european

Bureaucracies being very silly things compared to the significance of... say... the sun... or knowing what's best for sweetening certain types of tea, it's only natural that their bureaucrats' (or civil servants', or statesmens' ;) dull eccentricities and indolently expressed ambitions are fodder for a good send-up. Something of which Balzac makes good use in The Bureaucrats to both lampoon and critique the nature of bureaucracy and bureaucrats (and maybe government, ambition, and complacency in general).

Even though the novel is open about its characters'("righteous" and not) petty plots and maneuverings for ultimately shallow and pointless goals, it's hard not to get drawn into feeling sympathy... something which makes the procedings and commentaries all the more humorous.

The translation is effectively modern, and I had little difficulty adjusting to the language (especially compared to books published using translations made a century ago). Although I picked this up out of a passing interest in Balzac (due mostly to recently starting on Remembrance of Things Past), it was an enjoyable read that has me ready to read other works of his. Also, I'm in agreement with the other reviewer (though I can't be sure about his agenda against creditors... even if they are the cataclysm for petty acts of evil that occur...) that The Bureaucrats is worth a read for the painfully and laughably apparent ending alone.

Honore de Balzac spent a good part of his life eluding his creditors. His house on the Rue Raynouard in Paris (which I visited in 1997) was designed to help screen out creditors and, when that failed, to allow the author to slip out the back entrance on Rue Bertin and make his getaway.

One result of Balzac's perennial impecuniousness is the controlling role of money in his books. Even in this novel, ostensibly a study of politics within a French ministry during the reign of Charles X, the strings are pulled by two fascinatingly grim money-lenders named Gobseck and Gigonnet.

The obvious choice for the ministry, a brilliant and dedicated politico named Rabourdin, is painted into a corner and sees his career destroyed by a legion of lesser men who conspire against him. Perhaps the most telling criticism that could be made of this otherwise excellent novel is that that Balzac spends the first 75% of THE BUREAUCRATS introducing approximately a hundred characters, their wives and relations.

While it is difficult at times to keep track without a scorecard, Balzac's main theme of overextended goodness destroyed by well-connected, mealy-mouthed nothings runs like a river in flood through the pages of THE BUREAUCRATS.

The book is worth reading if only for the magnificent irony of the ending, which I will not tell for fear of ruining the surprise. Hang in there for the finish, and don't get sidetracked by all the characters.

This was just a great book. No books that I've read on this subject have been quite so compelling!

The author mesmerizes you with the simplicity and eloquence of her writing. She moves you with her childhood, her courage in the camps and the power of her spirit in returning to choose life again.

This is a biography of Carl Jung (1875-1961), but so much more than that. It traces his life and professional development, drawing on letters and extensive quotes from the Collected Works. It is profusely illustrated, not only with photographs of Jung and the relevant people and places in his life, but also with his drawings. After Jung's break with Freud in the early 1910's, Jung went through a about a decade of professional isolation and rich personal growth. During that time, he kept a journal called the "Red Book", which he decorated with drawing and paintings based on his dreams and active imagination. Many striking images from the Red Book are reproduced in this volume: a drawing of Philemon, Jung's inner spiritual guide; the viscerally disquieting "Meeting with the Shadow"; and a singularly captivating image, "The Light at the Heart of Darkness". Photos of Jung in his travels and at his house in Bollingen round out this engaging visual tour of Jung's contribution. This is a wonderful introduction to Jung's life and work, especially for someone of an artistic inclination.

A very fine collection...with plenty of glimpses at Jung's trans-analytic speculations and personal reactions. Soulful and, in places, very funny too.

As the weeks of the year go by, the human soul may find a clear reflection. The attentive reader may discover subtlties he/she had not been aware of within themselves or the world around them, prior to picking up this radiant nugget. New insights may develop leading to living streams, strengthening his/her striving toward our(human, animal, plant, and let's not forget the mineral) common, healthy, spiritual evolution. Though centered around the sun, all may relate.

This little book addresses the needs of the soul and spirit according to the week of the year. The seasons are known to affect us deeply and this book helps people to find more meaning in their lives through short meditations based on the season. The verses mainly focus on the spiritual beings of the Judeo-Christian cosmogeny and how they affect our lives.

This geomentally challenging journey into pure estivation is so abstractually written, it cries of the Socratic method. This read promises a ravenous hunger for more.

Chilling, confrontational and exposing of the geomentallity. This geomentally challenging journey into pure estivation is so abstractually written, it cries of the Socratic method. This read promises a ravenous hunger for more.

This English version is of the COMPLETE poems, not just a selection, like that published by Princeton as part of its Lockert Library series. Moreover, this translation by Nichols is far more accurate, formal, and literal than the loose and slangy "translations" by Eamon Grennan. Leopardi is a great poet, and this is a valuable book. The other indispensable Leopardi book currently in print is the Cecchetti translation of the "Moral Essays and Dialogues," published by the University of California Press, in its Biblioteca Italiana series. This is one of the most underrated works of all 19th-century literature! If you like Leopardi's poetry, or the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, or even Samuel Beckett, read this book!

If you like Leopardi, grab this book while you can! It's an English import, and might not be around that long. I've always wanted a complete translation of Leopardi's poetry, and this book fits the bill, with supplements from Leopardi's notebooks and other hard-to-find prose works. Too bad it's listed under the wrong title--I just ordered it, and this book is not called "The Centenary Edition"! This book is actually a paperback editon of the title listed directly above it, "The Canti: With a Selection of the Prose."

As stated in the title, this is a book about the history of the castles of Friuli. However, Ulmer's discussion will also be of interest to anyone looking for general information about castles. His intention is to debunk the "myth" of the castle by showing how the romantic image of medieval castles contrasts with historical reality. Personally, I like the myth just fine, and Ulmer's excellent argument has done nothing to diminish the fantasy for me. On the contrary, I find it easy to balance the historical data with the romantic ideal when I look at Affara's exceptional photography. In fact, I bought this book based solely on the photography and only later read the text to increase my enjoyment of those beautiful pictures. The photos include aerial views of both restored castles and ruins, details of architectural features, and restored interiors with furnishings. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of medieval castles, to anyone who appreciates breathtaking photography, and above all to anyone who likes a little reality with their romance.

This large heavy book is superb reading. It contains many full page photos of absolutely breathtaking buildings & to a lesser their interiors. Mirimare , near Trieste is enchanting. The text is written from the point of view of the historical development of the castle. Contains much information for the right minded person. Makes a great coffee table book and conversation piece.

This book should be read by all Danube Swabians and their offsprings as well as all freedom-loving, truth seeking and fair minded people of this world.

Luisa Lang Owen's recounting of her childhood and the losses she and others experienced before, during and after the war, including three years in a concentration camp is, at once, both hauntingly beautiful and horrific. Her captors, in seeking to exterminate individuals and their culture ironically distilled, in this young woman, the essence of being. Her lush and loving attention to detail, her artistic perceptions were heightened and strengthened in those years, and what we sometimes refer to as the "strength of the human spirit" is clearly defined in the telling of this woman's coming of age under life-threatening conditions. Both fascinated and saddened by the telling, I felt as if I'd entered the spirit of someone who has always lived and continues to live fully and attentively in the world.

Have you ever been trapped in a crowd, a hysterical crowd,terrified of the future? Imagine being a young Jewish woman doctor in Stalinist former Soviet Union during the Second War - and each decision might be fatal. Fear, terror, and blind hatred rule the day - and everyone wants the young doctor to perform miracles when God seemed silent and remote.

This fascinating autobiography, written with a sharp sense of life's ironies and injustices, conveys the wisdom that comes from being a true survivor. Compassion and knowledge can sometimes save a life - or mean nothing except dying with a conscience. (It's worth juxaposing the Machevillian logic of Rich on that silly island TV show where ethics were jettisonned for money with the heroism of the partisans of WWII.) Ruzena also illuminates the brutality come so easily to so many individuals in the name of so abstract ideology like fascism or communism.

Perhaps Oprah could interview Ruzena so television viewers can see how a true hero behaves in a crisis! This inspirational story of a woman's survival, sacrifice, and success (living and enjoying life in the California) combats the easy cynicism that seems so pervasive today. We should never, Ruzena shows, underestimate what a smart woman can do - especially in a crisis!

Cattle Car To Kazakhstan: A Woman Doctor's Triumph Of Courage In World War II is the story of a young woman in her twenties, married to a dynamic lawyer, a leader in the Zionist movement, whose world was torn apart in September 1939 when her home town of Przemysl, Poland (bisected by the River San) is occupied by the German army on one side, and the Russian army on the other. Ruzena's husband is arrested by the Soviet Secret Police because of his political activities, leaving her alone and six months pregnant. After her baby is born three months later, the NKVD (Soviet secrete police) arrest her, put her into a cattle car packed with other women and children, and ship her off to the a primitive Kirghiz village on the wild steppes of Kazakhstan, south of Siberia. Cattle Car To Kazakhstan is a vivid account of Ruzena Berler's deportation and the years she spent in the wild steppes and, later, in the Czech Legion. She and her companions worked hard to simply survive. A lot of women and children didn't. Ruzena later served as a doctor in an immense agricultural complex, battled a devastating typhus epidemic, was pursued in winter by wolves, used a high-wheeled cart through muddy floods of sudden springtime snowmelts, fought (and became an officer) with the Czech Legion in what is now Kazakhstan against the Germans, and worked in the field hospital day and night with little sleep. During all of this, she took care of her child. After the war, Ruzena learned that her family died in Auschwitz, and that her husband had been executed by the Soviet Secret Police. The war being over, she left newly liberated Prague as Czechoslovakia was becoming Communist, moving to Southern California, remarrying, raising her daughter Olga and having sons. Cattle Car To Kazakhstan is an astonishing, candid, revealing autobiography, the story of a woman's successful struggle to survive overwhelming odds for herself and her daughter in times of war, oppression, violence and despair.

As a Celtic artist I'm always on the search for books speficially on Celtic art, not just the Celtic people in general. This book by the Megaw's is the best I've found yet, giving lots of impartial information without romantic colorings about 'mystical meanings' and such. Just a great overview of how the art style is thought to have evolved, how it changes throught history, and lots of great photos. And a word on the photos of artifacts... many of these photos are 'new', in the sense that they're not the same ten images you see in every other book about the Celts. New photos of new artifacts not often shared with in publications. Great for Celtic artists who enjoy checking out ancient artifacts to use as source material and to track the evolution of its design and patterns!

I enjoy this book a great deal because it includes history, art, timelines, and discoveries in the Celtic civilization. There are several maps that describe the Evolution of the Celtic Empire and its power before the rise of the Roman Empire. It talks about the beauty of the iron work that the Celtics created and the complicated knotwork designs that are very popular in Scotland and Ireland today. This book will give you a great overview of the Celtic Culture, I greatly recommend it!