Edward WagenknechtRecensioni

I own a copy of this book that belonged to my mother. It has been read so many times it is beginning to fall apart, but I love reading it over and over again, carefully.

Ex-lib. JCC

Even a small book can pack a big punch.

This is a fairly thin volume, but it includes many extremely important essays in Chaucer criticism. There is a bit of a checklist feeling to the result ("We need one essay on the Pardoner's Tale, one on the Wife's Tale, one on the Knight's Tale..."), which may be a little unbalanced -- but there is obviously a lot to be said for a single book which gives access to the single most influential writing on each of Chaucer's major works.

The material is from the mid-twentieth century and earlier, so some of it is perhaps a little out of date. But there is value in almost all of it, as long as you're willing to accept it as provisional. There are books with newer insights. There are very few with more insights.

Unfortunately my copy was mis-manufactured and is missing several pages.

This is a biography of Theodore Roosevelt. Index included.

2039 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: His Poetry and Prose, by Edward Wagenknecht (read 19 Dec 1986) This is a little book which says something about Longfellow's life and all his work, and I found it enlightening and well worth reading. I was surprised at the great volume of his work--much I had never heard of. The editions of his works run to 11 or 14 volumes! He was born Feb 27, 1807, and died Mar 24, 1882. This book indicated to me that those things of Longfellow's I appreciate--e.g., A Boy's Will--are not bad. The comments on "A Psalm of Life," which I've known so well since 6th grade, were nevertheless things I'd never thought of: "Cattle do not participate in battles, nor are battles fought in bivouac...'The sands of time', if anything definite is indicated, would presumably indicate the sand in an hourglass, but since footprints could not possibly appear there, Longfellow must be thinking of the sand on the sea beach. If a man wishes to be remembered, however, to leave his footprints there must be about the last thing he could desire, for the first tide that comes in will wash them away. It is hard to see also how the 'forlorn...brother ' could, at the same time, find himself 'shipwrecked' and 'sailing o'er life's solemn main,' or how, if he were thus sailing, he could see the footprints in the sand, or why, if he did see them, he should be heartened by them."

2879 James Russell Lowell: Portrait of a Many-Sided Man, by Edward Wagenknecht (read 16 Jun 1996) June 8, 1996, was a perfect day and I quoted the line "What is so rare as a day in June" and realized I did not know who said it! It is from Lowell's 1848 poem The Vision of Sir Launfel. So I thought it appropriate to expand my knowledge of Lowell and read this book. Lowell was born in Cambridge, Mass., 22 Feb 1819 and died at Elmwood, Mass., 12 Aug 1891. He was ambassador to Spain, and to Great Britain. He was a lawyer, but practiced very little. I thought this book well worth reading, though Lowell is not an entrancing figure.

My very favorite collection of Christmas stories, with religious stories, fantasies, carols, and humor.

Retellings of the life of Jesus by later writers.Largely second-rate Anglo-American auithors, though some French etc. Occasional distinguished pieces.