european

This is the long-awaited Rosemaling book featuring Sigmund Aarseth, one of Norway's most knowlegeable Rosemalers. He and Diane Edwards (also a very accomplished Rosemaler) have crafted a unique combination of historical reference, how-to instruction and beautiful examples of canvases and unique Rosemaled items.

Sigmund, in his endearing style, presents his technique and thoughts that help guide the serious Rosemaler. He discusses what are traditional vs. non-traditional techniques and gives some of his own tips which he has learned over the many decades of Rosemaling himself. Included are numerous pictures showing Sigmund's painting style. There are also step-by-step pictures of several of his more complex scroll strokes and designs.

A special treat are the many canvases that Sigmund painted especially for this book. In each one, he analyzes his approach and what he was thinking when he produced each scroll. The palette colors for each canvas are given and Sigmund explains his sequence in developing the overall design.

From large rooms -- ceilings and walls -- full of Rosemaled designs, to small unique trunks and smaller Rosemaled pieces, this book covers this unique and historical art form from the perspective of one of the world's greatest Rosemalers.

With over 60 pages of color pictures, this book is a must have for the serious Rosemaler.

This is a must have for the serious student of rosemaling, especially in the Telemark style. Edwards and Aarseth have done a great job in putting out a quality product.

This book has wonderful pictures from which to study. Aarseth is one of the rosemalers out there and why not study from one of the best?

I really like to "folksy" feel to the book; after reading it, one will feel as though Aarseth is a friend. He shares keen and sometimes poetic insights to the art of rosemaling, the nature of Norway and how the two come together.

One will learn about suggested supplies, color, painting traditional wet-on-wet, what makes a good design, help with picking out the right brushes to use and how to make the brushes give the desired strokework, wood pieces, and design. Aarseth also gives sound advice for the future of this beautiful art form.

An excellent job of narrating the recovery of lost material from existing documentation. The footnotes are well researched. The topic is fascinating, and the insights of the editors very useful. However, I would have liked to see an additional index with entry using English terms as well as the existing index of Taino words.

In addition, in analysis of a culture so intimately linked and so knowledgeable of nature as the Tainos, one should also take into account biological reality. For instance, it seems clear to a biologist that Mácocael, "he of the lidless eyes:' page 6 of the text may well be the great rainbow boa, Epicrates spp., Ma-ja, the great snake, since this serpent, like most boas, has lidless eyes.

An excellent job of narrating the recovery of lost material from existing documentation. The footnotes are well researched. The topic is fascinating, and the insights of the editors very useful. However, I would have liked to see an additional index with entry using English terms as well as the existing index of Taino words.

In addition, in analysis of a culture so intimately linked and so knowledgeable of nature as the Tainos, one should also take into account biological reality. For instance, it seems clear to a biologist that Mácocael, "he of the lidless eyes:' page 6 of the text may well be the great rainbow boa, Epicrates spp., Ma-ja, the great snake, since this serpent, like most boas, has lidless eyes.

I read it some time ago in Arrowsmith's translation - do not use Arrowsmith's translations - this time I read Jack Flavin's - Aristophanes translations seem to vary more than say the tragedies translations - in this translation the zany wackiness comes out and also the conception - a guy in Athens declares a separate peace from all his fellow citizens and his life starts working in contrast - it's wonderful!

The "Acharnians" is one of the earliest extant plays of Aristophanes, the winner of first prize at the festival when it was produced in 425 B.C. Dicaeopolis, a farmer tired of a war he considers to be stupid, decides to make an individual peace with the Spartans. However, before he can celebrate his private treaty, which allows him to trade for goods lacked by those in Athens, he is attacked by a chorus of Acharnian charcoal burners who support the war. The centerpiece of the comedy is Dicaeopolis's speech arguing the causes of the war are pretty stupid. This seriocomic speech, which is a parody of "Telephus" by Euripides, wins over half the chorus. Of course the other half immediately attacks them in a violent agon. The general Lamachus is called in to help, but Dicaeopolis destroys him with cutting arguments as well, and the chorus is united at the end to delivery Aristophanes's parabasis. Meanwhile, Discaeopolis has a drinking contest to attend, while Lamachus is sent back to the war. Pacificism and the folly of war are two recurring themes in the comedies of Aristophanes and both are explicit in the "Acharnians." It is also a good example of the standard format of a Greek comedy, at least as represented by the works of Aristophanes, including the giant party at the end.

I am a history teacher, a Jew, and a woman. This book showed a real respect and understanding of the Jewish women's role in the history of American culture. My grandmother also loves it.

This book was a genuinely original piece of research. I loved it. You can learn about Jews, about consumption, and about America. I was lucky enough to hear Dr. Heinze speak a few years ago on Jewish Women in America, and he (unlike many other writers on the subject) really understands the role of Jewish women - yesterday and today.

Elizabeth Prelinger's After The Scream celebrates the late paintings of Edvard Munich: haunting paintings which also reveal quite a different side of the artist. While his images of people remain striking, he painted a range of subjects and used a brighter approach later in life, and this accompanies the first major exhibition of his works since 1978 - and the first to focus on his later achievements.

munch is an artist who became so well known for an early work ("the scream") that his later work was eclipsed by it. the fact that nearly all of his later works hang in an oslo museum hasn't helped either. so it's a real surprise to browse this exhibition catalog and discover the many beautiful paintings munch created in the half century between "the scream" (1893) and his death (1944).

munch's technique is very interesting: using thinned oil paints, with direct application of single layers of color, his paintings approach watercolors in their spontaneity, light, and beautifully textured color harmonies. at the same time, his themes are very personal -- his illnesses, his large estate near oslo, his lonely life painting in the countryside, his struggle with alcoholism. technique and themes combine to give his work a uniquely poignant lyricism.

the accompanying text on munch's life and work is well written and comprehensive. this is a great gift for someone who loves painting -- even if they know art well, munch's late works will come as a happy revelation.

This is actually the third volume of the Alberta trilogy. I think the review written by "a reader from London" refers to the first book, Alberta and Jacob. Alberta Alone is quite different. The novel borders on modernistic in its exploration of the process of becoming a writer. Alberta struggles with a failing relationship, motherhood, and questions of identity. The story, which takes place a few years after the First World War, is set in Bretagne, Paris, and Southern Norway. As usual, Sandel's writing is outstanding.

Alberta has finished school and lives at home in the north of Norway with her parents and younger brother. She's fond of her father, a magistrate who drinks too much, and mostly fears her mother who wants Alberta to be attractive and accomplished in domestic skills. Jacob is a failure at school and also causes their parents only anxiety over how he can maintain the family standing. The atmosphere at home is tense, stifling and depressed. Alberta is excruciatingly shy and doesn't know what to say to anyone. She spends most of her time reading and going for walks, taking routes that will avoid bumping in to other people. Only out in the countryside does Alberta become confident and alive. She yearns to get away, for her life to change, to meet different people. Throughout small dramas occur in the Selmer family and the town, usually about money, marriage or sex including one where Alberta becomes aware of her own sexual feelings.

Although she always feels inadequate, Alberta never compromises, refusing to marry to please her parents and keeping her inner life intact. The book's strength is its portrayal of Alberta, an unusual character in literature. The book has had many fine reviews.

John Dryden's 1677 tragedy "All For Love" or "The World Well Lost" was based on William Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra." This would be a minority opinion, but I really think this Restoration Drama is comparable to the Shakespeare version in many regards. Of course "borrowing" from Shakespeare cannot be considered much of a crime when the Bard of Avon appropriated so many plots from other dramatists as well. Shakespeare's play covers ten years in settings scattered across the eastern Mediterranean, while Dryden confines all of his events to one day in the Temple of Isis. For me the dramatic highpoint of the Dryden version is the ugly confrontation between Cleopatra and Octavia, Roman wife of Mark Antony, but I also like the final death scenes better than what we find in Shakespeare. Just do not ask me to explain how "All for Love" reflects Restoration sensibilities rather than the Elizabethan values of "Antony and Cleopatra." I first read this play and decided to use it as the final play in a mini-trilogy of one-act that used Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra" and Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," and had no problem given Dryden the anchor position. Certainly classes studying English drama can benefit by having students read both the Shakespeare and Dryden versions with an eye out towards better understanding the works of both playwrights. If you are only going to read one play by Dryden, then the only other choices besides this one would be "Aureng-Zebe," his last and best example of the heroic genre or his comedy masterpiece "Marriage a-la-mode." But I would still pick "All For Love."

Dryden's reworking of Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" is a great read, especially if you didn't fully comprehend Shakespeare's work. Dryden's language is concise, and his portrayal of historical characters is excellent; especially considering that he had to follow Shakespeare's lead.

I am sending this book to Professor Gewirtz at the Yale Law School for his course on Law and Literature, for it beautifully captures the conflict of a scholar steeped in the law confronted with an ironclad (and justified) belief in the mystical. Bottom line: human law loses, Claude Levi-Strauss and Carl Jung win. Also a great book for gaining a multi-dimensional insight into the complex and often overly simplified Afrikaner history / mindset.

The description of this book lead me to believe it was about an aboriginal tribe in South Africa. Instead, it is a DNA-helix of living and dead members of the Moolman family. Their ancestor, FounderAbel Moolman, was intelligent, domineering, and full of raw energy, qualities he needed to forge an empire in an untamed land. He also imposed a strong code of ethics on his descendents, a code that is inescapable even in death.

The story unfolds through the visit of a magistrate sent to investigate a tragedy in the family and the spiralling tale told by the living and the dead wraps around the reader and draws him along, spell-bound. Reading the end of most mysterious stories reveals the plot, but this tale can only be untangled with patience. Comprehension doesn't fully come until each page has been examined and unwound.