european

I read this book from cover to cover as if it were a detective novel, or maybe a Dostoevsky novel that would help me resolve how idealistic characters can actually come to terms with the world they live in and yet try to resist how the world of morality kills the life in us and brings us down. The author leaves the reader in suspense about how Hardy will eventually resolve the man-woman, flesh-spirit love tragedy. It is, in the final analysis, a defense of Hardy's female characters as well.So anyone who is perplexed and yet fascinated by Hardy's novels can not help but be spell-bound by this book. The reader will learn along the way that many intelligent critics have been lured into permanent self-deception about love and sexuality and they have ignored Hardy's working out his own evasions. At the same time the reader will learn that Hardy's evasions are his or her own and that there is another, third way, to resolve the struggle between flesh and spirit, reading and living, thinking and feeling.In order to solve the riddle of "flesh and spirit" the reader must follow the clues left by Hardy and the author until the end of the book.

Serious critical study of Thomas Hardy, that is still an excellent
book for the non-expert. An unusual interpretation which should spur discussions. An extremely well written book by a man who knows
his subject

A "PANZAIC" READING OF HARDY'S NOVELS

On the back cover of this book there is a descriptive publisher's blurb:

Wayne Burns' critical approach to Hardy's fiction has enabled him to present significantly new interpretations and evaluations of Hardy's novels. While some Hardy lovers may find Burns' criticism irreverent, or even outrageous, it is solidly grounded in the texts of the novels themselves, and will bear the closest critical scrutiny. Yet the book is so clearly written that it can be read and understood by anyone interested in Hardy's novels.

While these may seem like extravagant claims, they really are not. The book more than lives up to them. The one point that the publisher has not stressed is the radical nature of Burns' critical approach, which he identifies as Panzaic Contextualist. Although not a weakness, but a strength, ths approach may prove difficult for many readers to accept. Even after Burns' eleven-page Foreword and four-page Introduction, some readers may find Panzaic Contextualism unacceptable: it may seem too Lawrentian, or too Freudian, or too stark, or too much of a departure from accepted critical norms and practices.
But if these readers can put aside their theoretical objections they will discover (in Burns' first introductory chapter, entitled "Dulcinea as the Immaculate Sister) that he is presenting a verifiable scholarly interpretation of the ways in which the Victorians went about living and loving. As Burns explains:
For the Victorians, or at least for nearly all middle- and upper-class Victorians, the war between the flesh and the spirit was by way of being a holy war that had as its ultimate aim the elimination of the flesh from man-woman love relationships [...]. The conflict between the higher and lower forms of man-woman love is everywhere present in the writings of the Victorians. Indeed for many of them the higher form was not merely a moral or literary ideal: it was the love that, in their own lives, they often chose to place above, or apart from, the lower forms of love that they felt for their husbands or wives.

This general statement Burns develops in an extended analysis of the immaculate loves of Dickens and Mary Hogarth, Thackeray and Mrs. Brookfield, Mill and Harriet Taylor, along with, in fiction, the immaculate loves of the hero and heroine of Charles Reade's The Cloister and the Hearth, finally to conclude:
Hardy [...] believed in the higher and lower forms of love. But not in the way his fellow Victorians believed in them-in part because of his growing up the son of a Bockhampton stone mason, in part because of his being as sensitive, and tormented, and courageous as Michael Millgate and his other biographers have shown him to be. As a beginning novelist, however, Hardy's greatest virtue may have been his ability to recognize the realities of his situation. He knew that, whatever he himself felt or believed, he had to comply with the demands of publishers and editors and readers-if he were to become "a good hand at a serial" and make a living by writing novels. And he did comply, though not without difficulties, as the following discussions of his individual novels will reveal. He presented the war between the flesh and the spirit on the farms and on the heath and in the woods of his mythical Wessex, always keeping within the prescribed moral boundaries, until, in writing Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, he threw caution to the wind-to write two of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century.

Here, in outline, is the critical argument that Burns carries through to Jude the Obscure. The early novels, including even those which have come to be considered classics (Far From the Madding Crowd and The Return of the Native) Burns treats rather severely, primarily because they do not measure up to his Panzaic Contextualist standards. He recognizes the Hardyean virtues in these early novels-the interesting and charming heroines, the beautiful and sometimes powerful settings, the wonderful rustics. But he finds these aspects and qualities insufficient to overcome Hardy's melodramatic moralizing.
Burns is equally severe in his treatment of The Woodlanders. It is not until Tess, Burns demonstrates, that Hardy escapes from his moral chains-"choosing a forbidden subject, and treating it Panzaically. The differences between the ending of The Return of the Native, in which Clym is lecturing only on 'unimpeachable subjects,' and the beginning of Tess are so great as to seem inexplicable. It is as if Hardy has become a different novelist. As indeed he has." But it is not until Jude the Obscure, Burns maintains, that Hardy manages to give full artistic expression to his chosen subject-the never-ending war between the flesh and the spirit.
In Jude Hardy finally solved his immortal puzzle ["Given the man and the woman, how to find a basis for their sexual relation"] and in doing so created a great novel-only to discover that it was opening him up to criticism and abuse even more virulent than he had experienced following the publication of Tess. For Jude was attacked not only for its sexuality but for the views it expressed on women and marriage and society and the church. In the words of Patricia Ingham, "Contemporary society recognized a revolutionary when it saw one."But that was not what Hardy wanted to be. After The Well-Beloved he wrote no more novels and devoted himself to his poetry.

It is one of the finest critical studies of Hardy's novels that I have read; indeed Burns' chapter on Jude the Obscure may well be the first critical study to do full justice to that novel.
__Barry Tharaud, Editor, NINETEENTH-CENTURY PROSE

Here are the dark side of the human soul, with all its charm and idealism! The beauty of the female, the goodness of the idiot, the criminal who falls in love and punishes himself. Here are love stories that make you weep and laugh. You meet a noble thief, and get to know the insulted and the inhumiliated that suddenly seem to you to be the most loveable people in the world. The world of Dostoyevsky is full of love, children, women and... contradictions and conflicts.

The Soviet Union burned Bibles and banned their importation. Yet, possibly out of national pride, they never censored the work of this great Russian novelist. Luther once said that if the entire Bible were lost, except the Book of Romans, that it alone would be enough for salvation. Dostoyevesky takes us a step further: in a land where one could be born, grow up, and die at normal life expectancy, all under the aegeis of Communism, without ever seeing a Bible, could the message of the Gospel still be found? Of course, the author died decades before the Revolution of 1917, but his work answeres the question we pose in the affirmative. His works, excerpted for this book, contain what can only be described as lengthy homilies, clothed as literature. From the famous "Grand Inquisitor" from "The Brothers Karamatzov," to lesser-known passages from "The Idiot" and other works, each selection expounds on Christian doctrine. Strongly influenced by the Gospel of St. John, Dostoyevesky uses the resurrection of Lazarus, for example, as the basis of a conversation between a murderer and a prostitute in "Crime and Punishment." The eleventh chapter of John is included in near entirety, as one sufferer reads it to the other. Nearly all of the imagery here is Johnnine; perhaps Dostoyevesky was a visionary: Spengeler wrote that the next millenium of Russian histoty would belong to St. John. Al all events, this is a bedside companion that will provoke deep reflection in those who read it, and perhaps make them wonder, as I do, if Dostoyevesky's works weren't intended by a higher power to be a light in the darkest days of the Evil Empire. -Lloyd A. Conway

These two words describe simply the book. However, for those "busy souls intimidated by the length of his great novels", I must say: "Buy his long great novels, particularly 'The Idiot' and 'Crime and Punishment'. It will only take you more time reading them but it will be worth it for sure. Believe me."

If you love great poetry, read this book. If you love nature, and suffer to see it destroyed, and want to learn to suffer without hating, read this book. Diane, you are truly a messenger of wonder.

Here is gorgeous, thoughtful poetry, both lush and precise, engaging both heart and mind. I can't imagine anyone coming away from the riches of this slim volume unmoved. Whenever you fear that the world is too drab, too grey, too hopeless, dip into the quiet, deep beauty of these pages and be renewed.

Diane Ackerman has given us an incredible gift. The everday becomes spectacular, humanity precious, and nature blessed. I really loved Wildflowers and Where You Will Find Me.

This is the best all around book on European Genealogy. The chapter on Italy is very complete and up to date.

Flavio Andreatta, President
The Italian Genealogy and Heraldry Society of Canada

This book provides excellent genealogical resources to help you find your European ancestors from Portugal to Greece.

Baxter explains some of the considerations that are unique to each country. For example, France has a '100 years law' that limits the information that you can access if an individual's record is within the last 100 years. In Italy, there is a record called the Certificate of Family Genealogy (Certificato dello Stato di Famiglia) that can be especially useful. Research in Scandinavian countries, Wales and some areas of the Netherlands and Germany can be difficult because the surnames often changed with each generation.

Some countries receive more or less coverage in this book. For Albania, where most of the church records have been destroyed, there is just a short history. For other countries, there are lists of records, major family names, archives with addresses that you can write to, and information about how records are kept in that country. Often dates are provided indicating when the country first began census and/or church records.

Overall, this book has great details!

Now in a completely revised, updated, and expanded fourth edition, Angus Baxter's In Search Of Your European Roots continues to be the premier guide for the novice genealogist seeking trace ancestors in any and every country throughout Europe. The location of each country's national and municipal archives is recorded, in addition to the location of church records, census returns, the system of civil registrations of births, marriages, and deaths, along with pertinent recommendations on finding and using such records as foundling books, orphans' lists, certificates of domicile, guild records, internal passports, confirmation records, and vaccination lists. Here are a highly recommended wealth of telephone numbers, email addresses, fax numbers, and website addresses for most of the major European archives and genealogically relevant organizations. Of special note in this new edition is the attention paid to the changes brought about by German reunification, the break-up of the Soviet Union, and the dismemberments of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia into smaller political states.

I was really unexpectantly moved by this book. The art work is really excellent and very expressive and I almost come to tears thinking about what I read in this work of introduction. I think me and this person have a lot in common and I felt a true kinship with Kafka and the things he felt and the way he emotionally reacted to negative stimulus in his enviroment. This book takes you inside to meet the man or the scared little boy himself totally unequipted to deal with the harsh realities of a tense home life and a tumultous historical time. The Eve of the Holocaust. When I first read "The Metamorphosis" I did not really get it consciously but this book made me see what to look for in all Kafkas works by comparing the elements present in all his works. He was a very gentle but wounded soul turned prophet anyway I give this book 5 stars you will feel as if you are transported into his times and you will feel what he feels and this is a great introduction though I will kinda tell you what happens is all his books?

As I read through this delightful summary of Franz Kafka's life and work, I was struck by the fact that both the Czech writer and the cartoonist R. Crumb have the same anguished yearning for determined young women. Curiously, these all have the strong legs, broad beams, and statuesque torsos of Crumb's fantasy women from Zap Comix to today. Perhaps, Crumb and Kafka have more in common than meets the eye.

They are all there: Gregor Samsa's sister, the luscious Milena Jesenska, the Advocate's "nurse" Leni, Olga and Frieda from THE CASTLE, and the ravishing Dora Diamant. These women are all more durable than both Kafka and Crumb, who are wispy and likely to blow away in the next puff of wind. (I recommend that you see the excellent film documentary of the cartoonist's life, called, appropriately, CRUMB.)

When one concentrates on the women in Kafka's life and work, the result is curiously enlightening. "None of his female characters seems to have her own existence," writes David Zane Mairowitz, "but is spawned in his imagination in order to distract 'K' or 'Joseph K,' to tempt and ensnare him. Kafka's sexual terror is put to the test time after time, yet these same women provide something more.... The outcome of these relationships is rarely 'intimate' (Leni being an exception) and has more to do with power than personal feelings. Kafka's talent would mostly SUGGEST erotic encounter, rather than indulging his characters in that act which he found 'repellent and perfectly useless.'"

Perhaps Mairowitz and Crumb do not provide a measured and scholarly study of the writer, but within a mere 175 pages they have done more to rekindle my interest in Kafka than anything else I have ever read about him. This book is a perfect gem and a work of art in its own right.

As a longtime reader of Kafka, I found this book to be an unqualified delight, for it not only reviews his life and work with pinpoint concision, but also portrays it in evocative visual detail. The narrative by Mairowitz is sharp and insightful, with a zesty peppering of invective against pedants and philistines, while Crumb's gloomy pen drawings take the reader's eye into the heart of Prague and into the mind and imagination of its most anxious and self-conscious denizen. It is especially delightful to track down the original photographs that Crumb used for his models, for example in the book Franz Kafka: Pictures of a Life by Klaus Wagenbach, and then to see how he animates the figure of Kafka, presenting him now as an ordinary person in ordinary life (such as exercising by the window or chewing each bite of food more than ten times), now as a cartoon caricature in his own nightmares (zapped out and fleeing a succubus), now as an idealized figure in his fantasies (the healthy workman, the contented farmer). He also contrives to make the characters of Kafka's fiction resemble the author, but only slightly and appropriately. The loves of Kafka's life, especially Milena, emerge from their photographs as sexy, desirable women, then their images echo through his works. Crumb's portrayals of the stories and novels are not mere impressions, but careful and useful illustrations, since some scenes and particulars in Kafka are not easy to visualize, for example the machine in the story "In the Penal Colony." And, of course, Crumb is absolutely fastidious in basing his drawings on historical materials, so that we can see streets, buildings and dress, including uniforms, just as they were at the time. The presentation of Kafka's works necessarily reduce them to their storyline or plot and cannot do justice to his elaborate narratives, yet even here Mairowitz fixes on a crucial scene or a characteristic twist, which Crumb then illustrates in all its demonic glory. All in all, the book is a total pleasure, as perfect as it could be.

Only one quibble. I would not want a person to look at it first, before reading Kafka. It is much more suitable as a summing up, a personal vision and inspired collaboration of two mad devotees of Kafka. Read Kafka first, a lot of Kafka, then buy this book to sharpen your vision. It's a work of art, comparable to the Expressionism of Kafka's time.

...this one brought me to tears in more than one place. If you're reading "The Cross," or considering purchasing it, you've probably already read the first two books in the series and are caught up in the story. Is this book worth it? Yes. It's not an uplifting read by any means, but it brings the Kristin story to a logical -- though heartbreaking -- conclusion. I am in awe of Undset for her creation of such believable characters, and grateful to her for this glimpse into medieval life. Nunnally's translation is clear and reads smoothly. This, along with "The Wreath" and "The Wife," is one of those books you hate to see end.

THE CROSS is the final shattering novel in Sigrid Undset's KRISTAN LAVRANSDATTER trilogy. In it, Kristin reaps both the rewards and sorrows of the choices she sowed in the first two volumes.

In the first novel, Kristin's passion for Erlend Nikulausson led her to break her betrothal to Simon Andresson. In the second volume, Kristin sought to atone for her sin (she was already pregnant when she celebrated her wedding with Erlend), but had to struggle to forgive Erlend for leading her astray. In THE CROSS, the consequences of Kristin's choices all come to a head. The first section of the novel focuses on Simon, who has been a faithful friend to Kristin and Erlend, even as he continued to harbor feelings for Kristin. In the mid-section of the novel, Kristin and Erlend strive to find peace with one another. While their passion for one another never died, they were never fully able to overcome the mismatch in their marriage. And in the final section, we follow Kristin as she seeks acceptance from her seven sons, and most importantly from God.

For while KRISTIN LAVRANSDATTER seems to be a novel about love, friendship, and marriage, its deepest message is about the struggle of deeply-flawed humans to reconcile themselves with God. The trilogy is set in medieval Norway and all of the characters order their lives (as best they can) around the Christian moral order. Even as they knowingly fail, the Faith is a part of the very air they breathe.

The miracle of Sigrid Undset's trilogy is the clarity of her perception into the human condition. All of these characters live and breathe, and (more startling) we see clearly how they impact each other through the tangled webs of their lives. But Undset's literary talent is embedded in a sharp religious vision, which points to God's relationship with us as sinners. Undset never denies the good in Kristin's passion for Erlend. Nor does she hide the devastating consequences their passion had on each other and on all of the lives they touched. Often, to sin is not to choose that which is evil, but rather to choose a lesser good. Yet as the saying goes, God can write straight with crooked lines, and at the end of this extraordinary trilogy, Kristin comes to see how God has been with her through all of the light *and* through all of the dark. We walk away from the novel enthralled by the grandeur of the story we live out in this fallen world, and the enormous love God has for us.

Rereading Sigrid Undset's classic trilogy has been one of my most rewarding projects this summer.

If you have read the first 2 parts of the trilogy, then surely you will want to see how Kristen's life story turns out. Through Undset's marvelous characterizations you will experience a huge range of human emotions: the worries of parents about their children (especially of course from the mother's perspective), the joy of seeing the future in and through your children,the melancholy waning of marital love (and its reawakening), the fragility of life in medieval times, the ecstasy of deep religious faith, the hysteria when the unknown approaches. Undset examines through Kristin the constants of human life with simplicity, but also with a realization that the mystery of existence remains mysterious. A reviewer of an earlier volume said he preferred the 1920's translation in a pseudo-Walter Scott style, claiming it shows more "poetry" than Tiina Nunnally's. "De gustibus non est disputandum": each to his own taste. I suggest that you take a look at both translations before you buy and see which one you might prefer. (I will still call the earlier translation dreadful.) I hope that Tiina Nunnally will eventually translate all of Undset's works.

I bought this book pretty much as an impulse buy. I was very glad I did! I love Leonardo's paintings, I've had the pleasure of viewing some in the Louvre. I think it is such an amazing gift to be able to reproduce observation, providing insight into an individuals sense of consideration and emphasis. These last two are a requisite for style, along with skill in execution, which almost like text must convey clarity with the gradual perfecting in time, we have something most profound. I often find myself contemplating the pictures in this book, and being a scientist more than an artist, I was curious as to how it affected me so. Our sense of achievement is in part appreciated on the point that we can follow a path to the point of completion with the appreciation of the process rather than the end point attained. Now to understand and appreciate anothers achievement would require a sound and deep empathy of anothers 'travelled path', with Leonardo and others I just cannot empathise and understand how one can attain to something so majestic and magnificent I'm literally in awe, hence the belief that it is something beyond the sum of its parts (its make-up) - a gift. This book presents the wonderful works of this man and what is conveyed in the art. It is a little understanding of the personality and character of a unique time and individual. A great book!

I don't know how daVinci did it. His artwork is so fantastic and its all so well presented in this rather impressive tome. He was such an amazing man and this book beautifully shows every tiny facet of his array of experiences and talents.

My dear fellow artists, You, like myself, have been blessed (cursed (?)) with an ability to draw and to dream, in the quest for beauty. This is it! As artists, nobody can outdo Leonardo. On Leonardo, this one is the best, the most complete. Read as many books on Leonardo as you wish, but make sure to own this one!

This is an excellent work. It would be perfect for a student
project with a focus on Middle Ages building designs. The author
provides detailed engineering specifications for castles, forts,
a motte and rising towers. The engineering statics implications
are explained in the detailed design process. The work covers
action implementalities; such as, the ram, siege and cannon.
The author spends a portion of the book explaining how
war objects were constructed during the Middle Age period.

In addition, he concludes that an increase in wall size
necessarily means weakening the overall superstructure.
Some time is spent explaining the model diet for the period
which consisted of wheat, barley, oats and fish. This work
will help readers understand the building requirements
for structures created during the Middle Ages. The book would
be valuable for historians, art buffs, architects, engineers
and a wide constituency of other readers.

It does not matter if you all ready are a "fort-geek" or some one, who just want a book on the topic: This book will for sure please you.

"The Medieval Fortress" is a nice big (app. 11" x 8.5" or 28,5 x 22 cm), 319p. book, which covers the development of fortified places through out Europe and North-Africa from the early to the late middle ages - when the forts had their glory.
The book is built up of five main chapters. The First deals with the elements of a fortification; the Second deals in general with the different kind of fortifications in different parts of Europe (Islamic, Byzantine, Frankish, British, Norse, Slavic and Magyar (Hungarian)); the Third does the same, but with emphasis on the emerging castle; the Fourth chapter introduces gunpowder and the decline of the high castle walls through the description of several sieges (Constantinople, Rhodes, and siege of fortifications during the Reconquista); Chapter Five goes in depth with some selected fortifications in Europe: Some of the more famous ones and some more obscure. The reader is guided through fortifications/castles in Great Britain, Ireland, France, Low Countries, Switzerland, Holy Roman Empire, Scandinavia, Central Europe (present day Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovenia) Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Eastern Mediterranean, Italy, Spain&Portugal, and North Africa. The appendixes gives the names of some more important builders and architects and their titles in different languages (French, Portugese, Spanish, Duch, Sweedish, and Russian), a chronology of important sieges from 623 (Constantinople) to 1529 (Vienna), a history of medival artillery and a glossary.
There are endless amounts of B/W pictures alongside with even more B/W line drawings and plans of forts, just like on the front cover of the book.

This book is a very good buy!

(Review based on First DaCapo Edition, 2001)

If you liked Sydney Toy's book on Castles, you will love this one. Covering the earliest origins of castles to their decline at about the time of the Rennaisance, this book is a must-have for anyone fond of castles or interested in the middle ages. Although it has only black & white pictures and other books may contain a larger number of castles, this book is incredible in its scope of the subject and covers much history of the important castles and towns of Europe in the middle ages. Reading about this history and seeing pictures of the fortresses & towns gives me a feeling of how it was like to be there. I now have a wish-list of ancient towns & strongholds I would like to visit. The book has many 'basic' floorplans of castles & towns as well as rough maps of the regions talked about. Enough info for many book reports; great for design ideas since the coverage spans hundreds of years & styles of construction from All over Europe.

This book is a fantastic compilation of recipes. It brought back heart-warming memories of my Great Grandmother in the kitchen. I absolutely recommend this to those who enjoy staying in touch with their ancestory, and those curious about scandinavian cooking.
Enjoy!

Being from Duluth, Minnesota, hometown of Ms. Ojakangas, and a fan of baking, this book is one of my favorites. I believe that it captures true Minnesota and Scandinavian baking. Every recipe is wonderful and well written. I have had the opportunity to meet Ms. Ojakangas and to watch her bake and she is wonderfully inspiring.

I am part Swedish and Norwegian and this book is absolutely an essential part of my holiday baking. She serves up the most authentic and traditional recipes available for Scandinavian baking. Her other books are great, too. My grandmother was impressed by my browned butter cookies and from another book, lefse. Highly recommended for all Scandinavians, or those who just love the food and culture!

Having submitted this review in spanish and not having it posted, I'll try again in english.......
Camus reached fame with his elaborations about the concept of the absurd (the purposeless search of the meaning of existence in a universe void of any)in three works: The Stranger, a novel; Caligula, a teathrical opus; and The Myth of Sisyphus, a recopilation of philosophical essays.
In his second famous novel, The Plague, we find a different Camus. Perhaps, more concerned about moral values and solidarity between human beings, in the face of massive destruction.
The plot of the novel unfolds in the city of Oran, Algeria. The central image has to do with a rat invasion that causes a plague epidemy, with disastrous consecuences. Here we find metaphorically portraited the invasion by the Nazis in 1943 of non occupied France (Camus said that the Nazis came like rats).
Then we find a description of the evolution of the plague, the reaction of the authorities (at first, self denial), the progressive isolation of the town from outside world, and on the onset the "normalization" of the tragedy (people grow accostumed to live with it, and become zombies). After the evolution and the growth of the problem, the inhabitants become completely isolated from the outside, and become prisoners in the inside, due to the drastic measures taken by the authorities. The plague becomes a collective problem that requires recognition and reaction by all. We have here a clear metaphorical reference to the need of a collective reaction to the Vichy government by all the citizens. The call to participate and react becomes a moral issue. Camus then describes with certain detail the soccer stadium where people are forcibly concentrated by the authorities, and this is an allusion to the Nazi concentration camps. More than the persons, the protagonist of this novel is the city.
In the sense that the values of solidarity and participation against a common disaster or enemy are called for, this novel is much more developed, from an ethical standpoint, than The Stranger.

esta novela, que da la sensacion de claustrofobia y terror provocada por una enfermedad que pone en cuarentena a toda la poblacion, es otro logro de albert camus, un tremendo escritor, autor de ese otro libro llamado el extranjero. la peste, de caracter menos nihilista, nos muestra a los seres humanos aislados por la enfermedad y en busca de una causa comun, pero siempre solos, con su interior muy buena... LUIS MENDEZ

Only in French, but comments in English are welcome:un des plus puissants livres de tous les temps, du point de vue litteraire inimitable, du point de vue humain la transcription artistique et a la fois humaine des profondeurs sensibles et distantes en meme temps de l'espece humaine.