Baswood's books, music, films etc. Part 4

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Baswood's books, music, films etc. Part 4

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1baswood
Modificato: Dic 2, 2013, 4:30 am

Books on my reading shelf

15th and 16th century



H G Wells



Science Fiction



Albert Camus



Other Books



2dchaikin
Ago 18, 2013, 11:01 am

It's a good looking shelf. Perhaps I best not look too long, who knows where it will take me.

I somehow got way behind on your thread again, but on the part, I really loved your review of The Morality Play. Enjoyed you excellent reviews of Wells as well, but I might have to read this Barry Unsworth book sometime. Adding to the wishlist.

3rebeccanyc
Ago 18, 2013, 1:08 pm

Nice shelves, and such organization!

4VivienneR
Ago 18, 2013, 1:18 pm

Your reading shelf looks great! I can't copy the idea as my plans change too often. Thanks for the great reviews, especially the music reviews, I've enjoyed them.

5StevenTX
Ago 18, 2013, 2:36 pm

Great reading shelf! I can never plan that far ahead. (Or what I should say is that I'm always planning that far ahead, but then changing my plans a week later to something completely different.)

6mkboylan
Ago 18, 2013, 6:58 pm

No! Say it ain't over!

7Polaris-
Ago 18, 2013, 7:04 pm

Nice one Bas, it's good to be here again. I'll look forward to more of your enjoyable reviews. (Very keen to hear what you think of Limassol as it looks pretty intriguing to me.

8avidmom
Ago 18, 2013, 8:25 pm

I like the way you sorted yours out on the shelf!
Love those book covers too!

9detailmuse
Ago 19, 2013, 7:53 pm

You make me feel like I've been to the Marciac festival, wonderful recaps of the performances. Lots to look forward to from your shelves above.

10baswood
Ago 20, 2013, 11:22 am

Nice to see you here folks.
Rebecca, Lynn would say that the only thing organised in my life is my reading.

11baswood
Modificato: Ago 22, 2013, 5:55 pm

Since I started my new book shelf section I have been thinking about the Science Fiction category

There are many definitions of science fiction and the general consensus is that none of them really nail it down. The genre that is closest to science fiction and one which causes most confusion is Fantasy, so much so that the two genres seem to be inseparable, however while searching through wiki I did come across an excellent definition of fantasy books:

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic and magical creatures are common. Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three, all of which are subgenres of speculative fiction

I think the key idea for me is that fantasy books that do not contain any science do not belong in the science fiction category. There is still the problem of speculative fiction but I would err on the side of science fiction especially if it did not include any magic or magical creatures.

Wiki's definition of science fiction has improved of late and now runs as follows:

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginative content such as futuristic settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, parallel universes, extraterrestrial life, and paranormal abilities. Exploring the consequences of scientific innovations is one purpose of science fiction, making it a "literature of ideas".1 Science fiction has been used by authors as a device to discuss philosophical ideas such as identity, desire, morality, and social structure.

Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures.2 It is similar to, but differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature (though some elements in a story might still be pure imaginative speculation).


This has become an issue for me, wishing to explore the origins of and to read the early science fiction classics. I will keep the above definitions in mind whilst reading the recommended titles

Now let me see; where would I place Thomas Mores' Utopia: Fantasy, science fiction or both, I could be glib and say neither because the two genres had not been invented in the 15th century, but that's not the point.

12StevenTX
Modificato: Ago 22, 2013, 10:06 pm

These definitions are always tricky, especially once you start to consider the purpose and audience of a work separately from its setting and story elements. "Star Wars" (to use an example everyone is familiar with) is automatically classed as science fiction because it has space travel. Yet there is no science in it, and the key elements--magic swords and sorcerers controlling mystical forces--are straight out of fantasy. Its literary forbears are not Verne and Wells, but Parzival and The Ring of the Nibelung.

You could argue that works like Utopia, Gulliver's Travels and Frankenstein are not science fiction, despite having such elements, because their purpose was always allegory or satire, and the author did not intend to suggest them as "possible worlds." But much of modern science fiction is every bit as allegorical, with no intent on the author's part to suggest that it will or could be true.

In my own reading I'm looking at including fantasy, but there are blurred boundaries not only with gothic and horror fiction, but also with surrealism and magical realism.

One thing you can certainly say, however, is even if you don't define Utopia and Frankenstein as science fiction, they do have a clear and specific influence on the genre, so they are a legitimate part of a science fiction reading program. The same is true of Greek myths and Arthurian romances when it comes to fantasy literature.

ETA: I just looked back up at your shelf, and the only work on your science fiction list that I would not have put there myself is Melmoth the Wanderer. I read it not too long ago, and would definitely put it in the gothic/horror fold.

13Jargoneer
Ago 23, 2013, 8:27 am

>11 baswood: - ah, now you have reached the endpoint of all conversations about SF - what is SF? I'm sure one of the definitions of infinity is putting fifty SF fans in a room to answer that question.
The main definition of SF now seems to decided by publishers. I have just finished Christopher Priest's latest novel The Adjacent which is similar in structure to David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas but one is published as SF which restricts the audience, the other as mainstream. To an extent this has always happened, Stapledon wasn't published as a SF writer but as a philosophical one - at the time SF didn't really exist in book form so the SF novels that were produced tended to written by non-SF writers. The 'classic' SF novels of the 1930's by writers like E.E. Smith only came into existence later when magazine stories were 'fixed-up' or expanded to make novels.
It is also worth remembering that SF as a defined genre really only goes back to the 1920's so anything before then is retroactively tagged which brings it back to how do you define SF.

I think Frankenstein appears pivotal in most histories of SF due to the creation of the creature. We know that Mary Shelley saw demonstrations on the power of electricity, one of the most popular was putting a current through limbs or dead animals making them twitch. The idea that somehow electricity could be the hidden lifeforce was a major debate among intellectuals with all the linked questions about the nature of God. By having Victor create the creature scientifically Shelley moves from fantasy to SF. I would also argue that much of the book is taken up with discussions surrounding the creation, arguments that would have less power if Frankenstein had created his 'monster' using magic.

ps...I agree that Melmoth the Wanderer is essentially fantasy. I would also say She is fantasy rather than SF but can accept an SF reading of it.

14SassyLassy
Ago 23, 2013, 9:21 am

Really interesting thoughts about the various genres. I haven't really read anything published after 1970 that would be classed as SF, and when I was reading steven and jargoneer's comments, it occurred to me that the science is the real part of science fiction, especially when you look at Mary Shelley, Jules Verne and others of that time. Science was making huge advances and was fascinating on many levels including fiction. I should probably read some current SF.

I wouldn't call Utopia science fiction at all, but rather political philosophy, but would be interested in knowing what science fiction works it influenced.

Melmoth the Wanderer I would put in the gothic camp too.

I know I read She when I was about eleven when my father gave it to me (seeing the cover on your edition makes me wonder why...it certainly didn't have the same cover as yours bas), but I would have to read it again to look at genre, an unknown topic to me then.

My definition quandry lies with the borders between magic realism and fantasy; I immediately thought of magic realism when I read Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic and magical creatures are common. More things to ponder.

15rebeccanyc
Ago 23, 2013, 3:06 pm

I've enjoyed this discussion, since I read almost no science fiction or fantasy, but I think fantasy wouldn't appeal to me but something with some scientific component, however fictional, would be more likely to.

16baswood
Ago 25, 2013, 1:59 pm

17baswood
Modificato: Ago 25, 2013, 7:03 pm

Gargantua and Pantagruel Francois Rabelais: Penguin Classics edition translated by M A Screech
Gargantua and Pantagruel at over 1000 pages can be a gruelling read. The penguin classic edition contains all five books published under Rabelais name in 16th century France and Mr Screech in his excellent introduction says that many students are advised to read only a part of book four. I am no student and so I started at the first page of Rabelais prologue to book 1 "Pantagruel: The horrifying and Dreadful Deeds and Prowess of the most famous Pantagruel; King of the Dipsodes, Son of the Great Giant Gargantua" and finished with the last page of "The fifth book of Pantagruel" which probably was not written by Rabelais. It is gruelling because I found the writing very uneven, some marvellous passages full of ideas, satire and bawdy humour are interspersed with some typical medieval writing with its mania for lists. Some of these lists go on for pages and many of them are meant to be funny, but the passage of time and the translation from the old French have taken away much of the humour.

Book 1 tells the story of the early life of Pantagruel, his birth, his infancy, his studies in Paris, his meeting with Panurge; his lifelong friend and finally his battle with the giants where he becomes the King of the Dipsodes (The Thirsty ones). Much of this book is bawdy, some of it is gross and most of it is fantastical. Here is an excerpt from a story told by a mendicant friar: A wounded lion comes upon an old woman who falls backwards in shock with her skirts chemise and petticoats riding up above he shoulders:

"He contemplated her country-thing and said, 'You poor woman! Who gave you that wound?'
As he was saying that, he saw a fox and called him over: 'brother Renard. Hey! here! Over here! There's a good reason'
When Renard came up the lion said:
'My fellow and friend, someone has given this woman a nasty wound between her legs. There is manifest dissolution of continuity. See how big the wound is: from her bottom to her naval it measures four, no, a good five-and-a-half spans. It's a blow from an axe. I fear it may be an old wound, so to keep the flies off, give it a good whisking inside and out. You have a brush fine and long. Whisk away; whisk away I beg you, while I go looking for moss to put in it. We ought to succour and help one another. God commands us to.
Whisk hard; that's right my friend, whisk hard, that wound needs frequent whisking; otherwise the person cannot be made comfortable. Whisk well my good little comrade, whisk on. God has given you a brush; yours is becomingly grand and gross. Whisk away and never tire. {A good Fly-whisker, ever whisking flies with his tassel, himself will ne'er fly whisked be. Whisk away, well-hung! Whisk away my dear} I won't keep you long"


The humour or bawdiness here has not travelled well from 16th century France and while Frenchmen at the time may well have been splitting their sides, it did not have that effect on me today.

Book 2 is titled Gargantua and tells the story of Pantagruel's father. In some ways it is a similar story to Pantagruel dealing with Gargantua's birth, infancy, education in Paris and then his battle against the tyrant Picrochole who invades his kingdom, however in Rabelais prologue it is clear that he is looking for this book to be taken more seriously as he invokes both Plato and Socrates in the first paragraph. More time is spent detailing Gargantua's education and it is very much a humanist education. He is taught to excel in the arts of both peace and war, there are chapters on the ideal lay abbey, there are chapters on politics, heraldry and the true meaning of colours. There is still much bawdiness, but it does not now take centre stage, however Gargantua's fight with the army of Picrochole is just as fantastic and over the top as Pantagruel's exploits in the previous book.

Book 3 takes us back to Pantagruel and the first ten chapters are a comic philosophical debate between Pantagruel, now a wise king and his elderly and confused friend Panurge. The style is quite different from Book 1 and yet there is still a little bawdiness, but the humour is more controlled. Here is Pantagruel explaining how a newly conquered territory should be governed:

You will therefore, you drinkers, take note that the way to hold and uphold a newly conquered land is not (as has been to their shame and dishonour the erroneous opinion of certain tyrannical minds) by pillaging, crushing, press-ganging, impoverishing and provoking the people, ruling them with a rod of iron: in short by gobbling them up and devouring them................ I shall not quote you ancient histories on this matter; I will simply recall to your mind what your father saw, and you too if you were not too young. Like new-born babes they should be suckled, dandled and amused; like newly planted trees they should be supported, secured and protected against every wind, harm and injury; like convalescents saved from a long and serious illness they should be spoiled, spared and given strength, in order that they should conceive the opinion that there is no king or prince in the world whom they would less want for a foe, more desire for a friend......

Book 3 then launches the question that will provide the focus for the rest of the book and those that follow; Panurge wants advice as to how he can avoid becoming a cuckold if he chooses to get married. There is much discussion on the legal situation and of legal ethics, Rabelais was trained in law and brings much learned argument to the discussions. Panurge also seeks advice from doctors on possible medical remedies and Rabelais a trained doctor has much fun ridiculing some of the "old wives tales" that Panurge is advised to follow. The question remains unresolved and Panurge and Pantagruel agree to seek advice from the oracle of the Divine Bottle. This involves putting out to sea to travel by the North west passage to india.

Book 4 sees Panurge, Pantegruel and the their comrades; the choleric Frere Jean, Carpalim, Epistemon and Eusthenes on board ship sailing the seven seas and making various landfalls in mystical and semi mystical lands. There is increasing literary plundering from Plutarch's "Moral Tales" and Erasmus' "Adages" as Rabelais targets reform of the Catholic church with a biting satire of the Pope and his entourage. There is also more politics and diplomacy in their dealings with the hostile Chidlings. There is some fine writing throughout this book.

Book 5 is now generally thought not to have been written by Rabelais, although there is much conjecture that it was pieced together from bits of stories and essays that Rabelais left behind. It continues from where book 4 left off. The comrades are still searching for the oracle of the divine bottle. In this book they reach their destination after a tangle with the legal profession on the island of Kitty-Claws. Everything seems to end rather too neatly not at all in Rabelasian style, however there is still much to enjoy.

It has been said that there is nothing quite like Rabelais and after reading him I would agree. The mixture of bawdy humour, philosophy, fantasy, and social satire is a heady one indeed. At times I was astounded by the brilliancy of the writing and at other times I was a little bored. Knowing what I do now I would not attempt another complete re-read, but I will go back and read some selections. There are many chapters and they are quite short and many of them can be read outside the context of the books. The penguin classics edition provides help for the modern reader, each chapter has an introduction from Mr Screech that highlights the sources used and the targets for much of the satire, they also provide a useful summary placing the writing in the context of the times. Rabelais used puns extensively, word games and irony in much of his writing and Mr Screech explains where the translation does not do justice to the word play. Difficult to give this book a star rating, because as a classic of 16th century literature it should get five stars, but I am going to rate it from my own reading experience and so give it four stars.

18kidzdoc
Ago 25, 2013, 8:31 pm

Wow. Well done on reading Gargantua and Pantagruel, Barry, and thanks for reviewing it for the rest of us. I suspect that I won't be alone in saying that I have no desire to read it, though.

19StevenTX
Ago 25, 2013, 10:53 pm

Great review of Gargantua and Pantagruel. I read it several years ago and was highly entertained by Books 1 and 2. The next two were only so-so, and Book 5 seemed both inferior and confusing. I wasn't aware that its authorship was in doubt, but I can certainly believe it. The edition I read was a free ebook of the 17th century translation by Urquhart and Motteux and had no explanatory materials, so no doubt I missed the point of much of the satire, but I still enjoyed most of the book.

20rebeccanyc
Ago 26, 2013, 7:34 am

Very interesting. I've always wondered about Rabelais, because he is such a star of French literature, and now thanks to you, I don't think I'll have to read him.

21dchaikin
Ago 26, 2013, 8:37 am

Good job getting through a tough classic. Learned a lot from your review. I'll still consider reading this one, but make a note that it will take some effort and determination. (Too bad I can't read the French)

22Linda92007
Ago 26, 2013, 9:38 am

Barry, I have to hand it to you and Steven for your incredible persistence. The fact that a book warranted an introduction to each chapter would be enough to frighten me off!

23JDHomrighausen
Ago 26, 2013, 3:20 pm

The Rabelais book looks intense! I doubt many publishers would print such a massive tome now. What a great doorstop.

24baswood
Ago 26, 2013, 6:44 pm

25rebeccanyc
Ago 26, 2013, 6:50 pm

Well, I'm not surprised by the Dell cover, but I am by the Penguin one!

26dchaikin
Ago 26, 2013, 6:50 pm

#23 - my library had a copy on their new book shelf today (I wasn't able to remember the translator)...I did not check it out.

27baswood
Modificato: Ago 26, 2013, 8:35 pm

She by H Rider Haggard
A Victorian gothic thriller with an element of a lost world scenario, there is both eroticism and adventure, with Haggard intent on placing his novel firmly in the context of his era's fascination with all things archaeological. It has the most marvellous femme fatale with Sigmund Freud claiming it depicted the eternal feminine, the immortality of our emotions (but what did he know). There are reflections on the meaning of life, immortality and death amongst some fine descriptive writing exuding atmosphere, but there is no science fiction and it is not a book for children.

It is a Victorian novel written by a man who worked in the colonial apparatus of the time and so by todays standards it is politically incorrect, however within the context of the story I did not find it offensive, (but then I am a white English male, so what do I know) and it is a great story. It starts with a mystery: an old friend turns up at a University professor's (Holly) house, saying he is going to die this very night, but he has one last request. Will he act as guardian to his son and take charge of a casket which must not be opened until Leo comes of age. The years pass and the casket is finally opened and it contains an improbable story of Leo's birth right backed up by hard archaeological evidence. It is too tempting for the two men to resist and they take ship to Africa to search for the lost kingdom of Kor. They and their servant Job, survive a shipwreck and after many vicissitudes they stumble into the land of the Amahaggar tribe; ferocious cannibals ruled by a white queen Ayesha or she-who-must-be-obeyed. Ayesha has discovered the secret of eternal youth and is waiting for the reincarnation of her lover Kallikrates, which of course happens to be Leo. Both Holly and Leo fall in love with Ayesha who is a murdress and has no compunction about killing anyone who gets in her way (one look will do it). The climax of the novel is a perilous journey undertaken by the three men and Ayesha to the pillar of flame that will bestow immortality.

Haggard goes to some lengths to lift his novel out of the rut of a typical Victorian gothic romance and I think he is largely successful. He must have realised that with such a fantastic storyline he needed to give it some authenticity, to give it some semblance of reality. Early in chapter III a facsimile of the pottery shard containing the story of Kallikrates is reproduced in uncial Greek, which is translated into classical Greek before being reproduced in English. Haggard takes time to explain the ethnography of the Amahaggar tribe and the lost civilization of the Kors. His central characters discuss religion, morality, the mysteries of the universe, the desire for immortality and the passions of love and desire. This together with an atmospheric depiction of Ayesha's cave complex, a nightmare journey through the swamps and a thrilling edge of the seat climax makes this book fully deserve it's classic status. Haggards characters are reasonably well rounded and in Ayesha he has managed to transmit an eroticism that makes Leo and Holly's actions perfectly understandable.

This novel has appeared on lists of early classic science fiction novels, but I did not read it in this way, because Haggard is so intent in placing the story in a contemporary setting with its historicity thoroughly explained that such a reading would in my opinion be perverse. Had this novel been set on another world or had there been any hint of Ayesha not being of this world then I might acknowledge a science fiction element.

The novel is nicely structured and I did not mind a more leisurely pace while Haggard filled in the background or took off on one of his more thoughtful, profound passages, it did not feel like info-dumping and it certainly added to the books literary merit. I enjoyed myself with this read and I am tempted to go for Ayesha: the Return of She 4 stars

28NanaCC
Ago 26, 2013, 9:21 pm

Nice review, Barry, but I think I may skip this one.

29dchaikin
Ago 26, 2013, 9:41 pm

Sounds like you might have fallen a bit for Ayesha. Enjoyed the review.

30StevenTX
Ago 26, 2013, 9:50 pm

Great review of She, Barry. I read it when I was too young to appreciate parts of it, so I'm looking forward to re-reading it soon. I'm undecided about re-reading other Haggard works such as King Solomon's Mines. (He has two parallel series, the Allan Quatermain novels and the Ayesha novels which intersect in She and Allan.)

I think She is important in the history of science fiction, not because it is science fiction in any sense, but because it inspired a number of works that are. Of course the same can be said of many other works, Robinson Crusoe for example.

The Dell cover, lurid though it may be, seems quite appropriate to the work. The Penguin cover is a painting by Franz Stück that is at least contemporary with the novel, even if it's not as relevant. (At least I don't recall any giant snakes.)

31baswood
Modificato: Ago 27, 2013, 5:00 am

I agree Steven; She was published in 1887 and must have been an inspiration for many science fiction stories. Yes, there are no monster snakes in She, but Ayesha wears a snake clasp around her waist and Haggard continually refers to Ayesha's snake like movements. This is Ayesha completing the seduction of Holly:

....tell me, am I not beautiful? Nay, speak not so hastily, consider well the point; take me feature by feature, forgetting not my form, and my hands and feet, and my hair. and the whiteness of my skin, and then truly hast thou ever known a woman who in aught, ay, in one little portion of her beauty, in the curve of an eyelash even, or the modelling of a shell like ear, is justified to hold a light before my loveliness? Now, my waist! Perchance you think it too large, but of a truth it is not so; it is this golden snake that is too large, and doth not bind it as it should. It is a wise snake, and knoweth that it is ill to tie in the waist. But see, give me your hands---so---now press them round me, there, with but a little force, thy fingers touch, oh Holly.

more Franz von Stuck

32Linda92007
Ago 27, 2013, 9:34 am

I read Haggard's The People of the Mist and found it enjoyable enough as escapist fare.

33StevenTX
Ago 27, 2013, 10:20 am

So the snake is more apt than I thought. I should have recollected that in pagan cultures snakes are symbols of eternal life because they are able to shed their skins and regain their youth.

That's a very interesting quote. It shows that a tiny waist was one of the ideals of beauty, but Ayesha abjures the use of corsets to obtain it when the says "It is a wise snake, and knoweth that it is ill to tie in the waist." If Holly's hands were of average size like mine, then Ayesha has a 19-inch waist.

34Jargoneer
Ago 27, 2013, 12:06 pm

I remember reading She a few years ago and being surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Haggard does seem to have more sympathy with the native Africans than most other writers of the era, although they can still be a little uncomfortable, and is coy about what the appeal of Ayesha is. I think the importance of the novel resides in that character (the basic plot is not very different from King Soloman's Mines which popularised the 'lost world' adventure tale) as the beautiful but dangerous woman became a staple of SF, especially in planetary romance and episodes of Star Trek.

spoiler (for the one person who either hasn't read it or seen it).
I also remember watching the Hammer film version as a young boy and being terrified by Ursula Andress growing old in the flame. (The earlier 1935 is probably superior with the colossal baroque sets. It also turns out that Ayesha with her art deco taste was surprisingly modern).

35StevenTX
Ago 27, 2013, 5:51 pm

Here's an interesting short video of two art historians discussing Stuck's painting "The Sin," which is the one on the Penguin cover.

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/stucks-the-sin.html

And here's another Franz von Stuck lady and snake used on a book cover:

36baswood
Ago 27, 2013, 6:33 pm

I enjoyed the you tube clip Steven, but could not help thinking that the conversation between the two critics is more likely to give art a bad name - pretentious moi?

Another idea for a book challenge - to read all the books that feature a Franz Stuck painting on the front cover,( however I don't fancy reading the Aleister Crowley)

Why stop there. A new book challenge category springs to mind "Read all the books that feature the Mona LIsa on the front cover, or another painting of your choice" Or you set yourself to read all the books whose front cover features a snake curling around the figure of a naked woman or man. I am on a roll now, but have got to stop, because I see two men with white coats approaching.

37Jargoneer
Ago 28, 2013, 8:22 am

You wonder how Freud missed Von Stuck, perhaps he thought snakes and women was just too easy.

Von Stuck was Hitler's favourite painter and partly because of snakes and women. According to British Intelligence Hitler had a predilection for women in peril. (It makes you wonder how they knew that but failed to notice he was about to invade Poland).

38rebeccanyc
Ago 30, 2013, 9:30 am

It makes you wonder how they knew that but failed to notice he was about to invade Poland

Indeed!

39avidmom
Ago 30, 2013, 8:49 pm

>37 Jargoneer: & 38 LOL!

Always entertained and informed by your reviews, baswood. I think the pic. in #31 is gonna give me nightmares!

40baswood
Ago 31, 2013, 6:20 pm

The Cambridge Companion to English Literature 1500-1600 ed by Arthur F Kinney
This was a very expensive book: it is going to cost me a fortune because it has resulted in me adding over 50 books to my wish list and I will probably have to buy an I-pad as well to read all the great stuff that is on line and in the public domain. It is described as "a comprehensive account of English Renaissance literature in the culture that shaped it" and it is just that.

An inspired introduction by Arthur F Kinney which makes use of Hans Holbein's picture "The Ambassadors" to point out the challenges and uncertainties of the sixteenth century. It is a strange painting because at first glance you see a couple of refined courtiers standing somewhat complacently leaning against a sideboard. The picture is filled with the accomplishments of the two men and the age that they represent, but then you notice an extraordinary anamorphic representation of a death's head that slashes diagonally across the foreground of the picture; looking at the painting head on it is a blur it is only when you shift your position sideways that the death's head becomes clear. Then you notice that all is not well with some of the accoutrements depicted and you begin to realise that there is no room for complacency in a century that saw Europe riven by religious upheavals and the beginning of the scramble to open up the colonies in a world that seemed to be expanding.

There follow 14 other chapters by different authors that combine well to give an exciting portrayal of the literary world. There are chapters on poetry and patronage, Lyric forms, narratives, romances and epics, religious writing and the burgeoning drama scene that was to culminate in Shakespeare right at the end of the century. There are also chapters on popular culture, chronicles of private life, authorship and Tudor aesthetics. All the chapters were of interest, they were all written clearly and concisely and the only criticism I would make is that some of them try to cover too much ground in the space allotted to them; for example the chapter on the evolution of Tudor satire feels like a breathless gallop through as many texts as possible without drawing any conclusions. I would say that three of the essays did not quite match the high standards of the other eleven.

The companion is concerned with spelling out what is available to read and as far as possible placing the texts within the context of its genre and the events of the century. There is very little attempt at literary criticism and so I came away with the impression that I had better read as much as possible and form my own judgements. I was happy with this approach.

The companion gives a good overall guide to the literary scene in sixteenth century England and the year by year chronology of events and published texts at the start of the book is enough to generate many hours of reading. Also at the end of each chapter there are notes and a suggested book list for further reading. You would not be picking up this book if you did not have an interest in it's subject, but for people who are interested and want to know more about it then this is an excellent introduction. A four star read.

41baswood
Ago 31, 2013, 6:37 pm

42dchaikin
Ago 31, 2013, 10:09 pm

The century that culminated in Spenser and Shakespeare (and closed just before the KJV and Camden's Britannia)...count me as interested. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

43edwinbcn
Ago 31, 2013, 10:15 pm

My first reaction was, I must have it somewhere, but apparently not. I may look for it in the bookstore next time.

44NanaCC
Ago 31, 2013, 10:21 pm

>40 baswood: Barry, this sounds really good, but maybe dangerous for the pocket money.

45Polaris-
Set 1, 2013, 2:38 pm

Really liked your review of She, and the subsequent art discussion culminating in Germany's invasion of Poland - isn't LT great!

I read King Solomon's Mines many years ago when I didn't have a wide selection of reading material. I don't remember too much about it, except that it was some enjoyable escapism at the time!

I confess that Rabelais probably isn't going to be my bag.

46baswood
Set 1, 2013, 5:31 pm

47janeajones
Set 1, 2013, 8:02 pm

Whew -- trying to catch up. Wildly impressed that you read all of Gargantua and Pantagruel. I read She when I was in high school, but don't remember much, except that the cover on the edition that I read was not at all lurid -- in fact I think I got it through a school book clubby kind of thing.

Holbein is fascinating. Those ambassadors, I'm pretty sure were at Henry VIII's court, and are featured in Hilary Mantel's books.

48baswood
Set 1, 2013, 8:17 pm

Love and Mr Lewisham by H G Wells
This is not a great novel but it is a very good novel. It is little more than a love story and must have seemed like a change of pace from Wells' previous books which had delighted the public with their imaginative fiction: The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The war of the worlds. There is no time travel, science fantasy, or aliens in Love and Mr Lewisham which is the story of a poor young man trying to make good through his efforts to educate himself. Wells uses his own life experiences to create a scenario that is both authentic and poignant, peopled with characters that would have resonated with his readers. It is very much a novel of it's time; set in the 1890's when a young man took substantial risks in meeting a girl to whom he had not been introduced. Mr Lewisham's meeting with Ethel Henderson and their subsequent unchaperoned walks, leads him having to sacrifice his position as an assistant teacher and later when he meets her again in different circumstances he must sacrifice his potential career for her.

When we meet Mr Lewisham at the start of the book he is a young man with a mission. His rigorous self imposed timetable is designed to fill all his waking hours with study and self improvement. He is already the proud owner of a number of certificates and he can look forward to possible scholarships to finance his further education. An accidental meeting with Ethel and his subsequent romantic infatuation with her takes him to areas of human feelings for which he is totally unprepared. The dialogue between the naïve diffident young man and the inexperienced Ethel is both naturally sure-footed and humorous without resorting to the clever-clever witticisms that authors of today may be tempted to employ. Wells never loses sight of the fact that this novel is told from Mr Lewisham's POV and his awareness grows as the novel develops. Ethel is sent away to Clapham in South West London and Mr Lewisham loses touch with her and it is a chance meeting at a séance that rekindles his passion. He is a little more mature now and is forging a way for himself at a London College, but love again stops him in his tracks as he struggles to come to terms with his situation which does not permit him to support Ethel and himself. His studies suffer again and he comes to realise he cannot have the career he dreamt of and Ethel as well. He again is forced to make a sacrifice but a life of poverty in a hostile world leads to problems with his relationship with Ethel and Wells once again shows his mastery of dialogue in the arguments and fighting between the two young lovers.

Wells seizes on the opportunity to introduce two issues that were of intense interest to him; by making Mr Lewisham a young socialist and an advocate of a scientific explanation for life's mysteries. There are heated debates on the advantages and disadvantages of a socialist society and Wells avoids preaching on the subject and leaves Mr Lewisham disillusioned of his earlier ideals at the end of the novel. The craze for séances and the use of mediums to get in touch with the spirit world also features, with the young Lewisham determined to expose the trickery, but later having to concede that much of it does very little actual harm. Mr Lewisham learns harsh lessons about the ways of the world, lessons which gradually make him a somewhat wiser man. H G Wells had himself learnt these lessons and while it would be inaccurate to say that Mr Lewisham represents Wells as a young man the author certainly uses all his knowledge to make Mr Lewisham a thoroughly believable character. He also does a good job with his two major female characters; Ethel and the studious Miss Heddingly.

This novel was a critical success for Wells and the reasons are obvious. This well crafted novel with its sincerity and character development shows how Wells was able to use his own life experiences to create a thoroughly satisfying read. It is pitched just right and although it might have seemed a little depressing at the time it rings true enough today. The novel has its limitations and perhaps seems more of a novella in length, but there is no denying the quality of the writing. A four star read.

49avidmom
Set 1, 2013, 8:53 pm

I would never associate "love story" and "H G Wells" in the same sentence. Always enjoy reading your Wells' reviews; they're very tempting!

50NanaCC
Set 1, 2013, 9:46 pm

I enjoyed your review of Love and Mr. Lewisham, and it is one I never heard of.

51edwinbcn
Set 1, 2013, 10:32 pm

Great review of Love and Mr Lewisham; last year I bought quite a number of novels by Wells which I hope to all read, some day.

52dchaikin
Set 1, 2013, 10:32 pm

Another great review. I haven't heard of this book. It certainly sounds like it must flesh out Wells writing quite a bit.

53mkboylan
Set 1, 2013, 11:52 pm

Yahoo! I'm caught up. Wonderful reviews.

54StevenTX
Set 2, 2013, 12:34 am

What immediately caught my eye about your review of Love and Mr. Lewisham was that the heroine's last name is Henderson, and Dorothy Richardson, with whom Wells would soon be having an affair, later named her alter ego Miriam Henderson in her autobiographical novels. Probably just a coincidence, but maybe not.

55rebeccanyc
Set 2, 2013, 10:21 am

Catching up and enjoying your reviews, as always.

56JDHomrighausen
Set 2, 2013, 1:45 pm

Catching up.

On She: It is too tempting for the two men to resist and they take ship to Africa to search for the lost kingdom of Kor. They and their servant Job, survive a shipwreck and after many vicissitudes they stumble into the land of the Amahaggar tribe; ferocious cannibals ruled by a white queen Ayesha or she-who-must-be-obeyed. Ayesha has discovered the secret of eternal youth

Not colonialist fantasy at all. I love how the queen of these black people in Africa is white. Because of course it couldn't be the other way around....

I wholly support you in your endeavors to read everything written in English from 1500-1600. I too fantasize about getting one of those monstrous multivolume histories of English literature and working my way through with primary sources. Alas, not when I'm in college.

57SassyLassy
Set 3, 2013, 10:40 am

Another catcher upper here. Loved your thoughts on the Cambridge Companion and where it will take your lists and library. You are always dangerous for my own lists and this review has just added to it.

>56 JDHomrighausen: Flashman has a black African queen, but a warning; Fraser is definitely not a politically correct author.

58StevenTX
Set 3, 2013, 4:17 pm

Going back to She for a moment, I just received my copy of Anatomy of Wonder, which is probably the definitive critical guide to science fiction and now in its 5th edition. It has an annotated bibliography of 1400 works, and She is among them (the only one of Haggard's novels listed). Here is what the editors have to say about it:

"The best and by far the most influential of Haggard's many exotic romances. It belongs to the subgenre of 'karmic romance' that he pioneered, its hero being the reincarnation of a lover for whom the charismatic anti-heroine has been waiting for centuries. It was the inspirational ancestor of a great many modern femme fatale stories, including such quasi-science-fictional examples as G. Firth Scott's The Last Lemurian (1896; book 1898), Pierre Benoit's L'Atlantide (1919; trans. as The Queen of Atlantis and Atlantida) and numerous tales from the U.S. pulps; Haggard probably had some influence on Edgar Rice Burroughs and certainly influenced A. Merritt."

59baswood
Modificato: Set 3, 2013, 6:52 pm

Thanks for that Steven. I am quite happy to concede that She had an influence on subsequent novels that could be placed in science fiction genre, but of itself it is not a science fiction novel. However that wont stop me lusting after a copy of Anatomy of Wonder

60Jargoneer
Modificato: Set 4, 2013, 6:54 am

>58 StevenTX: - I have to disagree, the definitive guide to SF is the Science Fiction Encyclopedia which is now available online (at the last count it is 10 times larger than Anatomy of Wonder with 14000 entries on all aspects of SF). (And it is written at higher critical level). (Science Encyclopedia).

To highlight the difference here is the SF Encyclopedia's entry on 'She':
The charismatic, goddess-like female ruler – usually referred to as "She" or "She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed" – in the Ayesha sequence by H Rider Haggard, opening with She: A History of Adventure (October 1886-January 1887 The Graphic; cut 1886; full text 1887). Ayesha combines aspects of Aphrodite and Isis; she is imperious, ravishing and potentially Immortal. Her sexual allure, which Haggard renders with a lack of horror unusual in a 19th-century writer of popular fiction, is central, and governs the plots of the Ayesha books. Obvious echoes of the She character appear in Harry Collingwood's Through Veld and Forest: An African Story (dated 1914 but 1913) and Pierre Benoit's L'Atlantide (1919; trans as The Queen of Atlantis 1920).

She/Ayesha is the Underlier (> The Encyclopedia of Fantasy) figure for a number of similarly imperious and alluring women in sf. Examples include good Lethonee and evil Sorainya, rival queens from mutually exclusive timelines in Jack Williamson's The Legion of Time (May-July 1938 Astounding; cut 1961), who eventually fuse into a single glamorous persona; several female rulers in the works of A E van Vogt, notably in the Weapon Shops diptych and The Book of Ptath (October 1943 Unknown; 1947; vt Two Hundred Million A.D. 1964; vt Ptath 1976); the Empress of the Twenty Universes in Robert A Heinlein's Glory Road (1963); and the woman who has taken on the role of the Hindu death-goddess Kali in Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light (1967).

The figure of She also fuses – at times perhaps inadvertently – with that of the lamia, the Belle Dame Sans Merci whose central role is to lead men to death through dreams, normally unachievable, of Sex. The worldly complexity of the lamia in Tim Powers's The Stress of her Regard (1989) brings her close to She herself. DRL/JC

I should also mention that the SFE website also contains the text of the 1997 Encyclopedia of Fantasy here.

61Jargoneer
Set 4, 2013, 7:26 am

L&ML - spoiler
On a completely note I have to disagree that the portrayal of the two women in Love and Mr Lewisham is well done. I thought Wells' portrayal of the 'intellectual' Miss Heddingly showed a certain meanness of spirit.
The end is interesting given Wells' biography, Lewisham is effectively trapped by his marriage to a life of mediocrity, all his hopes dashed and only capable of dreaming about his children escaping to a new life. This, to me, is the author justifying his own actions - "look, if I had remained with my wife I would have been a failure". I wouldn't usually look at an author's biography to reveal intention but in this case it's hard not to.

62baswood
Set 4, 2013, 8:18 am

Turner, thanks for the link to the Science Encyclopedia which I have been playing with all afternoon and looks to be a great resource.

I was thinking that Love and Mr Lewisham could be classed as science fiction, because Wells is sort of writing an alternative history/autobiography, but perhaps this is str---etching a point a bit too far.

63Jargoneer
Modificato: Set 4, 2013, 8:36 am

>62 baswood: - it is a fantastic resource which hopefully can continue into the future. I still have a copy of the original paperback version with all the pages loose due to constant referral.

All writing can be defined as SF unless it's by Margaret Atwood who definitely doesn't write SF even when producing SF novels.

ps...I can't believe you asked the SF group to define SF. The thread is quite restrained at the moment but could turn at any moment. (Ian Sales who linked to his website with the graph is also an SF writer, winning the British Science Association Award for best short story earlier this year).

64baswood
Set 4, 2013, 8:52 am

65baswood
Modificato: Set 4, 2013, 1:05 pm

Star Maker Olaf Stapledon
Science fiction should have plenty of the wonder factor and I found Star Maker to be almost mind expanding. Stapledon is describing the birth and death of the whole cosmos, no less and is doing it from a first person perspective. I read the first half of this book late at night and later had the most weird dreams, so weird in fact that I thought I had better finish the thing the next morning. These days, dreams are the nearest I get to mind expansion

Stapledon's book has long been regarded as a science fiction classic, receiving plenty of critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937 and today it features in the science fiction 'masterwork' series. That is quite an achievement for a book that hardly has a storyline: it is more of a framework for Stapledon to hang his theories about how galaxies were formed, how life emerged and how it eventually died, or was destroyed because of the machinations of the Star Maker. There is some philosophy some science, some world building and plenty of ideas about the life forms that pulse through the cosmos.

The speaker of the book is a man very much like Stapledon himself who walks up onto a hillside above the suburb where he lives, reflecting on the world below him (he can make out his bungalow where his wife has switched on the lights as night comes down). He gazes up at the stars and finds himself lost in the looking, so much so that he has an out of body experience and sees himself as a point of light rushing up towards the stars. This is the start of a most incredible journey as he vaguely wonders if he has died, but his experiences of travelling through space push those thoughts to the background. After a very long journey where he appears to have travelled way beyond the solar system to one of the arms of the milky way, winking in and out of time itself, he eventually arrives on a planet a little like earth which he calls the other earth. There is humanoid life on the planet and the speaker finds he is able to lodge himself within the mind of one of the aliens. He lives within the mind of Bvalltu becoming a sort of surrogate partner until he is also ready to join with the speaker to explore the universe and they both set off visiting other planets, collecting more minds along the way until they form a community of explorers/watchers. Time has no meaning for them as they watch various life forms struggle to what the speaker calls "The Awakened State". Very few civilizations achieve the utopia of this world community in which every person is a valued member, but it is only when they get to this stage that they can advance further into a more spiritual existence.

The watchers discover that they can travel backwards and forwards through time and in a search for the meaning of life they are able to watch the cosmos grow from its first inception to maturity and then slowly die as it's stars burn out. They discover that the very stars are a life force and eventually they have a dream or vision of the Star Maker itself. The Speaker is able to report on the various ages of the galaxy from the time of the isolated worlds to the time when interstellar travel is possible to a time when empires are formed as the inhabitants struggle to obtain a galactic community/mentality before moving further towards a cosmic mentality. Everything must die in the end and the futility of existence for those who seek answers to their questions becomes an insistent theme.

In the preface to his book Stapledon sets out his own state of mind when he was writing just before the second world war:

At a moment when Europe is in danger of a catastrophe worse than that of 1914 a book like this may be condemned as a detraction from the desperately urgent defence of civilization against modern barbarianism

The fight against barbarianism is a constant theme of the book and it is no surprise that homo sapiens are not one of the species that make it even as far as a world community. There are however more enlightened civilizations that do survive and Stapledon indulges in describing some of the most important civilizations that become leading players in the galactic community. These are the passages in the book that I enjoyed the most when the author can allow his fertile imagination to run ahead. He is also effective in describing the advanced civilizations battling against a decaying cosmos and he does a pretty good job with the creation of the galaxies. And what of the Star Maker itself? all to possible perhaps.

The science in the book holds up pretty well and Stapledon manages to pitch it at a level where many people will be able to grasp the concepts. In a book without a real story line there are some longuers and it can be a little repetitive. Stapledon writes well enough, but he is no poet and although he manages to induce a sense of wonder his writing at times is less than magical, but this does not stop it becoming a wonderful exercise in fiction writing. A bit of a milestone in the science fiction genre and with ideas enough to satisfy any literary criteria. A Five star book.

66StevenTX
Set 4, 2013, 4:51 pm

Great review of Star Maker. I read it a long time ago, but don't remember any details.

I like the SF Masterworks cover better, though the shape sort of looks like a pink rabbit wearing a blue dress. (Maybe that was one of the images in your dreams.)

Jargoneer is right that the SF Encyclopedia is more comprehensive than Anatomy of Wonder. The editors of the latter say so themselves (in reference to the print edition), and call it the single most indispensable reference on science fiction. But differences in scope and organization mean that they each have their uses.

67kidzdoc
Set 4, 2013, 6:17 pm

Great reviews of Love and Mr Lewisham and Star Maker, Barry.

68edwinbcn
Set 4, 2013, 9:38 pm

You have really got my attention there with the books by Olaf Stapledon. I do not often read sci-fi, only occasionally, and then usually older British authors from the period between 1920 - 1970, depending on what I find in second-hand bookstores here. But I've quite become to like sci-fi from that period, and I think Stapledon would fit in well.

Personally, I would not put She in that category. In July, I just threw away my copy that I read in 1999, now with a tinge of regret.

I will follow your further reading in the genre with curiosity.

69Jargoneer
Modificato: Set 5, 2013, 4:03 am

An interesting book about what SF to read is David Pringle's 100 Best SF Novels - it followed Anthony Burgess short book on 100 Best Novels but is outside of the time range, covering 1948-1984. (There was a follow-up covering the years from 1984, not edited by Pringle and lacking any real vision, being merely a list of 100 novels by 100 writers with no literary criteria applied).

70baswood
Set 5, 2013, 4:39 pm

Turner I have the David Pringle list and will get round to reading them all. Someday

Edwin, Stapledon is an interesting author. His science fiction writing tends to have two main tropes: one is a scientific experiment to produce a super being of some kind i.e. Sirius and Odd John, the other is predictions about the future, which tend to have little in the way of story line, and concentrate more on theories and ideas like Last and First men and Star Maker. I have one more I want to read and that is last Men in London which I think belongs to the second category.

71baswood
Set 5, 2013, 4:43 pm

72Polaris-
Set 5, 2013, 5:42 pm

Intrigued to hear what you think of Limassol Bas...

73baswood
Modificato: Set 5, 2013, 6:02 pm

Limassol by Yishai Sarid, translated from the Hebrew by Barbara Harshaw
This was a choice by my book club in fact it was a choice by our newest member who attended for the first time last meeting. She said that she had read it in another book club and she was the only person who liked it. That was a good enough recommendation for us. The novel first published in 2010 turned out to be a goodie. Limassol in Cyprus is where the climax to the story takes place but most of the action is in Tel Aviv; Israel.

The story is told in the first person by a man who is never named but I will refer to him as Habibi. He is going through a work and family crisis; at work he is under incredible pressure to achieve results and at home he is becoming estranged from his wife and son, because he is always "at the office" or being called back into work to deal with a crisis. In the course of his work he meets the beautiful Daphna and finds himself falling in love with her. A typical story you might think, but this one features the Israeli/Palestine conflict and our hero Habibi is a Mossad interrogator and things are not going well for him. He has recently murdered an arab under interrogation who could have provided clues to a suicide bomber and he has taken his frustrations out on another interrogee and has been suspended from all further interrogations. His meetings with Daphna have been set up so that he can gain her confidence in order to get to her friend Hani, who has information on a leading terrorist.

Yishai Sarid's novel enables us to see the world through Habibi's eyes. He believes fervently in what he is doing, seeing himself as a saviour of Jewish lives, he does not particularly enjoy the work he has to do in the torture rooms, but is proud of the results he can achieve, he sees himself as a professional. It is to Sarid's credit as a writer that we feel some sympathy for Habibi as well of course for his victims, Sarid makes them all victims of war. A theme of the book is that for many Israeli's the conflict goes on in the background it is as though their lives remain in parallel to those involved in the struggle or who are victims of violence. Habibi is evidently going off the rails, his newly awakened feelings for Daphna are in total opposition to the work he has to do and when he finally meets Hani who is terminally ill with cancer he reaches an empathy with the enemy that he never thought possible.

This novel was/is a best seller and I can understand why. the story has all the elements of a tightly controlled espionage yarn and builds to an exciting clmax. However what makes this novel stand out is Sarid's unemotional view (through the eyes of Habibi) of this awful conflict, bringing home the point that there are no winners and for those involved survival is the best they can hope for. His characters are fully developed and he manages to convey plausibly the human issues that trouble them. It is always difficult to pull off a satisfactory ending to a novel like this and Sarid perhaps by telling us too much fluffs it a little, but a very good novel and a four star read.

74Polaris-
Set 5, 2013, 6:34 pm

Great review of Limassol. It sounds like a book I'll enjoy reading and I'm glad it's on my wishlist and that you liked it.

75janeajones
Set 5, 2013, 8:18 pm

Fascinating review -- but I think I'll pass on this one. I'm conflicted enough by the whole Syrian situation at the moment...............

76avidmom
Set 5, 2013, 8:38 pm

Limassol sounds like a book I would like, baswood. But only if the violence is not too graphic, and it sounds like this would include some rather gruesome scenes.

77baswood
Set 6, 2013, 3:42 am

avidmom, rest assured there is no graphic violence in Limassol, I would not have liked it, if there had been.

78kidzdoc
Set 6, 2013, 6:21 am

Great review of Limassol, Barry. I see that it was published by Europa Editions, so I'll look for it on Sunday.

79Linda92007
Set 6, 2013, 8:45 am

Excellent review of Limassol, Barry. I have added it to my wishlist.

80NanaCC
Set 6, 2013, 8:54 am

Adding another thumbs up for your review of Limassol, Barry. And adding to my wish list, which is turning into a fantasy list. I will never get to everything I want to read.

81rebeccanyc
Set 6, 2013, 9:56 am

Agreeing about Limassol. Especially interesting to think about the perspective of the torturer, as I just started a prison/release from prison memoir by Abdellatif Laabi, the Moroccan author whose charming The Bottom of the Jar I recently read, and the torture descriptions were harrowing indeed.

82baswood
Set 8, 2013, 7:01 pm

83baswood
Modificato: Set 9, 2013, 12:06 pm

The Rebel; an essay on man in revolt by Albert Camus.
This is not a book for the casual reader. It is a collection of essays that Camus worked up for publication in 1951. He arranged them into five sections and his aim was to make them into a definitive statements on his thinking on Europe as it emerged from yet another catastrophic world war. At times I found them difficult to follow, but then a purple passage would emerge which, made earlier struggles with the text absolutely worthwhile.

The oft quoted first couple of sentences plunges the reader straight in to Camus' world:

"What is a rebel? A man who says no: but whose refusal does not imply a renunciation. He is also a man who says yes as soon as he begins to think for himself.

The short first section defines what Camus means by an act of rebellion and goes on to examine what value judgements need to be present. It leads into a longer second section titled "Metaphysical Rebellion" and it is here that Camus talks about "a man protesting about his condition and against the whole of creation" He says it is metaphysical because it disputes the ends of man and of creation. Remembering how Camus had defined his idea of an absurd world in the Myth of Sisyphus and his thoughts on Nihilism then this series of essays examines in what sort of state Nihilism has left modern European man. (circa 1950's). He looks at the world through the eyes and thoughts of the Marquis de Sade and Nietzsche attempting to show how they as intellectual rebels have challenged the prevailing thoughts, but have ended up in the trough of Nihilism. There are some difficult ideas to grasp here and Philip Thody in his book Albert Camus: A study of his work sums it up well:

It's real appeal is to the intellectual already acquainted with the thinkers it discusses and aware of the problems involved. Too frequently, the ordinary English reader feels like a stranger in the midst of a complicated family quarrel.

When reading The Rebel Camus position on the intellectual left should always be born in mind. He had experienced the German occupation in Paris, he had been an active member of The Resistance and an editor of the semi-clandestine paper Combat. His first novel L'etranger had garnered excellent reviews especially from left wing critics, however after the war Camus was moving closer to the political centre. He had already fallen out with Sartre and the French communists and so while he was extremely critical of German thinkers he also chose to be less than complimentary to some of the idols of the left wing. The long third section titled Historical Rebellion takes up over half of the book and examines the French and Russian revolutions as well as the rise of the Nazis. I was on surer ground here and found it easier to follow Camus, as in places he writes an almost revisionist history; this is especially true of the French Revolution where the left wing hero Saint-Just is cut down to size. Camus does at times appear like a schoolmaster lecturing the misguided left on the causes and outcomes of the Russian Revolution and it is no wonder he upset Sartre. I found some of his writing here particularly inspiring.

Camus point in rewriting the history of the revolutions of the past is to demonstrate that any revolt that does not recognise that it should transcend nihilism and establish limits of some kind is doomed to justify murder, terror and dictatorship. Revolutions are usually unsuccessful because they do not allow further rebellion. One repressive regime is followed by another equally repressive; or worse. Camus was passionate about the sanctity of human life and was horrified that Karl Marx political theories had been taken up by the left, whose slogan seemed to run along the lines of "the end justified the means" in a direct challenge to the Stalin regime he says:

What does it matter that this (the ideal of the Eternal City) should be accomplished by dictatorship and violence? in the New Jerusalem, echoing with the roar of miraculous machinery, who will still remember the cries of the victims?

In a short fourth section Camus looks at Rebellion and Art and writes about the novel's function of taking the reader into reality and beyond and leading him to a destiny of sorts. The novel can allow us to see the bigger picture. He digresses a little into themes of love and death and his writing on these again hits a purple patch.

The final section is titled "Thought at the Meridian" and is an attempt to provide a summary of his position, There is an essay on moderation and excess, where Camus again tries to come to terms with issues thrown up by rebellion. Revolutions must take cognizance of individuals, they must have limits they must have values, they have no right to commit murder. His final essay "Beyond Nihilism" takes him on a flight of fancy which is at times difficult to follow.

So apart from Philip Thody's more obvious reasons for finding this book a difficult read, I think there are other issues here. Camus challenges past philosophers ideas, but he does so on his own terms. He always claimed not to be a philosopher and he was right to say this because he rarely pauses to define his terms, he leaps from one thought to another and it is not always clear how he makes the jumps. I also get the feeling that he loved a well turned sentence more than the thought within it and he cannot resist an aphorism especially where it includes a play on words. His penchant for short punchy sentences is also not conducive when explaining complicated ideas.

So lets have some of these aphorisms, which alone are a good reason to read Camus:

"The blasphemy is reverent, since every blasphemy is, ultimately, a participation in holiness"

"Nihilism is not only despair and negation, but above all the desire to despair and to negate

"It can be said of Marx that the greater part of his predictions came into conflict with facts as soon as his prophecies began to become an object of increasing faith"

"The future is the only kind of property that the masters willingly concede to the slaves"


Some great things in this book (I loved his critique of Capitalism) but overall a mixed bag. If you are willing to cruise through some fairly opaque passages there are rewards enough. I would rate this as 3.5 stars.

84NanaCC
Set 9, 2013, 10:38 am

Maybe not for me, but an excellent review.

85StevenTX
Set 9, 2013, 11:09 am

"...he rarely pauses to define his terms, he leaps from one thought to another and it is not always clear how he makes the jumps. I also get the feeling that he loved a well turned sentence more than the thought within it and he cannot resist an aphorism..."

You've perfectly expressed the difficulty I had with parts of The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays. I'm glad it wasn't just me. The Rebel has been in my reading queue for a couple of months, but I've been reluctant to pick it up.

One of the biggest questions of recent history is: does Marxism inevitably lead to a Stalin or a Mao? It sounds like Camus gives a "yes" answer, but leaves his middle course between communism and capitalism only vaguely defined.

86baswood
Set 9, 2013, 5:47 pm

Steven, Camus did feel that Marxism had led to dictatorship and mass murder, from his study of history. He makes the point that Marx writings are too simplistic to serve as a blue print for politicians and revolutionaries. He implies that rebellion against the new order is the way forward and says that if the new regime does not limit its actions then rebellion against it should happen. He notes that this has never been allowed to happen in the past and he is not very optimistic about the future.

87Linda92007
Set 9, 2013, 5:58 pm

A very informative review of The Rebel; An Essay on Man in Revolt, Barry. But I think I would still qualify as a casual reader and should hold off on it until I have read more by Camus.

88janeajones
Set 9, 2013, 7:50 pm

Informative, detailed review, Barry -- but I think I'll take your overview and skip this one.

89mkboylan
Modificato: Set 10, 2013, 12:46 pm

85 Does capitalism always lead to fascism?

Could someone just give me the knowledge in this book by osmosis or something? I actually don,t even remember what osmosis means but you get my point. I'd love to know and understand these ideas but it sounds like a real challenge. and I'm kind of tired.

90tonikat
Set 10, 2013, 1:12 pm

You make me want to read this Camus, though I also am cautious having struggled with The Myth of Sisyphus except for his interpretation of the myth itself. I'm especially intrigued by the 'Thought at the meridian' section to see if it may have any influence on Celan's speech on poetics 'The Meridian' (will have to reread that tonight I think). I like the aphorisms too - but maybe I should read Sisyphus properly first. I don't know about him and poetry, did he ever write any? as a lover of the fine turned phrase?

91mkboylan
Set 10, 2013, 1:28 pm

Well Paperbackswap had a copy and I could't resist. After re-reading your excellent review, I decided a couple of the sentences you quoted were worth the effort alone even if I never get any further.

92kidzdoc
Set 11, 2013, 8:08 am

Fabulous review of The Rebel, Barry. Thank you for taking the time to read it closely and share your thoughts about it with us. I would like to read this, but I won't have time to get to it this year, due to other book(er) commitments.

93baswood
Set 16, 2013, 4:58 am

94baswood
Modificato: Set 16, 2013, 8:01 am

Frankenstein: Norton Critical Edition
Everybody thinks they know the story of Frankenstein, although many will have not read the book. They will have most likely seen one of the many film versions or will have at least some idea of what Frankenstein is because the word Frankenstein has passed into common usage as a word signifying monster. Most people then will be in for a shock if they read the book, because even if they did not realise that Frankenstein was not the monster (He was the scientist that created "The Creature"), by the end of the novel they may well feel that there is more than one monster, because this is not a simple story and a reader's natural sympathy tends to switch from one to the other. I am sure I read the novel some time ago, but I am not so sure that I read Mary Shelley's original 1818 version which is the preferred text in the Norton Critical Edition. I was under the impression that Frankenstein's character was essentially good and the monster; although misunderstood was essentially evil, but throughout my reading experience these thoughts were challenged in the most unexpected ways. There is a constant edginess in this story that made me feel that something was not quite right with the actions of many of the characters: the sort of feeling you get when you are introduced to someone and they make you feel uncomfortable; you can't quite put your finger on it at the time but your senses are screaming at you; "beware!".

The first surprise when I started the book was the realisation that it is an epistolary novel. It starts with letters from R Walton to his sister which describe his exploratory voyage towards the North Pole. It is in the fourth letter that starts with "So strange an accident has happened to us, that I cannot forbear recording it" that the real story starts: he has rescued a half dead man adrift on the ice and after a few days when he recovers the stranger beseeches Captain Walton to hear his story. Walton complies with the request writing down the narrative as told to him by Frankenstein. It is already clear from Walton's previous letters that the captain has difficulties in relating to other people and he is a somewhat obsessive character and so when his fifth letter starts:

"My affection for my guest (Frankenstein) increases everyday. He excites at once my admiration and my pity to an astonishing degree. How can I see so noble a creature destroyed by misery without feeling the most poignant grief? He is so gentle, yet so wise; his mind is so cultivated; and when he speaks, although his words are culled with the choicest art, yet they flow with rapidity and unparalleled eloquence."

Captain Walton seems well on the road to hero worship here and when we read Frankenstein's narrative his thoughts and actions seem that of another obsessive individual. The monster's story is told to us by Frankenstein and so takes the form of a tale within a tale within a tale, but the monster's story is the most thoughtful and eloquent of the stories and at times the one most deserving of our sympathies. We are therefore reading three narratives, all by narrators that could be extremely unreliable and which only enhances some of the strangeness of the story they have to tell.

Peter Brooks in his essay "What is a Monster? (According to Frankenstein) says the reader should "look closely at a text which is too complex, peculiar and interesting to be neglected". There is now no fear that Mary Shelley's book will be neglected even though it faded into obscurity through much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: today it is securely placed in the cannon and much ink has been spilt in trying to get to grips with Shelley's intentions or thoughts when she wrote her novel. In the Norton Critical edition there are sixteen essays ranging from Sandra M Gilbert and Susan Gurbar's "Mary Shelley's Monstrous Eve" which attempts to link the monster to Shelley's own maternity issues (she was unmarried and pregnant when she wrote it) to James A W Heffernan's "Looking at the Monster Frankenstein and Film.". There are many claims for this novel: Brian W Aldiss claims that it is the earliest novel that can be securely placed in the science fiction genre, it is claimed by many to be an extraordinary example of a gothic novel and of course there have been many feminist readings that have claimed all sorts of things. The Norton Critical edition does a good job of providing essays that are different in tone and scope adding much to a readers enjoyment of the novel.

The Norton Critical edition also provides much in the way of contexts. The story of why and how the novel was written is a fascinating subject in itself: Mary had eloped with Percy Bysshe Shelley and they were staying in a villa near Lake Geneva. Lord Byron and his entourage were staying nearby at the Villa Diodati. The Shelleys would spend evening at Lord Byron's place staying over if the weather was bad. The summer of 1816 was atrocious because of a volcanic eruption that had adversely affected the weather and there were literally weeks of rain. One night Byron suggested that everyone should try their hand at writing a ghost story and Mary set to with a will and started her novel Frankenstein. Apart from Dr Polidori's Vampyre hers was the only exercise that eventually resulted in a fully fledged novel and there was some interventions by Percy along the way. The novel was published anonymously in 1818 and received some hostile reviews because of its materialistic stance; the idea of a man as a creator was too much for some critics.

When all is said and done this is a great story and still a rattling good read. I would recommend that every effort should be made to read the 1818 text rather than the 1831 revised text, which made Frankenstein a more sympathetic as well as a more religious character. The revisions were an attempt at damage limitation after the sensational Burke and Hare murder trial in the 1820's. Critics today recommend the 1818 text and care should be taken because the 1831 text is still very much alive as it proved to be the most popular at the time. This is a wonderful reading experience and if you have any affinity for Gothic or early Victorian novels then don't miss out on this. A Five star read.



95NanaCC
Set 16, 2013, 8:36 am

Excellent review of Frankenstein, Barry. Not my usual fare, but your review tempts me.

96Linda92007
Set 16, 2013, 9:07 am

Fabulous review of Frankenstein, Barry. I have an edition somewhere, but I doubt that it is the 1818 one you recommend. Another purchase may be in the offing, as I am now anxious to read it.

97rebeccanyc
Set 16, 2013, 9:08 am

Fascinating. I'm not sure if I'll read Frankenstein (and I certainly wouldn't read all those essays!), but I appreciated learning so much about it.

PS I did know that Frankenstein was the scientist not the monster!

98RidgewayGirl
Set 16, 2013, 9:15 am

That's interesting about the editions. And a warning to not just grab the first copy one finds.

99StevenTX
Set 16, 2013, 10:04 am

Great review, but now you have me wondering if I read the 1818 or 1831 version six years ago. Fortunately Project Gutenberg has both, so I can be sure to get the 1818 next time. I do remember that my sympathies were solidly with the Monster.

It's a spooky notion that Shelley was pregnant at the time she wrote it and might have been thinking of herself as Frankenstein creating an illegitimate monster.

100avidmom
Set 16, 2013, 10:45 am

I don't know which version I read when I read it for the first time. I just remember how surprised I was that it was anything like I had expected. My kids have both read it and they both loved it too. Excellent review.... off to thumb it.

101dchaikin
Set 16, 2013, 10:17 pm

Frankenstein gets positive reviews and lots of references, but I've never felt much interest in reading it. Your review makes it sound enjoyable.

I'm catching up with your last four reviews. Loved your review of Star Maker. Not sure whether I want to read Limassol or not. Excellent stuff on the Camus essay (all thumbed, of course)

102janeajones
Set 16, 2013, 10:59 pm

Shelley's Frankenstein is wonderful and provocative, and not very long for anyone who is hesitating to read it.

103detailmuse
Set 17, 2013, 5:29 pm

Catching up bas, and your comment awhile back --

This was a very expensive book: it is going to cost me a fortune because it has resulted in me adding over 50 books to my wish list

-- resonates because while your thread is not expensive to me in an out-going way (though Frankenstein does go onto the wishlist), it’s so rich in an in-coming, informative way, thank you.

104Mr.Durick
Set 17, 2013, 6:36 pm

I also read the Norton Critical Edition of Frankenstein not very long back and without any authority was happy that it was the early edition. I am happy with the texts and notes in the Norton Critical Editions, but I really hope to get something out of the attached essays. I think I got plenty out of the ones in Frankenstein, but I was a little put off by some of the readings -- the feminist understanding of the monster recumbent struck me as freaky, for example.

Robert

105baswood
Set 17, 2013, 8:34 pm

Jane, yes Frankenstein is not a long read, my edition of the book contained the actual novel in just 160 pages. The criticism, contexts, index etc produced a book of over 500 pages.

Thanks for stopping by everybody.

Robert, there are usually some wacky readings amongst the essays in the Norton Critical editions and two of the feminist readings are right up there with the whackiest.

106JDHomrighausen
Set 18, 2013, 2:02 am

> 105

Sometimes imposing a contemporary hermeneutic on an old text will get you that. But given that the author is a woman, you'd think there would be some good feminist criticism in there, e.g. Frankenstein, like women, is humane and intelligent but not taken seriously because of his body.

107tonikat
Modificato: Set 18, 2013, 1:17 pm

Read Frankenstein for a course as an undergraduate when preparing for exams and remember how it perked me up no end, it wasn't just about learning, it was a pleasure which really gave me perspective on my revision, a good experience. Also, so influential, so true - the Norton critical sounds juicy, you're tempting me. Must check which version I have too. I think that party must have been fun.

108mkboylan
Set 18, 2013, 2:11 pm

Well I can hardly believe it, but I'm convinced and am going to give it a try.

109mkboylan
Set 18, 2013, 2:26 pm

Is there a way to tell if the Project Gutenberg volume is the 1818 version?

110StevenTX
Modificato: Set 18, 2013, 3:14 pm

The one with the full title Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is the 1818 version as you can see by previewing the text. The one that says by "Mary W. Shelley" (with just the middle initial) is the 1831 version. The other copy, the one with the most downloads, isn't specified. (Unfortunately this also seems to be the one that's free on Amazon)

ETA: The way to tell the difference is that the 1818 edition is divided into three volumes, each with its own chapter numbering, while the 1831 version is all one volume with chapters numberd 1-24. So it appears that the free Kindle copy on Amazon is the 1831 edition. But you can get the 1818 version (so labelled) for 99 cents if you find that more convenient than downloading via Gutenberg.

111mkboylan
Set 18, 2013, 4:19 pm

Thanks so much. I really want the 1818 after what you said.

112baswood
Modificato: Set 18, 2013, 8:02 pm

#107 ken Russell directed a film of that famous party at the villa Diodati



I seem to remember it was a bit overwrought, but that's Ken Russell for you. I would be tempted to see it again if it makes an appearance on TV The film was called Gothic: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091142/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_33

113Jargoneer
Set 19, 2013, 6:55 am

>107 tonikat: - Russell was a film-maker who started over-the-top and worked backwards, usually not moving very far. My memory of Gothic is a weak script buoyed by some great visuals. Strangely it was marketed as a horror film at the time. There is another film recounting the same events - Haunted Summer - which has an odd American cast but seems a more balanced look at the events.

Re Frankenstein - I've always liked the images conjured by creator and creation chasing each other across the ice. Odd that something so visual has rarely made it into the adaptations; interesting that the end comes in the Artic - the fact that it is partially conquered seems to echo Frankenstein's only partial victory over God, not to mention that cold barrenness of the place has echoes of Hell. (Where we know Frankenstein is certainly heading).

Back to Camus briefly - is it in The Rebel that he advocates 'syndicalism'? Never quite understood how that could work in practice, with so many interested parties involved in the decision making process it looks like a model for Kafka-style bureaucracy.

114baswood
Set 20, 2013, 5:13 am

115rebeccanyc
Set 20, 2013, 7:40 am

Love the pictures, waiting for the review!

116edwinbcn
Set 20, 2013, 8:47 am

Great.... those glass stoppered flasks.

117baswood
Modificato: Set 21, 2013, 3:58 am

Tono-Bungay by H G Wells
This is a substantial novel by H G Wells, which bulges at the seams with ideas, themes and storylines. Some critics have acclaimed it as his best novel and I can understand why, because at times I felt I was reading a great novel. It is the bulging at the seams feeling that gives me pause for thought: Wells was never going to write the "perfect" novel, he was far too prolific and intent on moving on to his next big idea to be able to steady himself to produce such a masterpiece; it just was not his thing to do. He might have realised that Tono-Bungay contained some of his best writing, because the final chapter is a sort of coda to the rest of the book which imaginatively tries to tie it all together and do you know; he very nearly pulls it off. Let me explain:

The story of the life of George Ponderovo is told in the first person and we first meet our hero as a teenager and son of the housekeeper in service at Bladesover; a stately mansion. It reads rather like an episode from Downton Abbey where George disgraces himself by getting too familiar with Lady Beatrice the young daughter and is sent away to relatives. The descriptions of the servants lives "downstairs" is very well brought to life as is the dependence of the local village to Bladesover, there is a feel here of a world that is resisting change and our sympathies are all with George as he is taken by his mother to be an apprentice to a baker in a large town. Georges sojourn with the working class down at heel baker who has no life beyond his struggle to make ends meet is mercifully brief as George runs away. He makes it back to Bladesover, but that world is now closed to him and he is again taken by his mother to an estranged relative; his uncle Edward Ponderevo, who runs a chemist shop. Edward Ponderevo is a small man with big ideas, always scheming and looking for the break that will allow him to make his fortune. He gets on well with George and rehearses with him his ideas of how he can be successful:

"the whole trend of modern money making is to foresee something that will presently be needed and to put it out of reach and to haggle yourself wealthy"

Uncle Edward was constantly on the lookout for these, which he called "corners" and we soon learn of his big idea: Tono-Bungay, which is a sort of elixir that Edward has concocted and which he believes he can sell as a "cure all" for people who need a "pick-me-up". George decides to educate himself and with an iron self discipline sets himself on a course of study in London and here Wells rewrites his earlier novel Love and Mr Lewisham. George wins scholarships, but falls in love with Marion who stimulates his sex drive to such an extent that he will do anything to get her. She proves elusive to his needs and George realises he must marry and to do this he needs an income. He revisits Uncle Edward to find him in the process of setting up a factory to produce bottles of Tono-Bungay. He asks George to run the factory for him at a salary that will allow him to marry Marion. George's marriage soon gets into trouble, they are sexually incompatible and Marion's outlook and world are not compatible to George's. The breakdown of the relationship and the divorce are brilliantly handled by Wells, who poured much of his own life experience into his writing. It certainly struck a chord with me. Well's writing about the impersonal nature of London's inhabitants is also spot on, as is the drive for success, which heralds in changing times another major theme of the book. However bound up with this is the "Mrs Grundyisms" of many of the people; those who are frightened of change and who cling to the world in which they know and were brought up in.

Meanwhile Uncle Edward's business ventures are becoming more and more successful, he is expanding; buying up businesses that were his suppliers and venturing further afield. The trick is the relentless advertising and Wells once more you feel pours his own feelings into Georges thoughts on the self made men of the time:

"The irrational muddle of the community in which we live gave him that, paid him at that rate for sitting in a room and scheming and telling it lies. For he created nothing, he invented nothing, he economised nothing. I cannot claim that a single one of the great businesses we organised added any real value to human life at all. Several like Tono-Bungay were unmitigated frauds by any honest standards, the giving of nothing coated in advertisements for money"

The flags flutter, the crowds cheer, the legislatures meet. Yet it seems to me indeed at times that all this present commercial civilisation is no more than my poor uncle's career writ large, a swelling, thinning bubble of assurances, that its arithmetic is just as unsound, it's dividends as ill-advised, its ultimate aim as vague and forgotten, that it all drifts on perhaps to some tremendous parallel to his individual disaster.

Uncle Edward knows only one thing; the drive to succeed, he buys bigger and better houses, he becomes a magnate, an important player in the financial world, he is addicted to acquisitiveness and Wells says of people like him that "Acquisitiveness becomes the substance of their lives."

George gets more and more alienated from the successful business world and follows his interest in aeronautics. He works with a chosen engineer in an effort to build the first motor powered aircraft. Wells lovingly describes the problems involved and the attempts to fly. George has become very rich working with his uncle and Lady Beatrice the girl from his childhood days once again enters his life. The novel then lurches into an adventure story as George leads a piratical expedition to steal some Quap (yes Quap) from a deserted location off the African coast. Quap is radioactive material that Uncle Edward believes will save his tottering empire. George recognises that Quap is Cancerous, that its radioactivity is like a contagious disease that leads to decay and he compares this to the society that he has just temporarily left behind.

Uncle George's empire falls, he is thrown to the wolves and Wells manages to cram in a deathbed scene that somehow hankers back to Victorian romanticism rather than forward to Edwardian commercialism. Tono-Bungay feels like a novel at a crossroads. Published in 1909 it portrays a society in the process of change, but not really a change for the better. In Well's view it is a time of lost opportunity and his coda at the end of the book looks at scientific invention and perhaps truth as a possible way out of the trough as George powers a destroyer down the river Thames reflecting on the London that he passes, which has also been a major player in this novel. Adventure story, a critique of adventure capitalism, some science and some science fiction (the Quap), a love story, the decay of civilisation, a portrait of a city, changing times all compete for the readers attention in this most ambitious of novels. Wells doesn't quite hold it all together, but there is so much that is great in this novel, so much good writing, that it does not deserve the obscurity that it currently enjoys. Enthusiastically recommended and a 4.5 star read.


118StevenTX
Set 20, 2013, 10:03 am

Great review. It does sound like Wells goes off in several directions at once here, but perhaps George's interest in aviation is intended to show that ambition can serve purposes worthier than greed. This was a fascinating time in history: on the cusp of catastrophe, discovery, revolution and fundamental social change.

119edwinbcn
Set 20, 2013, 6:22 pm

Nice review of yet another novel by H.G. Wells, Barry. I guess your extensive reading of Wells must change your appreciation of Wells. I suppose the later work must be more mature and interesting compared with The first men in the moon and The War of the Worlds or The Invisible Man or The Time Machine?

120rebeccanyc
Set 20, 2013, 8:38 pm

Wow! That one went straight on the wishlist.

121StevenTX
Set 21, 2013, 10:09 am

Barry, what are you doing today to celebrate H. G. Wells's birthday (born Sept. 21, 1866)?

122baswood
Modificato: Set 21, 2013, 2:41 pm

Nice picture of H G, he looks fairly chipper there, perhaps he is on his way back from a rendez-vous with Marguerite Duras.

Celebrated early yesterday as the book club discussed Tono-Bugay. There was only one dissenting voice.

Today I have been cooking all day: one of the guys from the local hunt turned up with quite a lot of wild boar meat, which I didn't want to refreeze. We are off to the coast for a few days and so today was my only chance to cook. I must remember to turn off the slow cooker before I go to bed tonight.

123edwinbcn
Set 21, 2013, 6:08 pm

>122 baswood:

one of the guys from the local hunt turned up with quite a lot of wild boar meat

124baswood
Set 21, 2013, 6:40 pm

Great pic Edwin

125rebeccanyc
Set 21, 2013, 7:16 pm

Apropos nothing, but Edwin's pic made me think of it, my local liquor store has a cartoon I love. It shows two bears drinking wine. One of them is saying "I can't remember what goes with red and what goes with white," and the other is replying, "White goes with fishermen and red goes with hunters."

126StevenTX
Modificato: Set 21, 2013, 9:26 pm

(I deleted this message because it had nothing to do with anything, but in the meantime Colleen asked a question about it, so rather than seem rude to her I'm putting the message back along with the answer to her question. Hope I never need to do this again.)

I wish I had a "local liquor store." This is a "dry" area and the nearest liquor store is 15 miles away in a trailer park.

And the answer to the question Colleen is about to ask: Until a few years ago, Yes. Recently all the suburbs voted in beer and wine sales (only), so I can now get wine at the local grocery store, but for anything stiffer it's a 15 mile drive each way.

127NanaCC
Set 21, 2013, 8:38 pm

Barry, great review, as usual. What dish are you creating with your boar?

Steven, does that mean you need to drive 15 miles for a bottle of wine? How sad.

128baswood
Set 22, 2013, 6:35 pm

Colleen, I roasted some of the meat in its marinade of red whine and garlic and slow cooked the rest in a casserole with herbs, onion, and fennel with more red wine.

(I deleted this message because it had nothing to do with anything, but in the meantime Colleen asked a question about it, so rather than seem rude to her I'm putting the message back along with the answer to her question. Hope I never need to do this again.) That sounds like an extract from one of those weird books that Steven reads.

129mkboylan
Set 22, 2013, 7:09 pm

Wow yes! Wonderful review.

130mkboylan
Set 22, 2013, 7:11 pm

Especially compared to the one right underneath yours on the book's page. To each his own.

131baswood
Set 26, 2013, 11:47 am

Just back from a three day holiday from the internet and catching up with everybody's reviews.

132mkboylan
Set 26, 2013, 1:34 pm

I think baswood should review his internet holiday

133baswood
Set 26, 2013, 4:51 pm

OK starter for 10. Which groups second LP was titled "What we Did on our Holidays"? (Turner - your not allowed to answer this)

What I did on my holidays was read "Ayesha: The further adventures of She-who-must-be-obeyed".

134baswood
Set 26, 2013, 5:23 pm

135baswood
Set 26, 2013, 6:48 pm

Ayesha: The return of She by H Rider Haggard.
Haggard published this sequel to She in 1905 eighteen years after the original and it follows a fairly similar format. The editor (the man responsible for getting She published receives another mystery package: It is a manuscript written by Mr Horace Holly about the further adventures of himself and his ward Leo Vincey. Both men are obsessed by their previous encounter with She-who-must-be-obeyed and even though they saw her reduced to a hideous monkey like creature after bathing in the flame of eternal youth in the previous novel, they have been searching for her ever since. Leo Vincey the ward and lover of She has had a vision that induces the two men to search for her in the mountains of Tibet. We pick up the story when the two men at last start picking up rumours of a powerful queen that lives in the unexplored lands beyond the furthest peaks of the Himalayan mountains.

It is not until halfway through the book that we meet She, but in the meantime Leo and Holly become virtual prisoners of the Khania yet another beautiful queen who falls in love with Leo. The Khania is a mortal enemy of the priestess of the mountain who is reputed to have supernatural powers and who seems to foot the bill for She-who-must-be-obeyed. Haggard does an excellent job of relating the adventures of Leo and Holly as they battle through a hostile environment in search of what they believe to be their destiny. A hair- raising climb down an icy precipice, a pitched battle with a savage tribe and a fight to the finish with the death-hounds make this first part of the novel read like an adventure story.

There is a change of pace when Ayesha appears and the pageantry and ritual that featured in the first novel are given full rein here, as Haggard describes the betrothal ceremony of She and Leo against the backdrop of a live volcanic crater. The portentousness of the scene is matched by some of Haggard's most portentous writing and this tends to get a little repetitive and overblown. She-who-must-be-obeyed has become even more powerful as she threatens to rule the world, but she does not lose her sense of being a woman in love, even if some of the eroticism of the first book has been lost. There is some discussion of how an absolute monarch might rule her subjects fairly and utopian ideals are broached, however the cruel and vindictive nature of She always seems to bubble just below the surface and this is what makes Haggard's creation something special, the continuous battle of wills between herself and the somewhat priggish Leo creates the tension that drives this story. There is of course a showdown with Khania and Leo once again finds himself having to make impossible choices.

There is less science fiction in this sequel than in the original novel, as less stress is given to the "land that time forgot" elements of the story and although there is the making of a radioactive material in Ayesha's laboratory, one gets the feeling from Haggard that he did not quite know what to do with this idea and it soon drifts out of the main story line. I enjoyed the novel, but it does not have quite the same thrill as the original and this is because of the similarity of the two tales. A three star read then for lovers of Ayesha.

136StevenTX
Set 26, 2013, 7:05 pm

Overblown but less sensual seems to be a common trait of sequels, be they books or movies. I don't have Ayesha: The Return of She on my reading list at this point, but I may be tempted after I read She.

Are you planning to read any more Haggard?

137dchaikin
Set 26, 2013, 10:15 pm

Sorry She disappointed, but enjoyed your review; and terrific review of Tono-Bungay up above.

138janeajones
Set 26, 2013, 11:05 pm

Not doing sci-fi at the moment, but your reviews are intriguing, Barry.

139baswood
Set 27, 2013, 3:16 am

Steven, I have She and Allan on my kindle and so when I want to get my fix of reading about powerful women I will get to this one, and there is Wisdom's daughter that completes the series, which is free on Australian Gutenberg. No rush at the moment though, because I am absorbed in Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction by Brian W Aldiss.

140rebeccanyc
Set 27, 2013, 7:31 am

I was on an internet holiday too, but only because I was so busy all week I didn't have time to visit LT or even to read much (except on the subway). So I'm glad you had more reading time on yours. I do plan to get Tono-Bungay.

141Linda92007
Set 27, 2013, 9:14 am

Excellent and intriguing review of Tono-Bungay, Barry. Your earlier Wells reviews inspired me to buy his complete works for my Kindle. Now I just have to decide where to start.

142baswood
Set 27, 2013, 10:10 am

Linda, start at the beginning and read The Time Machine

143baswood
Modificato: Set 30, 2013, 5:13 pm

144baswood
Set 30, 2013, 6:14 pm

Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction by Brian W Aldiss and David Wingrove.
Another book that is going to seriously damage my bank balance as I have made 4 pages of notes of books I want to read.

This book has grown out of Aldiss' original Billion Year Spree which was published in 1973 and takes the story of Science Fiction into the mid eighties. Aldiss makes a strong case for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein published on 11 march 1818 as being the first real science fiction novel, but he devotes three chapters on what came before and how those books contained elements of what we understand as science fiction. Apart from Frankenstein there are good chapters on Gothic novels, Edgar Allan Poe, H G Wells and Edgar Rice Buroughs and the pulp fiction magazines of the 1930's and beyond. Liberally sprinkled are references to novels and short stories that are of interest. As the history comes into the nineteen fifties then there are more books and authors to consider and so some critical decisions have to be taken as to what to include and it would appear that literary merit is the prime consideration.

Each decade or period under discussion is introduced by a short commentary on scientific developments and world politics, but these are very short and mostly set the scene for how events shaped the thoughts and ideas of writers in the genre. There is a useful potted history of the publication and printing issues of science fiction novels and magazines, but all of this does not get in the way of the primary function of this book which is to introduce the reader to the authors and their works. There are short extracts from some of the books under consideration which serve to give the reader an idea of the literary (or otherwise) style of the writers. Aldiss himself is responsible for much of the early part of the book and is not afraid to give his opinions and to sound warnings about some reputations that have been built around book sales. Robert Heinlein, Asimov and L Ron Hubbard come in for much criticism as do many of the pulp fiction writers, but overall there is a genuine love of the genre and an enthusiasm that made me want to go out and read many of the books discussed.

Aldiss admits that the genre is sometimes difficult to pin down, but I think he does a good job in excluding some of the more overt fantasy novels and an equally good job of including more mainstream authors that occasionally write novels with some science fiction content. This is a great book for anybody interested in science fiction and especially for those that want some pointers as to what to read. It is no longer up to date (the latest books under consideration were published in 1986, but is fairly comprehensive of the period it covers. I rate this as 3.5 stars.

145StevenTX
Ott 1, 2013, 10:26 am

Trillion Year Spree has been on my wishlist for a while.

It's interesting that the three writers you said he criticizes are all Americans while Aldiss himself is English. Does he bring up the idea of national characteristics in SF or schools of writing?

146baswood
Ott 1, 2013, 12:15 pm

Steven, yes he does and he makes it quite clear that Americans have led the way in science fiction since the 1940's. The chapter where he criticizes Heinlein, Hubbard and Asimov is titled Dinosaurs and he looks at the seven most famous/prolific writers in SF who were still active in the 1970's. There were three who he claims were still producing excellent work in their later years: Frank Herbert, Arthur C Clarke and Frederik Pohl. As for the seventh dinosaur A E Van Vogt; Aldiss says his later books were almost unintelligible.

147StevenTX
Ott 1, 2013, 12:55 pm

Okay, the clarification that he's talking about their later years makes a difference. I completely agree with regard to Heinlein; his last few novels were the same characters and the same ideas over and over, but I stuck with him because his novels were what introduced me to SF as a kid. I haven't read any of Asimov's later works or much of Hubbard at all.

148edwinbcn
Ott 1, 2013, 9:06 pm

Hi Barry. Here's one for you from my last-night reading:

Sir Rider Haggard,
Was completely staggered
When his bride-to-be
Announced "I AM SHE!"


A short poem from Academic graffiti by W. H. Auden.

149avidmom
Ott 1, 2013, 9:43 pm

Is good ol' L. Ron Hubbard on your list, baswood? That would be interesting ....

150dchaikin
Ott 1, 2013, 9:45 pm

Good stuff on Trillion Year Spree. I would probably be more interested in this book than in actually reading Scifi...at the moment anyway.

151baswood
Ott 2, 2013, 5:31 pm

Nice one Edwin.

I think I might avoid L Ron Hubbard,

152baswood
Ott 2, 2013, 5:53 pm

153baswood
Ott 2, 2013, 7:20 pm

Trips to the Moon by Lucian of Samosata. Published under The Ron Miller Fiction Classics Collections.
Trips to the Moon translated from the Greek by Thomas Franklin is available free on-line from Gutenberg Project, but I chose to buy the kindle version in the Ron Miller series and what I got for my money was an introduction by Ron Miller some details of other books in the series, an essay on the reasons for publishing the collection and then the identical translation by Franklin that appears at Gutenberg. The notes to the text are also by Franklin, but there is no quick link to them on my kindle version. Ron Miller informs us that Franklin's translation which dates from 1781 is still the best around although Franklin did take the opportunity to "clean" it up a little.

Lucian died sometime after AD180, but there is no agreement on when he wrote the texts included in Trips to the Moon, but they can lay claim to being some of the earliest science fiction, however there is very little science in Lucian's fiction. He was writing at a time when the earth was believed to be the centre of the universe and the stars, the planets, the moon and the sun were all a relatively short journey away suspended in the heavens. All that was needed was the power of flight to get to them and Lucian envisaged a giant wave taking a boat on it's crest and giving it the power to reach the moon, but Lucian was a renowned satirist and so how much of this should we believe. Perhaps not very much if his introduction is anything to go by.

I turned my thoughts towards falsehood, a species of it, however much more excusable than that of others, as I shall at least say one thing true, when I tell you that I lie, and shall hope to escape the general censure, by acknowledging that I mean to speak not a word of truth, Know ye therefore that I am going to write about what I never saw myself, nor experienced, nor so much as heard from anybody else, and, what is more, of such things as neither are or can be. I give my readers warning, therefore, not to believe me.

This is a prelude to his "True History" written in the first person where the speaker and his ship's crew journey to the moon, become involved in a war with the sun, get set back onto the ocean are swallowed by a whale where they live for eighteen months and become involved in more fighting with the various inhabitants living inside the whale. After escaping from the whale by burning a wood that is growing inside of it and killing the beast, they then set off on a tour of some wonderful islands, which get evermore fantastic and include the blessed Isle thinly disguised as heaven and then an island depicting hell. The story verges on the very silly with much of the satire lost for me.

The True History is preceded by a shorter text "Instructions for writing History" wherein Lucian bemoans the state of current history writing. He says that there is no attempt to discover the truth of events as most historians see themselves as poets who fantasise and write panegyrics to please the patrons of their works. This is a well argued piece of writing which still reads well today and coming just before Lucian's own "True History" ensures the irony is not lost.

The final text is "Icarus Menippus - A dialogue" again written in the first person and featuring a trip to the moon and to Jupiter. This time the speaker flies to the moon by attaching to himself the wings of a vulture and an eagle. He finds the moon upset because of all the philosophers talk about it, The moon cannot sleep in peace because of all the conjecture and asks the speaker to fly to Jupiter where Jove the king of the Gods will be able to sort things out. This turns out to be a delightful little tale where the object of the satire is the human race and particularly the philosophers.

My eyes glazed over a little reading parts of "The True History" but I enjoyed the other two shorter texts. I applaud Ron Miller's idea to make available early texts associated with science fiction, which individually are cheap to buy, however in this instance you might just as well read the text free online; if you can live without Millers introduction. A three star read.


154rebeccanyc
Ott 4, 2013, 11:47 am

Always educational -- in a good way! -- to read your science fiction reviews.

155StevenTX
Ott 4, 2013, 11:59 am

It's often hard to tell how seriously many of these authors took their own ideas of moon voyages and undiscovered countries. At least Lucian was right about the moon's being a solid body. Many in his time and later held the theory that the sun, moon and stars were just holes in an opaque shell around the earth through which the fires of the outermost heavenly sphere shown through.

The use of birds to reach the moon isn't surprising. Even as late as the 17th century, many naturalists conjectured that when migrating birds left Europe for the winter they flew to the moon.

156baswood
Ott 5, 2013, 4:32 am

Steven, the most difficult thing when reading these early moon voyage books is to try and come to terms with the mind set and knowledge that the authors had when they wrote their books. It is probably impossible to do, but we do have some idea. I enjoy reading them from a 21st century perspective even though the sense of wonder they sought to achieve has now been replaced to some extent with how funny the notions were.

I have just received my copy of Anatomy of Wonder by Neil Barron that has come hotfoot from the discard section of the South Holland Public library

I have also just got an I pad and so will spend the weekend struggling with apple technology.

157NanaCC
Modificato: Ott 5, 2013, 7:40 am

Uh oh, Barry. My iPad is such a time stealer. Very easy to use by the way, but also too many fun things to do.

Forgot to add, that the iPad is a great compliment for books that you are reading on your Kindle if the book has pictures. I prefer reading on my Kindle, as it is more book like in size, but it can be hard to see the pictures or maps that are included. When you synch your iPad with your Kindle account, you can view the book on it to see those things.

158baswood
Ott 9, 2013, 8:48 am

159baswood
Modificato: Ott 9, 2013, 11:08 am

Rabelais: A critical Study in Prose Fiction by Dorothy Gabe Coleman.
The genre of Menippean satire is a form of satire, usually in prose, which has a length and structure similar to a novel and is characterized by attacking mental attitudes instead of specific individuals. Other features found in Menippean satire are different forms of parody and mythological burlesque, a critique of the myths inherited from traditional culture, a rhapsodic nature, a fragmented narrative, the combination of many different targets, and the rapid moving between styles and points of view. This definition from Wikipedia provides a pretty good summary of Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantegruel, however Dorothy Gabe Coleman takes this further by claiming that Rabelais transforms Menippean satire into comedy and at times into Romantic comedy.

Dorothy Gabe Coleman's Rabelais is a study of the authors works and was probably written as a textbook for students and in this it does a pretty good job. There is very little in the way of biography here as Coleman launches into a study of the four books that have become known as Gargantua and Pantagruel, however she never loses the thought that Rabelais was a writer living in the sixteenth century and so there is plenty of background information placing his work in the context of the times. Coleman's admiration for the oeuvre comes across in her writing and has the effect of making the reader want to go back to the original texts.

There is a chapter on Rablelais' prologues to his four books with many a reference back to Lucian of Samosata's satires written in the second century, which would appear to have been a very real influence on the kind of books Rabelais produced. One of Colemans observations about Rabelais is that his books cannot be considered as novels, because of their essential formlessness, which makes them feel closer to Lucian than to novels written in the 20th century (Coleman's book was published in 1971) and for me parts of book four of Gargantua and Pantegruel felt like a re-write of Lucian's True History, with a similar humanist stance to the satire. Coleman also makes the point that the author of the Prologues is the author created by Rabelais and is not necessarily Rabelais himself: she refers to Rabelais as the Olympian author.

In her chapter "the choice of Form" Coleman discusses the essential elements of Manippean satire which are present in Rabelais works, but she goes on to say that Rabelais added to this comic fantasy, the burlesque and the grotesque to create his own world. This is what set him apart from his friend Erasmus, as Rabelais cannot be considered a moralist; there is far too much going on for any moral thread to be grasped. Rabelais linguistic inventiveness his love of word play and his own Rabelasian satire sets him apart from anything else written in the Renaissance and some might say and at any time since. Coleman follows this with a more detailed look at book three of Gargantua and Pantegruel, which she uses to illustrate her thoughts in the previous chapters. There is also a chapter on the two main human characters that appear in all four books: Panurge and Frere Jan and although changes in their characters are evident they are not really developed, but remain essentially comic characters on which Rabelais can hang his satire. It is Coleman's view that the three giants: Grandgousier, Gargantua and Pantegruel serve more often as mouthpieces for Rabelais views on society, war, education, religion and the law.

A final chapter on Poetic Prose examines in some detail Rabelais' writing style, which she claims at times is like reading poetry. The modern day reader will not understand all the words that Rabelais uses, because some of them are antiquated, some are borrowed from other languages and more frequently some are made up by Rabelais himself. As a stylist Rabelais was interested in the sounds that his words made and Coleman points out passages where the sounds of the words add to the meaning of the passage even though the reader will not understand the words themselves. This of course means that there is an added difficulty for the English reader and Coleman does not provide any footnotes in the way of translations for the examples she uses in this chapter. It is a feature of her book that all examples quoted from Rabelais text are in the original old French, some of which are translated as footnotes, but not all and so the non French reader may find some difficulty.

I think Coleman does an excellent job of bringing out some of the major themes and stylistic approaches of Rabelais and in a final summary she says about him:

Judgement and taste may at times be lacking, jokes or puns carry on too long, fantasy becomes monstrous, cruelty and obscenity jar on a modern reader, and the artistic self indulgence pall, but one accepts these 'faults' in Rabelais just as one accepts other 'faults' in Balzac, Dickens or Shakespeare.,,,,, Rabelais takes the world and transforms it into something entirely different from what we as readers are used to.

The point is made that the modern reader must meet Rabelais halfway to appreciate his works, but there is no such danger in reading Coleman's book, because she can enhance our understanding and enjoyment of this unique author. A four star read.

160SassyLassy
Ott 9, 2013, 11:53 am

Sounds super. Reading your excerpt from the final summary, does Coleman say anything about the oral culture of the time? Flights like these often take place in storytelling or puppetry, as opposed to written language, in order to hold the audience and more fully engage it.

161StevenTX
Ott 9, 2013, 12:10 pm

Very interesting review. I'm currently reading Daniel Defoe's first novel, The Consolidator, which would probably be classed as a Menippean satire as well.

162baswood
Modificato: Ott 9, 2013, 6:01 pm

Sassy, I think it is safe to say that Rabelais was heavily indebted to the oral tradition, although he does not seem to be a part of this himself. Bakhtins book Rabelais and his world stresses how important the folk culture was to the work of Rabelais claiming his work was the culmination of this rich stream of culture.

Steven, I will be interested in your thoughts on The Consolidator, a book that is also on my reading list.

163rebeccanyc
Ott 9, 2013, 7:25 pm

Very glad to learn more about Rabelais -- he was so influential for French writing.

164JDHomrighausen
Ott 10, 2013, 10:17 am

A little bit behind - but enjoying your reviews. I read some (psuedo-) Lucian this summer and he does indeed have a fun imagination. :)

165mkboylan
Ott 10, 2013, 3:32 pm

Rabelais - such an interesting review!

166baswood
Ott 13, 2013, 6:06 pm

167baswood
Modificato: Ott 13, 2013, 7:42 pm

Triplanetary by E E Doc Smith.
This novel would confirm all the preconceptions of a reader who is not in tune with early popular science fiction. The characters are two dimensional and their interactions are almost laughable, the writing hardly rises above the adequate and at times is much worse than that, the plot if there is one is of the and then.. and then...variety, its realpolitik is crass in the extreme and the novel was cobbled together following publication of stories in science fiction pulp magazines like Amazing Stories and the joins are all too obvious. And yet...... it does have an undeniable sense of wonder, the action is fast moving and extremely imaginative, it broke new ground in a genre that has become known as "space opera" and the underlying theme of super intelligent aliens guiding or hampering emerging civilisations is a good one.

The adventure story in space, which takes up two thirds of this book appeared in 1934; serialised in Amazing Stories, but before we get to this we read Smith's additions that attempt to adapt the story into a sort of prequel to his famous Lensman series. Two old civilizations the Arisians and the Eddorians are fighting for control of the universe; both races have developed powers of the mind that enable them to influence all other races, their latest battleground is the planet earth and Doc Smith inventively sketches in a few key events in earth's history that have been the result of the ancient races machinations. At page 127 in my edition we reach the age of space travel and the adventures in space begin. The quality of some of the writing here is sacrificed for an all out action story that pits a few quintessential American heroes against alien invaders and a representative presence from one of the super powerful Eddorian race who is bent on shaping events for his own evil ends. Doc Smith's superbly orchestrated space battles involving "ultra wave" weapons, inertial-less space ships, tractor beams, shields and blasting weapons, read like an early evocation of something written by Alastair Reynolds. They are as thrilling as they are preposterous and our heroes emerge largely unscathed from overwhelming odds through their courage, resourcefulness and ability to invent whole new scientific technologies at the drop of a hat.

The pulpiness of the writing and the story telling must be swallowed whole to enjoy this novel, but if you can do this then there is a fast paced action adventure story that pushed the boundaries of science fiction writing in it's time; those space battles and the escape from the Navian fish men have that sense of wonder that makes this whole science fiction genre so rewarding to read. This together with a truly magnificent underlying theme of universal struggle encourages me to read some more books in the series. I am hoping that the quality of the writing improves a little, but I am not counting on it and so "on with the schlock". A Three star read.



168mkboylan
Ott 13, 2013, 8:47 pm

Well said.

169StevenTX
Ott 13, 2013, 9:09 pm

Great review of Triplanetary. I read it many years ago, and while I don't remember any details, my overall impression was the same.

The NRA emblem on the magazine cover (National Recovery Act, NOT National Rifle Association) is a reminder that this story was published during the depths of the Great Depression when readers needed its escapism and optimism.

170dchaikin
Ott 13, 2013, 10:15 pm

Fun review.

Your review on Coleman's book, a few day back, is excellent. Four copies on LT and one very nice review.

171avidmom
Ott 13, 2013, 11:53 pm

Sometimes schlock is a good thing. Great review. Triplanetary sounds like fun.

172Jargoneer
Ott 15, 2013, 8:47 am

It's years since I read Smith but I probably read him at the right age, where the action mattered more than the writing, and your review highlights why he is still popular with some readers - it may be completely silly but gloriously so, with huge space battles and with heroes with just one more trick up their sleeves. (Mind you, those sleeves must have been copious.

If I remember correctly Lensman was conceived a single work and cut down for the magazines.

In real life Smith was a food chemist and worked with doughnuts including, allegedly, investigating how to make the sugar stick to them.

173Polaris-
Ott 19, 2013, 11:32 am

Enjoyed your review of Triplanetary!

174NanaCC
Ott 19, 2013, 1:49 pm

Catching up and enjoying your entertaining reviews.

175baswood
Ott 20, 2013, 5:22 am

176zenomax
Ott 20, 2013, 7:04 am

That magazine image of Wells playing the 'indoor war game' is brilliantly good. Hope you found the related book just as good bas.

177baswood
Modificato: Ott 20, 2013, 11:33 am

Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought by H G Wells
Well's Anticipations published in 1902 was his first attempt to predict the future shape of the world. In his introduction he says that he has abandoned narrative fiction in favour of frank inquiries and arranged considerations; he aims to provide a rough sketch of the new millennium (the 20th century). The somewhat ponderous subtitle "the reaction of mechanical and scientific progress upon human life and thought" is reflected in some ponderous early chapters, but the book comes to life with his predictions of the coming world wars and ends controversially with his ideas of an Utopian New Republic which will embrace eugenics and euthanasia. Anticipations was a best seller and Wells' thrilling and sometimes accurate predictions of the coming century launched him on a new career in the predictions business. However his ideas of a New Republic caused offense at the time and today read like nothing less than strong armed fascism.

Reading Anticipations today the reader cannot help but have a two column tick box in mind for those predictions that are fairly accurate and those that are wide of the mark; we might even have a third column of ideas that are either offensive and/or laughable. I will therefore list some of the highlights. He predicted that road transport would eclipse the railways and foresaw the motorway system as being the method to be used to move goods and services. His ideas on moving escalator like sidewalks that would have different speeds and use underground tunnels were more wide of the mark. He saw the diffusion of cities; ever spreading outwards with suburbs linked by an improved road system. He predicted the coming mechanised world war and the increasing professionalism of the soldierly, he said that trench warfare would be a living hell and saw the best supplied and mechanised army as being the one that would succeed. He saw further development in the use of accurate hand rifles and envisaged crack squads of highly mobile cyclist snipers as being battle winners. He predicted that supremacy in the air would win wars but over emphasised the importance of balloon warfare. He had a curious predilection for the use of ramming techniques for airplanes and ships in battle situations. He thought that America would lead the way in the world and that the English language centred in America would predominate. He saw the development of a more federal Europe, but Britain moving more towards America and the coming of three major power blocks: The America's, Europe and the East led by China.

Wells comes across as an impatient man. He fails to understand why others are not pushing forward towards a brighter more mechanised future. He gives an example of the processes used for house building lamenting at the time and laborious processes involved. Surely he says that some prefabrication techniques could be used. He also sees the duties of the servant classes not disappearing fast enough, the endless blacking of shoes, the clearing up after coal fires, the taking out of slops and the fetching of water. In this respect Well's descriptions of everyday life at the turn of the 19/20th century are fascinating and put into perspective his predictions for the future.

He takes a jaundiced view of the shaping of social elements and the business world, reserving particular spleen for the shareholder and speculator. He talks about the irresponsibility of the shareholding class, claiming that they "toil not neither do they spin". He sees the independent, irresponsible and wealthy share holder class still on the increase, but hopes that trust organised businesses organisms will develop and discover an essential unity of purpose. He also fears what he terms the abyss; a class of people left behind by the new wealth and the poor from the developing classes, but places his faith in the proportional development of educated and intelligent engineers and agriculturalist, doctors, schoolmasters, professional soldiers and intellectually active people of all sorts.

It is Well's vision of a New Republic; a sort of world wide movement that gives most cause for concern:

So it is I conceive the elements of a New Republic taking shape and running together through the social mass, picking themselves out more and more clearly, from the shareholder, the parasitic speculator and the wretched multitudes of the Abyss. The New Republic will constitute an informal and open freemasonary. In all sorts of ways they will be influencing and controlling the apparatus of the ostensible governments, they will be pruning irresponsible property, checking speculators and controlling the abyssward drift."

However Wells takes his ideas of the New Republic into totally unacceptable waters when he says:

The men of the New Republic will not be squeamish, either, in facing or inflicting death, because they will have a fuller sense of the possibilities of life than we possess. They will have no superstitions about death. They will have an idea that will make killing worth the while...... They will naturally regard the modest suicide of incurably melancholy, or diseased or helpless persons as a high and courageous act of duty rather than a crime

Understandably Wells' ideas of a New Republic raised howls of protest from some of the critics, but Wells was a fast learner and soon ditched these ideas and within a couple of years he was an enthusiastic advocator of universal rights.

Reading Anticipations today is a bit of a curiosity and I suppose it will only be of interest to the H G Wells enthusiast, however apart from some turgid patches there is much to enjoy. Apart from the predictions there are some excellent descriptions of life at the very beginning of the 20th century and Wells can always spring a surprise with some added interest: for example his comparisons of English and French bookshops; he says that English bookshops with their gaudy reach-me-downs of gilded and embossed covers and horribly printed novels do not compare with the vibrancy of the display and produce on offer in their French counterparts. An uneven book and at times an offensive book, but more often progressive; just hear what he has to say about God, religion and sexuality and you can grasp an impatient man with a mind active and open towards a future that he looks forward to with some longing. A three star read.

178edwinbcn
Ott 20, 2013, 9:42 am

Interesting to read and review this book, Barry. I did not know Wells worked on ideas like this that early, and published Anticipations as early as 1902.

I have been (and have not finished) reading The shape of things to come, which, from your review I understand must be a very similar work, and can be read similarly with a tick list in mind.

The shape of things to come being written more than three decades later, and published in 1933, during Wells involvement in the realization of the League of Nations, may offer a more realistic perspective. The latter work, however, is also still fictional, and belongs to the genre of science fiction.

179rebeccanyc
Ott 20, 2013, 10:04 am

Fascinating, as always.

180StevenTX
Ott 20, 2013, 10:30 am

I'm definitely putting this one on my reading schedule to hear more of what Wells has to say. I don't suppose he would care for today's world where the shareholders and speculators are the ones in charge.

Energetic, impatient and unsympathetic is exactly how Dorothy Richardson is portraying Wells in her autobiographical fiction that I'm reading.

181Polaris-
Ott 20, 2013, 11:35 am

Fascinating to read of Wells' Anticipations. Great review as ever, and I love the picture of him 'playing an indoor war game'!

182baswood
Ott 20, 2013, 12:21 pm

The Wars of the Roses: England's first Civil War by Trevor Royle
StevenTX's excellent review led me to read this narrative history, which as he says does a great job of taking the reader through a turbulent period of English history, The late 14th century to the late 15th century was a time when England was still very much in the late middle ages, as powerful aristocrats battled for control of the kingdom. Royle manages to string together a very readable narrative, which is not so easy with the confusion and anarchic actions of the many participants. Strong characters and weak personalities are given well rounded portraits as Royle uses the latest research into the period to provide a fine introduction for the amateur historian. There is very little social history, but Royle does provide some examples of the literature of the time. (there was precious little that has survived following the age of Chaucer in the late 14th century). The battles and skirmishes became more savage as the period progressed as chivalry was well and truly buried on the killing grounds. An excellent history which could appeal to the general reader. A Four star read.

183Polaris-
Ott 20, 2013, 12:54 pm

Excellent Bas. I'm certainly attracted, but have already got Alison Weir's Lancaster and York: The Wars of the Roses on my local library to read list. Do you have an opinion on any other books on the subject in comparison to Trevor Royle's?

184baswood
Ott 20, 2013, 1:22 pm

Paul, I have also got a copy of the Alison Weir book, but have not read it or any other book on the whole period of the Wars of the Roses. The Trevor Royle book may be difficult to get hold of, I got my copy through abe books, but I cannot think there is a much better book on the whole period having read biographies of some of the characters involved.

185bragan
Ott 20, 2013, 10:26 pm

That really is a fascinating review of Anticipations. Thanks for that. I always find it weirdly compelling to look back on old predictions of the future that is now our present.

186baswood
Ott 21, 2013, 4:42 am

bragan those October tales you are reading I remember as being slightly disturbing, I am going to start Bradbury's Martian Chronicles soon.

Edwin, Wells followed up Anticipations with Mankind in the making a couple of years later (which I have not read yet)

Steven, Wells went to America and wrote about his experiences in The Future in America: A search after realities published in 1906, which had a dedication to D. M. R.

187bragan
Ott 21, 2013, 5:43 am

>186 baswood:: Disturbing, they definitely are! And it's been ages since I read The Martian Chronicles, but I remember them being very well-written and poignant, as so much of Bradbury's stuff is.

188janeajones
Ott 21, 2013, 12:55 pm

Enjoying your reviews -- the Wells sounds intriguing. Your review of Royle's The Wars of the Roses: England's First Civil War is tempting -- certainly goes on the wish list.

189Polaris-
Ott 21, 2013, 5:44 pm

Thanks Barry for your verdict. I'm gonna add 'The War of the Roses' to the wishlist - and let fate decide which of Weir's or Trevor Royle's books I encounter first!

(Can't find Trevor's book touchstone).

190mkboylan
Ott 21, 2013, 10:47 pm

Oh Lord so many books! The Wells does sound intriguing and I also love the pic! Amazing!

191baswood
Ott 23, 2013, 4:48 pm

192baswood
Modificato: Ott 23, 2013, 7:05 pm

The Outsider by Colin Wilson
Books can be dangerous if they change the way you think about your life and this book would have been dangerous for me had I read it in the 1960's. It caused a bit of a sensation in the literary world when it was first published in 1956 and it's young author has spent the rest of his career suffering from something like a backlash. It is a critique on existentialist thought that slashed and burnt it's way across the art's world of the late 1950's. The existentialist outsider as hero was a message that some young people in the 50's and 60's desperately wanted to identify with and Wilson's study hit the sweet spot, because those people who felt that they were somehow 'out of step' at the start of the consumer boom would have found plenty of ammunition in this book to realise that other people were singing from the same hymn sheet.

Wilson starts with Henri Barbusse and moves on to H G Wells and Hemmingway as he searches for authors that asked the questions that set them aside from the majorities views, this leads him to Sartre, Camus and Kafka. A chapter on the Romantic Outsider is a walk through the works of Herman Hesse, before he gets to three men who he claims lived the lives of outsiders rather than merely writing about it; he portrays Van Gogh, T E Lawrence and Nijinsky as men who were driven to insanity and/or early deaths because of their vision that took them outside of the world of the bourgeoisie. They were men who could not control their restless spirits, who saw the world through different eyes and suffered for it. In 'The Pain Threshold the thoughts of Nietzsche are brought into the argument before Wilson launches into a brief critique of one of the ultimate outsiders Dostoevsky, with particular reference to Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov. Wilson summarises his thoughts at the end of each chapter which gives the book a feeling of a logical argument. Here is what he says at the end of his chapter on Dostoevsky:

The Outsider wants to cease to be an outsider
He wants to be balanced
He would like to achieve a vividness of sense-perception (Lawrence, Van Gogh, Hemingway)
He would like to understand the human soul and its workings (Barbusse and Mitya Karamazov)
He would like to escape triviality forever, and be 'possessed' by a will to power. to more life
Above all he would like to know how to express himself, because that is the means by which he can get to know himself and his unknown possibilities.
Every Outsider tragedy we have studied so far has been a tragedy of self-expression
We have to guide us, two discoveries about the Outsider's 'way'
1) That his salvation 'lies in extremes'
2) That the idea of a way out often comes in 'visions' moments of intensity etc.


The following chapters take the argument into the realms of religious mysticism with studies of George Fox, William Blake and Gurdjieff and these I found less convincing, but this was perhaps because of my natural antipathy to religious thought.

The overriding message that this book brought home to me was that we should not lose sight of the thoughts and ideas of those people that dared to think outside the box, that asked the difficult questions and sought a meaning to life and their own existence. It is also a lesson to us all not to get caught up in the mechanical world of a continuous push to get more 'things' from life. The ability to stop and think is one that should be nurtured and we should be courageous enough to go wherever this takes us. Don't get caught up in the cow-like drifting of so many people in the Western World.

Wilson was considered to be one of the angry young men of the 1950's writing at a time when the majority of people were emerging from the vicissitudes of two world wars and facing the uncertainty of the atomic age. His book resonated then and can still be admired today for it's attempt to define the "Outsiders" and provide us with a critical study of the visionaries that did not shape the world, but more importantly raised questions that should make us all stop and think about how and why we live in that world. Books that make you think about your reasons for being can be dangerous and I wonder if anyone is writing any today. If not we will have to make do with such books as Wilson's The Outsider. A four star read.

193NanaCC
Ott 23, 2013, 8:01 pm

Great review, Barry.

194janeajones
Ott 23, 2013, 8:36 pm

I'm sure had I read the book in the 60s, I would have swooned for that handsome young author and his ideas (as I did for Nureyev and Blake and DH Lawrence). However, had I read him in the 70s, I probably would have been less enamoured as there is not one woman among these brave "outsiders" -- where are Wollstonecraft and Susan B. Anthony and George Sand and Virginia Woolf?? I threw Lawrence across the room when I reread one of his books in the 70s.

195avidmom
Ott 23, 2013, 11:40 pm

It sounds like a unique book. Thanks for another great review.
Books that make you think about your reasons for being can be dangerous and I wonder if anyone is writing any today.
Good question!

>194 janeajones: Really, where are the women? Hmmm ....

196baswood
Ott 24, 2013, 3:40 am

jane, avidmom; the absence of women is very noticeable. it is as though they didn't exist as Outsiders for Wilson and his generation of intellectuals. The most obvious omission to my mind is Simone de Beauvoir, especially when considering existentialist authors but I am sure there are others.

197StevenTX
Modificato: Ott 24, 2013, 10:48 am

Great review of The Outsider. An obvious question would be how does it compare with Camus's The Rebel? It seems that they take a similar approach and use some of the same sources (e.g. Dostoevsky), but do they come to the same end?

ETA: Are you planning on reading more of Wilson's work?

198mkboylan
Ott 24, 2013, 12:59 pm

Wonderful review!

199detailmuse
Ott 24, 2013, 5:43 pm

Catching up and, being a non-SF reader who enjoys your SF reviews, I'm also interested in the SF history of Trillion Year Spree. The Outsider also goes onto the wishlist.

200baswood
Ott 24, 2013, 5:46 pm



Steven, amazingly these books are by the same Colin Wilson who wrote The Outsider. Wilson carried on with his Non Fiction writing as well and there were several follow ups including Rebel and religion and Introduction to the New existentialism. I might be tempted by one of his SF novels.

201rebeccanyc
Ott 24, 2013, 6:08 pm

Love the covers!

202janeajones
Ott 24, 2013, 8:31 pm

They are yummy covers!

203StevenTX
Ott 24, 2013, 9:11 pm

According to my database I read The Space Vampires in 1989. I didn't rate it very highly then, but with changing tastes I might like it now. Wilson's The Mind Parasites is on the Anatomy of Wonder checklist that I've been following for my SF reading.

204avaland
Ott 25, 2013, 5:47 am

>144 baswood: Interesting review on the Aldiss, Barry. I first read that argument about Shelley being the 'first' in Thomas Disch's Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World. The other argument seems to be Poe.

Enjoying your comments on the vintage SF.

205wildbill
Ott 25, 2013, 12:31 pm

I enjoyed your review of The Outsider. It was very well written and provided a concise precis of what the author had to say. I may steal your phrase "singing from the same hymn sheet".

206baswood
Ott 25, 2013, 12:49 pm

Thanks wildbill any 'stealing' I will take as a compliment.

207baswood
Modificato: Ott 25, 2013, 4:25 pm

A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini
Popular fiction, commercial fiction, genre fiction or even pulp fiction: I am not sure how I would categorise this book, but it certainly isn't literary fiction. I started it with some trepidation, but in the end liked it more than I thought I would, but would not hesitate to give it away at the next book swop. It is a story telling novel that while dealing with tragic events is in no way a tragedy; as you would expect the bad guys by and large get their come-uppance and true love wins through in the end. The novel is set in Afghanistan and tells the story of two women who are swept along by events in that war torn country from the late 1960's to 2003. The women are both Afghani and are steeped in the Muslim culture that underwent periods of intense radicalism, first under the mujahedeen and then the Taliban. It was not an easy time to be a women especially after the introduction of American cultural mores in the 1960's and then the Russians in the late 1970's, which had both loosened the ties to Sharia law.

I found the setting authentic enough and while the treatment that women received during the radical muslim periods was horrendeous, I did not think it was over cooked by Hosseini. There was not an overriding feeling of anti-muslim outrage that one might have expected. The backdrop of war torn Kabul was reasonably well done and the writing was good enough to give the whole thing a sense of time and place.

While reading this the writer that came to mind was Leon Uris. The novel has that same feel of authenticity of time and place with useful pieces of local knowledge that adds colour to the writing. A 3.5 star read

208NanaCC
Ott 25, 2013, 4:31 pm

>207 baswood: A Thousand Splendid Suns is quite a leap from the SF you have been reading. I know that you had said it was for book club. I'm glad you enjoyed it more than you had hoped. You may even have pushed me to read it some day. I've not read anything by Hosseini, although I think I have had The Kite Runner on my iPod for years.

209baswood
Nov 3, 2013, 4:41 am

210baswood
Nov 3, 2013, 7:24 am

Orlando Furioso: A Romantic Epic translated by Barbara Reynolds.
This early sixteenth century poem is a wonderful reading experience: some claim it to be at the pinnacle of Italian Renaissance literature and I would not disagree. It certainly is an epic: 46 cantos of varying numbers of stanzas written in ottava rima(a stanza of eight lines, in iambic pentameter, rhyming abababcc) resulting in a poem of 38,728 lines. Barbara Reynolds translation maintains the poetic rhyming scheme and it flows along so beautifully that the reader can easily get so lost in the sheer enjoyment of the reading that the length of the poem does not become an issue. It is longer than the Illiad and the Odyssey together and it was 26 years in the making with the first results published in 1516 and was an instant success.

There has been critical disagreement over the main themes of the poem and Reynolds in her excellent introduction claims them to be chivalry, war and love, but my first impression is that the overarching theme is one of love and the human condition. It is a narrative based on a war between the Christians and the Saracens some time in the chivalric past. Each side has it's heroes and heroines (the female warriors are just as skilled and fierce as the men) who fight and love throughout the poem with a number of set pieces such as: the siege of Paris, the madness of Orlando, the infighting in the Saracen camp, Astolfo's trip to the moon, the final duels to the death between the Saracen and Christian champions and then the resolution of the love affair between Ruggiero and Bradamante. However there are so many stories within stories that the sheer variety will keep most readers amused; there are bawdy tales, moral tales, magic realism, fantasy stories, and some of the most brutal battle scenes all interwoven to provide a tapestry that is both rich and human.

This is the poem that signals the real break from the medieval literature of the past. Although one of it's major themes is chivalry it is couched in a realism that speaks volumes to the modern reader, as the thoughts fears and emotions of the characters come vividly alive. Gone are the lists of characters and the obsession with pedantic heraldry to be replaced with real story telling. Ariosto was a student of human nature and he takes time out in many of the opening stanzas of the canto's to expound on a particular theme, The fickleness of men in love for example:

Be on your guard against those in the flower
Of ardent youth, whose amorous desires
Blaze up and die away in a brief hour,
Just as burning straw at once expires,
The hunter, chasing hares, will gladly scour
The Land, up hill, down dale, through brakes and briars,
In cold and heat, but, once a hare is caught,
He chases others, for this caring naught.


There is much more condensed philosophy; on honour, jealousy, loyalty, hypocrisy, love, the treatment of women and they have a ring of truth about them so that we can identify with Ariosto's thoughts.

A poem that features magic swords, magic rings of invisibility, hippographs (winged horse) a shield that renders enemies unconscious, a magic horn that frightens people into submission and monsters on land and in the seas is rich in the fantasy tradition. It is all due to the art of Ariosto that he can weave these fantasy elements into the sometimes brutal realism of battle scenes and the tragedy of love and death that makes this poem such a joy to read. Astolfo's trip to the moon is a case in point; a chariot piloted by St John Evangelist takes Astolfo on his journey where he meets the inhabitants of the moon who are guardians of the wits of men and women who are insane on earth. they are guardians of many other things that have been lost on earth and are also involved in weaving a sort of tapestry of lives and the fates of human kind. All fantastical stuff but interwoven into the story because here Astolfo recovers the wits of the insane Orlando (he has been driven to insanity by unrequited love)

There is much irony in Ariosto's writing perhaps the supreme example is to name his poem Orlando Furioso, when although Orlando is one of the Christian heroes, he hardly features in the climax to the poem once he is cured of his insanity. The panegyrics dedicated to Ariosto's patrons become increasingly over the top as the poem proceeds and certainly today they read with more than a hint of satire. Irony and a lightness of touch in some of the writing serve to give the poem an added dimension, but it is the deep felt human emotions and the realism of some of the fighting that leaves a lasting impression; here is a stanza from the final epic battle between Ruggiero and Rodomonte:

On cheek and shoulder he receives the blow,
The impact makes him reel from left to right,
He staggers, off his balance to and fro,
And scarcely can he hold himself upright.
Now is the moment for the pagan to
Close in and take advantage of his plight,
He tries to do so, but too hastily:
His thigh wound brings him down upon one knee.


Ariosto enjoys himself with much authorial intervention; either entering his story to encourage or chide his readers or speaking through the voices of one of his characters. Many of the Canto's end with cliff hangers as Ariosto makes some excuse why he cannot continue with this particular thread to the narrative. There are many threads to the narrative and many of the characters have stories to tell of their own, that fly off at a tangent from the main narrative and one suspects that this is Ariosto not being able to resist the sheer delight of story telling. There are two other essential features in this poem that speak to its feeling of modernity. Women are treated on an equal footing to men in many of the battle scenes and Ariosto has no time for the view that women are a lascivious and fickle sex that is so predominant in much medieval and renaissance writing. When he tells a bawdy tale in the vein of Boccaccio he apologises for its depiction of women in the story saying that this is not how they really are, but is how many male authors depict them. He also treats the Christians and Saracens on an equal footing. The Saracen heroes are as well rounded in character representation as the Christians and perform equally brave and chivalric deeds on the battlefield. They have one monster in the brutal Rodomonte, but his excesses are balanced out by Orlando during his period of insanity. Here is Rodomonte creating havoc inside the citadel of Paris:

His cruel sword the Saracen rotates
And few there are he does not leave for dead
A foot with half a leg he here truncates
There from a torso spins a severed head.
He splits them to their haunches from their pates,
Or cuts them clean across with transverse blade
Of all he kills or wounds or seeks to chase
Not one delays to look him in the face


The penguin classic edition with a translation by Barbara Reynolds is in two books, each running nearly to eight hundred pages. There is an excellent introduction and mercifully a list of characters so that the reader can keep a track of who is doing what to whom in the narrative. The list also contains a description of the magic swords, the named horses and other magical items. There are good notes and a copious index. I loved the flow to the translation that Reynolds achieves. When I initially approached this poem I had a couple of other books of lighter reading beside me, but I got so caught up in this magical poem that I stayed with it right to the end. A five star reading experience.

211StevenTX
Nov 3, 2013, 9:24 am

Wonderful review of Orlando Furioso. I've had this on my wishlist for a while, but I was looking at the unabridged prose translation by Waldman from Oxford simply because it's affordable for me and the 2-volume Penguin is pretty expensive, paper or ebook. But I held off buying anything once I saw that you were going to read the Penguin edition. Now I'm not so sure. Those passages you quoted are quite appealing.

212Polaris-
Nov 3, 2013, 10:08 am

Captivating review of Orlando Furioso Barry. It's not really my cup of tea, but I enjoyed your commentary, and learnt something - as is always the case on your thread.

Looking forward to reading what you have to say on Thomas Penn'sWinter King. I've always thought that Henry VII was a fascinating king who isn't taught as much as he might be, or as well known as the Tudor dynasty that he founded. It's on my TBR as they have it at the library down the road.

213rebeccanyc
Nov 3, 2013, 12:07 pm

That sounds like a lot of fun, Barry, but I don't think I could cope with two 800-page volumes of poetry, no matter how wonderful!

214kidzdoc
Nov 3, 2013, 1:15 pm

Outstanding review of Orlando Furioso, Barry!

215janeajones
Nov 3, 2013, 5:18 pm

Splendid review! Orlando Furioso has been on my TBR list for decades -- but at 1600 pages, I'm afraid it will probably have to wait for retirement.

216baswood
Nov 4, 2013, 6:41 am

Steven, ABE books have plenty of second hand editions of the Barbara Reynolds translation. I have not seen any of the prose translations, but I think they may not capture the magic of the poem, which Reynold's translation does.

Paul, I am looking forward to reading the The Winter King which was well reviewed by janeajones. I should get to it in the next couple of weeks.

Rebecca I am sure you would enjoy it especially after you liked the Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes and Parzival, Wolfram von Eschenbach. It is however a big reading commitment

Thanks Jane and Darryl

217rebeccanyc
Nov 4, 2013, 7:42 am

It is however a big reading commitment

That's the problem. I can only manage those in the summer, when I have more reading time at home, and usually only one or two a summer. There are a lot of books already vying for that spot for 2014! But you do remind me to get to some of the other medieval books I bought after reading the two you mentioned (what a good memory you have!).

218baswood
Nov 5, 2013, 4:47 am

Polaris (Paul) sent me a "heads up" on A BBC radio 3 programme on Albert Camus called Inside the Outsider and it was excellent. Recommended for anyone wanting an in depth introduction to the man and his work and also good for all those that like a conspiracy theory. Here is the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03g2r5j/Sunday_Feature_Albert_Camus_Inside...

219Polaris-
Nov 7, 2013, 2:19 pm

I'm glad it was good.

220baswood
Modificato: Nov 7, 2013, 5:16 pm



"The captain at this time was a bachelor of thirty-five, rather stout in build, with light eyes, bushy eyebrows, a square broad face, plenty of chin, a mouth whose corners played between humour and grimness. He surveyed Loveday from top to toe."

221mkboylan
Nov 7, 2013, 5:12 pm

Please tell me that is a bookmobile.

222Polaris-
Nov 7, 2013, 5:15 pm

Seaside changing room?

(But I prefer Merrikay's idea.)

223baswood
Modificato: Nov 7, 2013, 5:18 pm

Paul gets first prize. It's a bathing machine.

224baswood
Modificato: Nov 8, 2013, 2:58 am

The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy.
"It was sometimes recollected that England was the only European Country, which had not succumbed to the mighty little man who was less than human in feeling and more than human in will" Hardy's novel is set in early 19th century England when fear of a French invasion led by Napoleon Bonaparte was a fact of life for many people living in the South of England, but in Hardy's world questions of love and marriage take priority.

Ann Garland and her mother are tenants of Miller Loveday and have rooms within the mill. Ann is being courted by the aggressive Festus Derriman whose father is a farmer and landowner, but the Miller's eldest son John, now a dragoon has for a long time loved and admired Ann and is now stationed nearby in preparation for any attempted invasion; he is the trumpet-major and his natural correctness and good manners have hindered his courting. Ann as a younger woman had a fancy for the miller's younger son Bob who has returned from a spell in the merchant navy and has got himself involved with Matilda who he intends to marry as soon as possible. What follows is a delightful game of missed opportunities, furtive meetings and avoidances as Ann behaving impeccably, unwittingly leads all the men in her life a merry dance.

A light romance on the surface played for amusement and laughter by Hardy is undercut by a feeling that tragedy is just around the corner, but Hardy never allows tragedy to materialise even though we expect it might at any moment. There are some marvellously well drawn characters: the flighty adventurous and capable Bob, the all too upright John, the cowardly vociferous and larger than life Festus, the comic miser uncle Benji Derriman, the wordly Matilda and of course Ann herself who might have strayed in from a Jane Austen novel as she tries to make sense of a dance she does not really understand. They play out their loves and hopes in a lightly militarised zone of operations, which gives an edge and a hint of danger as well as reinforcing the class consciousness that lies heavily across all Hardy's characters actions.

Hardy's marvellous descriptions of the mill and it's pond, which is a big attraction for the officers and their horses is seen primarily from Ann's point of view, it is her safe haven as she uses all her resources in the many roomed mill and it's gardens to play hide and seek with her courtiers, Bob can use the same playground to evade the press gang and people are able to spy on each other when the occasion demands. Outside of the Mill there is danger as when Ann has to run the gauntlet of Festus' attentions whenever she goes outside, while Uncle Benji sees the Mill as a safe place to hide his possessions and the stalwart figure of Miller Loveday is a reassuring rock that the characters can cling to in time of need.

The Napoleonic wars are the fuel that drive the story, but they take place off stage as Hardy moves his troops and characters around events that we hear of second hand, but we actually get to meet Captain Hardy of "kiss me Hardy" fame and Bob tells of his adventures on board HMS Victory, there are many references to Boney, but the slaughter of men in war time is waiting in the wings. King George III stays nearby, a little down the coast and creates a diversion with his bathing machine. The invasion scare leads to an exciting chase and a situation that could lead to rape and the press gang is an evil intrusion into the main characters lives, but Hardy's feel for the comedy in these situations never make the reader fear for his characters. There are chases, misunderstandings, practical jokes, ribaldry, coyness and some unlikely coincidences that all add to the humour.

The Trumpet-Major is not one of Hardy's better known novels and I am not sure is deserves to be, however it is beautifully realised with a lightness of touch that makes it a delightful read. I was immediately drawn into Hardy's world by some wonderful prose and my interest never let up till the end and it made me laugh. Great book for a rainy day and a four star read.

225janeajones
Nov 7, 2013, 8:05 pm

What a delightful review! I've never heard of The Trumpet Major, and I thought I had read all of Hardy's novels -- obviously there's another treat in store.

226NanaCC
Nov 7, 2013, 9:43 pm

Great review of The Trumpet-Major, Barry. And I love the picture of the bathing machine.

227Jargoneer
Nov 8, 2013, 5:51 am

Great review of The Trumpet-Major. Hardy does seem to get a bad press for being unmitigatingly bleak (possibly due school and Tess of the D'urbervilles) so it's good to know that's not always the case. (Still struggling to get my head around someone laughing at a Hardy novel though).

Re - Colin Wilson. The Space Vampires novel was adapted into a film, Lifeforce, in 1985. This is notable for the amount of nudity in it as the central female vampire, the rather lovely French actress Mathilda May, doesn't bother with clothes. This backfired though as the US version was promptly cut by over 10 minutes as because, we know, the fabric of American society could unravel if a naked breast is seen by impressionable youngster. It is worth seeing though, and not just because of May, but simply because it manages to go over-the-top and then keep travelling. (It is also quite fun watching British stalwarts like Frank Finlay and Patrick Stewart wondering what the hell they have signed up to).
Wilson himself is a little bonkers as well - Now They Will Realise I Am A Genius.

>218 baswood: - I don't know if you heard any of the other Camus stuff (an adaptation of The Outsider, a play about the Arab characters and a discussion of the novel. All available here

228edwinbcn
Nov 8, 2013, 8:48 am

Nice review of The Trumpet-Major!

229StevenTX
Nov 8, 2013, 9:28 am

I've read a few of Hardy's novels, but not this one, and I didn't realize he had ever used an historical setting. I'll get to it someday. Nice review.

230rebeccanyc
Nov 8, 2013, 9:39 am

I never heard of The Trumpet Major either, but after recovering from Jude the Obscure it will be a while before I read more Hardy.

231SassyLassy
Nov 8, 2013, 2:24 pm

Also struggling with the idea of a light hearted Hardy. Wikipedia tells me Hardy has a class of novels he calls Romances and Fantasies, and he considers The Trumpet Major one of them, so I'll have to investigate. I've only read what he calls "Novels of Character and Environment". How positively dour!

Great review.

232avidmom
Nov 8, 2013, 7:22 pm

233baswood
Nov 9, 2013, 4:41 am

234baswood
Nov 9, 2013, 6:06 am

The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury
A collection of short stories originally published in 1950, which firmly put Bradbury on the map as one of the greats in the science fiction genre and I would say one of the greats in short story writing. The Martian chronicles covers man's (that is America's) colonisation of Mars from January 1999 until the earths destruction in 2006. Bradbury has a writing style all of his own: short collections of images that fuse together to create an atmosphere that is both strange and wonderful. If anything qualifies as science fiction this is it, because of the extraordinary sense of wonder that is achieved by the most simple of brush strokes. This is the first paragraph from the short story "Ylla":

"They had a house of crystal pillars on the planet Mars by the edge of an empty sea, and every morning you could see MR K eating the golden fruits that grew from the crystal walls, or cleaning the house with a handful of magnetic dust, which taking all the dirt with it, blew away on the hot wind. Afternoons when the fossil sea was warm and motionless, and the wine trees stood stiff in the yard, and the little distant Martian bone town was all enclosed, and no one drifted out of their doors, you could see Mr K himself in his room, reading from a metal book with raised hieroglyphs, over which he brushed his hand, as one might play a harp. And from the book, as his fingers stroked, a voice sang, a soft ancient voice, which told tales of when the sea was red steam on the shore and ancient men had carried clouds of metal insects and electric spiders into battle."

This languid and old Martian civilization is going to be overrun by Rockets from earth, which will carry small town American settlers hell bent on grabbing land and making it look just like home: The opening paragraph from the short story Locusts:

The rockets set the bony meadows afire, turned rock to lava, turned wood to charcoal, transmuted water to steam, made sand and silica into green grass which lay like shattered mirrors reflecting the invasion, all about. The rockets came like drums, beating in the night. The rockets came like locusts, swarming and settling in blooms of rosy smoke. And from the rockets ran men with hammers in their hands to beat the strange world into shape that was familiar to the eye, to bludgeon away the strangeness, their mouths fringed with nails so they resembled steel toothed carnivores, spitting them into their swift hands as they hammered up frame cottages and scuttled over roofs with shingles to blot out the eerie stars and fit green shades to pull against the night. And when the carpenters had hurried on, the women came in with flower pots and chintz and pans and set up a kitchen clamour to cover the silence that Mars made waiting outside the door and the shaded window.

The invasion of the small town Americans is a rude invasion that the Martians in the first instance try to ignore, hoping that they will just go away. Bradbury's little stories have a dream like quality that is fractured by the invaders and more often than not have a twist in them that puts them in "Weird Tales" and "Amazing Stories" territory. They can also be unsettling and a feeling of horror and of loneliness is never too far away. "Musicians" is one of my favourite stories which is told in just one and a half pages: some young earth settler children are warned not to go and play in the nearby Martian ruined town, they of course ignore the warning and go into the empty houses kicking up the black flakes on the floor dancing among the white bones of the dead, their parents examine their shoes when they come back home for evidence of the black flakelets because the incendiary squads are moving in to complete the destruction.

The early expeditions to Mars are defeated by curious Martian logic, but the overidding theme of Americans running away from the worsening conditions on earth and yet creating those same conditions on Mars links the stories beautifully. Loss, loneliness and eventually a desperate desolation prevails, but Bradburys cosy sense of humour and quirky logic give these stories an individuality that must have been striking when they were originally published in the 1950's. We can still admire the stories even if we can anticipate their off centred twists, but it is the quality of the writing that makes them such a unique reading experience. A Five Star Read

235RidgewayGirl
Nov 9, 2013, 6:43 am

I went through a Thomas Hardy phase several years ago. I picked up a copy of The Trumpet Major, but didn't get around to it. I should get back to Hardy as he really is a fantastic writer.

236StevenTX
Nov 9, 2013, 9:49 am

I read The Martian Chronicles as a kid, and recall being disappointed that instead of being bold and exciting, it conjured up an image of Mars as a Normal Rockwell painting. Your review brings out points that I was too young at the time to appreciate.

237avidmom
Nov 9, 2013, 11:30 am

I had no idea what The Martian Chronicles were about (well, except Martians). It sounds a lot deeper than what I expected. Fahrenheit 451 is one of my favorites. Bradbury is an excellent writer.

238dchaikin
Nov 9, 2013, 11:40 am

Catching up...this is not a good thread to get behind in. I'm so distracted by what I want to say about a review, that I find it hard to concentrate in the next review. (I blame all grammatic errors on iPhone autocorrect)

So, in reverse order:

Martian Chronicles - this is a much more positive review than I expected. I read this in grade school and don't remember anything striking. But then, I don't actually remember the stories in your review at all - so who knows. Maybe I didn't actually read it.

The Trumpet-Major - very nice review. I've been playing with the idea of reading some Hardy for a while now. Nice to know he wasn't always, as Sassy puts it, dour.

Orlando Furioso - ok, I figured his must be enjoyable, but there is lots of stuff to read and- well, after reading your review I suddenly feel a need to read this. Very inspiring and wonderful review. 800 pages - goodness.

A thousand splendid suns - wow, way more positive then I expected from you. You are too complimentary. He is an ok, immature (he cold get better) writer who isn't near as deep as he pictures himself. This book was him trying to reach great depth. His ambition was out of his league. The book is a failure (see his acknowledgements - he admits it was a struggle). Sorry - I must disagree with your review. Kite Runner is better since it's more about what he knows and less aggressive. There is something to learn there, but it's silly in many ways too and I can't help being suspect of it's authenticity... I could be in the wrong with that last comment.

The Outsider - Such a fantastic review. I don't see myself ready to make it through the turgid sections, but after your review, well, I want to try.

War of the Roses - taking note

Anticipations - I don't want to read the book but loved your reviews and interesting on the predictions that were correct but that I would think were essentially unpredictable. It makes me think our civilizations is simpler a than we think it is.

Ok - caught up - apiologies if these comments just bore you or anyone else.

239Polaris-
Nov 9, 2013, 2:22 pm

Very interesting review of The Martian Chronicles Barry.

Dan - it's good to see you 'catching up' - your comments are a welcome refresher on such a fast-moving thread.

240Jargoneer
Nov 11, 2013, 5:25 am

I know this sounds a little strange but I've never seen Bradbury as a SF writer but a nostalgic fantasist who occasionally used SF tropes as background. I think you can see that it in The Martian Chronicles which is really a pastoral fantasy about America (Martians=Native Americans). I do think at times he is trying too hard to be 'writerly', this really comes to fore as his career continued, but I agree that there is much to admire in works like TMC.

241baswood
Nov 11, 2013, 12:42 pm

Dan, always appreciate your thoughts, but if you are thinking of tackling Orlando Furioso then it is actually 1600 pages (800 pages per volume)

242dchaikin
Nov 11, 2013, 1:13 pm

I did go so far as look up OF up in my library (no copies in English of any trans) and Amazon ($26 for kindle version of part 2...part one is $14). Wish I had some kind of book group to push a schedule on me.

243mkboylan
Nov 11, 2013, 2:49 pm

Thanks for the excellent review of Martian Chronicles I think I need to check that out.

Dan your comments are never boring!

244baswood
Nov 12, 2013, 4:53 pm

245baswood
Modificato: Nov 13, 2013, 9:54 am

Last Men in London by Olaf Stapledon.
Some of us might have gazed up at the stars in the night sky and wondered what was out there and a few of us free of religious dogma might imagine that there are life forms that are beyond our capabilities to know or understand. British Philosopher Olaf Stapledon let his imagination invent a human species far far in the future that had the ability to project back to our time in it's efforts to understand man in crisis. It was a representative from the eighteenth and last species of humans whose task was to write a history of the first species as it battled to come to terms with a Europe battered by the first world war. He chose to lodge himself within the brain of a prescient man with a talent to observe the people around him. This man Paul is a thinly disguised version of Stapledon himself who uses this mechanism to write a biography/autobiography of his life and times. An audacious idea that would have fallen flat from many a writer les talented than Stapledon.

The point of view is expressed through the representative from the future referred to as the parasite, who introduces himself, "so that you (the reader) might have some idea of the being who is communicating with you," The eighteenth species have developed to such an extent that they have learned to be and think as one unit. Through telepathy and universal mind melding they have achieved a sort of Utopia, but their very existence on Neptune is under threat from a rogue star entering the galaxy and it is their task to create their history before they are annihilated. This first part of Stapledon's book reads like a passage from Arthur Koestler's Janus : A summing up or perhaps some of Doris Lessing's science fiction, beautiful writing that expresses a sense of wonder, which is such an essential ingredient of most science fiction writing. Paul is chosen to be the host because he epitomises in his character the spiritual crisis of his age and the doom of his species. The Parasite is able to influence Paul to some extent and stays with him throughout his life: from his birth, through the years of the first world war, his teaching career afterwards, his attempts to awaken his fellow men to their predicament and finally to his lapse into senility.

The parasite is appalled by the state in which he finds the first men, but is also fascinated by their total lack of empathy towards each other. He observes:

Inevitably their chief concern was private fulfilment and it essentially means money. National affairs, racial affairs, cosmical events were of interest to them only in their economic bearing........ and he reflects that If they could begin to outgrow their limitations of will, if they could feel beyond their self regard, their tribal jealousies, and their constant puerile obsessions then they could begin not only to construct a Utopia of happy individuals, but to make of their planet a single and most potent instrument of the spirit capable of music hitherto unconsciensed.

The effects of the World War have destroyed any possibility of the human race developing beyond their present status which is a constant battle between their animal (simian) and their emerging humanism. Through the parasites observations Stapledon can indulge his thoughts concerning the human condition and it is no surprise to see that it reeks of existentialism.

The parasite stays with Paul (Olaf) through his youthful development, his struggles to come to terms with his sexuality, his pacifism throughout the war, where he becomes a volunteer for a private ambulance service. The reader now views the world through Pauls eyes as he experiences the horror of war, but this view is always subject to the observations and commentary of the parasite. Following the war the parasite nudges Paul towards an attempt to influence his peers into seeking a unity among people and nations, a task that Paul (Olaf) feels he lacks the talent to achieve. He is constantly rebuffed and eventually wears himself out in his attempts to make a better world. He is hampered also by having no clear idea what he is trying to accomplish; his vision at the crucial moment always fails to come into focus.

During Paul's time as a teacher he comes across one of a rare breed of superhumans as one of his pupils; they have enlarged brains and an intelligence that places them far beyond their fellows. The pupil Humpty suffers from being the odd boy out and even though he is recognised by Paul and the parasite they cannot save him from persecution and mental deterioration. This section of the book feels like an add-on and makes the whole a little disjointed. Stapledon would take up this idea in his excellent novel Odd John and in my opinion it would have been better to have left it out of Last men in London.

After Paul's death the parasite returns to his own planet where he calmly faces his and his races extinction, but suffers the inevitable loss of spirit and humanism as they are reduced to a fight for survival. The wheel in a way has come full circle and the tone of the book reflects the pessimism of the inter war years.

Overall this is a fine book, part science fiction, part autobiography, part philosophy that Stapledon on the whole manages to shape into a unified piece of writing. It bulges at the seams in places but does hold together in the end. Published in 1932 it is not as well known as his Last and First men, but I think it is the better book.

"There is of course in both of us and in all men and all living things, and all sub-vital beings the one universal miracle of spontaneous doing, which is the essential life of all existence. Through the aid or the limitations of circumstances, some may do much others little. What matters which of us does which? All the tones of the music are needed for the musical perfection. And it is the music alone that matters. not the glorification of this instrument or that."

Stapledon's theme of the self regard and the self aggrandisement that continually hinders our development is a theme that he repeatedly sets to a musical figure, which I find particularly effective. A four star read

246avidmom
Nov 12, 2013, 8:40 pm

Wow! That sounds like quite a fascinating book!

247janeajones
Nov 12, 2013, 9:07 pm

Never heard of Stapledon before, but your review certainly intrigues -- think I must follow up on it.

248Jargoneer
Nov 13, 2013, 5:46 am

>245 baswood: - reading your view it strikes me that Stapledon is expounding ideas of co-operation that were gaining creedence following WWI with organisations like the League of Nations and the Red Cross being founded in the aftermath of the conflict. Although by 1932 and the beginning of the Great Depression the idea of co-operation was being dismantled.
There is a darker side to some of the ideas though, seen in the next level of humans, which do skirt dangeously close to the concept of eugenics. It is surprising how many educated, and often liberal, individuals did have sympathy with this theory - Wells, Keynes, Shaw, Teddy Roosevelt and Churchill.

I have to say that your reviews of Stapledon have made me think that it is time I re-acquaint myself with his work.

249rebeccanyc
Nov 13, 2013, 7:33 am

I never heard of Stapledon either, but I enjoyed your review and this introduction to him.

250StevenTX
Nov 13, 2013, 10:01 am

A very thought-provoking review of Last Men in London. I've just added it to my reading plan.

It's disheartening that there is now so little conversation about the long-term challenges facing our planet and species compared to what I can remember in the '60s and '70s. In this country at least our political leaders rarely look beyond the next election.

And it is the music alone that matters. not the glorification of this instrument or that.

On the surface this is a very Marxist-sounding statement that seems to contrast with the Nietzschean scenario you described in Odd John. But I suspect Stapledon reconciled the two through a long-term view where Odd John becomes the prototype for a newer and greater species, not just an exceptional individual.

#248 - I know eugenics conjures up the image of a new Hitler breeding a race of super-soldiers, but it should still be a part of the conversation.

251RidgewayGirl
Nov 13, 2013, 10:19 am

Without in any way downplaying the horrors of eugenics, it is possible to note that the motivations of the people first interested, well before WWII, were largely altruistic -- the idea that a lot of the suffering in the world was unnecessary and could be mitigated.

252Jargoneer
Nov 13, 2013, 11:26 am

>250 StevenTX:/251 - I agree that many saw eugenics as providing a solution to difficult problems. It is interesting that we usually think of the Nazis when we think of eugenics, which is why it is now difficult to discuss the subject, but there were experiments going on in a number of countries, especially with sterilisation. Even before WWI there were groups in the US who were advocating a literacy test in order to identify the 'lower races' in order to protect the superior Nordic stock; and Indiana had introduced a compulsory sterilization in 1907.

The idea of the superman or a new breed of humans is one that has been explored a number of times in SF. We may not be that far from this becoming a debate in reality, if our understanding of DNA keeps expanding there will become a point where science can create 'better' humans. If we then accept that these 'better' humans are created through individuals paying for their children to be upgraded it is not difficult to imagine a reality where the term 'them and us' really does have some meaning beyond the haves and have nots.

253baswood
Nov 13, 2013, 2:07 pm

The idea of the superman or a new breed of humans is one that has been explored a number of times in SF. We may not be that far from this becoming a debate in reality, if our understanding of DNA keeps expanding there will become a point where science can create 'better' humans. If we then accept that these 'better' humans are created through individuals paying for their children to be upgraded it is not difficult to imagine a reality where the term 'them and us' really does have some meaning beyond the haves and have nots.

#252 This sounds like a description of a book already written, but I don't know which one.

Steven, do you think that the pulling back from manned exploration of space has anything to do with less debate on the human races long term future, or is it because all our energies seem to be focused now on making money. Olaf Stapledon would be horrified with the present state of affairs. I am not too happy about it either.

254mkboylan
Nov 13, 2013, 2:48 pm

Thanks for the review and great discussion. SO interesting.

255StevenTX
Nov 13, 2013, 7:22 pm

Barry, I think the main reason for the decline in the US manned space program was the end of the Cold War. Its motivation from the beginning was keeping up with the Soviets. It's no coincidence either that one of the largest pure science projects ever, the Superconducting Super Collider, was cancelled within weeks of the dissolution of the USSR. Suddenly the secrets of the universe weren't so inviting now that there was no chance that the communists would discover them first.

The fact that our rivalry with the the USSR was an ideological one was probably also the reason why there was internally more ideological and economic debate during that era. Our "enemy" now is a religious one, radical Islam. So the public debate has shifted to religious and "moral" issues such as abortion, gay marriage and creationism.

This doesn't explain everything, though. In the '60s and '70s we took environmentalism and energy conservation fairly seriously. But now, in the face of catastrophic climate change, our answer is "Drill, Baby, drill!" The end of the Cold War has nothing to do with that. It seems, as you say, to be all about making money and burying your head in the sand.

Regarding eugenics... It is already being practiced whenever a couple decides to have an abortion because pre-natal screening shows a dangerous genetic defect. Also when donations to sperm and egg banks are screened not only for genetic diseases but also for desirable characteristics such as intelligence, height, eye color, etc. But these "designer baby" choices are available only to the relatively wealthy. The larger problem is that, thanks to advanced medical care, children with genetic traits that used to mean an early death are now living long lives and reproducing, ensuring that those traits are passed on. How many generations will it be before the "healthy baby" is the exception rather than the rule? Without some form of eugenics policy we may become a species on perpetual life support.

256baswood
Nov 14, 2013, 4:04 am

So the public debate has shifted to religious and "moral" issues such as abortion, gay marriage and creationism. You would have thought that we could have left these debates behind by now. The leaders of the Western world seem to be in denial about the future of this planet: well that is the huge conglomerates don't want to raise their heads.

#255 nicely argued Steven. A species on perpetual life support would be a dream come true for many of our politicians. Control would be so much easier.

257Jargoneer
Modificato: Nov 14, 2013, 5:52 am

>255 StevenTX: - Our "enemy" now is a religious one, radical Islam. So the public debate has shifted to religious and "moral" issues such as abortion, gay marriage and creationism. I totally agree with that analysis. This statement is really interesting as Christian and Islamic fundamentalists agree on these issues but are still sworn enemies. I also agree with Barry, in Europe this debate is over - Europe is effectively a post-religious society. (Although possibly could be re-ignited in some way by the growing Islamic population in Europe)

Now that India and China are starting to get involved in space exploration will the US react? Can it react?

258mkboylan
Nov 14, 2013, 5:07 pm

255 Steven you always hit the nail on the head. I usually hit my thumb.

259avidmom
Nov 14, 2013, 7:58 pm

>258 mkboylan: LOL! Yep. He certainly did!

Now that India and China are starting to get involved in space exploration will the US react? Can it react?
Hmmmm ......

260Polaris-
Nov 16, 2013, 2:25 pm

Great review Barry, and a fascinating discussion.

I would say that Europe (if one can talk of that continent as a single entity? I'm not sure...) is not quite a post-religious society, and is certainly as xenophobic and racist as it's ever been since 1945. In any case, Steven's point about the end of the Cold War effectively snuffing out the impetus for the space race is spot on. It will be very interesting over the next decade or so to see how China and India's arrival on this scene will or will not rekindle American ambitions in that direction.

261baswood
Nov 18, 2013, 4:32 pm

262baswood
Nov 18, 2013, 6:42 pm

Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Essays Albert Camus
I love my Country too much to be a Nationalist states Camus in his introduction to his Letters to a German Friend and this sets the tone for these magnificent essays. They highlight Camus political stance, as the early letters published in 1944 shriek his defiance from a beleaguered Paris to his final defence of his position on the Algerian crisis in 1958. It is Camus himself who becomes beleaguered on this journey: firstly being fated as an intellectual hero of the French resistance and later; a man shunned by the intellectual left for his failure to support the Algerian Liberation movement. Camus belief in justice, and his unwillingness to spill blood are twin themes of much of his writing, together with his struggles to come to terms with apparently contradictory positions and refusal to be anything less than truthful make for fascinating reading.

This collection starts with the four "Letters to a German Friend" justifiably famous for their powerful indictment of the Nazis. They are a rallying call to his compatriots in their fight for freedom from German oppression, but more importantly they are an intellectual statement as to why Frenchmen should not hesitate to kill their enemy. Having made his case for the moral rightness of the French freedom fighters, Camus says "I can tell you (his German friend) that at the very moment when we are going to destroy you without pity, we still feel no hatred for you." In an essay published in his newspaper "Combat" written after the liberation of Paris in 1944 entitled "The Blood of Freedom" Camus makes his position clear:

"Time will bear witness to the fact that the men of France did not want to kill and their hands were clean when they entered a war they had not chosen

More short essays from "Combat" are followed by Camus' reflections immediately following the end of the war. In a short section "Pessimism and Tyranny" there are a couple of essays making the point that nihilism and negation are natural thoughts harboured by people after the horrors of war and those thoughts should be posited, but Camus is ready to move on to a more optimistic philosophy. Two more essays Defence of Intelligence" and "The unbeliever and Christians" further clarify Camus' position. The essays now jump ahead to 1953 when Camus is no longer writing articles for "Combat" and feels he can expound on one of his favourite themes Freedom. The section is entitled Defense of Freedom and we start to see Camus on the back foot. He has become fearful of the power of governments: the power of the state and criticises the intellectual left wing's love affair with Russia and its denial of individual freedoms.

A selection of Essays about Algeria finds Camus at his most politicised. He became involved in an attempt to instigate a civilian truce in the war torn country in 1956 when tit for tat murders were common place. His own position as a Frenchman born in Algeria placed him firmly in the French colonialist camp in many peoples eyes and his famous statement that he would not support a movement that could lead to the death of his mother (who still lived in Algeria) made it a very personal position. Camus could however point to the fact that he had written profusely about the injustices towards the Arab community and was quite clear that reforms had to be made to give the Arabs equal rights, but this was not enough to satisfy the left wingers in France. He courageously took a leading role in trying to bring about a truce, getting his hands dirty in a dangerous situation, perhaps he was naïve, but his willingness to get involved has to be admired. It was all over for him in 1958 when he felt compelled to make a final statement on his position and in an essay "Algeria 1958" he has clearly been left behind by events. By this time Camus had stated "I am incapable in rejoicing in any death whatsoever" and "no case justifies the death of the innocent"

Their follows essays on the Hungarian uprising in 1956, where Camus again found himself at odds with many of his former friends and while he lambasted them with stinging attacks for their support of the Totalitarian regimes, he saluted the voices for freedom and liberty only where they did not lead directly to the deaths of innocent people.

I am not one of those people who long for the Hungarian people to take up arms again in an uprising doomed to be crushed under the eyes of an international society that will spare neither applause nor virtuous tears before returning to their slippers like football enthusiasts on Saturday evening after a big game

His long essay "Reflections on the Guillotine" should be read by all those that still support capital punishment, to my mind Camus' case against the use of Capital punishment is unanswerable and deserves to be read. The final couple of essays steer the reader away from politics as Camus explores the role of the artist in post war society. Liberty, justice and freedom feature as usual as key themes along with an essential honesty that precludes art for arts sake; there has been enough of this with Camus exhorting a return to reality:

Art which is nothing without reality and without which reality is insignificant

This is an excellent collection of essays and essential reading for anyone interested in Albert Camus, but also some gems that capture the thoughts and ideas of one of the most important writers of mid twentieth century Europe. A Five star read.

263janeajones
Nov 18, 2013, 8:44 pm

Great review, Barry.

264Jargoneer
Nov 19, 2013, 8:33 am

Art which is nothing without reality and without which reality is insignificant. That quote feels like it should have Discuss placed after it.

Great review, really captures Camus' humanitarian stance.

265StevenTX
Nov 19, 2013, 9:10 pm

It sounds like these essays are much clearer than Camus was in The Rebel.

Which did you find more convincing... the early Camus who said Frenchmen must kill men they do not hate for the sake of freedom, or the later Camus who said no cause is worth an innocent death? What would he say to the argument that you must kill innocents to protect even more innocents (e.g. "collateral damage" when killing a terrorist cell with a drone strike)?

266Jargoneer
Nov 20, 2013, 10:20 am

>265 StevenTX: - I think Camus would point out that the argument of killing people in order to save lives doesn't hold up. If you kill 5 terrorists and 5 innocent people stating that you did it to save 20 innocent people then you are proposing something that can't be proved: you can only think the terrorists would have killed 20 people, you cannot prove they would have.

267baswood
Modificato: Nov 20, 2013, 2:33 pm

Here is what Camus says about The French attempts to suppress the Algerian Liberation movement:

"Only from such a position have we the right and the duty to state that military combat and repression have on our side, taken on aspects that we cannot accept. Reprisals against civilian populations and the use of torture are crimes in which we are all involved. The fact that such things could take place among us is a humiliation we must henceforth face, meanwhile we must at least refuse to justify such methods even on the score of efficacy. The moment that they are justified, even indirectly, there are no more rules or values; all causes are equally good, and war without aims or laws sanctions the triumph of nihilism. Willy-nilly, we go back in that case to the jungle where the sole principle is violence. Even those who are fed up with morality ought to realise that it is better to suffer certain injustices than to commit them, even to win wars and that such deeds do us more harm than a hundred underground forces on the enemy's side. When excuses are made, for instance, for those who do not hesitate to slaughter the innocent in Algeria, or in other places, to torture or condone torture, are they not also incalculable errors, since they may justify the very crimes we want to fight? And what is that efficacy whereby we manage to justify everything that is most unjustifiable in our adversary.

Consequently the chief argument of those who are trying to make the best of torture must be met head on. Torture has perhaps saved some at the expense of honour, by uncovering thirty bombs, but at the same time it aroused fifty new terrorists who, operating in some other way and in another place, will cause the death of even more innocent people. Even when accepted in the interest of realism and efficacy, such a flouting of honour serves no purpose but to degrade our country in her own eyes and abroad


Camus was talking about counteracting a terrorist movement, but not of course against drone strikes that inevitably do kill innocent people in the USA's war against terrorism. However there is enough in what Camus says to surmise that he would be against the use of such strikes.

Steven, I find the later Camus more convincing, his earlier statements were made when his Country was invaded by the Nazis and passions amongst the resistance movement would have been running high, but he was still at pains to make a moral case for the actions that he saw as needing to be taken. The Algerian situation would have also roused passions in Camus, because of his family in Algeria and his links with the many Frenchmen who had been born in that country. In this later situation however he was able to see past the immediate horror of the situation and the cycle of revenge that had developed: he put forward practical solutions and got himself involved in attempting to broker a truce between the two warring factions.

268mkboylan
Nov 21, 2013, 6:47 pm

What an intriguing review of Camus and fascinating conversation. A pleasure to read your thoughts. I remember hearing a discussion by some Buddhists whom I respected about killing and the Hitler question. The teacher said that some Buddhists believe a person who knowingly agreed to take on the negative karma of killing by killing Hitler in order to save others would be a hero. I don't know about that because I think either it's negative or it's not and that if it's not, there is no bad karma involved. Or whatever terminology you want to use for those karmic ideas. Of course Hitler was no innocent and part of the conversation was about the killing of innocents. Oh Lord don't let's get into is anyone innocent.

Thanks for your great thread.

269baswood
Nov 22, 2013, 10:29 am

Thanks Merrikay

270baswood
Modificato: Dic 3, 2013, 6:50 am

Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn
Henry Tudor: Henry VII, perhaps best known as father of Henry VIII, but Thomas Penn's compelling biography places him not only as the founder of the Tudor dynasty, but of laying the ground rules for those that would follow him. Fear, manipulation and control were the watch words and if this sounds like a model for Machiavelli's The Prince published in 1513 just four years after Henry's death then it would not be very wide of the mark.

When Henry Tudor by good fortune emerged victorious at the battle of Bosworth field, he grasped the opportunity on behalf of the house of Lancaster to crown himself king. The Yorkist king Richard III had been killed as had the Duke of Norfolk, while his Lancastrian supporter the Duke of Northumberland had fled. Bosworth Field was the final pitched battle of the long running feud between the noble hoses for the crown, but this was by no means a certainty when Henry was crowned king. He had the opportunity to consolidate his reign following the deaths of the leading Yorkists, but he had to come up with different modus operandi to previous rulers. The problem facing him was how to maintain his authority when other nobles still craved to be king. Traditionally a king would buy his support by rewarding his supporters with land and wealth, usually from the spoils of war and when this wasn't enough crack down harshly on any opposition. Henry VII followed this well trod path, but he added another essential ingredient, he hit both friends and enemies where it really hurt, he hit them in their pocket. Gradually he instigated a system of fines and bonds for misdemeanours against the crown: past as well as present, backing this up with intelligence gathering machinery through informants and spies that was unprecedented. He rapidly became very rich, no longer needing parliaments agreement to raise taxes and his opponents became relatively poor, eventually reduced in circumstances to an extent where putting an army in the field against the king would have been extremely difficult. Fifteenth century knights and aristocrats were well used to living in fear of death, but living in fear of not being able to live in the proper style was an added incentive not to cause trouble.

Thomas Penn's well researched biography is written in a style that would be accessible to the more general reader. He has done for the first Tudor King what Ian Mortimer has done for the Plantagenet's, made a story of their lives that is both exciting to read yet still heaped in period detail and not straying too far from accepted facts. Other historical characters come alive; Catherine of Aragon and the Kings mother Lady Margaret and his wife Elizabeth and the Kings advisers and money men, but also the artists and men of letters that hovered around the periphery of the Kings court; for example Erasmus, Stephen Hawes and John Skelton. Prince Henry who became Henry VIII threatens to take over the biography in the latter chapters, but this provides the incentive that will keep the more general readers interested until the end. I felt entertained and informed while reading and would rate this a four star read.

271NanaCC
Nov 22, 2013, 12:56 pm

I already had added Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England to my wishlist after Jane's review, but your excellent review would have put it there. I look forward to reading this one next year.

272StevenTX
Nov 22, 2013, 2:51 pm

A very informative review as always.

Why is he called the "winter" king?

273rebeccanyc
Nov 22, 2013, 2:52 pm

Continuing to enjoy the education you're providing me!

274baswood
Nov 22, 2013, 4:54 pm

Steven, Penn in his introduction says:

In 1509 (the year henry Died), court poets portrayed Henry's own reign as a sterile landscape, one in which bears roamed and wolves howled, a time in which the natural order had been subverted - but which, mercifully, was rightfully restored in the shape of his son. In other words, if Henry VIII was the spring, his father was the winter.

275StevenTX
Nov 22, 2013, 10:55 pm

So that makes Elizabeth the Summer Queen.

It's just that I would have thought after Richard III's "winter of our discontent" Henry VII would have been the spring of peace.

276baswood
Nov 23, 2013, 6:24 am

RGLibrary/HGWells/SciFi/Images/TheSeaLady-03.jpg" loading="lazy" class="oxocleaned addedlazy">

277NanaCC
Nov 23, 2013, 7:12 am

Barry, Your pictures are always great teasers for the reviews that follow. :)

278baswood
Nov 23, 2013, 8:59 am

The Sea Lady, H G Wells
"There are better dreams" says the Sea Lady to Melville the writer's cousin as she tells him of her desire to lure the young up-and-coming politcian; Chatteris into the sea. H G Wells' Sea Lady is one of his lesser known novels; it was published in 1902 when he was still at the height of his creative powers as a fantasy author and it proves to be a story rich in satire and comedy.

A bathing party of men on the beach at Folkestone on the South coast of England in 1899 (no mixed bathing) are surprised to see a woman swimming towards them from further out. They assume she needs assistance and with the help of a nearby ladder for her to cling to they land her on shore. They are more than a little surprised to see that she has a tail and so carry her to the house whose garden runs down to the sea. Mrs Bunting takes charge of the situation wrapping up the mermaid in some towelling. The mermaid named Doris Waters becomes a house guest with the Buntings who do their best to disguise the fact that she has a tail. She is taken out in a sort of invalid chair and settles down to a life on shore. It eventually transpires that the Sea Lady has come ashore for a reason, she is an immortal in search of a soul and she has chosen Chatteris who visits the Buntings to spend time with his fiancé Adeline Glendower another house guest. Adeline is a dedicated political worker intent on helping Chatteris make his mark on the political scene.

After a dull start Wells gets into his stride when the Sea Lady reveals her intentions and then the novel focuses on Chatteris' dilemma. Should he follow the mermaids call or should he settle down with the safe Adeline and his political ambitions. Wells uses this rather slight fantasy story to lampoon the polite manners of the upper middle classes and turns to satire when describing political life and the press. There is comedy here too for example when one of Chatteris' many aunts surmises how Chatteris and the mermaid could live together, she wonders if she could buy him a diving bell.

It is not too difficult to see some of Wells in Chatteris, because Wells had settled down in a convenient marriage, which allowed him to stray after other women; he describes Chatteris as:

a dreamer, with an impossible extravagant discontent. What does he dream of.......Three parts he is dreamer and the fourth part is spoilt child..... and he says about himself It's just that even balance that I cannot continue. I cannot sit down to the oatmeal of this daily life and wash it down with temperate draught of beauty and water

and the mermaid:

Out of some other world she comes whispering that this life is a phantom life, unreal, flimsy, limited, casting on everything a spell of disillusionment.

And so the climax to the story is Chatteris' decision, will he follow the Sea lady into the sea and certain death or will he stay on shore with the careful Adeline? Wells tells his story through the point of view of his cousin Melville who witnesses most of the action and conversations between the participants and becomes instrumental in trying to sort out the tryst between Chatteris and Adeline. This allows Wells to pull back from the narrative and to add a little mystery, because Melville is not a party to everything that goes on: Wells can also directly address his readers to add a little humour on occasions.

This is a delightful little story, a good afternoons read, with some sparkling dialogue and enough depth to satisfy the attentive reader. A 3.5 star read.

279rebeccanyc
Nov 23, 2013, 10:15 am

Sounds like fun!

280StevenTX
Nov 23, 2013, 11:20 am

The Sea Lady does sound like an interesting approach to the much-treated theme of the safe marriage versus the femme fatale (Wharton's The Age of Innocence comes to mind).

Just looking at those three pictures you couldn't imagine that they would all be applicable to the same book, but it appears they are each appropriate in its own way.

I had to look up bath chair because I couldn't envision pushing that thing into the water, but it turns out you don't. It is so-named just because its shape resembles that of a bath tub.

281mkboylan
Nov 23, 2013, 11:45 am

Loved The Sea Lady review. Made me smile. Just seems like a happy and pleasant way to explore ideas.

282NanaCC
Nov 23, 2013, 12:41 pm

"The mermaids call".... I wonder how many books use the mermaid in this way?

This one sounds like fun.

283SassyLassy
Nov 23, 2013, 1:57 pm

Sounds wonderful. I need this book. I think I could have a whole library just on those devious mermaids/selkies.

284Polaris-
Nov 24, 2013, 9:49 am

Nice review of The Sea Lady Barry, it does sound quite fun.

Really glad you liked Winter King as it's one that's at my local library, and on my TBR. Your review makes it sound both thorough enough to cover what's important yet engaging enough to please the interested reader. I look forward to reading it.

285baswood
Nov 24, 2013, 10:07 am

286baswood
Nov 24, 2013, 12:03 pm

Symzonia: A Voyage of Discovery by Captain Adam Seaborn
The earth is hollow at both poles and there is a 1,400 mile gap that will allow entry to the inside. Captain Adam Seaborn's well written account of his voyage in 1817 to the South Pole and his subsequent meetings with the humans that inhabit the interior is put forward as proof of this hollow earth theory. There is no record of a Captain Adam Seaborn or of his voyage, but in 1818 American Captain John Cleves Symmes jnr had started a fund raising campaign for an expedition to prove his hollow earth theory and had gained the support of millionaire James McBride. An obvious conclusion is that Symzonia published in 1820 was written by John Cleves Symmes, but if so it would have been a grand hoax and it's satire on American life and society would have done little to aid his cause. The author therefore remains a mystery.

The book itself is a factual account of a voyage towards the South Pole, first taking in and describing the flora and fauna of some of the outlying Falkland islands. The confirmation of the Antarctic continent was not made until the 1840's and so Seaborn's voyage further South was purely imaginary. He discovers a passage through the ice and finds a more temperate climate and the outlying islands of a southern continent which he names Seaborn's land. Thrilled with the vindication of his theory that there is a passage through the cone of ice, he pushed on and enters a great river system. Eventually they come across evidence of civilization and the sighting of other ships leads him to the settled land which he names Symzonia.

Seaborn discovers that the Symzonians are everything that the Americans are not; he describes their civilization as Utopian, with most inhabitants content to lead exemplary lives that will result in the greater good of humanity. All power in the land emanates from the people whose government is led by The Best Man, who is supported by a grand council of wothies consisting of the Good, the Wise and the useful. The Efficients operate the government machinery and aim to provide equality for all. Man's cupidity had almost been eliminated and where it has not then the guilty parties are exiled. Seaborn does not discover all this until he has been able to learn the language and then allowed to visit the seat of government. He discovers that commerce is only practised for the convenience of society, the accumulation of wealth is disreputable and a bar to a seat in government. Seaborn gets into real difficulty when it is his turn to describe the government of America; the Symzonians are horrified by Seaborn's bowdlerised version and so he leaves them with The Collected Works of Shakespeare and Milton's Paradise Lost to read.

The giving of the books proves to be Seaborn's undoing, because the Symzonians cannot countenance such people and the Best man hits the nail on the head when he says that Seaborn and his crew had only made the voyage because:

it was only our inordinate thirst for gain, that had induced me and my people to hazard our lives in an unknown region, and that it had not escaped their notice, that our vessel was equipped with terrific engines of destruction, no doubt to enforce our will where our purposes required it: Wherefore he, the Best Man, in council, had come to a resolution, that the safety and happiness of his people would be endangered by permitting any further intercourse with so corrupt and depraved a race

Seaborn and his crew are then unceremoniously booted out of Symzonia, being nowhere near good enough to remain and of course they face more trials and tribulations when they eventually get back top America.

James McBride managed to get a proposal to Congress for funding for an expedition to the South Pole to prove the hollow earth theory, to be led by Captain Symmes in 1823. It was defeated by 56 votes to 46, but where the story of Adam Seaborn's expedition fits into all this is anybody's guess. As a vision of Utopia it is a bit sketchy, but is still an interesting curio which stands up more as a satire on our 19th century civilization (and of course as evidence of a hollow earth.) An interesting read that I rate as three stars.

287Polaris-
Nov 24, 2013, 12:22 pm

Great review of a most unusual story. I've long been interested in polar exploration so it's great to learn a little of John Cleves Symmes and the 'Hollow Earth' theory.

288rebeccanyc
Nov 24, 2013, 1:08 pm

What a story and what a find!

289StevenTX
Nov 24, 2013, 9:03 pm

Fascinating background to a novel that tried to be two things at once and came up short because of it. I've just finished another Antarctic/Lost World adventure that suffers from the same weakness: The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins, though the author's two mismatched goals are not the same as with Symzonia. I had Symzonia on my tentative reading list, and I think I'll go ahead with it since it's fairly short. (I'm still in the 18th century, though.)

290baswood
Nov 26, 2013, 12:08 pm

SassyLassy you asked me about ant trails and how to stop them. I use a commercial powder called here anti-fourmis which contains Permethrine, but it is toxic and should not be used if you have pets. We use a commercial gel for inside the house.

Vigilance is the key; as soon as you notice the scouts inside your house despatch them immediately and then leave no accessible food in the house, this means clearing away every breadcrumb.

291mkboylan
Nov 26, 2013, 12:22 pm

I put ant stakes outside the house once a year and that does it. Toxic no doubt but I'm too old to worry and no pets out there :(

292baswood
Nov 26, 2013, 2:04 pm

293SassyLassy
Nov 26, 2013, 4:14 pm

Don't have the ants inside the house thank goodness. The problem in these parts was huge ant hills outside. What you are using sounds similar to the powder I use; it is a neurotransmitter inhibitor which the ants carry into their hills, but there are so many using it only acts like mild therapy, not annihilation.

Then there's the Italo Calvino story, "The Argentine Ant". That was just awful.

Looking forward to your next review based on >292 baswood:

294baswood
Nov 26, 2013, 6:41 pm

Between Hell and Reason: Essays from the Resistance Newspaper Combat, 1944-1947 by Albert Camus
Albert Camus from his early experience in the communist party in Algeria was convinced that politicians were either selfish and corrupt or dedicated to abstract goals or political dogma; all of which caused them to neglect the people they were supposed to serve. Camus was therefore well equipped to be the editor of a Parisian newspaper, but this was not just any old newspaper; "Combat" was the paper of the French resistance and when Paris was liberated from the Nazis in August 1944, the paper emerged from the underground with Camus as its editor and he looked forward to a new breed of politicians to get the country back on its feet after the horrors of occupation.

Between Hell and Reason contains just over 40 essays originally printed as editorials written mainly between August 1944 and November 1946, they average at about 1000 words per essay and are superbly written in clear and concise language. They serve to give an easily digestible potted history of Camus' political thought during the period, but just as importantly for the modern reader they provide a window on the struggles of France to come to terms with the Nazi invasion. In the book the essays are divided into three sections, the first covers the period from August 1944 to December 1944 and are full of hope for the future of France, but Camus sets his stall out in the very first essay written on the 21 August just a couple of days after the start of the insurrection by the Resistance against the German garrison:

"Combat against Nazi Germany continues; it will continue relentlessly. But even if this is the hardest of struggles for which all France has mobilised, it is not the only one we must fight. It will not be enough to return to the mere appearance of liberty with which France of 1939 had to be content. We will have accomplished only an infinitesimal part of our task if tomorrow's French Republic finds itself like the Third Republic, confined by the domination of Money.

We all know that the fight against privileges of money was always a favourite theme of Petain and his crew. But we also know that, since July 1940, Money has weighed more heavily on our people than ever before. For that is when Money, to conserve and increase it's privileges, hoisted traitors to power and deliberately tied it's interests to Hitler's"


Camus second essay written also during the insurrection is titled "They Shall Not Escape" and exhorts the Parisians to continue to erect barricades so that retribution can be carried out against the fleeing Germans. There follows a series of essays on some of Camus's favourite themes; Freedom and Justice, a continuation of the rebellion instigated by the resistance, fear that the old political order will be restored, social order, a new policy for the colonies and new forms of socialism. All these are written shortly after the liberation and are an attempt by Camus to have a voice in setting the agenda for the recovery of France. This section also contains his now notorious views that the purges against collaborators should be carried out. The final essay in this section finds Camus for the first time on the defensive; written in December 1944 it concerns what Camus sees as an offensive launched by the political right against the Resistance movement.

The second section of essays sees Camus in more sober and reflective mood, they start from the end of December 1944 and take us up to August 1945. The revolution in politics has not taken place and the Resistance movement has been sidelined. It contains Camus admission that he was wrong to support the purge, saying it has now gone astray and is a disgrace and France should move on, he is forced to re-state his paper's position on justice and democracy in politics, he takes a swipe at the Pope for supporting general Franco in Spain and for not declaring against the Nazis sooner than he did. Near the end of the section is his editorial on the bombing of Hiroshima, where he sees that world politics have changed for ever and humanity's hope now must lie with international efforts for world peace.

The third section is entitled "Neither Victims nor Executioners" and the standard of writing is maintained as Camus takes stock of a changing world and the changes that have come upon him over the previous two years. This is reflected in his brilliant editorial in November 1946 titled "To Save Lives":

It is a peculiarity of our times. We make love by telephone, we no longer work with material but with machines, and we kill and are killed by proxy. We gain in neatness but lose in understanding......... People like myself want not a world where murder no longer exists (we are not so crazy as that!), but one where murder is no longer legitimized. Here we are indeed Utopian - and contradictorily so. For we live in a world where murder is legitimised, and if we do not like that we must change it. But it seems we cannot change it without running the risk of murder. Murder thus brings us back to murder, and we will continue to live in terror whether we accept it with resignation or suppress it with means that substitute one form of terror for another.

The essays are selected and translated by Alexandre de Gramont who also writes an excellent introductory essay that fills in the background and puts the essays in the context of their times. That the essays are important historical documents goes without saying, but when they can still provide plenty of food for thought and maintain a quality of writing that manages to stay on the right side of bluster then for me they are a five star read.

295NanaCC
Nov 26, 2013, 7:19 pm

That is an excellent summary of a book that sounds very interesting.

296Polaris-
Nov 26, 2013, 7:30 pm

Extremely interesting. Thanks for a great review. Between Hell and Reason: Essays from the Resistance Newspaper Combat, 1944-1947 goes on the wishlist.

297janeajones
Nov 26, 2013, 11:55 pm

So glad you liked the Winter King. Symzonia sounds intriguing -- reminds me of the Koreshan colony in Estero, FL, founded by Cyrus Teed, on the basis of a hollow earth theory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Teed

298StevenTX
Nov 27, 2013, 9:31 am

More fascinating Camus. His life and writings are a reminder that the political and ideological environment in Europe was, and is, more complex than simply a choice between fascism, communism, and American materialism.

We make love by telephone, we no longer work with material but with machines, and we kill and are killed by proxy.

Wow--in 1946!

One thing I've noticed about Camus is his frequent use of the word "murder" in circumstances where, in English translation at least, it becomes inflammatory. It takes a bit of adjustment to accept that he's using the word in abstract and non-criminal circumstances.

#297 - A very interesting article. It's hard to imagine how his theory can be reconciled with everyday observations, but people believe what they chose to believe.

299rebeccanyc
Nov 27, 2013, 9:40 am

Another very interesting review -- thanks!

300SassyLassy
Nov 27, 2013, 10:57 am

Great review of Between Hell and Reason. I think it's important to go back and read contemporary accounts of wars and political wranglings to remind ourselves of how people saw the major events and issues of their time, especially as the further removed we are from those events, the more distortion they are likely to suffer.
That a thinker like Camus had the flexibility and honesty to change his views shows well in this book, but also allows others to pick and choose his beliefs for their own purposes.

Also struck by the same quote that Steven mentioned: We make love by telephone, we no longer work with material but with machines, and we kill and are killed by proxy.

301mkboylan
Nov 27, 2013, 11:52 am

I SO appreciate the time you put into your reviews. That sounds like a must have for me. What a treasure to have those essays.
Questa conversazione è stata continuata da Baswood's books, music, films etc. Part 5.