Even his most severe critics have always recognized his lyric gift for sound and cadence, a gift probably unequaled in the history of English poetry. As official poetic spokesman for the reign of Victoria, he felt called upon to celebrate a quickly changing industrial and mercantile world with which he felt little in common, for his deepest sympathies were called forth by an unaltered rural England the conflict between what he thought of as his duty to society and his allegiance to the eternal beauty of nature seems peculiarly Victorian. In his own day he was said to be-with Queen Victoria and Prime Minister William Gladstone-one of the three most famous living persons, a reputation no other poet writing in English has ever had. More than any other Victorian-era writer, Tennyson has seemed the embodiment of his age, both to his contemporaries and to modern readers.
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If pressed I would also add that this survival mechanism is beyond the reach of our brains, which itself is part of that very survival mechanism, as our brains would invariably muck it up irreparably if given access.īrains muck up enough already, and what they can’t muck up they often try to ruin for everyone. If pressed my explanation would be that collectively we see a new day every day due to an inherent survival mechanism of such incredible complexity that even our brightest brains can’t understand it. My attitude in these matters is generally that of a cynical Taoist – a profound faith in things as they are functioning “perfectly” in enormous rhythms of time wedded to an understanding that most humans only make things worse. I don’t know how it happens, and I’m not sure that all our (un)concerted efforts to help it survive don’t just further complicate things and make that daily survival less and less possible. The human world is a huge mess that somehow survives the day. Ron DeSantis for his signature into law.Īt DeSantis’s urging, the Florida Board of Education previously expanded the law by passing a new rule governing “professional conduct” by teachers that prohibits instructors in grades K-12 from “intentionally provid classroom instruction” on sexual orientation or gender identity. The expanded law passed on a party-line vote in both chambers, which are controlled by Republicans, and now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. The new law also contains what opponents call a “book ban” provision, which permits any county resident - regardless of whether they have children enrolled in school - to demand the removal of books they deem objectionable from school library shelves. Original image – DonkeyHotey, via Flickr.įlorida lawmakers have approved a bill expanding prohibitions on LGBTQ content in the state’s existing “Parental Rights in Education” law - dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by opponents - through high school. Welcome to Florida sign – Image by Todd Franson. The film was nom Patrick O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series of historical novels has been described as "a masterpiece" (David Mamet, New York Times), "addictively readable" (Patrick T. The Far Side of the World, the tenth book in the series, was adapted into a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. Set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, O'Brian's twenty-volume series centers on the enduring friendship between naval officer Jack Aubrey and physician (and spy) Stephen Maturin. Reardon, Chicago Tribune), and "the best historical novels ever written" (Richard Snow, New York Times Book Review), which "should have been on those lists of the greatest novels of the 20th century" (George Will). Patrick O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series of historical novels has been described as "a masterpiece" (David Mamet, New York Times), "addictively readable" (Patrick T. Thompson, however, has made more imaginative use of the material. Janet Morgan's 1984 biography was written at the behest of the novelist's daughter Rosalind Hicks (now deceased), who gave Morgan the freedom of the archive at Greenway, her mother's last home. The publisher's claim that this biography has been written with "unique access" to Christie's diaries, letters and family is a slight exaggeration. She does, however, do an extremely thorough job with what there is. One would not, perhaps, expect someone whose main creative output was so rigidly circumscribed to have much in the way of personal hinterland, and Laura Thompson admits this. Even the books set abroad (she was well travelled) have little more in the way of local colour than a few camels, pyramids and fez-wearing servants. Christie conjures it up with very little in the way of description - she is not an observant writer. It is caught in time somewhere between the 1920s and the 1950s, and the sun has never set upon it. It is a vision of England as a well-manicured village where properly spoken people in manor houses are always dressing for dinner, playing bridge, repressing their emotions and being served tea by faintly comical maids. Christieworld, even more than Blytonworld or Wodehouseworld, has been exported all over the globe. Christie is a lodestone for present-day writers and critics, attracting and repelling in equal measure. They show a Marilyn Monroe unsparing in her analysis of her own life, but also playful, funny, and impossibly charming. "Fragments "is an unprecedented collection of written artifacts-notes to herself, letters, even poems-in Marilyn's own handwriting, never before published, along with rarely seen intimate photos.Jotted in notebooks, typed on paper, or written on hotel letterhead, these texts reveal a woman who loved deeply and strove to perfect her craft. Now, for the first time, readers can meet the private Marilyn and understand her in a way we never have before. Her serious gifts as an actor were sometimes eclipsed by her notoriety-and by the way the camera fell helplessly in love with her.Beyond the headlines-and the too-familiar stories of heartbreak and desolation-was a woman far more curious, searching, witty, and hopeful than the one the world got to know. Every word and gesture made headlines and garnered controversy. "Fragments "is an event-an unforgettable book that will redefine one of the greatest icons of the twentieth century and that, nearly fifty years after her death, will definitively reveal Marilyn Monroe's humanity.Marilyn's image is so universal that we can't help but believe we know all there is to know of her. " Confessions of the Fox is so goddamned good. an action-adventure tale with postmodern flourishes an academic comedy spliced with period erotica an intimate meditation on belonging." -Katy Waldman, The New Yorker "A cunning metafiction of vulpine versatility. Writing with the narrative mastery of Sarah Waters and the playful imagination of Nabokov, Jordy Rosenberg is an audacious storyteller of extraordinary talent. Voth is drawn deeper into Jack and Bess's tale of underworld resistance and gender transformation, it becomes clear that their fates are intertwined-and only a miracle will save them all. Is Confessions of the Fox an authentic autobiography or a hoax? As Dr. Voth discovers a long-lost manuscript-a gender-defying exposé of Jack and Bess's adventures. Reeling from heartbreak, a scholar named Dr. Yet no one knows the true story their confessions have never been found. Jack Sheppard and Edgeworth Bess were the most notorious thieves, jailbreakers, and lovers of eighteenth-century London. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker - HuffPost - Kirkus Reviews - Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award - Shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize - "A dazzling tale of queer romance and resistance."- Time a joyous mash-up of literary genres shot through with queer theory and awash in sex, crime, and revolution." Description A New York Times Editors' Choice: "A mind-bending romp through a gender-fluid, eighteenth century London. Yolandi writes: "She wanted to die and I wanted her to live and we were enemies who loved each other." Awards and recognition Īll My Puny Sorrows received widespread acclaim from critics. When Elfrieda makes a second suicide attempt on the eve of an international concert tour, Yolandi makes it her mission to save her sister, even as Elf begs her to accompany her to a Swiss clinic and enable her death. Yet it is Elfrieda who suffers from acute depression and a desire to die, much like her father before her, who killed himself by stepping in front of a train. Yolandi, the novel's narrator, has always lived in her sister's shadow: whereas Elfrieda is a gifted, beautiful, happily married, and much celebrated concert pianist, Yolandi is something of a failure, with a floundering writing career and teenage children from separate fathers. The novel recounts the tumultuous relationship of the Von Riesen sisters, Elfrieda and Yolandi, the only children of an intellectual, free-spirited family from a conservative Mennonite community. Toews has said that the novel draws heavily on the events leading up to the 2010 suicide of her sister, Marjorie. The novel won the 2014 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the 2015 Folio Prize for Literature, and the 2015 Wellcome Book Prize. All My Puny Sorrows is the sixth novel by Canadian writer Miriam Toews. Together they share a dream - to restore the majesty of the Pharaoh of Pharaohs on the glittering banks of the Nile. Beside Taita stand his proteges, Lostris, the beautiful fourteen-year-old daughter of his master Lord Intef and Tanus, proud, young army officer, who has vowed to avenge the death - at Intef's hand - of his father, and seize Lostris as his prize. But Taita - a wise and formidably gifted eunuch slave, sees him only as a symbol of a kingdom's fading glory. From master storyteller Wilbur Smith, the first novel in his bestselling. In the city of Thebes at the Festival of Osiris, loyal subjects of the Pharaoh gather to pay homage to their leader. Author(s): Wilbur Smith Historical Fiction. Now the Valley of the Kings lies ravaged by war, drained of its lifeblood as weak men inherit the cherished crown. River Gold, the first book in a 5 book series about ancient Egypt Reviewed in Australia on 28 February 2015 Verified Purchase The first of Wilbur Smiths 5 book series on ancient Egypt, first published in the mid 1990s and based on a series of scrolls found in a previously sealed tomb. River God, the first in Wilbur Smith's blockbusting Egyptian Novels, is a thrilling adventure set amid the mysteries of ancient Egypt. The novel leaves behind an indelible impression. It is a book of powerful, poetic images, in which myth and reality elide. “What gives this novel its resonance is Erdrich’s extraordinary ability to create not an approximation of the past but something that seems like a living, breathing evocation of it. Students will experience shock and pleasure in encountering a group of characters that are compelling and rich in their vigor, clarity, and indomitable vitality. Over the course of ten crucial years, as tribal land and trust between people erode ceaselessly, men and women are pushed to the brink of their endurance-yet their pride and humor prohibit surrender. Tracks follows a North Dakota Native American tribe of the early 1900s and their struggles to keep their land out of the hands of encroaching white society. |