illustration. >241 NanaCC: Like Collen, I too always learn something visiting your thread.
245sibylline
I think Tony Horwitz uses the de Vaca as a primary source in his very enjoyable book:
A Voyage Long and Strange.
A Voyage Long and Strange.
246SassyLassy
>240 baswood: Definitely need that book. Once again you've redirected the reading of at least several people, in the best of all possible ways!
Is that a Norman Wyeth illustration?
Is that a Norman Wyeth illustration?
247baswood
>246 SassyLassy: It is a photo of an image in the Florida State archives.
249baswood
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. by Edgar Alan Poe
Claimed to be Edgar Alan Poe’s only novel, but it reads to me like a collection of three, possibly four, short stories. It was published in 1838 before he had achieved significant sales as an author, he was making a living as a critic, reviewer and writer of articles and stories. A year later he published a two volume collection of his short stories: ‘Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque’ and the stories in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym would not have been out off place had they been included.
The frontispiece to the “novel” gives the game away almost at once:
COMPRISING THE DETAILS OF A MUTINY AND ATROCIOUS BUTCHERY ON BOARD THE AMERICAN BRIG GRAMPUS, ON HER WAY TO THE SOUTH SEAS, IN THE MONTH OF JUNE, 1827
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE RECAPTURE OF THE VESSEL BY THE SURVIVORS; THEIR SHIPWRECK AND SUBSEQUENT HORRIBLE SUFFERINGS FROM FAMINE; THEIT DELIVERANCE BY MEANS OF THE BRITISH SCHOONER JANE GUY; THE BRIEF CRUISE OF THIS LATTER VESSEL IN THE ANTARCTIC OCEAN; HER CAPTURE AND THE MASSACRE OF HER CREW AMONG A GROUP OF ISLANDS IN THE
EIGHTY-FOURTH PARALLEL OF SOUTHERN LATTITUDE;
TOGETHER WITH THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE AND DISCOVERIES STILL FURTHER SOUTH TO WHICH THAT DISTRESSING CALAMITY GAVE RISE.
If this all sounds like a blurb to suck in readers to an adventure story which will titillate and excite then it would not be far wrong from my reading of the book. The titillation is provided by the reference to horrible sufferings and atrocious butchery, while the excitement is the fantasy of what lies beyond the eighty-fourth parallel which remained uncharted at the time. It would be another 60 years before Robert Falcon Scott in the ship Discovery got passed 82 degrees South and discovered the Polar plateau.
The continuity between the three stories is provided by Arthur Gordon Pym who in each of the tales is in danger of death by starvation; first on board the American Brig the Grampus where he is a stowaway locked in the hold and must survive a mutiny taking place above him and his reliance on a friend who can no longer get to him with food and water, then on the hull of the brig where he and three companions are marooned following the retaking of the vessel and its near destruction through violent storms, finally on an island in the warmer waters beyond the 84th parallel where he is trapped by hostile savages. Poe is at his best when describing the sufferings and and vicissitudes of people in a desperate situation and where there appears little hope of survival. He has a way of communicating the desperation of his characters plight that is both macabre and exciting.
The Cruise on the British Schooner the Jane Guy in little known waters and which visits some of the remotest known islands like The Kerguelen Islands and Tristan D’acuna reads like a travelogue, something that might appear in the National Geographical magazine and has given rise to some people thinking it could have been inspiration for Herman Melville’s style of writing in Moby-Dick. The final section/story in the novel is the discovery of a mysterious group of islands in the warmer waters that Poe tells us lie beyond the ice towards the South Pole. We are now reading a fantasy, a story that has led to this book being heralded as early science fiction. Poe provides us with a surprise ending that takes into consideration the events of the final section, but bears little relation to what has gone before.
This is a collection of nautical adventure stories that are well written and very readable. Poe is able to provide plenty of atmosphere in stories that kept me wanting to turn the pages (can you say that when reading on a Kindle?). I just don’t see it as a novel and so as a collection of short stories it is rated as 3.5 stars and as a novel 2 stars.
Claimed to be Edgar Alan Poe’s only novel, but it reads to me like a collection of three, possibly four, short stories. It was published in 1838 before he had achieved significant sales as an author, he was making a living as a critic, reviewer and writer of articles and stories. A year later he published a two volume collection of his short stories: ‘Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque’ and the stories in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym would not have been out off place had they been included.
The frontispiece to the “novel” gives the game away almost at once:
COMPRISING THE DETAILS OF A MUTINY AND ATROCIOUS BUTCHERY ON BOARD THE AMERICAN BRIG GRAMPUS, ON HER WAY TO THE SOUTH SEAS, IN THE MONTH OF JUNE, 1827
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE RECAPTURE OF THE VESSEL BY THE SURVIVORS; THEIR SHIPWRECK AND SUBSEQUENT HORRIBLE SUFFERINGS FROM FAMINE; THEIT DELIVERANCE BY MEANS OF THE BRITISH SCHOONER JANE GUY; THE BRIEF CRUISE OF THIS LATTER VESSEL IN THE ANTARCTIC OCEAN; HER CAPTURE AND THE MASSACRE OF HER CREW AMONG A GROUP OF ISLANDS IN THE
EIGHTY-FOURTH PARALLEL OF SOUTHERN LATTITUDE;
TOGETHER WITH THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE AND DISCOVERIES STILL FURTHER SOUTH TO WHICH THAT DISTRESSING CALAMITY GAVE RISE.
If this all sounds like a blurb to suck in readers to an adventure story which will titillate and excite then it would not be far wrong from my reading of the book. The titillation is provided by the reference to horrible sufferings and atrocious butchery, while the excitement is the fantasy of what lies beyond the eighty-fourth parallel which remained uncharted at the time. It would be another 60 years before Robert Falcon Scott in the ship Discovery got passed 82 degrees South and discovered the Polar plateau.
The continuity between the three stories is provided by Arthur Gordon Pym who in each of the tales is in danger of death by starvation; first on board the American Brig the Grampus where he is a stowaway locked in the hold and must survive a mutiny taking place above him and his reliance on a friend who can no longer get to him with food and water, then on the hull of the brig where he and three companions are marooned following the retaking of the vessel and its near destruction through violent storms, finally on an island in the warmer waters beyond the 84th parallel where he is trapped by hostile savages. Poe is at his best when describing the sufferings and and vicissitudes of people in a desperate situation and where there appears little hope of survival. He has a way of communicating the desperation of his characters plight that is both macabre and exciting.
The Cruise on the British Schooner the Jane Guy in little known waters and which visits some of the remotest known islands like The Kerguelen Islands and Tristan D’acuna reads like a travelogue, something that might appear in the National Geographical magazine and has given rise to some people thinking it could have been inspiration for Herman Melville’s style of writing in Moby-Dick. The final section/story in the novel is the discovery of a mysterious group of islands in the warmer waters that Poe tells us lie beyond the ice towards the South Pole. We are now reading a fantasy, a story that has led to this book being heralded as early science fiction. Poe provides us with a surprise ending that takes into consideration the events of the final section, but bears little relation to what has gone before.
This is a collection of nautical adventure stories that are well written and very readable. Poe is able to provide plenty of atmosphere in stories that kept me wanting to turn the pages (can you say that when reading on a Kindle?). I just don’t see it as a novel and so as a collection of short stories it is rated as 3.5 stars and as a novel 2 stars.
251baswood
The Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing
Great science fiction has a sense of wonder and this dystopian novel achieves a unique atmosphere which isn’t quite wonder but then again it isn’t really science fiction. On the face of it Lessing achieves a similar sense of a breakdown in civilisation that J G Ballard achieved in novels like “The Burning World” or the “Drowned World”, but Lessing gives us much more than that. It could be argued that Ballard kept on re-writing the same novel with “High Rise” and “Concrete Island” whereas Lessing adds mystery, madness and human suffering in a heady cocktail that left this reader wondering about just what he had read. From the very start Lessing confuses readers perceptions; yes society is breaking down, the unnamed Survivor is a first hand witness as she gazes out from her apartment window, but we never know quite what caused this unravelling of the civilised world, and who is Emily whose pet is a monstrous cross between a dog and a cat and far more insidious is the other world that the Survivor crosses over to behind her apartment wall.
The novel opens with:
“We all remember that time. It was no different for me than for others. Yet we do tell each other over and over again the particularities of the events we shared and the repetition, the listening, it is as if we are saying: It was like that for you too? Then that confirms it, yes, it was so it must have been. I wasn’t imagining things.”………
There lies the mystery: it is written in the first person as a memoir by the Survivor, but we are never sure just how much was imagined. The survivor describes herself as an older woman living alone at a time when essential services in her city are breaking down. The Government seems to be losing control of events which are shrouded in here-say. There are food shortages, industry has broken down, there are no new products, most manufacturing people are unemployed and the only people who are earning a living are government workers - the bureaucracy. People are living on the pavement opposite the apartment, they form themselves into groups centred round a leader preparing to move off into the countryside, when one group leaves another is soon forming, there are criminal violent gangs taking over districts and in the absence of hard news people are relying on each other for information; the information they need to survive. One evening there is a knock on the Survivor’s door and a stranger leaves Emily a young girl of 14 with her to look after. Emily brings Hugo with her; an ugly amalgam of cat and dog. They settle in and Emily soon morphs from a young girl to a young woman taking her place with the various groups living; for part of the time with them on the pavement. It is at this time that the Survivor sees the wall in her apartment dissolve, allowing her to enter another series of rooms. The rooms appear too have been disrupted and she works to put things straight. On another visit through the wall she sees Emily as a very young girl being tickled unmercifully by her guilty looking father.
Conditions get tougher, people forage for food, cottage industries spring up repairing and adapting goods and bartering takes precedence. A new leader (Gerald) emerges from the groupings on the street and Emily falls in love with him and together they take control, meanwhile the Survivor is left with the forsaken Hugo. Electricity supplies breakdown and the group are threatened by a gang of ferall young children who live underground. The Survivor waits again for the wall in her apartment to dissolve as she watches Emily and Gerald’s relationship develop.
The Survivor acts like a teller of a story, she does not seem to be affected by the events around her: she is reporting what is happening both in the real world and her trips through the wall: she is a sort of cipher, perhaps not quite real. Doris Lessing in her novel “The Four Gated City” (that culminated her children of violence series) has a mentally ill woman as one of the central characters. This woman spends great chunks of her time examining the walls of her room, looking for a way through; a way out and it made me think that the Survivor in this current novel is suffering from a similar mental illness. How much is she imagining, perhaps everything although her descriptions and the telling of her story is very realistic. Hugo the strange monster, and Emily’s arrival all point to a world at the very least out of kilter and then again there is the world behind the wall where the Survivor looks for her salvation. There are layers in this book that remain mysterious perhaps just out of reach adding to that sense of wonder that Lessing achieves with her descriptions of the dystopia that is quickly gaining ground.
This is a brilliant work of fiction, told by the all seeing eyes of the Survivor. Lessing's view of the breakdown in civilisation has a ring of authenticity and this is juxtaposed with the strange events that appear so matter of fact to the story teller. There is no doubt that the world behind the wall is a parallel to the world outside the apartment, but just how much of this is in the head of the survivor whose technique of reporting seems so perfectly sane. Could she be a lonely elderly woman going quietly insane within the confines of her apartment? Does the real world outside the apartment as she sees it actually exist? Is the real breakdown wholly internal to the Survivor? Whether or not this is the case, it is Lessing’s convincing depiction of the breakdown of civilisation, with the descent of the city people first into self help groups, but then into hunter gatherers in danger of being overrun by barbarism, that makes the story seem so real. New leaders emerge from the coalescing groups, on the pavements, but in the cityscape it is the ferrel children that claim the streets. Gerald’s attempts to impose some order on the children are met with incomprehension and violence.
Fiction, fantasy, dystopia, political reality, mental breakdown add up to another of Lessing’s jaundiced view of the nature of the society in which we live. It all coalesces in this novel, but not quite enough to provide a central vision that would make this an outstanding work of art. It does however make a great novel and one that prays on my worst nightmares - feral children, or is that just children. A 4.5 star read.
Great science fiction has a sense of wonder and this dystopian novel achieves a unique atmosphere which isn’t quite wonder but then again it isn’t really science fiction. On the face of it Lessing achieves a similar sense of a breakdown in civilisation that J G Ballard achieved in novels like “The Burning World” or the “Drowned World”, but Lessing gives us much more than that. It could be argued that Ballard kept on re-writing the same novel with “High Rise” and “Concrete Island” whereas Lessing adds mystery, madness and human suffering in a heady cocktail that left this reader wondering about just what he had read. From the very start Lessing confuses readers perceptions; yes society is breaking down, the unnamed Survivor is a first hand witness as she gazes out from her apartment window, but we never know quite what caused this unravelling of the civilised world, and who is Emily whose pet is a monstrous cross between a dog and a cat and far more insidious is the other world that the Survivor crosses over to behind her apartment wall.
The novel opens with:
“We all remember that time. It was no different for me than for others. Yet we do tell each other over and over again the particularities of the events we shared and the repetition, the listening, it is as if we are saying: It was like that for you too? Then that confirms it, yes, it was so it must have been. I wasn’t imagining things.”………
There lies the mystery: it is written in the first person as a memoir by the Survivor, but we are never sure just how much was imagined. The survivor describes herself as an older woman living alone at a time when essential services in her city are breaking down. The Government seems to be losing control of events which are shrouded in here-say. There are food shortages, industry has broken down, there are no new products, most manufacturing people are unemployed and the only people who are earning a living are government workers - the bureaucracy. People are living on the pavement opposite the apartment, they form themselves into groups centred round a leader preparing to move off into the countryside, when one group leaves another is soon forming, there are criminal violent gangs taking over districts and in the absence of hard news people are relying on each other for information; the information they need to survive. One evening there is a knock on the Survivor’s door and a stranger leaves Emily a young girl of 14 with her to look after. Emily brings Hugo with her; an ugly amalgam of cat and dog. They settle in and Emily soon morphs from a young girl to a young woman taking her place with the various groups living; for part of the time with them on the pavement. It is at this time that the Survivor sees the wall in her apartment dissolve, allowing her to enter another series of rooms. The rooms appear too have been disrupted and she works to put things straight. On another visit through the wall she sees Emily as a very young girl being tickled unmercifully by her guilty looking father.
Conditions get tougher, people forage for food, cottage industries spring up repairing and adapting goods and bartering takes precedence. A new leader (Gerald) emerges from the groupings on the street and Emily falls in love with him and together they take control, meanwhile the Survivor is left with the forsaken Hugo. Electricity supplies breakdown and the group are threatened by a gang of ferall young children who live underground. The Survivor waits again for the wall in her apartment to dissolve as she watches Emily and Gerald’s relationship develop.
The Survivor acts like a teller of a story, she does not seem to be affected by the events around her: she is reporting what is happening both in the real world and her trips through the wall: she is a sort of cipher, perhaps not quite real. Doris Lessing in her novel “The Four Gated City” (that culminated her children of violence series) has a mentally ill woman as one of the central characters. This woman spends great chunks of her time examining the walls of her room, looking for a way through; a way out and it made me think that the Survivor in this current novel is suffering from a similar mental illness. How much is she imagining, perhaps everything although her descriptions and the telling of her story is very realistic. Hugo the strange monster, and Emily’s arrival all point to a world at the very least out of kilter and then again there is the world behind the wall where the Survivor looks for her salvation. There are layers in this book that remain mysterious perhaps just out of reach adding to that sense of wonder that Lessing achieves with her descriptions of the dystopia that is quickly gaining ground.
This is a brilliant work of fiction, told by the all seeing eyes of the Survivor. Lessing's view of the breakdown in civilisation has a ring of authenticity and this is juxtaposed with the strange events that appear so matter of fact to the story teller. There is no doubt that the world behind the wall is a parallel to the world outside the apartment, but just how much of this is in the head of the survivor whose technique of reporting seems so perfectly sane. Could she be a lonely elderly woman going quietly insane within the confines of her apartment? Does the real world outside the apartment as she sees it actually exist? Is the real breakdown wholly internal to the Survivor? Whether or not this is the case, it is Lessing’s convincing depiction of the breakdown of civilisation, with the descent of the city people first into self help groups, but then into hunter gatherers in danger of being overrun by barbarism, that makes the story seem so real. New leaders emerge from the coalescing groups, on the pavements, but in the cityscape it is the ferrel children that claim the streets. Gerald’s attempts to impose some order on the children are met with incomprehension and violence.
Fiction, fantasy, dystopia, political reality, mental breakdown add up to another of Lessing’s jaundiced view of the nature of the society in which we live. It all coalesces in this novel, but not quite enough to provide a central vision that would make this an outstanding work of art. It does however make a great novel and one that prays on my worst nightmares - feral children, or is that just children. A 4.5 star read.
252Linda92007
Wow. That's a great review, Barry. I really need to expand my reading of Lessing.
254dukedom_enough
>251 baswood: I think of how easily a lesser writer might botch a story like that.
256janeajones
Great review, Barry. I read this years ago, but you got much more out of it than I did then.
257baswood
The Redress of Poetry by Seamus Heaney
These are ten lectures reprinted in 1995 which were given by Heaney when he was Professor of poetry at Oxford between 1989 and 1994. Eight of the lectures/chapters concentrate on one or perhaps two poets and are top and tailed by two more general chapters; the first of which deals with the importance of poetry in cultural life and the second addresses issues around politics and political thought. They are all extremely well written and demonstrate Heaney’s knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject. They are full of insights and ideas, but never get too heavily involved in the mechanics (metre and structure) and so avoid being a dry; technical lesson that could take them out of the reach of the more general reader.
Heaney is careful to spell out what he means by redress, because his lectures examine two definitions of the word: the first and more obvious is to restore or re-establish poetry as an important cultural medium, but the second is to make a case for poetry in adjusting and/or correcting imbalances in the world. His main point is that poetry can go beyond other literature and art to provide a different and sometimes essential perspective. It can go beyond conventional bounds, it can touch heights that can amount to a spirituality that is both forcible and instructive. It can surprise in the way that at one moment it is unforeseeable and at the next indispensable and It should be both socially responsible and creatively free.
Heaney’s lectures occurred at a time when Northern Ireland was riven by political and religious upheaval and as an Ulsterman himself politics was never too far away from his thoughts. It is no surprise then that many of the poets he selects to illustrate his lectures were those who could be considered as from the “Celtic Fringe” for example: Brian Merman, Hugh McDiarmid, Oscar Wilde, Dylan Thomas and W B Yeats. There is also John Clare the rural poet from Northamptonshire, while the United States is represented by Elizabeth Bishop and England by Philip Larkin. The big political question that hovers in the background and sometimes roars into the foreground is how much England as a Nation had an influence on the poets, how much it brought out the poets into the light, how much they fought against an insidious oppression and how much they could restore a certain imbalance.
It was enough for me to be under the spell of some glorious writing from one of the 20th centuries greatest users of language. The lectures are not difficult to read and flowed by; lodging with me thoughts that affirm a love of life and a love of the written word. A four star read.
These are ten lectures reprinted in 1995 which were given by Heaney when he was Professor of poetry at Oxford between 1989 and 1994. Eight of the lectures/chapters concentrate on one or perhaps two poets and are top and tailed by two more general chapters; the first of which deals with the importance of poetry in cultural life and the second addresses issues around politics and political thought. They are all extremely well written and demonstrate Heaney’s knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject. They are full of insights and ideas, but never get too heavily involved in the mechanics (metre and structure) and so avoid being a dry; technical lesson that could take them out of the reach of the more general reader.
Heaney is careful to spell out what he means by redress, because his lectures examine two definitions of the word: the first and more obvious is to restore or re-establish poetry as an important cultural medium, but the second is to make a case for poetry in adjusting and/or correcting imbalances in the world. His main point is that poetry can go beyond other literature and art to provide a different and sometimes essential perspective. It can go beyond conventional bounds, it can touch heights that can amount to a spirituality that is both forcible and instructive. It can surprise in the way that at one moment it is unforeseeable and at the next indispensable and It should be both socially responsible and creatively free.
Heaney’s lectures occurred at a time when Northern Ireland was riven by political and religious upheaval and as an Ulsterman himself politics was never too far away from his thoughts. It is no surprise then that many of the poets he selects to illustrate his lectures were those who could be considered as from the “Celtic Fringe” for example: Brian Merman, Hugh McDiarmid, Oscar Wilde, Dylan Thomas and W B Yeats. There is also John Clare the rural poet from Northamptonshire, while the United States is represented by Elizabeth Bishop and England by Philip Larkin. The big political question that hovers in the background and sometimes roars into the foreground is how much England as a Nation had an influence on the poets, how much it brought out the poets into the light, how much they fought against an insidious oppression and how much they could restore a certain imbalance.
It was enough for me to be under the spell of some glorious writing from one of the 20th centuries greatest users of language. The lectures are not difficult to read and flowed by; lodging with me thoughts that affirm a love of life and a love of the written word. A four star read.
258mabith
The Redress of Poetry sounds excellent. Also The resurgence of slam poetry tackling serious social problems has been absolutely wonderful to see lately.
260baswood
Kazan, James Oliver Curwood
James Oliver Curwood was an American action adventure writer and at the time of his death in 1927, it is claimed he was the highest paid author per word in the world. There are 55 editions of Kazan which was published in 1914 and many of his books have been made into films. Hardly any reviews on Librarything and so I presume he is little read today. He was a game hunter turned conservationist and many of his novels are based in the wilds of North West Canada and Alaska and it would appear that Kazan is a typical example.
Kazan is three parts husky and one part wolf and the novel follows his adventures after an escape from his servitude as a sledge dog, where he suffered some cruel beatings. His strength and intelligence soon make him a fearsome leader of a wolf pack and his adventures in the wild and his confrontations with frontiersmen make up the substance of the story. Kazan is ambivalent about domestication because he had been kindly treated by women and does respond to kindness: we know all this because Kazan is anthropomorphised by Curwood and we see the world through his eyes. It would seem that Curwood knew the landscape, wildlife and had the knowledge of a naturalist and so his novel has an authentic sounding setting, however what he didn’t know of course was how an animal like Kazan would think and feel and so its success depends very much on how accurate the reader thinks he might be. This is not a fable or a fantasy it is an adventure story set in a wild and rugged landscape and Curwood convinces with his depiction of the savagery of both the animals and some of the humans, but as to the “finer” feelings of Kazan and his wolf mate then it is more a matter of conjecture.
This is a quick, entertaining read and I particularly liked the chapter about the colonisation of the wolf-dogs territory by the beavers, because Curwood is at his best when describing the natural world. I suppose this is a book that would be described today as a YA novel and I am sure that I would have enjoyed this when I was thirteen. This might be pretty good of it’s kind and so three stars.
James Oliver Curwood was an American action adventure writer and at the time of his death in 1927, it is claimed he was the highest paid author per word in the world. There are 55 editions of Kazan which was published in 1914 and many of his books have been made into films. Hardly any reviews on Librarything and so I presume he is little read today. He was a game hunter turned conservationist and many of his novels are based in the wilds of North West Canada and Alaska and it would appear that Kazan is a typical example.
Kazan is three parts husky and one part wolf and the novel follows his adventures after an escape from his servitude as a sledge dog, where he suffered some cruel beatings. His strength and intelligence soon make him a fearsome leader of a wolf pack and his adventures in the wild and his confrontations with frontiersmen make up the substance of the story. Kazan is ambivalent about domestication because he had been kindly treated by women and does respond to kindness: we know all this because Kazan is anthropomorphised by Curwood and we see the world through his eyes. It would seem that Curwood knew the landscape, wildlife and had the knowledge of a naturalist and so his novel has an authentic sounding setting, however what he didn’t know of course was how an animal like Kazan would think and feel and so its success depends very much on how accurate the reader thinks he might be. This is not a fable or a fantasy it is an adventure story set in a wild and rugged landscape and Curwood convinces with his depiction of the savagery of both the animals and some of the humans, but as to the “finer” feelings of Kazan and his wolf mate then it is more a matter of conjecture.
This is a quick, entertaining read and I particularly liked the chapter about the colonisation of the wolf-dogs territory by the beavers, because Curwood is at his best when describing the natural world. I suppose this is a book that would be described today as a YA novel and I am sure that I would have enjoyed this when I was thirteen. This might be pretty good of it’s kind and so three stars.
262dchaikin
What is curious to me about Kazan is that it seems so close to The Call of the Wild from 1903. Wonder if he was making any reference to London, maybe correcting?
I caught up on about six weeks of posts here, or 15 reviews. I can't possibly sum up, or do justice to them (have I mentioned I'm jealous of your writing. I would like to write as clearly and as well balanced) I like your commentaries on your ratings.
My attempt at a comment for each post...
>188 baswood: Neils Klim’s Journey Underground by Ludvig Holberg - fascinating, especially because of its age.
>193 baswood: The Gray Clothe - very curious. I'm intrigued that it works
>196 baswood: Machaut - surprisingly I really liked this music and kept it going while reading your thread....but had to turn it off when someone else walked in.
>199 baswood:/>251 baswood: your project on Lessing is really interesting and I enjoy following, especially as she evolves into this different style
>205 baswood: Great commentary on a l Rowse and Elizabethan history
>211 baswood: I Robot - Asimov - five stars?! I like that there was an Azimov, but that might be enough for me.
>223 baswood: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - terrific review. If you get me to read a book, this might be the one.
>231 baswood: Jack Bruce - i like Cream, but this stuff not so much.
>233 baswood: Innocent: Her Fancy and His Fact by Marie Corelli - power to you and the 1914 plan. I'll skip Corelli
>240 baswood: Chronicle...de Vaca - fun review, but can we believe anything he wrote?
>249 baswood: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. by Edgar Alan Poe - very intrigued by this Poe
>257 baswood: The Redress of Poetry by Seamus Heaney - tempting. Glad it's readable.
And, i have say, that was some great reading.
I caught up on about six weeks of posts here, or 15 reviews. I can't possibly sum up, or do justice to them (have I mentioned I'm jealous of your writing. I would like to write as clearly and as well balanced) I like your commentaries on your ratings.
My attempt at a comment for each post...
>188 baswood: Neils Klim’s Journey Underground by Ludvig Holberg - fascinating, especially because of its age.
>193 baswood: The Gray Clothe - very curious. I'm intrigued that it works
>196 baswood: Machaut - surprisingly I really liked this music and kept it going while reading your thread....but had to turn it off when someone else walked in.
>199 baswood:/>251 baswood: your project on Lessing is really interesting and I enjoy following, especially as she evolves into this different style
>205 baswood: Great commentary on a l Rowse and Elizabethan history
>211 baswood: I Robot - Asimov - five stars?! I like that there was an Azimov, but that might be enough for me.
>223 baswood: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - terrific review. If you get me to read a book, this might be the one.
>231 baswood: Jack Bruce - i like Cream, but this stuff not so much.
>233 baswood: Innocent: Her Fancy and His Fact by Marie Corelli - power to you and the 1914 plan. I'll skip Corelli
>240 baswood: Chronicle...de Vaca - fun review, but can we believe anything he wrote?
>249 baswood: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. by Edgar Alan Poe - very intrigued by this Poe
>257 baswood: The Redress of Poetry by Seamus Heaney - tempting. Glad it's readable.
And, i have say, that was some great reading.
263kidzdoc
Great reviews of The Memoirs of a Survivor and Kazan, Barry.
264dukedom_enough
>260 baswood: I find the history of popular fiction interesting, but hadn't heard of Curwood; thanks for bringing him to my attention.
265baswood
>262 dchaikin: Thanks Dan for stopping by and it was great to read your comments.
266baswood
Neil Young - Neil Young 1968 4 stars
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Everybody knows this is nowhere - 1969 5 stars
Neil Young - After then Gold Rush 1970 - 5 stars
Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall 1971 - 2007 - 4.5 stars
!968-1970 and Neil Young wrote some wonderful songs. It was not just a question of how good some of them were but more of how many of them rank with his absolute best throughout a long career as a songwriter and performer. Anybody interested in late 1960’s American rock and pop music will know most of the songs on these first three studio LPs. It was therefore a treat to play these discs back to back the other night and let the songs roll over me. What a great time to be alive I thought, waiting for that next release by Neil Young, or Bob Dylan, or Leonard Cohen or Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Scott Walker, Tim Buckley, Roy Harper, Kevin Ayers, Donovan, Richie Havens, Harry Nilsson, Bert Jansch, Al Stewart, Simon and Garfunkel, Van Morrison, Cat Stevens, David Bowie, Vashti Bunyan, James Taylor, Laura Nyro, Randy Newman, John Cale, Stevie Wonder……………………. what a great time for singer/songwriters.
Neil Young - Neil Young 1968
Looking back on these songs with hindsight the listener can see the many directions that Neil Young would go with his music. The first song “Emperor of Wyoming” is an instrumental which would be quite at home on many country music Lps and the same could be said for “If I could have her tonight”. Future Neil Young releases would lurch towards country music before staggering back to more commercial singer/songwriter territory before heading off into heavy rock and many points in between. “The Loner” and “I have been waiting for you” features some excellent electric guitar that shows that Young could rock and then “the old Laughing Lady and “What did you do to my life” shows Young’s ability to write and sing great simple tunes. And the LP finishes with over 9 minutes of “The Last Trip to Tulsa” the first of many of Neil’s rambling songs that have great moments, but can be more miss than hit. This music is like a bud of Neils work that would open out in future releases. I was surprised at how good the production was, the music sounded crisp and clean which is not the case in some of his subsequent releases.
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Everybody knows this is nowhere. 1969
Neil Young rocks out on three classic cuts: Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River and Cowgirl in the Sand. Young takes the opportunity to show how he could put a guitar solo together to create exciting music that could spring surprises. “Round and Round” has bags of atmosphere with an almost gothic sounding acoustic guitar. New territory for Young which he would come back to again. ‘Everybody knows this is nowhere’ has a country feel and “Running Dry” is deep in the blues. Excellent songs that still have moments that make my toes curl. Perhaps the first LP when Young seems happy to let his voice go where it will. Vocals had been more restrained on his first release, but this one has moments when that high pitched wail might not be everybody’s cup of tea.
Neil Young - After the Gold Rush
This is just a fantastic collection of songs. So many great tunes, full of variety and some heartfelt lyrics. I never get tired of this collection.
Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall 1971 released in 2007
A live recording of a solo concert that Young did in his native Canada (Toronto) in front of an appreciative audience. It is very well recorded and his vocals come across with authority and power. This is a very confident performance by an accomplished musician. He switches between acoustic guitar and piano and on both instruments he is able to improvise between songs while chatting with the audience. He seems to be having fun and for the moment pleased to be back home, although he is not above telling somebody off for taking a photograph. He tells the audience that he will be playing many new songs and the listener gets the feeling that he is at a creative writing peak here as the songs keep coming: “Old Man,” “The needle and the Damage done”, “Journey Through the past” and “Heart of Gold” may have gotten their first recording at this concert. There are a couple of songs that he might never have played again though “Bad fog of loneliness” and “See the sky about to Rain”. He does acoustic versions of “Cowgirl in the Sand” (Excellent) and “Down by the River” (not so good). There are superb versions of “Love in Mind” and “Don’t let it Bring You Down”. This is an essential disc for anybody who wishes they had seen a solo concert by Neil Young back in 1971.
267NanaCC
Neil Young has always had a distinctive sound, which I've enjoyed. Never saw him in concert, though.
268SassyLassy
Enjoyed your reviews.
It has been one of my life's unmet ambitions to play electric guitar like Neil Young, but I'm happy to listen to him play anything.
Then there is the song that every drive north of Lake Superior needs, complete with soaring Joni Mitchell backup vocals and that incredible profile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIxs0Nnv8zQ
I know, I've posted it before, but I'm getting ready for two more road trips.
270Poquette
When you know that I pretty much ignored the entire period of rock since the Beatles you might be very surprised to hear that I have the Neil Young and Crazy Horse album and nearly wore it out at the time. By chance I heard Running Dry on the radio and was blown away. So I had to buy it so I could get my fill of it. I ended up really enjoying that LP. For my classically oriented ear Running Dry is a great piece of music. Haven't heard it in years but your mention of it brought it all back. Enjoyed your review, Barry.
271janemarieprice
>266 baswood: What a great time to be alive I thought
Boo.
Boo.
272baswood
Hello Suzanne - who would have thought it would be Neil Young to get you posting again.
>271 janemarieprice: I am glad to be alive now too
>271 janemarieprice: I am glad to be alive now too
273janemarieprice
>272 baswood: Me too but the music could be better. :)
274baswood
It has been two weeks since I have completed a book and posted a review and that is because I have been deep into some research as to what to read for my 16th century reading project. I thought I had a list of what to read until I came upon two history books of the period which have gone some ways to reshaping my list:
The Oxford Handbook of Tudor Literature has been a real find especially as it makes a point of not concentrating too heavily on the "stars " of the period for example Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard, Edmund Spenser, and William Shakespeare.
I am about half way through and I have already amassed 20 new pieces to read.
The other book was:
A New History of Early English Drama, John D. Cox
The book consists of twenty six essays by various contributors and its aim according to the editors is to provide the most comprehensive account of early English drama. It has been labelled as new because it also intends to summarise the current state of knowledge and to banish some myths that have been in existence since the 1930’s. This book was published in 1997 and so there might be time now for an even newer History of Early English Drama.
By the very nature of the book the essays are topic driven rather than a chronological history. For the most part the essays are well written; not too academic and many contain interesting details that cumulatively work to give a good impression of early English drama. I tend to think of early English drama as pre-Shakespeare and I was pleased to see many essays based on the origins of stage plays, before there were any permanent theatres. For example there are essays on; The English church as a theatrical space, staging at the universities, entertainments at court and private functions as well as streets and markets and the tableaus that were produced for Royal events (Wonderful Spectacles). There were also good essays on the building and design of early London theatres and how they were financed, as well as an examination of the theatre goers and the popularity of the plays. However once the essays started to focus on the permanent stage theatres, then many of the examples of productions and other staging issues tended to relate mainly to Shakespeare. Of course there has been much research on the staging and production of Shakespeare’s plays and so there is much to draw on to provide examples, but I was hoping that he would not appear so often in some these essays as he did.
There are a group of essays around the topics of manuscripts, revisions of scripts and the publication of play books and this is where the myth busters have gone to work. Sir Walter Wilson Greg’s theories on the authorship of manuscripts, publishing and the demand for play books, which seem to have held sway since the 1930’s come in for some serious criticism, so much so that it would appear that the whole subject has been sidetracked by him for a considerable number of years and have resulted in critics going off at tangents in unearthing issues of skullduggery by various patrons, printers and playwrights based on Greg’s research. The essays in this book expose the flaws in Greg’s theories and do a good job in setting the record straight as well as making the point that intellectual property was not the issue in the 16th century that it has become today. Plays were written, revised, sometimes rewritten by more than one author, it was how it worked when the issue was all about making the play fit for a production or a new revision.
I enjoyed the book and it has provided me with some essential background for some projected reading of 16th century drama, which after all was the jewel in the crown of the English Renaissance. I am not so sure about the title ‘A New History’, perhaps a revised history would be nearer the mark. Still an interesting and informative read and so 4 stars.
The Oxford Handbook of Tudor Literature has been a real find especially as it makes a point of not concentrating too heavily on the "stars " of the period for example Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard, Edmund Spenser, and William Shakespeare.
I am about half way through and I have already amassed 20 new pieces to read.
The other book was:
A New History of Early English Drama, John D. Cox
The book consists of twenty six essays by various contributors and its aim according to the editors is to provide the most comprehensive account of early English drama. It has been labelled as new because it also intends to summarise the current state of knowledge and to banish some myths that have been in existence since the 1930’s. This book was published in 1997 and so there might be time now for an even newer History of Early English Drama.
By the very nature of the book the essays are topic driven rather than a chronological history. For the most part the essays are well written; not too academic and many contain interesting details that cumulatively work to give a good impression of early English drama. I tend to think of early English drama as pre-Shakespeare and I was pleased to see many essays based on the origins of stage plays, before there were any permanent theatres. For example there are essays on; The English church as a theatrical space, staging at the universities, entertainments at court and private functions as well as streets and markets and the tableaus that were produced for Royal events (Wonderful Spectacles). There were also good essays on the building and design of early London theatres and how they were financed, as well as an examination of the theatre goers and the popularity of the plays. However once the essays started to focus on the permanent stage theatres, then many of the examples of productions and other staging issues tended to relate mainly to Shakespeare. Of course there has been much research on the staging and production of Shakespeare’s plays and so there is much to draw on to provide examples, but I was hoping that he would not appear so often in some these essays as he did.
There are a group of essays around the topics of manuscripts, revisions of scripts and the publication of play books and this is where the myth busters have gone to work. Sir Walter Wilson Greg’s theories on the authorship of manuscripts, publishing and the demand for play books, which seem to have held sway since the 1930’s come in for some serious criticism, so much so that it would appear that the whole subject has been sidetracked by him for a considerable number of years and have resulted in critics going off at tangents in unearthing issues of skullduggery by various patrons, printers and playwrights based on Greg’s research. The essays in this book expose the flaws in Greg’s theories and do a good job in setting the record straight as well as making the point that intellectual property was not the issue in the 16th century that it has become today. Plays were written, revised, sometimes rewritten by more than one author, it was how it worked when the issue was all about making the play fit for a production or a new revision.
I enjoyed the book and it has provided me with some essential background for some projected reading of 16th century drama, which after all was the jewel in the crown of the English Renaissance. I am not so sure about the title ‘A New History’, perhaps a revised history would be nearer the mark. Still an interesting and informative read and so 4 stars.
275FlorenceArt
Not going to read these books, but I enjoyed your review. Have fun in the 16th century!
276SassyLassy
It's always exciting to find new reading paths in an area you truly enjoy. A New History sounds really interesting and of course Oxford Handbooks are always good. Looking forward to your readings over the next few months.
277sibylline
I'll be looking forward to your reviews of 16th century plays.
A young Neil Young! I think I listened to the first three albums collectively THOUSANDS of times.
I've heard of Curwood but read nothing. I loved that kind of book as a pre-teen/early teen.
A young Neil Young! I think I listened to the first three albums collectively THOUSANDS of times.
I've heard of Curwood but read nothing. I loved that kind of book as a pre-teen/early teen.
278AnnieMod
>274 baswood:
I will be very interested to see what you end up reading in your 16th century :) Are you only looking at English literature or are you going to take look at the continent as well?
I will be very interested to see what you end up reading in your 16th century :) Are you only looking at English literature or are you going to take look at the continent as well?
279janeajones
A New History of Early English Drama seeing to be full of interesting information.
281baswood
The Mutiny on the Elsinore by Jack London
Really this is a botched job with some unpleasant overtones, however there are plenty of chapters (there are over fifty) when London does create some excitement and the whole thing is drenched in an atmosphere peculiarly its own.
Published in 1914 just two years before Jack London’s death the book has the feel of being written by an author who only had half a mind on the story. A very rich American (Mr Pathurst) has hired a passage on the Elsinore; a large cargo sailing ship. Apart from the captains daughter he and his servant are the only passengers and his accommodation is a suite of rooms second only to the state rooms occupied by the Captain. The crew of the ship have been hired from the dregs of the labour market and are bullied and beaten into some sort of shape by the indomitable first mate Mr Pike. London occupies over half of the novel with the description of the journey out to Cape Horn, it is told in the first person by Pathurst who observes the degenerate crew from his lofty position on the poop deck while he gathers information from his servant Wada (he himself does not mix with or acknowledge the crew) or from around the Captains table where he picks up gossip and scrutinises Mr Pike and the second mate. The crew can barely manage the ship and they suffer inhuman treatment from the officers, because as Pathurst would have us believe they are less than human. The Elsinore gets into difficulties trying to round the Cape, Pathurst falls in love with the Captains daughter and there is a mutiny, people are murdered and Pathurst is stirred into action when he has to take command of the ailing ship.
By far the best sections of the novel are the descriptions of the voyage itself and the conditions on board a sailing ship that must battle against storms and heavy seas. The epic journey around Cape Horn is brilliantly described and could have only been written by someone who has first hand knowledge and a level of seamanship that rings with authenticity. London can make the reader feel every roll of the ship and every crash of the greybeards over the deck. The mutiny when it does come seems like an anti climax especially as the reader is in no doubt that it will not succeed. How can it when the mutineers are a degenerate bunch of criminals who dare to raise issues with the blond haired master race that is the officer class. Yes! that is exactly how London describes the society on board the Elsinore:
"And we sit on the poop, Miss West and I, tended by our servants, sipping afternoon tea, sewing fancy work, discussing philosophy and art, while a few feet away from us, on this tiny floating world, all the grimy, sordid, tragedy of sordid, malformed life plays itself out……. and over this menagerie of beasts Margaret and I, with our Asiatics under us rule top-dog, we are all dogs there is no getting away from it. And we the fair pigmented ones, by the seed of our ancestry rulers in the high places, shall remain top dogs over the rest of the dogs”
Pathurst hardly lets an opportunity pass, when he is not describing the virtues of the blond master race over the brunettes below him. These views make uncomfortable reading especially when uttered by the hero of the novel who is telling the story. Naked racism from a pure bred American will not sit easy with many people especially when backed up with a philosophy that hammers home these views. It does make this reader wonder why Jack London should dress his hero in this putrid garb, which must have raised warning bells even in 1914.
This is a disjointed novel, there are gaps in the narrative and the love story is weak and unconvincing. I can understand why it is barely read today; even though there have been three film versions (none recently). When Jack London is describing the sailing ship battling against the elements and life on board during a difficult journey he is utterly convincing, when he is writing about almost everything else he is not and so 2.5 stars for a novel that wallows too much in its own slime.
Really this is a botched job with some unpleasant overtones, however there are plenty of chapters (there are over fifty) when London does create some excitement and the whole thing is drenched in an atmosphere peculiarly its own.
Published in 1914 just two years before Jack London’s death the book has the feel of being written by an author who only had half a mind on the story. A very rich American (Mr Pathurst) has hired a passage on the Elsinore; a large cargo sailing ship. Apart from the captains daughter he and his servant are the only passengers and his accommodation is a suite of rooms second only to the state rooms occupied by the Captain. The crew of the ship have been hired from the dregs of the labour market and are bullied and beaten into some sort of shape by the indomitable first mate Mr Pike. London occupies over half of the novel with the description of the journey out to Cape Horn, it is told in the first person by Pathurst who observes the degenerate crew from his lofty position on the poop deck while he gathers information from his servant Wada (he himself does not mix with or acknowledge the crew) or from around the Captains table where he picks up gossip and scrutinises Mr Pike and the second mate. The crew can barely manage the ship and they suffer inhuman treatment from the officers, because as Pathurst would have us believe they are less than human. The Elsinore gets into difficulties trying to round the Cape, Pathurst falls in love with the Captains daughter and there is a mutiny, people are murdered and Pathurst is stirred into action when he has to take command of the ailing ship.
By far the best sections of the novel are the descriptions of the voyage itself and the conditions on board a sailing ship that must battle against storms and heavy seas. The epic journey around Cape Horn is brilliantly described and could have only been written by someone who has first hand knowledge and a level of seamanship that rings with authenticity. London can make the reader feel every roll of the ship and every crash of the greybeards over the deck. The mutiny when it does come seems like an anti climax especially as the reader is in no doubt that it will not succeed. How can it when the mutineers are a degenerate bunch of criminals who dare to raise issues with the blond haired master race that is the officer class. Yes! that is exactly how London describes the society on board the Elsinore:
"And we sit on the poop, Miss West and I, tended by our servants, sipping afternoon tea, sewing fancy work, discussing philosophy and art, while a few feet away from us, on this tiny floating world, all the grimy, sordid, tragedy of sordid, malformed life plays itself out……. and over this menagerie of beasts Margaret and I, with our Asiatics under us rule top-dog, we are all dogs there is no getting away from it. And we the fair pigmented ones, by the seed of our ancestry rulers in the high places, shall remain top dogs over the rest of the dogs”
Pathurst hardly lets an opportunity pass, when he is not describing the virtues of the blond master race over the brunettes below him. These views make uncomfortable reading especially when uttered by the hero of the novel who is telling the story. Naked racism from a pure bred American will not sit easy with many people especially when backed up with a philosophy that hammers home these views. It does make this reader wonder why Jack London should dress his hero in this putrid garb, which must have raised warning bells even in 1914.
This is a disjointed novel, there are gaps in the narrative and the love story is weak and unconvincing. I can understand why it is barely read today; even though there have been three film versions (none recently). When Jack London is describing the sailing ship battling against the elements and life on board during a difficult journey he is utterly convincing, when he is writing about almost everything else he is not and so 2.5 stars for a novel that wallows too much in its own slime.
282The_Hibernator
>281 baswood: I had no idea Jack London wrote a book like this. Too bad it's not up to par.
284baswood
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
Published in 1974 this novel about a seemingly perpetual interstellar war with an alien race is highly thought of in the science fiction genre and the version I read was published in 1997 in the SF Masterworks series. There is an authors note that serves as a preface in which Haldeman talks about a middle section of the book that was left out of the original publication and which is now reinstated in the new version. He then talks about the fact that he had envisaged the interstellar war beginning in 1996 and he reminds us of course that this did not happen and asks his readers to imagine a parallel universe. Well I thought I might be in a parallel universe when I could not find the so-called reinstated section, but instead found eight previous chapters repeated. I am ready to be cast adrift by some science fiction (I hardly ever understand the hard science stuff) but not quite like this.
Haldeman’s experiences in the Vietnam war has given his writing about combat situations some edge as the story follows one of the first conscripts to the war; William Mandala’s path to its conclusion. There are Stargates and Collapser portals that make the war a battle over time millenniums as well as interstellar space and in the year 3143 Mandala has been a major for centuries. A feature of the book is the re-adjustment that war veterans have to make when their periods of service are completed and they return to civilian life. They may have aged only a few years, but because of time shifts decades have passed when they return home.
Haldeman concentrates on three military service periods which involve actual combat for Mandala and he is lucky to survive, but finds it equally difficult to negotiate the periods when he is not actually fighting. The parallels with the Vietnam war would have been obvious back in the early 1970’s when the novel was first published. Very much of it’s genre and no literary masterpiece but there is still enough here to make this a good read 40 years on and so 3.5 stars.
Published in 1974 this novel about a seemingly perpetual interstellar war with an alien race is highly thought of in the science fiction genre and the version I read was published in 1997 in the SF Masterworks series. There is an authors note that serves as a preface in which Haldeman talks about a middle section of the book that was left out of the original publication and which is now reinstated in the new version. He then talks about the fact that he had envisaged the interstellar war beginning in 1996 and he reminds us of course that this did not happen and asks his readers to imagine a parallel universe. Well I thought I might be in a parallel universe when I could not find the so-called reinstated section, but instead found eight previous chapters repeated. I am ready to be cast adrift by some science fiction (I hardly ever understand the hard science stuff) but not quite like this.
Haldeman’s experiences in the Vietnam war has given his writing about combat situations some edge as the story follows one of the first conscripts to the war; William Mandala’s path to its conclusion. There are Stargates and Collapser portals that make the war a battle over time millenniums as well as interstellar space and in the year 3143 Mandala has been a major for centuries. A feature of the book is the re-adjustment that war veterans have to make when their periods of service are completed and they return to civilian life. They may have aged only a few years, but because of time shifts decades have passed when they return home.
Haldeman concentrates on three military service periods which involve actual combat for Mandala and he is lucky to survive, but finds it equally difficult to negotiate the periods when he is not actually fighting. The parallels with the Vietnam war would have been obvious back in the early 1970’s when the novel was first published. Very much of it’s genre and no literary masterpiece but there is still enough here to make this a good read 40 years on and so 3.5 stars.
285dukedom_enough
>284 baswood: The story is a reply to Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers; the older book takes its viewpoint as the then-prevailing US one about World War II - that that war was necessary and made sense - and The Forever War is absolutely a Vietnam story, as you note.
That's very annoying about the duplicated section. I've not read the reinstated section myself. The version as originally published is perfectly coherent, and I can't imagine you're missing anything (except part of your purchase cost).
That's very annoying about the duplicated section. I've not read the reinstated section myself. The version as originally published is perfectly coherent, and I can't imagine you're missing anything (except part of your purchase cost).
287baswood
Shikasta by Doris Lessing
Shikasta was a logical step for Lessing taking up themes that she had explored in Memories of a Survivor. In that novel she had written about the breakdown of civilisation as seen by an elderly woman peering out of her ground floor city flat and who only ventured outside on local foraging expeditions. It provided a gritty reality to a dream world that she imagined behind her living room wall. In previous novels Lessing had used her experiences as a political activist in Southern Rhodesia, as a single woman in post war London and as a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown to pin point ideas and themes that were shot through with a realism that was gripping and drenched in the life and times through which she lived. Shikasta opened out into something more ambitious, because Lessing sought to make her themes global: everything now was to be imagined and everything linked to the history of our civilisation.
She needed a medium in which to capture her ideas and she chose science fiction. Influenced no doubt by the novels of Olaf Stapledon particularly "Last and First Men” and "Star Maker" which attempted to put the broad sweep of our civilisation into the perspective of the universe: Lessing used these ideas to explore the human condition. There is very little science in her science fiction; this did not concern her, she wanted to create a scenario where she could put the human race under her microscope and expose the fault lines that she had observed through her own experiences and her knowledge of history. It should be no surprise that the outlook is pretty bleak.
The history of Shikasta (our Earth) is told by journals, reports and letters from representatives from Canopus; a higher civilisation that along with the Sirians work to keep the universe in harmony. Johor is the person who is tasked with protecting and nurturing Shikasta and it is a thankless task. Shikasta means the broken one but it did not start out like this. Johor first knew it as Rohanda a world blessed with a nature that supported a variety of life. It was one of the most hospitable worlds in the Universe and needed special attention. A race of giants in tune with the harmony of the spheres were bused in (by space ship) to support the emergent ape like humanoids who were the most intelligent of the earths inhabitants. With the support of the Giants the natives developed a harmonious civilisation that promised to be a cornerstone of the Canopus empire. Unfortunately within the Universe there was also Shammat a rapacious empire bent on destruction and they also had eyes on the Earth. They were able to introduce a degenerative disease into the native population which weakened their harmony with the Universe and with each other; they increasingly put themselves first, became greedy, and exploitative. Their protectors; the giant race had to leave.,
We pick up the story of Shikasta just as it emerges from its second world war. Johor receives a number of reports from his representatives detailing through individual cases the problems that are burgeoning on the planet. The most serious problem seems to be a generation gap, the youth of the world start to blame their parents for the state of the earth, which is steadily moving towards a third world war. Food production is not keeping pace with the population, the air is being poisoned by industry, there are water shortages and a small percentage of the population have become very rich to the detriment of the rest.
Johor realises that he must take more direct action and he chooses to be born on the planet to parents who will provide him with some support. He becomes George Sherban and we follow his growth into becoming a youth leader through the diary of his sister Rachel. He is powerless to stop the catastrophe that is developing but we follow his career second hand through his sisters diary. The final set piece of the novel is the Youth Conference hosted by Geoge Sherban which becomes a show trial for the white race colonisers who are blamed for the destruction of the planet. Shikasta is now ruled by the benevolent Chinese dynasty, but they are benevolent in name only and all the faults of previous rulers and colonisers are just as apparent. George Sherban can only work to save something from the wreckage.
Lessing has divided the novel into three parts, the first tells the story of Rohanda and it is here that her writing is at its lyrical best. She imagines a world where all is in harmony; the cities are built according to mathematical formulas that are in keeping with the landscape. There are round cities. crescent cities, star shaped cities and square cities all vibrating in harmony through the stones that have been placed by the giant race. Johor is stationed on the planet and notices the first dissonance in the vibrations and it is through him that we see the degenerative disease take hold.
The second part finds Johor in Zone 6. This is the place where the dead souls from various planets wait to enter a firmament to become reborn. It is here he receives reports from Shikasta and they tell of disaffected young people struggling in a world that has no future for them. These read like case histories and Lessing is able to pin point the ills of modern civilisation through these missives. The degenerative disease is having its effect in Zone 6 which is turning into a wasteland. Johor finds people(souls) who he has trusted in the past and persuades them to follow him down to be reborn on Shikasta
The third part describes the career of George Sherban and Lessing is able to paint a vivid picture of a world collapsing into a dystopia. George Sherban and his family move around the less fortunate countries where the parents work in hospitals for the common good and George gets on with the life of being a sort of prophet. It is Rachel’s diary that details this part of the story and Lessing once again takes her novel into the nitty gritty of the life of poor families trying to survive in ever worsening conditions. The final youth convention is described by a representative of the Chinese government.
The novel is not without its faults. I found the second section which details the issues faced by young people to be a sort of catch all for the ills of modern civilisation. Lessing uses them to hammer home her views on society and even if you sympathise with her left of centre opinions (and I do) they become a little repetitive and they add nothing to the overall flow of the novel. To enjoy the novel you must be able to swallow the science fiction elements; for example a benevolent higher civilisation that protects and guides fledgling civilisations and has representatives on earth. However Lessing uses them merely as a device for the working of her novel, we learn very little about Canopus, even less about the Sirians. It is a bleak view of the human race and ultimately one which is unable to help itself and the idea that higher powers control our destiny will not be welcome to some readers. (Lessing does however avoid any religious connotations). Despite all of this one cannot fail to be impressed by the scale of the novel or of passages of her most thoughtful prose. Brimful of ideas and it does have that sense of wonder that will appeal to some science fiction readers. 4.5 stars.
Shikasta was a logical step for Lessing taking up themes that she had explored in Memories of a Survivor. In that novel she had written about the breakdown of civilisation as seen by an elderly woman peering out of her ground floor city flat and who only ventured outside on local foraging expeditions. It provided a gritty reality to a dream world that she imagined behind her living room wall. In previous novels Lessing had used her experiences as a political activist in Southern Rhodesia, as a single woman in post war London and as a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown to pin point ideas and themes that were shot through with a realism that was gripping and drenched in the life and times through which she lived. Shikasta opened out into something more ambitious, because Lessing sought to make her themes global: everything now was to be imagined and everything linked to the history of our civilisation.
She needed a medium in which to capture her ideas and she chose science fiction. Influenced no doubt by the novels of Olaf Stapledon particularly "Last and First Men” and "Star Maker" which attempted to put the broad sweep of our civilisation into the perspective of the universe: Lessing used these ideas to explore the human condition. There is very little science in her science fiction; this did not concern her, she wanted to create a scenario where she could put the human race under her microscope and expose the fault lines that she had observed through her own experiences and her knowledge of history. It should be no surprise that the outlook is pretty bleak.
The history of Shikasta (our Earth) is told by journals, reports and letters from representatives from Canopus; a higher civilisation that along with the Sirians work to keep the universe in harmony. Johor is the person who is tasked with protecting and nurturing Shikasta and it is a thankless task. Shikasta means the broken one but it did not start out like this. Johor first knew it as Rohanda a world blessed with a nature that supported a variety of life. It was one of the most hospitable worlds in the Universe and needed special attention. A race of giants in tune with the harmony of the spheres were bused in (by space ship) to support the emergent ape like humanoids who were the most intelligent of the earths inhabitants. With the support of the Giants the natives developed a harmonious civilisation that promised to be a cornerstone of the Canopus empire. Unfortunately within the Universe there was also Shammat a rapacious empire bent on destruction and they also had eyes on the Earth. They were able to introduce a degenerative disease into the native population which weakened their harmony with the Universe and with each other; they increasingly put themselves first, became greedy, and exploitative. Their protectors; the giant race had to leave.,
We pick up the story of Shikasta just as it emerges from its second world war. Johor receives a number of reports from his representatives detailing through individual cases the problems that are burgeoning on the planet. The most serious problem seems to be a generation gap, the youth of the world start to blame their parents for the state of the earth, which is steadily moving towards a third world war. Food production is not keeping pace with the population, the air is being poisoned by industry, there are water shortages and a small percentage of the population have become very rich to the detriment of the rest.
Johor realises that he must take more direct action and he chooses to be born on the planet to parents who will provide him with some support. He becomes George Sherban and we follow his growth into becoming a youth leader through the diary of his sister Rachel. He is powerless to stop the catastrophe that is developing but we follow his career second hand through his sisters diary. The final set piece of the novel is the Youth Conference hosted by Geoge Sherban which becomes a show trial for the white race colonisers who are blamed for the destruction of the planet. Shikasta is now ruled by the benevolent Chinese dynasty, but they are benevolent in name only and all the faults of previous rulers and colonisers are just as apparent. George Sherban can only work to save something from the wreckage.
Lessing has divided the novel into three parts, the first tells the story of Rohanda and it is here that her writing is at its lyrical best. She imagines a world where all is in harmony; the cities are built according to mathematical formulas that are in keeping with the landscape. There are round cities. crescent cities, star shaped cities and square cities all vibrating in harmony through the stones that have been placed by the giant race. Johor is stationed on the planet and notices the first dissonance in the vibrations and it is through him that we see the degenerative disease take hold.
The second part finds Johor in Zone 6. This is the place where the dead souls from various planets wait to enter a firmament to become reborn. It is here he receives reports from Shikasta and they tell of disaffected young people struggling in a world that has no future for them. These read like case histories and Lessing is able to pin point the ills of modern civilisation through these missives. The degenerative disease is having its effect in Zone 6 which is turning into a wasteland. Johor finds people(souls) who he has trusted in the past and persuades them to follow him down to be reborn on Shikasta
The third part describes the career of George Sherban and Lessing is able to paint a vivid picture of a world collapsing into a dystopia. George Sherban and his family move around the less fortunate countries where the parents work in hospitals for the common good and George gets on with the life of being a sort of prophet. It is Rachel’s diary that details this part of the story and Lessing once again takes her novel into the nitty gritty of the life of poor families trying to survive in ever worsening conditions. The final youth convention is described by a representative of the Chinese government.
The novel is not without its faults. I found the second section which details the issues faced by young people to be a sort of catch all for the ills of modern civilisation. Lessing uses them to hammer home her views on society and even if you sympathise with her left of centre opinions (and I do) they become a little repetitive and they add nothing to the overall flow of the novel. To enjoy the novel you must be able to swallow the science fiction elements; for example a benevolent higher civilisation that protects and guides fledgling civilisations and has representatives on earth. However Lessing uses them merely as a device for the working of her novel, we learn very little about Canopus, even less about the Sirians. It is a bleak view of the human race and ultimately one which is unable to help itself and the idea that higher powers control our destiny will not be welcome to some readers. (Lessing does however avoid any religious connotations). Despite all of this one cannot fail to be impressed by the scale of the novel or of passages of her most thoughtful prose. Brimful of ideas and it does have that sense of wonder that will appeal to some science fiction readers. 4.5 stars.
288baswood
Ice, Anna Kavan
“Numerous potential meanings of the film's events have been put forward: that it is a version of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth; that it represents the relationship between patient and psychoanalyst; that it all takes place in the woman's mind; that it all takes place in the man's mind, and depicts his refusal to acknowledge that he has killed the woman he loved that the characters are ghosts or dead souls in limbo; etc.
Some have noted that the film has the atmosphere and the form of a dream, that the structure of the film may be understood by the analogy of a recurring dream, or even that the man's meeting with the woman is the memory (or dream) of a dream…The film continually creates an ambiguity in the spatial and temporal aspects of what it shows, and creates uncertainty in the mind of the spectator about the causal relationships between events….The woman insists they have never met. A second man, who may be the woman's husband, repeatedly asserts his dominance over the first man, including beating him several times at a mathematical game (a version of Nim). Through ambiguous flashbacks and disorienting shifts of time and location, the film explores the relationships among the characters. Conversations and events are repeated in several places……..”(from wiki’s description of Last Year at Marienbad)
Last Year at Marienbad a film by Alain Robbe-Grillet was released in 1961. It was shot in Black and white in a peculiar and stylised way. It took place almost wholly in a chateau and the three protagonists are never named. Ice by Anna Kavana kept leading me to this film especially the first part: some of which takes place in the Citadel. It also made me think of The Castle by Kafka and later on; when the Ice destroys the world of a dystopia by J G Ballard. What is common to them all is a distance from the characters, the reader or filmgoer sees them through the lens of the author/auteur, they inhabit a world of nightmares of events charged with mystery. The motives, the obsessions of the characters are never fully explained, there are hints from the past, and we know that their future is without hope. They are caught on a pin for our inspection and we are never made to feel their emotions. They are unable to communicate effectively with each other as they hurtle towards their doom. They are victims.
However what sets Ice apart is that the main theme of Kavan's book is victimisation. The waif like ghost of a woman is a victim, she is at the mercy of the passions of the two men, she can never really escape them, they will always come for her, they will take her against her will, they will hold her in their custody, they will use violence and their pursuit of her will be relentless.
The introduction to my edition of the novel is written by Christopher Priest who while acknowledging that Anna Kavan suffered from heroin addiction is unequivocal in saying that the Ice is not a metaphor for heroin addiction. I am not so sure that he is right about this. The novel has an other worldly feel about it, perhaps because it was written by a woman who was addicted it feels kind of druggy. However if you link the idea of the junkie as victim then I can see a correlation.
Kavan does an excellent job of holding the book together; her short sentences gives it the feel of a film script, but a script that contains some brilliant descriptions of the Ice and the war torn towns. It is told largely in the first person by the man who is searching for the girl, but changes perspective for events that he cannot have known about. Kavan continually plays with the readers perceptions, how much is a dream? how much are flashbacks? are the two male characters the same person?, but she does it in such a way that she does not lose the reader. This is not a difficult book to read, in fact I could hardly put it down. It packs a lot in its 150 pages and has an atmosphere, a mystery, and a coldness that made me feel the ice. Black and white, mainly grey, a film noir of a book, to be read when it is pouring of rain or better when the snow is falling. Great stuff 4.5 stars
“Numerous potential meanings of the film's events have been put forward: that it is a version of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth; that it represents the relationship between patient and psychoanalyst; that it all takes place in the woman's mind; that it all takes place in the man's mind, and depicts his refusal to acknowledge that he has killed the woman he loved that the characters are ghosts or dead souls in limbo; etc.
Some have noted that the film has the atmosphere and the form of a dream, that the structure of the film may be understood by the analogy of a recurring dream, or even that the man's meeting with the woman is the memory (or dream) of a dream…The film continually creates an ambiguity in the spatial and temporal aspects of what it shows, and creates uncertainty in the mind of the spectator about the causal relationships between events….The woman insists they have never met. A second man, who may be the woman's husband, repeatedly asserts his dominance over the first man, including beating him several times at a mathematical game (a version of Nim). Through ambiguous flashbacks and disorienting shifts of time and location, the film explores the relationships among the characters. Conversations and events are repeated in several places……..”(from wiki’s description of Last Year at Marienbad)
Last Year at Marienbad a film by Alain Robbe-Grillet was released in 1961. It was shot in Black and white in a peculiar and stylised way. It took place almost wholly in a chateau and the three protagonists are never named. Ice by Anna Kavana kept leading me to this film especially the first part: some of which takes place in the Citadel. It also made me think of The Castle by Kafka and later on; when the Ice destroys the world of a dystopia by J G Ballard. What is common to them all is a distance from the characters, the reader or filmgoer sees them through the lens of the author/auteur, they inhabit a world of nightmares of events charged with mystery. The motives, the obsessions of the characters are never fully explained, there are hints from the past, and we know that their future is without hope. They are caught on a pin for our inspection and we are never made to feel their emotions. They are unable to communicate effectively with each other as they hurtle towards their doom. They are victims.
However what sets Ice apart is that the main theme of Kavan's book is victimisation. The waif like ghost of a woman is a victim, she is at the mercy of the passions of the two men, she can never really escape them, they will always come for her, they will take her against her will, they will hold her in their custody, they will use violence and their pursuit of her will be relentless.
The introduction to my edition of the novel is written by Christopher Priest who while acknowledging that Anna Kavan suffered from heroin addiction is unequivocal in saying that the Ice is not a metaphor for heroin addiction. I am not so sure that he is right about this. The novel has an other worldly feel about it, perhaps because it was written by a woman who was addicted it feels kind of druggy. However if you link the idea of the junkie as victim then I can see a correlation.
Kavan does an excellent job of holding the book together; her short sentences gives it the feel of a film script, but a script that contains some brilliant descriptions of the Ice and the war torn towns. It is told largely in the first person by the man who is searching for the girl, but changes perspective for events that he cannot have known about. Kavan continually plays with the readers perceptions, how much is a dream? how much are flashbacks? are the two male characters the same person?, but she does it in such a way that she does not lose the reader. This is not a difficult book to read, in fact I could hardly put it down. It packs a lot in its 150 pages and has an atmosphere, a mystery, and a coldness that made me feel the ice. Black and white, mainly grey, a film noir of a book, to be read when it is pouring of rain or better when the snow is falling. Great stuff 4.5 stars
290FlorenceArt
Very intriguing review! I'll have to add Ice to my wishlist.
292valkyrdeath
Ice sounds really unusual. I think that's going to have to go onto my list. I like the sound of Shikasta too. Sounds like an interesting concept.
293dukedom_enough
>287 baswood: >288 baswood: Good reviews. Dystopians weren't invented in the 1990s. I really should read these two someday.
294sibylline
For some reason, long forgotten, I read Ice ages ago, read something about her? Makes perfect sense she was an heroin addict, that piece, if I knew it, was forgotten.
I tried the Shikasta books when/as they came out and just couldn't get any traction, I commend you for persisting. I tend, I'm afraid, toward the ripping good yarn in the science fiction realm, it is my "fun" reading and Lessing and her ideals were too much in evidence. I like a writer who hurls "themself" to use the new pronoun, into world-building wholeheartedly. The lack of development of Canopus and the Sirians was fatal for me. The observer is just as important to know about as the observed. Trustworthy narrator issues and all that!
For a fine blend of terrific thinking and writing and a witty but alarming dystopic setting I would recommend Margaret Atwood's trilogy, beginning with Oryx and Crake.
I tried the Shikasta books when/as they came out and just couldn't get any traction, I commend you for persisting. I tend, I'm afraid, toward the ripping good yarn in the science fiction realm, it is my "fun" reading and Lessing and her ideals were too much in evidence. I like a writer who hurls "themself" to use the new pronoun, into world-building wholeheartedly. The lack of development of Canopus and the Sirians was fatal for me. The observer is just as important to know about as the observed. Trustworthy narrator issues and all that!
For a fine blend of terrific thinking and writing and a witty but alarming dystopic setting I would recommend Margaret Atwood's trilogy, beginning with Oryx and Crake.
295baswood
>294 sibylline: Thanks for the recommendation.
297baswood
The Novels of Matteo Bandello, Bishop of Agen
Would avid readers in Elizabeth I reign (late 16th century) have been poring over the latest novel by Matteo Bandello? They might have considered them a bit passè, but they might have been a better option than the myriad's of religious texts or political pamphlets that were also on offer. William Shakespeare probably read them because he used some of the stories in his plays: such as Much ado about Nothing, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet and Cymbeline. Bandello published a collection of his novels in 1554 in his native Italian and some of them were translated into French and then into English in 1567. He was nothing if not prolific writing over 170 of these novelles, which are basically short stories, essays or tales drawing on the historical genre of Boccaccio’s Decameron.
The collection as a whole is dedicated to the “illustrious Lady Ippolita Sforza (consort of the most affable Alessandro Bentivoglio, whom God have in glory)”, but individual tales are dedicated to other friends and acquaintances and this is a feature of all the novels. Each one has a dedicatee and a preamble by Bandello which sometimes points to a moral in the story or perhaps refers to an incident in the life of the dedicatee; in many cases he recalls a situation where they both heard the story from a third party and it was so interesting that he (Bandello) promised to write it down. It seems probable that he then sent a copy to the dedicatee hoping that he would be remembered for doing so. Bandello spent much of his life in Milan and must have had a wide circle of Friends and his novelles were popular enough for him to make them into a collection.
Boccaccio’s Decameron was written 200 years earlier and I found it interesting too compare it to Bandello’s newer collection. Bandello does not employ a linking device as his tales were very much individualised to suit the person to whom they were dedicated. The subject matter is somewhat similar but with noticeable differences. Bandello hardly ever bases his stories on the common folk of the city, the vast majority feature titled personages; members of the nobility who travel around with a host of servants and followers. This is not to say that the tales are less bawdy, but they reach back to ideas of honour and courtly love; there are no stories about promiscuous friars or naughty nuns. Stories are borrowed from other sources and a few are rewrites of tales from the Decameron. Some are based on historical events (there are two about Henry VIII) and many are incidents that would have been known to Bandello’s prospective audience (in some stories he says he has had to change the names to protect the innocent/guilty parties). It is noticeable that there has been a change in attitudes over the intervening years. Firstly the catholic church was under challenge from the protestants and so there is no criticism of the clergy, secondly and more surprisingly there is a marked change in attitudes to women. Bandello goes out of his way to ensure that women in matters of sex and lustfulness are not the guilty parties, in more than one instance he demands that men must respect women and points out that similar to men there are various kinds; some good, some bad but mostly a mixture of both. This is typical:
but it behoveth the husband also bethink himself that his wife is not anywise given him to servant or to slave, but to consort and companion”
There is variety in the stories, but many of them end with the demise of the guilty party (and some die horribly). Much is made of mens lustfulness or a burning desire to bed the woman of their fancy and because we are talking about the nobility then ladies maids or serving men have to be included in the plotting. Adultery is usually punished or ends in tragedy but not always, cleverness and trickery is admired and where honour is involved then this usually takes precedence. There are stories about family histories including Bandello’s own. There are instances of witty repartees and their are stories about topical issue; usury for instance, or the sanctity of the confessional.
Unfortunately the only viable translation of these stories is that made by John Payne in 1890 and some of the English is awkward to say the least. Critics say that some of this is due to Bandello’s own use of language which isn’t of the smoothest and lacks the vibrancy of a modern translation of Boccaccio. Payne translations stretch over six volumes (five of which are free on the internet) I read three of these and so probably managed about half of the stories. I enjoyed many of them, particularly those that made me appreciate life and times back in the 16th century. A few were amusing, some were gruesome, many were obvious and a few were surprising. 3.5 stars.
Would avid readers in Elizabeth I reign (late 16th century) have been poring over the latest novel by Matteo Bandello? They might have considered them a bit passè, but they might have been a better option than the myriad's of religious texts or political pamphlets that were also on offer. William Shakespeare probably read them because he used some of the stories in his plays: such as Much ado about Nothing, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet and Cymbeline. Bandello published a collection of his novels in 1554 in his native Italian and some of them were translated into French and then into English in 1567. He was nothing if not prolific writing over 170 of these novelles, which are basically short stories, essays or tales drawing on the historical genre of Boccaccio’s Decameron.
The collection as a whole is dedicated to the “illustrious Lady Ippolita Sforza (consort of the most affable Alessandro Bentivoglio, whom God have in glory)”, but individual tales are dedicated to other friends and acquaintances and this is a feature of all the novels. Each one has a dedicatee and a preamble by Bandello which sometimes points to a moral in the story or perhaps refers to an incident in the life of the dedicatee; in many cases he recalls a situation where they both heard the story from a third party and it was so interesting that he (Bandello) promised to write it down. It seems probable that he then sent a copy to the dedicatee hoping that he would be remembered for doing so. Bandello spent much of his life in Milan and must have had a wide circle of Friends and his novelles were popular enough for him to make them into a collection.
Boccaccio’s Decameron was written 200 years earlier and I found it interesting too compare it to Bandello’s newer collection. Bandello does not employ a linking device as his tales were very much individualised to suit the person to whom they were dedicated. The subject matter is somewhat similar but with noticeable differences. Bandello hardly ever bases his stories on the common folk of the city, the vast majority feature titled personages; members of the nobility who travel around with a host of servants and followers. This is not to say that the tales are less bawdy, but they reach back to ideas of honour and courtly love; there are no stories about promiscuous friars or naughty nuns. Stories are borrowed from other sources and a few are rewrites of tales from the Decameron. Some are based on historical events (there are two about Henry VIII) and many are incidents that would have been known to Bandello’s prospective audience (in some stories he says he has had to change the names to protect the innocent/guilty parties). It is noticeable that there has been a change in attitudes over the intervening years. Firstly the catholic church was under challenge from the protestants and so there is no criticism of the clergy, secondly and more surprisingly there is a marked change in attitudes to women. Bandello goes out of his way to ensure that women in matters of sex and lustfulness are not the guilty parties, in more than one instance he demands that men must respect women and points out that similar to men there are various kinds; some good, some bad but mostly a mixture of both. This is typical:
but it behoveth the husband also bethink himself that his wife is not anywise given him to servant or to slave, but to consort and companion”
There is variety in the stories, but many of them end with the demise of the guilty party (and some die horribly). Much is made of mens lustfulness or a burning desire to bed the woman of their fancy and because we are talking about the nobility then ladies maids or serving men have to be included in the plotting. Adultery is usually punished or ends in tragedy but not always, cleverness and trickery is admired and where honour is involved then this usually takes precedence. There are stories about family histories including Bandello’s own. There are instances of witty repartees and their are stories about topical issue; usury for instance, or the sanctity of the confessional.
Unfortunately the only viable translation of these stories is that made by John Payne in 1890 and some of the English is awkward to say the least. Critics say that some of this is due to Bandello’s own use of language which isn’t of the smoothest and lacks the vibrancy of a modern translation of Boccaccio. Payne translations stretch over six volumes (five of which are free on the internet) I read three of these and so probably managed about half of the stories. I enjoyed many of them, particularly those that made me appreciate life and times back in the 16th century. A few were amusing, some were gruesome, many were obvious and a few were surprising. 3.5 stars.
298Caroline_McElwee
Well I somehow managed to lose your thread Barry, but I'm glad to see you've been galloping away, not least with Lessing. Your review at >157 baswood: has whet my whistle, so to speak.
I've Heaney's lectures >257 baswood: in the pile too, so glad you liked them. I've also got Stepping Stones, poet Dennis O'Driscoll's interviews with Heaney, have you read that?
I've Heaney's lectures >257 baswood: in the pile too, so glad you liked them. I've also got Stepping Stones, poet Dennis O'Driscoll's interviews with Heaney, have you read that?
299baswood
No Caroline I have not read Stepping Stones, Dennis O"Driscoll. I probably need to read a collection of Heaney's poems first.
300Caroline_McElwee
You are in for a treat Barry. He's written some corkers.
302baswood
Whoops: Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay by John Lanchester.
Lanchester writes regularly for the London Review of Books: a magazine that can be very left of centre in its approach and so it is no surprise that in his history of the 2008 credit crunch Lanchester is clear in his views that it was the fault of the bankers; aided and abetted by the insane right wing governments of Thatcher in the UK and Reagan in the US. Thatcher and Reagan were both history when the crash happened, but unfortunately the Americans had George W Bush and England had Chancellor Brown (Blair was probably on his welcome home hero tour after the glorious Iraqi war). When the “too big to fail” banks actually failed, neither government would consider nationalisation although both the US and the UK had to partially take control of the most desperate cases by becoming major shareholders. The result was taxpayers money being pumped into the banks (and their inflated bonuses) as a rescue package and the tax paying public are still footing the bill.
Lanchester’s book has the clearest explanation that I have read as to what actually went wrong. He starts off by reminding people about the mysteries of double entry bookkeeping and how this is the basis of much of the banks business; he goes on to explain about derivatives and how this led to CDS’s, CDO’s and the subprime loan market in the US. The bigger the risk the better the profit and if you can sell off the risk to other people then you really have touched the philosophers stone. He spices his explanation with actual events and some witty asides from the calamitous crash year. I have read other histories of the events in 2008, but Lanchester has simplified it enough for me to understand. It made me no less angry.
Lanchester has other strings to his bow; he ties up the crash within the context of events in the late 20th century, surmising that the fall of communism had left capitalism as the only viable working system and an increasing belief in the power of market forces. He also spends some time thinking about the psychology of the finance men (I am presuming that they were mostly men) who worked in the banks and the financial industry and who really believed that they were “Masters of the Universe”. They could not or would not believe that they were doing anything wrong. He also talks about the difference between an industry and a business: people who make things generally see themselves as an industry and people who make money are in business. Capitalism needs both to work, but government support has tipped the balance too far over to the business side and the banks are big, big business.
It all seems pretty simple now; a consistent policy in the US and the UK of deregulating the banks gave the green light for industry insiders to make lots of money. When the gravy train really picked up speed nobody wanted it to stop; too many people in the industry were getting very rich and they all believed that the money making spiral could go on forever. There were warnings, there were plenty of voices in the wilderness, but nobody wanted to listen. It seems obvious that if you are basing your business on extremely risky loans in the form of mortgages to people who are likely to default (the sub prime market in the US) then something has got to give. It beggars belief that regulatory bodies and government watchdogs went along for the ride. They must have realised it was not a question of if but when the crash would occur, although they might not have realised how big it was going to be.
This is a fascinating piece of recent history, but like most historical events it is one we are reluctant to heed in the future. My own view is that while culture in the Western world (and particularly the UK and The US) are based around greed then the credit crunch will certainly occur again. Nobody was held responsible within the banking industry (at the time I would have been happy to see some of them strung up) now I think that a more fitting punishment would have been to put them in specially built prisons (funded by their bonuses) with a sentence that stipulated that they must play roulette on a giant roulette wheel every day until they lost all their money (it would make great television). Shame and blame is the order of the day for me.
I really enjoyed getting angry again with John Lanchester. A Four star read
Lanchester writes regularly for the London Review of Books: a magazine that can be very left of centre in its approach and so it is no surprise that in his history of the 2008 credit crunch Lanchester is clear in his views that it was the fault of the bankers; aided and abetted by the insane right wing governments of Thatcher in the UK and Reagan in the US. Thatcher and Reagan were both history when the crash happened, but unfortunately the Americans had George W Bush and England had Chancellor Brown (Blair was probably on his welcome home hero tour after the glorious Iraqi war). When the “too big to fail” banks actually failed, neither government would consider nationalisation although both the US and the UK had to partially take control of the most desperate cases by becoming major shareholders. The result was taxpayers money being pumped into the banks (and their inflated bonuses) as a rescue package and the tax paying public are still footing the bill.
Lanchester’s book has the clearest explanation that I have read as to what actually went wrong. He starts off by reminding people about the mysteries of double entry bookkeeping and how this is the basis of much of the banks business; he goes on to explain about derivatives and how this led to CDS’s, CDO’s and the subprime loan market in the US. The bigger the risk the better the profit and if you can sell off the risk to other people then you really have touched the philosophers stone. He spices his explanation with actual events and some witty asides from the calamitous crash year. I have read other histories of the events in 2008, but Lanchester has simplified it enough for me to understand. It made me no less angry.
Lanchester has other strings to his bow; he ties up the crash within the context of events in the late 20th century, surmising that the fall of communism had left capitalism as the only viable working system and an increasing belief in the power of market forces. He also spends some time thinking about the psychology of the finance men (I am presuming that they were mostly men) who worked in the banks and the financial industry and who really believed that they were “Masters of the Universe”. They could not or would not believe that they were doing anything wrong. He also talks about the difference between an industry and a business: people who make things generally see themselves as an industry and people who make money are in business. Capitalism needs both to work, but government support has tipped the balance too far over to the business side and the banks are big, big business.
It all seems pretty simple now; a consistent policy in the US and the UK of deregulating the banks gave the green light for industry insiders to make lots of money. When the gravy train really picked up speed nobody wanted it to stop; too many people in the industry were getting very rich and they all believed that the money making spiral could go on forever. There were warnings, there were plenty of voices in the wilderness, but nobody wanted to listen. It seems obvious that if you are basing your business on extremely risky loans in the form of mortgages to people who are likely to default (the sub prime market in the US) then something has got to give. It beggars belief that regulatory bodies and government watchdogs went along for the ride. They must have realised it was not a question of if but when the crash would occur, although they might not have realised how big it was going to be.
This is a fascinating piece of recent history, but like most historical events it is one we are reluctant to heed in the future. My own view is that while culture in the Western world (and particularly the UK and The US) are based around greed then the credit crunch will certainly occur again. Nobody was held responsible within the banking industry (at the time I would have been happy to see some of them strung up) now I think that a more fitting punishment would have been to put them in specially built prisons (funded by their bonuses) with a sentence that stipulated that they must play roulette on a giant roulette wheel every day until they lost all their money (it would make great television). Shame and blame is the order of the day for me.
I really enjoyed getting angry again with John Lanchester. A Four star read
303dukedom_enough
And yet, here in the US, many people blame the crash on government pressure to lend to poor and African American borrowers. Here is one of many articles pointing out the falseness of the claim.
304OscarWilde87
>302 baswood: A great review about an obviously interesting book.
306baswood
>303 dukedom_enough: Interesting point. Lanchester does not dwell overmuch on the attempt to blame the poor (victims of sub-prime loans). This maybe because his book was published in 2010 and that ball had not started rolling yet, or because he was looking at the crisis from this side of the Atlantic.
307SassyLassy
>302 baswood: I really enjoyed getting angry again with John Lanchester. I think that's something we all need. Great review and although I don't usually read these book (obviously I should) I will certainly look for it.
What led you to it as it seems outside your usual fare as well?
>303 dukedom_enough: Interesting article worth reading for Faber's chart and numbers alone.
What led you to it as it seems outside your usual fare as well?
>303 dukedom_enough: Interesting article worth reading for Faber's chart and numbers alone.
308dukedom_enough
>307 SassyLassy: I've read what seems like a million articles on current economics issues, this is a good one.
309tonikat
>301 baswood: >302 baswood: too true. They seem to think all that is over now (whilst we are still paying) and it's back to their business as usual.
311baswood
The Marriages between Zones Three, Four and Five by Doris Lessing
A fable, a romance but of a very human kind, where the savage breast is calmed by a wise woman from another culture. A novel full of optimism that has a feel good factor that made me smile in recognition of the potential for human beings to live fuller lives. But wait …this is fantasy isn’t it?
The second book in Lessing’s Canopus in Argos series - the science fiction/fantasy series she wrote to escape from the reality and gloom of the human condition that she had depicted in most of her previous novels. While this novel uses ideas from the series, particularly the various zones of existence that surround our planet, it is very much a stand alone book. AI-Ith is the leading citizen of zone 3; a matriarchal society where people are in touch with their feelings, can communicate with their animals and live a full and productive life. There is no war, there are no weapons and the standard of living is high and the people live contented lives, however something is wrong, they all feel it and reach back into their past through their story tellers and songs but find no answers. The Providers (a god like higher civilisation) rarely communicate with them, but unmistakably a message comes to AI-Ith that she must marry the war lord in zone 4. The zones are protected from each other by different qualities of air that make travel in another zone almost impossible, but a shield is provided for the military escort that comes up from zone 4 to take AI-Ith back down to her marriage with Ben Ata. The majority of the novel is about the love that develops between the sensitive, wise woman from zone 3 and the boorish military commander of zone 4. AI-Ith and Ben Ata recognise almost from the start that their union must be successful; the quality of lives in both zones depend on it.
Lessing is excellent in creating environments in which her characters can fulfil their destinies, her lyrical narrative captures a sense of place and provides an atmosphere that holds her stories in a satisfying conjunction. She makes the reader care about her characters who all show defining human qualities that make them seem real people in a fantasy world. There is both joy and sadness in the enforced marriage and a deep respect develops between the very manly man and the womanly woman, that permeates the book and provides that feel good factor. Lessing never descends into kitsch; there is always too much grit in the oyster and for her story to develop into a happy ending. She does however provide a sense of individual fulfilment as both AI-Ith and Ben Arta face challenges from zones 2 and zones 5 respectively.
It would be another nine years until the Berlin Wall would come down from the date when this novel was first published in 1980, and Lessings book is all about barriers that stop people achieving their full potential. The barriers seem all to real to the people enclosed within them, but with work and some help they are shown to be artificial and so a message of hope is obtained from a conclusion that fits the fantasy and brings it within reach of the real world.
Lessing tells much of her story from the perspective of the chroniclers from the matriarchal zone 3, and reminds the reader that perhaps this is not the full story, but one that has come down to future generations. She refers to artwork (not shown in the novel) expressing some of the key events that can provide different interpretations of the story. A fable of events dug out from the archives provides an overall framing device that leads the reader through this fantasy in a most delightful way. I was entranced, I am not sure that this would always be the case, perhaps when I read this I was feeling particularly mellow and receptive to Lessing’s promptings, but then again that could be down to the power of the writing. As of now a five star read.
A fable, a romance but of a very human kind, where the savage breast is calmed by a wise woman from another culture. A novel full of optimism that has a feel good factor that made me smile in recognition of the potential for human beings to live fuller lives. But wait …this is fantasy isn’t it?
The second book in Lessing’s Canopus in Argos series - the science fiction/fantasy series she wrote to escape from the reality and gloom of the human condition that she had depicted in most of her previous novels. While this novel uses ideas from the series, particularly the various zones of existence that surround our planet, it is very much a stand alone book. AI-Ith is the leading citizen of zone 3; a matriarchal society where people are in touch with their feelings, can communicate with their animals and live a full and productive life. There is no war, there are no weapons and the standard of living is high and the people live contented lives, however something is wrong, they all feel it and reach back into their past through their story tellers and songs but find no answers. The Providers (a god like higher civilisation) rarely communicate with them, but unmistakably a message comes to AI-Ith that she must marry the war lord in zone 4. The zones are protected from each other by different qualities of air that make travel in another zone almost impossible, but a shield is provided for the military escort that comes up from zone 4 to take AI-Ith back down to her marriage with Ben Ata. The majority of the novel is about the love that develops between the sensitive, wise woman from zone 3 and the boorish military commander of zone 4. AI-Ith and Ben Ata recognise almost from the start that their union must be successful; the quality of lives in both zones depend on it.
Lessing is excellent in creating environments in which her characters can fulfil their destinies, her lyrical narrative captures a sense of place and provides an atmosphere that holds her stories in a satisfying conjunction. She makes the reader care about her characters who all show defining human qualities that make them seem real people in a fantasy world. There is both joy and sadness in the enforced marriage and a deep respect develops between the very manly man and the womanly woman, that permeates the book and provides that feel good factor. Lessing never descends into kitsch; there is always too much grit in the oyster and for her story to develop into a happy ending. She does however provide a sense of individual fulfilment as both AI-Ith and Ben Arta face challenges from zones 2 and zones 5 respectively.
It would be another nine years until the Berlin Wall would come down from the date when this novel was first published in 1980, and Lessings book is all about barriers that stop people achieving their full potential. The barriers seem all to real to the people enclosed within them, but with work and some help they are shown to be artificial and so a message of hope is obtained from a conclusion that fits the fantasy and brings it within reach of the real world.
Lessing tells much of her story from the perspective of the chroniclers from the matriarchal zone 3, and reminds the reader that perhaps this is not the full story, but one that has come down to future generations. She refers to artwork (not shown in the novel) expressing some of the key events that can provide different interpretations of the story. A fable of events dug out from the archives provides an overall framing device that leads the reader through this fantasy in a most delightful way. I was entranced, I am not sure that this would always be the case, perhaps when I read this I was feeling particularly mellow and receptive to Lessing’s promptings, but then again that could be down to the power of the writing. As of now a five star read.
312FlorenceArt
>311 baswood: Great review! You are starting to Mekhi me want to read Lessing. I mean, she's on my wishlist and all, but so far I haven't been really drawn to her.
Este tema fue continuado por Baswood's books and music part 2.