Cranford / Cousin Phillis (Penguin Classics) Review

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(More customer reviews)(This is a book review about `Cranford' and `Cousin Phillis' of the Penguin Classics edition, edited by Peter Keating.)
[CRANFORD] Elizabeth Gaskell's `Cranford' is very different from her more serious `Mary Barton' and `North and South,' both written with socially conscious messages. In fact, its basic tone is comedy (or tragicomedy) set against the background of the changing local community of Cranford, or `Our Society' which is, as the narrator says, "in possession of the Amazons."
The main characters are all elderly ladies. You meet kind-hearted and timid Miss Matty with her domineering sister Deborah, the most memorable characters in this town. Narrated by one Mary Smith, we are introduced to the small world of Cranford, where smallest things can be pleasure or trouble such as `conjuror' Signor Brunoni amazing the ladies in the town's Assembly Room, or some rumor about `robbery' and even `ghosts' that scare them in `Darkness-Lane.' There is Lady Glenmire, who comes to Cranford, and shocks the community by marrying a doctor (and becoming `Mrs. Hoggins'). With these episodes, Elizabeth Gaskell deftly describes the sisterhood among the gossipy ladies with deep sense of sympathy, and the events are described with her sure-handed touch, which provides funny moments and occasional pathos.
Some part may not be interesting today. Captain Brown and Miss Jenkyns have an argument about the merit of novel reading, and while Captain praises Dickens' `Pickwick Papers,' Miss Jenkyns insists on the superiority of Samuel Johnson This is not only an in-joke (`Cranford' first appeared as eight-part serial in Dickens' Household Words first in 1851), it also reflects that these ladies in Cranford stick to their strict social codes that are clearly getting too old outside the community. The scene itself is humorous, and behind the humor you can find the author's keen eye for details.
But the book can be enjoyed without such historical knowledge, and there are many touching scenes concerning Miss Matty's life. As `Cranford' is written without concrete planning, the entire work looks very episodic. Actually it is episodic (and that's why one major character suddenly disappear at Chapter 2), and it should be read as such, like a series of sketches or short stories.
[COUSIN PHILLIS] `Cousin Phillis' is first published as four-part serial in 1863, and is about a fleeting love affair in a rural community, where the titular daughter of a `minister' (and self-help type of farmer) lives quietly. This is what we call a `novella' and its tone is sadder than `Cranford' but still is written with well-observed descriptions of the characters and the community that we know would undergo drastic change sooner or later.
THE PENGUIN edition by PETER KEATING contains Appendix A: `The Last Generation in England' and Appendix B: `The Cage at Cranford' both by Gaskell. The first one would throw light on the background of Cranford, and the second one (a sequel written about 10 years after the original) is an enjoyable (if not outstanding) short story.
`Cranford' is a delightful book that reminded me of E.F. Benson's equally delightful Mapp and Lucia books. Teachers may not use these books as text in the English literature courses in university, but the fact remains that these books are as priceless as any other Victorian novels.

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"Cranford" depicts the lives and preoccupations of the inhabitants of a small village - their petty snobberies and appetite for gossip, and their loyal support for each other in times of need. The village is dominated by women, from the kindly spinster Miss Matty, living in genteel poverty with her redoubtable sister, to Lady Glenmire, who shocks everyone by marrying the doctor. When men do appear, such as 'modern' Captain Brown or Matty's suitor from the past, they bring disruption and excitement to the everyday life of Cranford. This volume includes the novella "Cousin Phillis", which depicts a fleeting love affair in a rural community at a time when old values are being supplanted by the new. Both works are exquisitely observed tragicomedies of human nature, told with great delicacy and affection.

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Rene Descartes: Principles of Philosophy: Translation with Explanatory Notes (Synthese Historical Library) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is the synthesis of all Descartes physics and philosophy theories divided into four parts. The first part focuses on philosophy, the second part general science, while the third and forth parts are a collection of Descartes' specific principles of physics he used to develop his theory of the structure of the universe, the solar system, and the origins of the earth.
Descartes' valuable researches in science and physics have long been appreciated and this book is certainly proof of that value. This book is especially significant because it was written after the Church had condemned Galileo and his theories of cosmology and tried to slowdown or halt the progress of science. Descartes presents very strongly his revolutionary scientific conclusions, but my attention had to be focused on Descartes the philosopher not the scientist.
As a scientist, Descartes elucidated basic laws in physics and science, and he brought that logical, straightforward, scientific approach to philosophy and the question of God's existence.
In Descartes earlier work "Meditations on First Philosophy", he called all of our knowledge into doubt as he stated: "If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things". Similarly, in The first section of "Principles of Philosophy", Descartes restates some of his earlier conclusions, not to argue what we certainly don't know, but rather to try and determine what we know for certain
Descartes' famous declaration "Cogito Ergo Sum" which is translated as "I think, therefore I am.", is the first certain truth that Descartes proclaims in Part I of the Principles. This conclusion, "Cogito Ergo Sum", is for Descartes a truth that cannot be called into doubt: the fact that we exist. Using only this fact, a few principles of logic, and some innate ideas, Descartes believes he can prove the existence of God
Descartes presents two intriguing arguments for God's existence that can by summarized as follows:
1.An ontological argument for God's existence that goes this way: Our idea of God is a perfect being, to exist is definitely more perfect than not to exist, and therefore, God must exist.
2.We are all born with the innate idea of God as an infinite being, so this idea must have infinite objective reality. Knowing that there must be as much reality in a cause as in an effect, then there must be as much formal reality in a cause of an idea as there is objective reality in an idea. Based on this kind of reasoning, we have an idea with infinite objective reality, which is the idea of God, then there must be a being with infinite formal reality that caused this idea. That being is God. .With all due respect to Descartes, I can't help but asking here if Descartes or anyone else can prove that belief in God as an infinite being is innate? It seems to me that it is more a learned idea
To spend time exploring the breadth and depth of Descartes' scientific principles and the unyielding logic and order of his philosophy is so fulfilling and enlightening that until we have taken the journey we are, as thinking, questioning human beings, incomplete

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When we further reflect on the various ideas that are in us, it is easy to perceive that there is not much difference among them, when we consider them simply as certain modes of thinking, but that they are widely different, considered in reference to the objects they represent; and that their causes must be so much the more perfect according to the degree of objective perfection contained in them.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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The Terrors of Ice and Darkness Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a very satisfying book... the author has interwoven the story of a 19th century arctic expedition with the modern-day mystery of a man obsessed with the "terrors of ice and darkness." The descriptions of the vast and desolate arctic landscapes are lyrical and moving; after an hour of reading, you may feel so pulled into this world of darkness and ice it is difficult to return ! A must read for any arctic history buff...

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The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution Review

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(More customer reviews)This book should be called "Sociological essays on the era of the Revolutionary War." It is not arranged as an encyclopedia and has relatively little material on the Revolutionary War. You will not find the words "regiment" or "battle" in the index, and a search for date-specific material will be nearly fruitless. Less than a third of the 34-page poorly arranged parallel-stream "timeline" concerns the period 1775-1783. If you want specific material on the Revolutionary War, look elsewhere.

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The Federalist Review

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(More customer reviews)This review applies specifically to the J. R. Pole edition of The Federalist, published by Hackett. Considering the thorough notes and fine introduction, this should be the preferred edition of The Federalist for the student and general reader. Sadly, I have found, within the first fifteen pages, an unacceptable number of errors in editing or proofreading. Assuming this rate of errors is representative of the text as a whole, it cannot be relied on as the primary edition for studying this important historical work. If you can afford several editions, by all means acquire the Pole edition for its helpful notes, but I would recommend the standard Cooke edition (from Wesleyan U. Press), the Gideon edition (from Liberty Fund), or the inexpensive Signet edition for the text itself.
Here are examples of the errors:
On p. xlii, the first essay is incorrectly attributed to John Jay, rather than Alexander Hamilton.
On pages 4 and 15, footnotes contain inaccurate cross-references to other notes.
Most serious is an apparently systematic editing problem with the text itself. The intention of the Pole edition is to present the so-called "McClean" text, which contained revisions (by the authors) to the original newspaper versions of the essays. However, these revisions are inconsistently incorporated in the Pole edition. For example, in the newspaper text of the third essay, a series of sub-arguments is set forth in separate paragraphs that each begin with the word "Because." In the McClean text, a new sentence was added to indicate that a list of reasons follows, and the word "Because" was omitted from the beginning of each paragraph in the list. But in the Pole edition, one of the paragraphs is not revised at all (the word "Because" still appears), and another is incompletely revised, so that it begins incorrectly with the words "If even if the governing party . . ." rather than "If even the governing party . . ." All this may sound arcane, but, besides being technically inaccurate, it makes the argument confusing and ungrammatical where it is not so, in a correct text of either the newspaper or the McClean versions. I should note that the text was apparently provided by the Intelex Corporation, not prepared by Professor Pole himself.

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By identifying all the historical references and literary allusions by which the Founders sought to amplify their arguments and convince their readers—and by clarifying those important concepts (such as sovereignty, contract, separation of powers) which influenced the thinking of both the Founders and their opponents—renowned historian J. R. Pole here sets The Federalist in the intellectual world inhabited by Hamilton, Madison and Jay. In reading PoleÂ's annotation alongside the main text, students and scholars alike will gain a deeper understanding of the papers—and of the time, needs, and circumstances that shaped them. PoleÂ's Introduction, a thematic index, a chronology of politically significant events from 1688 to 1791, and the inclusion of The Articles of Confederation and the U. S. Constitution further distinguish an edition priced for classroom use.

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