Baswood's books, music, films etc. Part 3

Plans for reading this next quarter:



Continuing with Albert Camus in this his centenary year I have The Cambridge companion to Camus by Edward J Hughes and The Rebel, Albert Camus and some essays collected in Resistance, Rebellion and Death



My next book by H G Wells is Wheels of Chance and there will be more to follow.

Continuing on with The Italian Renaissance a couple of books by Ross King

The Praise of Folly and other writings by Desiderus Erasmus



Abe books list of 50 essential science fiction novels will continue with:

Beautiful start to your new thread. Looking forward to it - as always.

Great pictures, as always!

Also enjoying the pictures, and looking forward to your reading.

Love your new thread! Planning to read The Plague this summer and maybe this Essays one. I haven't read ANY Camus. Think I'll do ok starting with The Plague?

Merrikay, The Plague is a fine place to start.

Thanks. Free download yay!

American Dreams -- Charlie Haden with Michael Brecker

Nowhere on the front cover of this CD does it mention the 34 piece orchestra and for me this is the rub. I have never been a fan of Jazz plus strings, for the simple reason, strings don't swing. The only time I have heard an orchestra swing was when it was conducted by Duke Ellington at a concert back in the 1970's at the Royal Albert Hall and yes for about a minute Ellington made the London Symphony Orchestra swing.

There is a very strong jazz quartet on American Dreams as there is Brad Mehldau on piano and Brian Blade on drums. It starts off promisingly enough with the title track American Dreams which features Haden's bass against a dark orchestral backing. "Travels" is up next and the slow tempo continues, but this time Breckers tenor saxophone is featured against the lush strings of the orchestra. Two more ballads follow and although beautifully played I was beginning to get bored by the strings, which to my ears seemed to be getting more syrupy, even with Brecker double timing on his solos he seemed to be getting dragged down into a slough no matter how high he reached for notes on his tenor and Brad Mehldau just seemed to be getting stuck for inspiration. The slow tempos continue throughout the CD apart from track 11 "Bird Food" which is an Ornette Coleman tune and here the strings are silent as this great quartet seem hardly able to contain themselves as they launch into this uptempo number, suddenly the music comes alive. The following song "Sotto Voce" features the orchestra again, but this time the arrangement is more imaginative as woodwinds help to give the score more colour. It all ends with yet another ballad "Love Like Ours" and we are back with the jazzers almost sleep walking through the tune. I think the problem with this CD is the unrelenting slow tempo ballad style arrangements, I think Brian Blade hardly ever picks up a drum stick: it is all brushwork and once the tempo has been set everybody seems locked into it. There are some good moments and Brecker plays beautifully throughout, but because of the unimaginative orchestral scores and tempos it is in danger of sounding dull. This is a CD I am glad I borrowed and did not have to buy.

Looking at the cover I thought it was an 80's release and that explained the approach but Allmusic said it was released in 2002. Their review uses expressions like 'ear-candy sheen' and words like 'banalities' and 'soggy' to describe the music.

I'm with you - strings and jazz rarely mix successfully but often jazz musicians appear to share the desire with hard rock bands to drag in an orchestra.

Great to catch up here again Bas.

Very glad you're moving on to George Rippey Stewart's Earth Abides soon as I've had that on my wishlist for a while now. I would very much like to get hold of his monumental (but now hard to find sadly) book on U.S. 40: Cross Section of the United States of America. William Least Heat Moon would often refer to it and him in his books. I look forward to your review of the 'sci-fi' though.

As for the record? It does look a slightly dodgy cover - but who knows right? I used to like the Brecker Brothers quite a bit, and was lucky enough to catch Michael Brecker at the Red Sea Jazz festival back in the '90s. A great musician.

I get what you mean about strings with jazz, and whether they can swing, but I reckon that it can definitely swing with music from Brazil for example. Obviously there's bossa nova, which I like (if the sun's out) sometimes, but appreciate that it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Eumir Deodato from Rio is a master though at composing beautiful soaring string arrangements that work with some very fine jazz. Then there's Isaac Hayes' arrangements too if you're foolish enough to allow me to widen this to include funk and soul....

Polaris, any music is worth talking about and thanks for the heads up on U.S.40: Cross section of the United States of America

I'm pretty sure I recommended a jazz album at one point in someone's thread. I'd like to think it was you. If you haven't already, "Friday Night in San Francisco" is amazing. Amazing.

The Cambridge Companion to Camus
The Cambridge companions are a well established series of books that feature critical essays from contributors, covering such topics as: single authors, literary and national movements, philosophy and culture. Having now read a couple of Camus novels, some plays and essays as well as Olivier Todd's biography and Philip Thody's a study of his work I was curious to see if the Cambridge companion would add anything to my reading experience of Camus. The short answer is that it did.

This Cambridge companion was published in 2007 and all of the fourteen contributors could be considered as contemporary with the publication date. The essays are divided into three sections; Biography and influences, Themes preoccupations and genres and texts and contexts, in addition there is an introduction by Edward J Hughes and a short Postface to round things off, he also edited the volume. There is also a chronology of significant events in Camus' life, a fairly detailed list of his publications and a big enough guide to further reading to keep most completists happy for years to come. I found all the essays readable and was pleased to find that it was editorial policy to show all quotes from Camus' writings in their original French with an English translation immediately following.

The first section: Biography and Influences containing three essays interested me the least, but this was because it added little that was new to my previous reading. It was the seven essays in the second section: Themes, Preoccupations and Genres, that really made the book come alive for me, because it took the debate about Camus further than I had travelled before. An excellent essay re-interpreting Le Mythe De Sisyphe started the ball rolling (pun intended) as David Carroll examines Camus' ideas on the Absurd relating them to the world in which he lived (Second World War) and then assessing how much value they are in todays world. Christine Margerrison in her essay Camus and the Theatre asks why it is that Camus is not recognised as a major playwright. Camus loved the theatre and founded his own theatre group, he said that he loved the feeling of working with other people to produce a play, but his own plays had mixed success at the time and are not so often revived today. Jeanyves Guerin follows with a lively essay on Camus the journalist, that makes me want to go out and find some of his articles to read for myself. However the highlight of this section and perhaps the highlight of the book are the three essays that assess Camus as a thinker and moralist. Camus and Social Justice, Camus and Sartre the Great Quarrel, and Violence and Ethics in Camus, all point to Camus as a man left behind in the intellectual debate in post world war Europe. They are critical in various degrees of his stance as a moralist and almost condemnatory of his position in the debate on colonialism. He was seen at the time as a supporter of colonialism because of his eventual refusal to support the Algerian Uprising. His position on these issues is re-examined in the light of events following the Algerian independence movement and there is now more understanding of his efforts to bring people together and tacit support for his vitriolic condemnation of those who saw abstract principle as more important than human interrelationships. It is a debate that became fundamental to much of what Camus wrote during the final phase of his life and as such is of great interest to the Camus reader.

The final section Texts and Contexts starts of with a humdinger of an essay by Peter Dunwoodie who looks at Camus ideas on Mediterranean culture and how this influenced his early essays and his first novel L'Estranger. It also points forward to his later difficulties with the Algerian question and his seemingly ambivalent attitude to the arab/muslim world that doesn't quite fit into Mediterranean hedonism. I had to read Dunwoodie's essay twice, to come to grips with his ideas, but it was well worth the re-read. There follows a workmanlike essay on layers of meaning in The Plague and a good essay on withheld identity in The Fall, but as to how relevant this essay is, I will be able to judge better when I get to read The Fall and this brought home to me that to get the most out of theses essays you will need to have read at least some of Camus and be interested to know more about his place in literature and the thoughts that drove his creative spirit.

If this volume in the Cambridge Companion series is representative of the standard of criticism then I am eager to read more. They would not serve so well as an introduction to an author or genre, but would come into their own for those readers wishing to dig deeper. A Five star Read.

Great review of Cambridge Companion, Barry! Our university has a lot of them, and I've found them quite useful over the years (well, most of them).

I've just gone and bought the Cambridge Companion to Jung on the back of that review bas.

Excellent review of The Cambridge Companion to Camus, Barry. I just scrolled through the huge and varied list of Cambridge Companions available for Kindle and came away with more than a few on my wishlist.

>13 baswood: - that is certainly true about his plays in English. I vaguely remember seeing Caligula years ago but haven't even seen any productions listed in the Fringe programme over recent years. And if you can't get something on at the Edinburgh Fringe then it really is a sad state of affairs. I would have thought that his plays were regularly produced in France but I guess that is not the case.

zeno, hope you enjoy the companion to Jung, there is of course also a companion to Freud.

Although they are not companions to each other so keep them apart on the bookshelf.

Interesting review of The Cambridge Companion to Camus. It sounds like a series very well worth dipping into. I've added the companions to Joseph Conrad, Primo Levi, and Philip Roth for the time being...

I so enjoyed your review of The Cambridge Companion to Camus. It was so instructive for me because I know NOTHING of literary criticism and didn't even know what Cambridge Companions are. I am learning so much in Club Read! Thanks.

I wasn't familiar with the Cambridge Companion series, but it sounds very appealing -- if I had more time!

A very helpful review of The Cambridge Companion to Camus.

An excellent essay re-interpreting Le Mythe De Sisyphe started the ball rolling (pun intended). Heh heh

I'm not familiar with Camus's plays - what was the conclusion in the Margerrison essay on why they didn't work?

Dief, Margerrison felt that "the message" Camus was trying to deliver was so much to the fore, that it stopped the plays from working as well as they might have. Generally she felt they were too wordy.

Catching up! I'm with Rebecca - LOVED your review of the Cambridge Companion...if only I had more time! I read all of Camus's work when at university and would love to go back to it with this alongside, but I know it's not going to happen (even though I suspect I'd get much more out of Camus now than I did then!)

It took a few days, but I'm now caught up, briefly, after being about 200 posts behind, dating from mid-April. I want to tell you how much I've gained reading through your thread, how much I enjoyed your reviews on The Plague and on Erasmus, Wells, on The Book of the Courtier, on John Coltrane, etc etc...but it all seems kind of wordy and silly posting so late. Anyway, enjoyed your posts immensely.

Barry, generally, I can't stand the Cambridge Companions. They are awful bedfellows. Oh, well, I have 30+ of them, and you know at what price they come...

Most essays are truly written in the tardiest academic English. Each volume has its obligatory contribution in the field of feminism, (or women studies) and gender studies.

I am really surprised you loved the volume on Camus so much. Three months ago, I started in the Cambridge Companion to Zola, but abandoned it somewhere below a pile of student papers where it, almost rightfully belongs (pun intended)...

>8 baswood:: Thanks for the review of American Dreams. Charlie Haden is one of my favourite musicians, and I'd be very disappointed if I had bought this cd.

Thanks Dan

Edwin, that's a very different view of the Cambridge Companion series; I wonder if anybody else has any views on them.

A bit like the Norton Critical editions there does always seem to be an obligatory contribution in the field of feminism, (or women studies). I felt a bit sorry for the author of the obligatory essay on Camus, because there was so little for her to write about. Camus hardly ever features a female character in his novels or plays and so the essay in the Cambridge companion had to base her comments on one of his short stories.

VivienneR: I am also a fan of Charlie Haden and so it was disappointing to hear him on the American Dreams CD.

I am not a fan of the Norton Critical editions, either. I think they are just a ploy, a way of packaging.

Why would anyone want to read a top classic piece of literature, followed by a compilation of third and fourth rate criticism.

I think some literary criticism can be interesting at times. However, that type of criticism often sells very well independently, or is often found in biographies. I just find the scholarly criticism hard to digest (but will buy and read some, anyway).

How would you compare the The Cambridge Companion to Camus with the two (?) biographies you read about Camus?

Regarding your question in 30, I am a long time fan of the Cambridge Companions, and I am a fan of the Norton Critical Editions. The English publishing view as I've hear it is that the texts should stand on their own, but someone who wants the criticism can find it easily enough. So the Oxford poetry anthologies, for example, are bare bones poetry. I am not an academic; I cannot easily find separate criticism on my own. These two series have served me well.

That is not to say that there aren't clunkers. The criticism in Tristram Shandy was as dry as the novel was robust. I get tired of the specific readings like feminist, Marxist, or queer; when I was told that the recumbent monster in Frankenstein had to be a feminine figure because of its recumbency I was driven towards skipping the essay (I think I did finish it though). And some of the essays are just not good. I found a wide range of utility and quality in the Norton Jane Austen books, but I would recommend all of them to someone starting out on her (merely mentioning that there are annotated versions as well). I get so much out of these editions that I look for them first.

I have tried to read The Enneads (random touchstone for them; the book I opened is not among those listed) but have not gotten far with them. But I felt I got a good understanding of Plotinus by reading The Cambridge Companion to Plotinus. I have taken similar value from several other volumes in the series. I also like that they point me to what the establishment thinks it is important to consider. I can drift off on a triviality as a dilettante, and these works serve as a corrective.

Where I am deeply interested I can also look for a well-regarded biography or two.

Robert

#32 Edwin said: I think some literary criticism can be interesting at times. However, that type of criticism often sells very well independently, or is often found in biographies. I just find the scholarly criticism hard to digest.

I agree that academic criticism can miss the mark, and can be self-absorbed with itself instead of struggling to reach the reader. But there are extensive wonderful exceptions and they generally do not get published independently. I think a good editor, not under pressure to cover this and that aspect, but given freedom to pick favorite essays, should be able to put together excellent anthologies of criticism. Not sure what that might mean for Norton, Cambridge, or Bloom...but most other publications will struggle to sell.

The Wheels of Chance H G Wells
Originally published in 1896; The Wheels of Chance was Wells' first social comedy in novel form. It followed closely on the heels of The Time Machine, The Wonderful Visit and The Island of Doctor Moreau, however the only fantasy in this new novel is in the head of its hero: Mr Hoopdriver

Wells subtitled his novel "A Bicycling Idyll" which reflected both his own interest in cycling and the new craze which swept the country when bicycles became affordable and people of all classes could take to the open road. Hoopdriver is an indentured drapers assistant, who is a keen novice cyclist in what little free time he has and so when his two weeks holiday comes round he takes off on his bike on a tour of the South of England. This is a time of unpaved roads where the horse and cart/carriage ruled and our Mr Hoopdriver soon comes to grief cycling up Putney Hill, his bid for freedom temporarily ending in a dusty and painful tumble, but this proves to be only one of many as the shin barked Hoopdriver struggles with his 43lb machine. On the second day of his adventure he stumbles upon a female cyclist "the lady in grey" and their paths continue to cross as the day proceeds. It soon becomes apparent that "the lady in grey" is being held under some compulsion by her companion: the lecherous Bechemel. Hoopdriver despite his misgivings becomes involved, but his inexperience of life is almost on an equal footing with that of the "the lady in grey": the 17 year old Jessie Milton, however Hooopdriver gets to play the Knight Errant and rescues Jessie from Bechemel, only to find that the couple are then pursued by Jessie's Aunt and her three sycophants. There is a marvellous chase across the South of England before the couple are eventually brought to heel, but in the meantime Hoopdriver discovers a few things about life and begins to dream of a better position for himself.

H G Wells himself spent a short period locked into the world of a drapers assistant and so is able to empathise with Hoopdrivers dilemma and conveys wonderfully well the sense of freedom that the early cyclists must have experienced when they took to the road for the first time. Hoopdrivers journey through the South of England can still be followed on a map today and Wells' descriptions of the small towns and villages with their inns and tea houses is evocative of a time now difficult to imagine. There is humour and pathos in Wells writing and much social commentary on the class system that the cyclists of his day would help to erode little by little, as they made their way around the country that was beginning to open up for them. It is too early for Hoopdriver and although there is a glimmer of hope for him at the end of the novel, the reader is left with the idea of a suffocating class system that will grind on and be too much for the likes of a drapers assistant. H G Wells escaped of course, but then he had a special talent, unlike Hoopdriver who needs to screw up all his courage just to stay free for his two weeks holiday.

Wells is secure in his own abilities and at the start of Wheels of Chance after describing Hoopdriver to the reader he says:

"But real literature, as distinguished from anecdote, does not concern itself with superficial appearances alone. Literature is a revelation. Modern literature is indecorous revelation, it is the duty of the earnest author to tell you what you would not have seen - even at the cost of some blushes"

Wells feels comfortable enough to name drop fellow authors such as George Gissing and George Bernard Shaw and Jessie's aunt is featured as a popular author of melodramatic novels, which is obviously based on a novelist at the time. There is also a short rant on the advantages of socialism, although this passes way over the head of Hoopdriver and Jessie, however it is the light hearted comic touch that Wells brings to this story that makes it swing along so entertainingly. There is charm, there is wit and underneath it all a sense of a world beginning to change. An excellent read which I rate at 4 stars.

Hoopdriver sounds like a bit of a Don Quixote on wheels. And what a fascinating idea that the bicycle was an implement of social as well as physical mobility! It's nice to see that it is making a comeback in many parts of the world. Thanks for another great review.

The Wheels of Chance does sound interesting. I think I might like to read that one. Again - one of those things I just have not given any thought to - social effects.

Great review, bas. I really like it. I can't see it on the book's page (unless this nice new design is making me hallucinate). Would you put it there so we can thumb it? It's an obscure book; deserves an airing.

I can't see it on the book's page

The touchstone goes to an omnibus volume, but I found bas's review here:

http://www.librarything.com/work/28187

Great review of The Wheels of Chance - thumbed. It sounds like a fun book and not what you would expect from Wells.

Thanks Steven! Thumb now applied.

I am still not sure about Dashboard, I suppose I will get used to it.

Same here. I quite like the colour scheme and the general 'freshen up', but to be honest I liked the way LT was just fine. The dashboard looks like there's lots missing from what I like to normally see on the Home page. I am already getting used to it, but while the previous version is still a vivid memory, I'll admit to being slightly disappointed with this supposed 'improvement'.

Loved the review of Wheels of Chance -- I had never heard of it before -- think I must track it down.

I'm not too keen on the updating of LT either, but I suppose I will get used to it. The term Dashboard makes me think of cars, and the top line is very definitely black, not chocolate brown on my computer. I'm not very fond of the blocky font either.

Oh well,

Wheels of Chance sounds like another good one by Wells. Every time I read one of your Wells reviews, that Wells book that's laying around here gets a mighty nudge upwards on the TBR pile!

The good thing about dashboard is that you can adapt your homepage, so that all your old favourites will appear just as you want them to.

Dimmu Borgir are a black metal band from Norway and when I slid the CD into the player I expected to hear insanely fast tempos, distorted guitars, shrieked vocals with a raw and brutal sound. I had purposely dispensed with the headphones, because tearing them off my head in a rush tends to do damage to my ears. Mourning Palace the first track started with of all things a synthesiser playing a melodic four note phrase with the dark sound of cellos and bass, this made me sit up, but normalcy soon resumed with the introduction of blast beat drumming and those distorted guitar riffs which heralded the shrieked vocals whose lyrics are almost totally lost in the noise of the screeching. There was still underneath it all the synthesiser with its rather atmospheric theme, but the music was now truly into black metal territory. Suddenly about halfway through the song the synthesiser burst through the grunge with a couple of phrases that would not have sounded out of place on an Electric Light Orchestra CD at their cheesy worst. What was going on here I wondered, had this black metal band discovered melody; whatever next. I then discovered I could make out some of the vocals which of course had plenty of references to Satan and evil deeds, with bands in this genre noted for their hostile anti-Christian views. Something was going on here which kept me listening to the rest of the disc.

The remaining ten songs were all interesting in their own way with evidence of a musical intelligence at work. The synthesiser was used to varying effect, throughout the disc, more often than not sounding a little out of place, but when it gelled with the guitar thrash it worked really well, certainly adding another dimension to the sound. You don't expect much variety on a black metal CD and so I was pleasantly surprised by Dimmu Borgir. For sure it didn't all work as some of the synthesiser interludes were almost laughable and the melodic content would have shocked your average hard core Black Metal fan, however when it all comes together as it does on parts of most of these songs, then it delivers exciting music. As long as they avoid sounding like the ELO on speed then this group have something to offer. The guitar riffing was also imaginative, particularly on track four "Relinquishment of Spirit and Flesh"; the song starts off at a tremendous tempo before the expected tempo changes and grungy type guitar riffs take over, the synthesiser is not in evidence here as the group explore different guitar sounds to good effect and end with music that really excites. I am tempted to dip into their catalogue again to find out how the group progressed with their sound; it would be a pity if they lost all of their Black metal Credentials in an effort appeal to a wider audience and ended their days as some sort of pomp rock group. I can recommend Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, to all those people who are prepared to have a listen to heavy metal music.

You can hear it all here on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=404CvwXkQDM

Wheels of Chance sounds like a lot of fun. I"m trying to remember where I read something else recently about what it was like when bicycles first appeared, but my middle-aged memory is frustrating me. It must have been remarkable to be able to travel by yourself at a faster speed than walking, especially for people who couldn't afford horses. One of the fascinating aspects of Jude the Obscure was the long distances people walked as a matter of course.

>48 baswood: Enjoyed your CD review on the metal band. Mostly though, I loved your digs at ELO! Never in a million years, baswood, would I have imagined you listening to dark metal music. You never know when and where you're going to run into it though. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQK-6iI7cI

>48 baswood: Your review of Dimmu Borgir is excellent. Thanks for the youtube link, I listened, but can't say I will go out to buy the cd (I'm sure my husband is delighted about that).

nice link avidmom

Illustrations by Hans Holbein the younger that appeared in many printed versions of The Praise of Folly by Erasmus

The Praise of Folly and other writings (Norton Critical Editions)
In this splendid Norton Critical Edition there is plenty of Erasmus: The Praise of Folly (including illustrations by Hans Holbein), The Complaint of Peace, Two Forwards to the Latin Translation to the New Testament, Julius Excluded from Heaven, excerpts from The Colloquies and a few letters. There is also a selection of critical commentary as well as a chronology and a short selected Bibliography.

The selections of Erasmus' writings give the reader the opportunity to sample the different facets of this 16th century scholar who wrote almost exclusively in Latin. He wrote passionately about the need to take religion back to the scriptures and put it in the hands of the people, and away from the dead intellectuals in the universities. He wanted to turn the catholic church from the path of over reliance on indulgences, pilgrimages, and ritual and so came into conflict with mendicant clerics and theologians. In his introduction to his translation of the New Testament he says:

"I absolutely dissent from those people who don't want the holy scriptures to be read in translation by the unlearned - as if, forsooth, Christ taught such complex doctrine that hardly anyone outside a handful of theologians could understand it, or as if the chief strength of the Christian religion lay in peoples ignorance of it. perhaps the state secrets of kings have to be concealed, but Christ wanted his mysteries to be disseminated as widely as possible. I should prfer that all women, even of the lowest rank, should read the evangelists and the epistles of Paul.........."

It is as a satirist that Erasmus is most often read and enjoyed today and the full text of "The Praise of Folly" will still provide some amusement as all classes of society come in for criticism in this lively essay. Oh to be a fool says Erasmus, how blissful this would be, but always listen to a fool because even a foolish man says something to the point. Erasmus launches into his critique with gusto and no one is spared, here is what he says about the theologians:

"perhaps I ought to pass over the theologians in silence and just not go near that open sewer, or touch that stink weed. They are a class of men so arrogant and irritable that they are likely to attack me by squadrons with their six hundred conclusions and force me into a recantation: then if I refuse they'd promptly have me up as a heretic............For they cocker up their own self esteem, as if raising themselves to a seventh heaven, and from that vantage point look down on the rest of the human race as so many dumb beasts crawling on the ground......"

Julius Excluded from Heaven is another biting satire. Pope Julius II had recently died and Erasmus imagines him appearing at the gates of heaven and demanding to be let in. Julius boasts of his irreligious behaviour while he was Pope, how he sold various offices to the highest bidder, how he used his position for his own and his families advantage, how he made war against fellow Christians etc.....

Erasmus was a popular figure, his writing was witty and to the point. He was also excellent company and well liked by friends in high places, but having said all that I wondered how he could have got away with the satires that he wrote. What protected him from charges of heresy while he was alive.

I was particularly keen to read the Critical commentary in this Norton Critical edition to see if the essays would enhance my appreciation of Erasmus. H R Trevor Roper's essay is typical of the historian, broad brush strokes and some startling assertions paint a lively picture of Erasmus and his legacy. R S Allen in "The Transatlantic Renaissance" shows how Erasmus as a representative of the Northern European renaissance was influenced by the Italian renaissance and this filled in some background to his works. There followed an extract from J Huizinga's biography, which I have previously read, but would be useful material for readers wanting to get an idea of the character and mind of Erasmus. Up next was an extract from Mikhail Bakhtin's Rabelais and his World which dealt with Medieval and Renaissance folk humour and this proved to be a gem. It grounded Erasmus writing in the long tradition of satire and comedy that was an essential part of medieval life. Bakhtin says that this stream of writing, play acting and comedy ran concurrently with the serious issues of Church services and law making and was often practiced by the same people. For me it shone a light on Erasmus' satires and convinced me that in this climate they would have been read and enjoyed by those very same people that were subjects of the satires.

There were two further essays one of which explored the wide definitions of humanism and provided more useful background material. All in all this Norton Critical Edition is extremely successful in presenting some important texts of a writer who may not be widely known to the general public and the essays provide enough background to enhance the appreciation of both the man and his works. A five star book.

I read The Praise of Folly and several smaller works of Erasmus as a teenager. Erasmus' Dulce Bellum Inexpertis inspired my pacifism. I did not like The Praise of Folly much at that time, but I should probably reread it.

I'm reading Wolf Hall and becoming intrigued by those still Catholic theologians and humanists who were trying to reform the RC Church. I'm not sure I'm ready to delve into Erasmus, but your review is quite enlightening. Thanks.

I read In Praise of Folly in college, so naturally I've forgotten it! Thank you for reintroducing me to it.

Excellent review of The Praise of Folly and other writings, Barry. I do not recall ever having read any Erasmus and it sounds like this edition would be a good one for an introduction.

ditto to what rebecca said

Really enjoyed your Erasmus review.

The Scarlet letter: Norton Critical Edition by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet letter would appear on most peoples top ten American literary novels, published in 1850 just a year ahead of Moby Dick it would probably lay claim to being the first great American novel and their is no denying its power and potency, especially as it's subject matter is the early Puritan colony of Boston in the 1640's, which goes to the very the heart of American history making it an essential read for anyone interested in the life and times of those early settlers.

The Scarlet letter does what many great books do and that is transport the reader in to the time and place of its setting. From the opening paragraph where Hawthorne describes the crowd waiting outside the prison door for the appearance of Hester Prynne I felt I was I was in that crowd of Puritans looking on at the weather beaten jail with its beetle browed and gloomy frontage. For sure Hawthorne's prose moves slowly, and its older English usage takes a little time to register, but modern readers must make the effort to meet Hawthorne halfway, not only with his prose but with the emotions and actions of the Puritan colonists. This is a book that still has plenty to say, but needs to be understood in the context of the fears, the religious feeling and the determination to succeed of the community that is proud of its foothold in the new continent.

It is a story of sins and sinners: Hester has been found guilty of adultery and in accordance with the law at the time must go to the market place and make a public confession, however when she appears on the scaffold with her three month old daughter she refuses to name the father. She is made to wear the letter A on her outer garment for the rest of her life and is cold shouldered by the community following her confession. The initial mystery is of course the identity of the father but this soon becomes apparent, however with the appearance of her elderly misshapen husband bent on revenge it has all the hallmarks of a tragedy. The beauty of this book is that it allows the reader to interpret the story in a variety of readings, for some it is a romantic love story, for others it is a tragedy and for many it is a cautionary tale of sin and its consequences. It is of course all of these things and Hawthorne's prose adds to the mystery, important details are not made entirely clear: for example how does the letter A appear on Arthur Dimmesdale's breast, why does Hester turn the A on her outer garment into a work of art and what does the A actually stand for. It is left to the reader to come to his own conclusions. The book moves inexorably to its climax and the reader is carried along with the magnificent prose right to the bitter end.

Most of the incidental characters were thoroughly researched by Hawthorne and appear as themselves. It is only the four principle characters: Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth and Pearl that were invented by the author and this parachuting of the four into the Puritan colony gives this novel such an authentic feel. This fact I learnt from the section of the Norton Critical edition that contains essays on background and sources. There are further sections on Early reviews, critical, essays on both The Custom House and the Scarlet Letter as well as a bibliography and a chronology. The critical essays are so extensive that they take up nearly two thirds of this publication. It would take a fairly dedicated scholar to read them all and so I skimmed some of them, however I found them all very readable and because the book lends itself to various interpretations many of them contained much of interest.

I am glad I read the Scarlet Letter, but may well have not got to it, if it wasn't for my bookclub which selected it for the next meeting. For anybody thinking of reading it I would encourage you to do so, but don't be put off with "The Custom House" which serves as Hawthorne's introduction to his novel. This can be skipped and picked up later if you choose to do so. Once again I found the Norton Critical Edition enhanced my reading, so much so in fact that I was tempted to read the novel again right away, but I will save that delight for another time. A Five star read of course.

I must read the The Scarlet Letter again some day.

We read The Scarlet Letter in school, when I must have been about 14. Needless to say, as I have said before, I don't remember more than the broad outlines. I can picture my copy of it to this day, and LT tells me I still have it. Your review is inspiring me to reread it (someday).

Hawthorne is a really fascinating chronicler of early American life -- both proud of and somewhat appalled by his own Puritan heritage. If you liked The Scarlet Letter, you should try The House of Seven Gables sometime. And a great short story is "Young Goodman Brown" -- http://www.online-literature.com/poe/158/

Two awesome reviews, bas.

Like Rebecca (once again), I read The Scarlet Letter at about age 14 for English class and am overdue for rereading it. I especially remember it because my father, who was a Christian fundamentalist, saw me reading it and asked what it was about. When I told him it was about adultery, he ranted about the school's making me read "smut" and threatened to pull me out of school and put me to work in the fields. Of course that was all just bluster, but it made me enjoy The Scarlet Letter all the more for thinking it was some kind of forbidden fruit.

Fabulous review of The Scarlet Letter, Barry. I may have read this in high school as well, but I don't remember anything but its bare outline. You've inspired me to give it a(nother) go.

Now that Wimbledon has ended and the right man having won I'm catching up on things again. Surprised by the death metal review - not my cup of tea (to be pedantic nothing is my cup of tea, I don't drink tea) although I like enough loud rock. However the lyrics are usually good for a laugh - Satan wants me for a dark beam and so on.

Years since I read The Scarlet Letter but read the The Marble Faun more recently for a class on 19th century fantastical literature. It is a very strange novel where almost nothing happens and nothing definite is ever concluded. It's one of those novels that feels slow when you are reading it but you can't help being intrigued by it and that is my opinion of Hawthorn in general - his prose style does seem a little dated but there is something fascinating about much of his work that overcomes it. I would recommend the short stories over any novel though - if you like them then try one of the longer works.

Was thinking about the statement about The Scarlet Letter being the first great American novel. The one earlier work I can think of is The Last of the Mohicans, which is not as well-written as later candidates but is the starting point of a number of American myths.

It does what many great books do and that is transport the reader in to the time and place of its setting. That's exactly what they should do! I love that feeling of being immersed in another place and time, unencumbered while actually reading by the constructs of current times. Time enough to think of the ramifications of current cultural norms later.

>69 Jargoneer: Now that Wimbledon has ended and the right man having won... except that now we have to hear of him as "British"
Good point about The Last of the Mohicans. I read it last year and loved it. It was one of my earliest LT postings.

Loved your review of The Scarlet Letter. My American history teacher assigned this particular novel as required reading outside our usual (dry and boring) textbook.

I like how you always put giant graphics before your reviews. But recently any big red "A" makes me think of the "A for Atheist" campaign.

Is there one Jonathan? The A is interesting as a couple of essayists in The Norton Critical Edition made cases for the letter A standing for Able or even Amor.

he will be Sir Andrew Murray this time next year.

The last of the Mohicans was published in the 1820's making it significantly earlier than the Scarlet letter. I am tempted to read more Hawthorne;

steven, it could be argued that they all get their just deserts in the end.

Well now I have to go look up the A for Atheist campaign.

I thoroughly enjoyed your review of Scarlet Letter also. I wish I could remember the details, but can't but in a text I used for teaching marriage and family, one topic was premarital pregnancy in Puritans, which was a high number. We did the math in class, percentages of times of having intercourse that result in pregnancy, etc., and figured about 70% of them must have had premarital sex. So Scarlet Letter seemed rather funny. Then I realized Hawthorne's topic was adultery, which is way different from premarital sex. Still though......interesting. Really wonderful review.

Enjoyed catching up. Some years ago, I created a link in my internet favorites to "The Custom House" section and I still remember my strong intention to read it (in isolation). But I can't remember what referred to/prompted it, and now everything I read acknowledges that the reader of The Scarlet Letter can skip it. I may get to it just to cross it off my to-do's.

Really interesting review of The Scarlet Letter Barry. Yes, well done Murray. Fingers crossed, Chris Froome will do us proud in the Tour de France as well. What with the Lions defeating the Wallabies down under, and the Ashes about to get under way, this could yet turn into a summer of sport for the Brits to rival that of last year's! Just don't mention football...

haha so much for "some years ago" ... I found what prompted me to bookmark "The Custom House" and it was a mere year ago -- a passage from it that serves as epigraph to Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of stories, Unaccustomed Earth:

Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth.

My interest is re-ignited.

Great photograph Bas! Bendiksen isn't it? So much to absorb...

Shantaram like Bombay (Mumbai) and its author Gregory David Roberts is full of contradictions and at over 920 pages this block buster of a novel has a lot of contradictions. I found myself lost in admiration for the vivid descriptions of Bombay and then almost simultaneously offended by some bombastic language, the hero worship of the villains and the general machismo that surrounds this story. Shantaram apparently means "man of peace" an epithet attached to the hero of this story: Gregory David Roberts himself, but Roberts is all too anxious to get into a fight; anybody's fight, which makes me wonder if the title is deeply ironic or if Roberts just has no sense of humour. I think the latter.

Any reader writing about this book must consider the author himself, because to all intents and purposes it is autobiographical. It is written in the first person and at the start of the second paragraph the introduction is made:

"In my case, it's a long story, and a crowded one. I was a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum-security prison. When I escaped from that prison, over the front wall, between two gun towers, I became my country's most wanted man."

This is no shrinking violet and the derring-do gets more derring as the novel's action and adventure is ratcheted up to its climax, first in a gun running expedition to the mujahedeen in the Afghan war and then in a battle of the gang warlords back in Bombay. This all brings us back to Roberts, how much of this stuff actually happened and this is one of the books great contradictions. From the author's profile on the net it is clear that he did escape from a high maximum prison in Australia and sought to lose himself in Bombay, but on his own web page Roberts says that "All of the characters in the novel, Shantaram, are created. None of the characters bears even a remote resemblance to any real person I’ve ever known". One wonders why then that he chose to base his central character: Lin, on his own life experiences. It could be argued that Bombay is a city of contradictions, where the super rich live cheek by jowl with some of the poorest people on the planet, but I don't think this is key to the novel's themes or ideas. Roberts refers to Shantaram as his masterpiece and leaves us in no doubt that he sees his novel as dealing intelligently with themes of alienation, of exile and of love and there is certainly much talk of philosophy and/or sophistry from Lin, he even has a go at explaining the meaning of life. All of this tends to pad out the novel into some sort of catch all for the reader, but it fails to give it the weight that Roberts seems to want to achieve, because the adventure/crime thriller story keeps pushing the action beyond the realms of believability and taking it into block-buster movie mode.

There are however, plenty of things to like in this novel; the descriptions of street life in Bombay, from a Western mans point of view are very realistic and thoroughly convincing. I could easily imagine myself back in Bombay peering over Robert's/Lin's shoulder as he made his way through the streets. He also captures the Indian city dwellers rational on the life that they lead, the almost desperate energy in trying to make something out of very little, the acceptance of the differences between them and others in their world, the sheer numbers of people pressing all around them that makes any sort of privacy alien to many of them, but above all the desire to be happy despite everything. I thought his description of the shanty town was also full of life and he captures particularly well the sights sounds and smells of a place that is totally unfamiliar to most of us. He does an excellent job of replicating the vocal intonations of the English speaking Indians, however he just about avoids being over sentimental about some of the people there. He also creates some fine characters living on the fringes of the underworld and although he has a tendency to romanticise some of the gangsters that we meet, he does a good job with them as well. The plot tends to creak a little in places, but this is almost inevitable in a book of this length, the action scenes are handled with plenty of verve and there are some surprises.

Roberts has provided such an excellent back drop for his novel that the reader is swept along in this exciting and sometimes exhilarating world and whenever I found myself not being able to swallow some of the plots mechanics or the actions of the characters there was always this wonderful background material to fall back on. I didn't like some of the philosophising as it felt a little false in places, but it rarely interrupted the flow of the story for too long and it was never so esoteric that it could not be followed. I thought that his language was at it's most bombast when he was expressing feelings of love and although his sex scenes avoided any elements of soft porn, they were pretty unconvincing. His descriptions of violence tended towards the gratuitous for me, but would probably be acceptable to most movie goers. What I really did not like was the character of Lin/Roberts; far too full of himself, far too machismo and yes far too uncomplicated, far too much of a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

This novel tries to be "all things to all men" and for some readers it might succeed, but it is no literary masterpiece. it is a good action adventure story with some excellent background material written by a man who has lived the life of a slum dweller and who has gotten involved in the Bombay underworld. The real India (from a Western mans perspective) seethes and gurgles throughout this book and is utterly convincing, however it is at times overly sentimental and the depth of feeling and thoughts expressed are for me a little too simplistic. Oh! and it's far too long. I rate this at 3.5 stars.

I had a lot of the same reactions to Shantaram as you did and found the author incredibly self-promoting and irritating. I read it because it was recommended to me after I read Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra, which is also flawed and quite a tome, but a much better book. Unfortunately, I read both of them before I started writing reviews on LT, so I can't provide much more info, but Sacred Games also tries to paint a picture of all Mumbai, focusing a lot on organized crime and Bollywood; it is ambitious, and doesn't always work, and is probably too long too, but is deeper than Shantaram and not self-promoting.

Fabulous review of Shantaram, Barry. I'll avoid reading it, after comments from you and Rebecca, but I do want to give Sacred Games another try. I started reading it several years ago and left it someplace before I finished it, although I now have a replacement copy.

Excellent review of Shantaram, Barry, but one I think I'll skip.

Great review of Shantaram. I would be twice as likely to read it if it were half as long.

Very good review of Shantaram Barry. You've done such a by far superior job at summarising all that is necessary to convey about this book than I did when I wrote my (somewhat more excitable) review after I read it a few years ago. You've expressed so well exactly some of the sentiments I struggled to articulate myself.

Shantaram IS way too long. If it was 2 or 3 hundred pages shorter it would have a hell of a punch though I think. I thought that it does have some very good writing in it, especially the descriptions of life in the Bombay slums and the rural village life beyond it, and Roberts can write well in significant stretches. The prison scenes were particularly strong I thought. I agree with you 100% though, that the main flaw for me (apart from the unnecessary length) is the nauseating central character of Lyn.

That said - it did leave an indelible impression for me of certain aspects of modern India. Though I suspect that even in the brief period since it was written much has probably changed with the rapid development of the Indian middle classes and the nation's increasingly widespread tech-revolution. On the other hand... life in the slums is doubtless still much the same awful struggle to survive as it ever was.

The length of the book is undoubtedly a drawback, as many agree, but I don't think that anyone intrigued by the story should be put off reading it as the tale does whizz by quite quickly at a brisk tempo. I've read books half the length that felt like a much bigger drag... Anyway - not quite the "you MUST read this book" my eager brother (who had been living in India for a couple of years) suggested a few years back, but nevertheless an enjoyable read in the main.

Just out of interest I googled Shantaram and the first result was Roberts website. It would be safe to say on the basis of it he is rather keen on himself, here he is on the opening page doing a Steven Seagal impression.



Fortunately he also provides lectures on his novel and philosophy for readers who aren't quite on the same elevated level as himself.

From the conclusion of the essay on the novel:

While an examination of my general literary theory is beyond the cope of this basic guide for readers of Shantaram, it’s possible to summarize those elements that proceed from the literary theory, and in that way give a guide to the architecture of the novel. Listed in point form, as a ready reference for readers, those elements are:
1) The narrative
2) the plot
3) the characters
4) the first layer of allegorical referencing: Dante’s Inferno
5) the second layer of allegorical referencing: The Bible
6) the house of mirrors, where every important action happens twice, and every character has a mirror character
7) The emblematic mosaic image of the novel: man, woman, island sea & sky
8) the emblematic symbol of the novel: the island
9) the virtue: humility
10) the vice: pride
11) the colours: green and gold
12) the elements: air and water
13) the textures: leaf and coconut fibre
14) the perfumes: cinnamon and Coco by Chanel
15) the symbolic number: eight

Taken as a whole, these elements combine to form an aesthetic and coherent architecture for the novel. The elements are inter-dependant, and form a structural gestalt that is both edifice and interiority, frame and flesh. The architecture proceeds from a literary theory, but in one of those strange, self-referential circularities that have come to define the loop of alienation so characteristic of the 20th Century, if the literary theory has any validity the architecture should stand on its own merit – exiled, as it were, from the theory that spawned it. Whether or not that’s so, the novel, Shantaram, can’t be wholly understood or articulated discussed without this journey around and within its architecture. And if your interest is sufficient to have read this far, I do sincerely hope that the journey into that architecture, which is, like the novel, a journey into and through my love, has given you the happiness of understanding.

.

It is obvious that anyone who didn't give this novel six stars (five just isn't enough) now feels the urge to revisit this masterpiece and to write a letter of apology to the author revealing how you just weren't enlightened enough to understand the book.

PS - his website will also tell you now to deal with your drug problems and/or how to break away from your domestic environment.

Some Dude huh

Why am I not surprised?

Well, um, is that ponytail for real? ;)

He looks like he's waiting for someone to give him a rose to hold in his teeth.

^Funny!

Turner, that picture and extract from David Gregory Robert's website (#86) says all that needs to be said about Roberts and his book.

Thanks for the comments everybody - my book club is meeting next week; if anybody turns up it will be interesting to hear their comments on Shantaram

Yikes. Definitely not reading Shantaram now.

He looks like he does a better Steven Seagal than Steven Seagal. Are we sure that isn't a squirrel on the back of his neck?

Sirius: A fantasy of Love and Discord by Olaf Stapledon
The Mind of a man trapped inside a dog's body might scream out at you from a gaudy cover had this 1944 science fiction novel been published recently in an attempt to appeal to a mass market. The fact that to my knowledge it never has (although this would be an excellent short description of the novel), but has usually had a more tasteful cover like the excellent S F Masterworks cover above, shows the high regard in which this book is still held by many readers.

It is a familiar premise for Stapledon readers: a lone scientist experiments with the foetus of dogs in order to produce super intelligent puppies, but with the puppy Sirius he manages to produce an animal that melds the mind of a dog with that of a man. The puppy develops at a very slow rate keeping pace with the scientists daughter born around the same time and the novel describes his development and learning experiences through his youth to early adult hood. Stapledon paints a believable portrait of a human mind that is painfully aware that he shares the characteristics of a human being and a dog. He thinks of himself as a man without hands that is subject to the call of the wild and it is the dog like actions of Sirius; hunting, chasing bitches in heat, using his olfactory powers explained in human terms that makes this such a fascinating read. Sirius puzzles long and hard about where he fits in to society and like Stapledons earlier novel Odd John it becomes clear that there is no place for him. A loving relationship develops between Sirius and the scientists daughter (Plaxy) which goes through all the tribulations of young people growing up, and Stapledon is not afraid to tell of it's sexual nature. This together with the backdrop of England during the second world war places this novel firmly in context and provokes sympathy for Plaxy and Sirius and all those who seek to protect them.

Stapledon is able through the structure of the novel to pass comments on Human society as seen through the eyes of Sirius, here is what he says about the scientific community with whom he works:

"They were so very distinguished, and all so seeming modest and so seeming friendly; and yet every one of them, every bloody one of them, if he could trust his nose and his sensitive ears, was itching for personal success, for the limelight, or worse scheming to push someone else out of the limelight, or make someone in it foolish or ugly. No doubt dogs would be as bad really, except when their glorious loyalty was upon them. That was the point loyalty with dogs could be absolute and pure. With men it was always queered by their inveterate self love. God! They must be insensitive really; drunk with self, and insensitive to all else. There was something reptilian about them, snakish"

Stapledon allows Sirius to communicate with those people who have the patience to understand his intelligible doggy sounds and he also gives him the ability to make music with his voice that is far superior to most humans, but he is a freak and like Odd John the reader fears for him as he tries to make his way in an alien world. The novel never descends into bathos as Stapledon continues to explore intelligently the dilemma that is at the heart of this novel. There are some brilliant descriptions of Sirius working as a sheep dog and running free over the moorland and the love story with Plaxy is both insightful and desperate. There is plenty of literary merit in this novel and as an achievement it ranks with Odd John, but because the themes are so similar and as Sirius came along nine years after, then I would rate it at 4 stars.

Sirius sounds quite interesting in an odd sort of way.

Sirius sounds interesting, but not quite as much so as Odd John. What does the scientist feel about what he has created? Does he fear or resent the dog's relationship with his daughter Plaxy?

Plaxy is a cute name. Too bad it is no longer in vogue.

What Colleen said!

Steven, the scientist is both protective and curious about what he has created. He realises that he must tell as few people as possible and yet he wants to find out as much about Sirius as he can. He treats Sirius with respect at all times and does not discourage the friendship with his daughter, which only develops into a love affair, when the scientist is killed in the war.

I had never come across the name Plaxy before I read Sirius at first I thought it was a misprint.

Sirius sounds interesting and very odd. Great review.

Great review of Sirius, Barry; it does sound interesting.

Loved your review of The Scarlet Letter. I know I was supposed to read it in high school, but I don't know how much I actually read. What I do remember is some very dense dreary prose about the a minister inflicting some kind of pain on himself.

Catching up again. Great review of Sirius, although I have to admit getting weirded out by the sexual aspects, I had to read that twice, wondering what I must have read wrong...

I don't imagine I'll touch Shantaram. Wonderful stuff on In Praise of Folly.

Tony Williams Trio - Young at Heart

This great piano trio recording has been on my CD player all week. The drummer Tony Williams grabs the lead on this record, but the star of the show is Mulgrew Miller who takes nearly all the solo space and is responsible for writing most of the original material on this disc. It was released in October 1998 just six months before Williams death and this CD finds him in a supportive role. He plays imaginatively throughout and when the song calls for some rhythmic drive he is at his best. It is Miller's piano that catches the ear here as his improvisational skills never flag especially on the standards where he finds some wonderful phrases that seem to fit the songs so well. My favourite track is Young at Heart where Millers playing swings effortlessly starting with a light touch on this great tune before launching into an exciting solo. There is a coda where he seems to be reinventing the tune through a series of brilliant chord changes. I have learnt to play the tune on my saxophone and am having fun trying to get to grips with some of Millers diversions. The trio play imaginatively on the Beatles tune "Fool on the Hill" changing tempo at times and slipping into a sort of calypso beat that seems made for this tune. Millers best tune is "Farewell to Dogma" played at a lively tempo and ending with more of Millers reflective chord sequences. The old jazz standard Body and Soul seems to be worked inside out as the group render an interesting version. The penultimate track is Bobby Timmons' "This Here" and the trio get into a great rhythm and blues groove, which made me want to get up and dance. So many great tunes and so much melodic invention from Miller make this a real winner.

Here is a link to the title track on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2evahZXQ08

Thanks for that track, Barry. It made me smile.

Catching up and oh my, I took quite a delay gaping at the ego that is Gregory David Roberts.

I’ve seen light popular fiction do the through-a-dog’s-eyes thing so the more-serious treatment of Sirius interests me. Great review. The italicized passage strikes me a little ironic from a species that lives in a pack with an alpha.

Marciac Jazz Festival 2013
Over the last few years I have seen some great acts at the festival and each year there has been one concert that is truly memorable; last year it was Sonny Rollins, in 2011 it was the Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau duo, in 2010 it was Paco de Lucia and in 2009 it was Jan Garbareck. Marcus Miller who I saw last night and who opened this years festival might just prove to be the most memorable concert for this year.

Robert Cray


The first act tonight was the Robert Cray Band, who started promptly at 9pm. I was a little unsure about how I would re-act to his performance especially as I could hear the sound of an electronic keyboard as we shuffled around into our seats. Robert Cray is one of the foremost blues artists on the circuit today, who has had a few crossover hits and I thought he might be a bit too commercial for my taste. This proved not to be the case. His group consisted of keyboards, bass and drums and they provided good support with the keyboard player being allowed just a couple of solos during the set, otherwise it was all Robert Cray. I was immediately won over by his voice which is a strong clean tenor, but he sings the blues with unmistakeable passion. He stood up to the microphone rolling out one tune after another, no showmanship, just a little introduction to the next song which usually was on the lines of "and this next one goes like this" as his guitar launched into the chords and the rhythm, before the group provided the backing. I think that all the songs were his own material and he mixed them up well enough so that a couple of medium tempo's were interspersed with some slower blues. It was a blues player that I heard tonight, all his songs are drenched in the blues with his guitar solo spots effortlessly rolling out some more familiar blues licks. His final song for an encore was a ballad and that voice of his still sounded great at the end of a hot set. Recommended.

Marcus Miller


Marcus Miller has a unique style of playing the bass guitar a sort of slapping and hitting of the strings that can produce some exciting sounding metallic melodies over a pulsating beat and there was much of his solo work on show tonight. He is also an excellent composer and he gave his own music full prominence with his group that consisted of Alex Han on alto and soprano saxophone, Sean Jones on trumpet, Brett Williams on keyboards, Adam Agati on guitar and Louis Cato on drums. Of course as you would expect from a bass player there were some killer bass riffs but the melodies and themes for the other instruments were also striking. There was plenty of space for solos and with Millers bass playing bubbling underneath none of them failed to take off. There were plenty of highlights Agati's guitar duet with Miller brought the audience to its feet and both saxophone and trumpet solos charged along with real verve with plenty of high notes being hit and held. Another high spot of the set was Millers composition Goree (his French was good enough to explain the story behind it to the audience) which featured a beautiful duet between Han on soprano saxophone and Miller who brought out his bass clarinet. I would have thought that the bass clarinet, which is a strange looking instrument and difficult to hold would be difficult to play in tune, but Miller seemed to have no problems, producing some wonderful sounding low notes that are particular to this instrument. The audience here at Marciac love Marcus Miller and he was on fire tonight, there followed encore after encore and we walked back through the town to the car at 2 am this morning with those bass riffs still buzzing in our ears.

Slowly catching up form vacation hiatus -- interesting reviews as usual. I'll keep an eye out for Sirius. Sounds like a great start to the jazz festival.

Great! I'm glad to see that the Marciac Jazz Festival has started, and I eagerly look forward to your concert reviews. Thanks also for the review of the Tony Williams Trio album; I'll listen to it on Spotify shortly.

>108 baswood: Nice! XD

>104 baswood: baswood, your review of the Tony Williams album was excellent. Thanks for adding the link. I've added the cd to my wishlist - although it's an expensive addition.

Rabelais and his World by Mikhail Bakhtin
My recent (over the last couple of years) reading of Medieval literature and renaissance literature has taught me that to appreciate their works it is essential to approach the authors on their own terms as far as possible. This of course means that there is some reading to be done to enable one to understand something of the life and times in which the authors lived. It is also beneficial to have an understanding of etymology and of the writings and thoughts that influenced men (and some women) of letters. Approaching texts solely from a 21st century standpoint will give a different reading experience and in my view one that tells only a part of the story. Bakhtin's book on Rabelais starts from the premise that Rabelais has been seriously misunderstood by 20th century critics because they failed to engage with important aspects of life in the 16th century which shaped Rabelais magnum opus Gargantua and Pantagruel.

Rabelais and his world was Mikhail Bakhtins first book to be published in English when it appeared in 1968, it had enjoyed a stormy reception when it was first published in Russia some years earlier, but now it is considered a classic on the subject of the renaissance.

Bakhtin provided a summary of the many of the essential points of his book in a sort of closing statement where he says:

"The main failure of contemporary West-European Rabelaisiana consists in the fact that it ignores folk culture and tries to fit Francois Rabelais novel into a framework of official culture, to conceive it as following the stream of "great" French literature. Because of this misinterpretation Rabelais scholars are unable to master that which is most essential in the novel..........Rabelais inherited and brought to fulfilment thousands of years of folk humour. His work is the unique key for the understanding of this culture in its most powerful, deep, and original manifestation...........While analysing past ages we are too often obliged "to take each epoch at it's word", that is to believe it's official ideologists. We do not hear the voice of the people and cannot find and decipher it's pure unmixed expression."

Just what it is that those 20th century critics missed is the subject of Bakhtin's book. Firstly they failed to take into account the importance of the culture of the carnival and the market place which were essential qualities of late medieval and Renaissance life. This culture of the carnival was based on laughter and laughter to some extent alleviated the fear of day to day existence and certainly the fear of God that was an essential part of religious life. This second life outside of the world of officialdom was used extensively in Gargantua and Pantegruel by Rabelais and failure to understand this culture which Bakhtin calls folk culture makes it impossible to understand 16th century literature and Rabelais in particular. Bakhtin says that by using grotesque realism Rabelais was able to present a contradictory and double faced portrait of renaissance life, a life that consisted both of official and folk culture and Bakhtin backs up his thesis with plenty of examples from both Gargantua and Pantegruel. Another essential element of Rabelais ideas is his use of grotesque realism, which includes exaggerated images of bodily functions and is not just a list of vulgarities but goes further; laying stress on their regenerative powers. The outlook for mankind is optimistic despite all the filth and crap that surrounds us, because it is precisely from this that we are reborn. Secondly critics have failed to take into account Rabelais' use of words and the changing face of the language in the sixteenth century. Rabelais wrote Gargantua and Pantegruel in the vernacular (earlier it they would have been written in Latin) but it was at a time when the vernacular was undergoing substantial change. Bakhtin points out that Rabelais use of language was unique especially his usage of words gathered from the market place, that would never have been written down before. From Bakhtins perspective Rabelais was a unique chronicler of his life and times and for this reason alone he is an important force in world literature.

The whole story of Rabelais and his importance is probably not told in Bakhtin's book, however it would seem to me that an essential part of that story is here and it is a part that has not been understood properly previously. It is a book of ideas and as such is worth reading by anybody interested in Rabelais and certainly anybody interested in the renaissance. I have still to read Gargantua and Pantegruel and at over a 1000 pages in the penguin classics edition they are not tomes that I would want to re-read anytime soon and so having Bakhtin's thoughts in my head, will I am sure enhance my reading experience. Rabelais and his world has been translated by Helene Iswolsky, which is very readable, the book itself can be a little repetitive but when dealing with such original ideas on a subject, it is good to have those thoughts re-stated in ways that add to our understanding and I found that Bakhtin achieves this with his summaries that appear throughout the book. An impressive work that goes beyond literary criticism and takes the reader into the realms of reinterpreting a period of history that is original and thought provoking. A 4.5 star read.

Hey Barry, I enjoyed your reviews of Robert Cray and Marcus Miller at the jazz festival. Any more?

Terrific review of Rabelais, Barry. I always learn a lot while reading your reviews, and this was no exception.

What Colleen said!

Yes there will be more Paul. I went to a concert last night and have tickets for four more, reviews to follow......

Superb review of Rabelais and His World. I read Gargantua and Pantagruel some years ago and enjoyed it, but I'm sure I would have taken more from it with the preparation you have.

Brilliant review of Rabelais and His World, Barry. I will take your comments in the first paragraph to heart, and remember them when I do read pre-20th century works of literature.

Rabelais e Folengo e altri studi sulla letteratura francese del '500 describes how Rabelais was influenced by Folengo, the author of Baldo, a macaronic (mixture of latin and italian) opus that also contains much folk language and ideas.

The Rabelais book looks fascinating. Thanks for the review.

Superb review of the Bakhtin book, great encouragement to read Rabelais himself. I'm a big Robert Cray fan too.

I will admit to being completely unfamiliar with Rabelias. Fabulous review, Barry, but one that makes me feel very undereducated!

>108 baswood: - never understand why Robert Cray has such a poor reputation but it seems pretty prevalent. Probably didn't help touring with Eric Clapton and Tina Turner, tainted by association. Also his albums tend to be slicker than the live performances, still blues but infused with soul.

>113 baswood: - what's always intrigued me about Bakhtin's theory of carnivalesque is that in the real world carnival was a method of letting out steam, turning the world upside but only for a day. After carnival was over society was still the same as before.
If a novel uses this notion to say what can't be said in ordinary circumstances it will not disappear the next day. Bakhtin's is therefore contesting that literature is a way of challenging authority and instigating cultural change. Is that still valid?

I enjoyed your review of Rabelais and His World very much. I have attempted to read the book several times and was not successful. Your review provided some helpful context for the book and encouraged me to give it another try.
The edition I have is the Urquhart/Motteux translation from Britannica's Great Books set. The Wikipedia article does not have a lot of good things to say about this translation. Please let me know if you think I should get the Iswolsky translation. Reading an inferior translation would be a waste of a lot of time.

Your review of the Robert Cray Band performance was very enjoyable. I have been a blues fan for over four decades and have two albums by the Robert Cray Band. I enjoy his work and really appreciate the fact that he is carrying on the blues tradition. As you point out he is a bluesman, plain and simple with a wonderfully expressive voice. When I first started listening to the blues I was making a living doing construction work. The music touched something inside me with its unique portrayal of the emotional realities of life, and it still does.

Awesome and inspiring review. Makes me want to read Bakhtin and Rabelais.

Thanks for your comments everybody

Turner that is some question you have asked and probably needs a thesis to answer it. Michael Holquist's forward to Bakhtin's book says that Rabelais and his world was an attempt to show how the Russian revolutoin had lost touch with the people. Bakhtin's initial ideas for his book had been developed and published in the 1940's when Stalin was still in power and he might well have believed that literature can challenge authority and may even instigate change. While I was aware of the politics in Bakhtin's book it did not strike me as a political book, it is much more of a critique on Rabelais and his place in literature,

Wildbill, I have not seen the Urquhart/Motteux translation and so cannot compare, but I found the Iswolsky translation read very well.

Saturday 27 July Marciac
ACS Geri Allen (piano), Esperanza Spalding, (bass) Terri Lyne Carrington (drums)

Over the last seven years since we have been going to see concerts at the Marciac Jazz Festival, Lynn has always bemoaned the fact that there are so few women in jazz who are not vocalists and so when any do appear we go and see them. ACS are an all girl trio who have made names for themselves in the jazz world in their own right. We have previously seen Esperanza Spalding leading her own groups and I know and like the piano playing of Geri Allen and so we had high hopes of ACS. Unfortunately they did not live up to our expectations. As a group or unit they hardly existed at all; and at first I put this down to the performers getting used to each others styles or feeling their way into some sort of cohesion, but as the performance went on they never really seemed to gel. This is not to say it was a bad concert, because Allen and Spalding played very well, each having a solo spot that was musically enjoyable. In my opinion it was the rhythm section of Spalding and Terri Lyne Carrington that did not work very well. Spalding seemed to be playing solos throughout the gig even when she should have been concentrating on keeping time to help the other soloists and Carrington's drumming was just adequate at best. In jazz groups I tend to think that the bigger the drum kit then the worse the drummer and Carrington had a pretty big kit. It was all a bit disappointing.



Wayne Shorter 4; featuring Danilo Perez (pno) John Patitucci (bass) and Brian Blade (drums)
This concert was part of Wayne Shorter's 80th birthday tour and throughout his career he has been noted for his minimalist approach to soloing. Often it is the gaps or silences between the notes or phrases that are a feature of his solo technique and so at 80 years old I hardly expected him to launch into long tenor saxophone solos and I suppose the scarcity of his playing might have disappointed some people. I think the clue was in the group title which emphasised Wayne Shorter 4 featuring........because the music played was group improvisation. They played for 1 and a half hours with only one very short pause. The piano trio of Perez, Patitucci and Blade was of the highest order as the music seemed to swirl and grow organically from Perez's piano leads. Brian Blades drumming was exciting and dynamic and Patitucci was inventive and provided the pulse that held the group together. From time to time Shorter would pick up his tenor or soprano sax and play his trademark light breathy little collections of notes and spaces. It was mesmerising stuff, challenging at times but always interesting, full of melodic invention and Blade's powerful drumming that pushed the music forward. It was not music that would appeal to everybody and some people left well before the end, but there were plenty of people who stayed and we demanded and got three encores. Another good night at Marciac

Morality Play Barry Unsworth
Set in the 14th century Unsworth's novel stands or falls by the authors ability to transport the reader back into those turbulent years. It stood very tall for me especially as the story is not based on recorded historical events and its subject matter is not the upper echelons of society. The story is told in the first person by an apprentice cleric who has absconded from his monastery and falls in with a small band of travelling players who are faced with the problems of burying one of their number who had just died and of earning enough money to keep themselves alive. The troupe including Nicholas the cleric stumble upon a small town, which is reeling from the news that another young boy has been murdered. The players find lodging in an inn and put on a performance of their usual repertoire in the inn yard, but barely make enough money to cover their costs. Martin the leader of the troupe then has the idea of making a play based on the recent murder of the young boy and sends the players out amongst the local people to gather information. The performance the next day packs out the yard but the players enquiries have led them deep into a mystery that is in some important peoples best interest to keep hidden. The players are skilful enough to improvise when they run out of story line but their playing uncovers facts that puts them all in danger for their lives.

An enticing murder mystery develops that Unsworth never allows to become more than believable with his inspired depiction of a few days in the life of a travelling group of players, who push their luck just a bit too far. Martin is the charismatic leader of a group who all leap off the pages in well drawn character studies, but it is Unsworth's ability to get inside the mind of Nicholas and tell the story from a seemingly authentic fourteenth century viewpoint that makes this book so interesting. I don't think he puts a foot wrong; nothing jarred with me in a sustained piece of story telling. This is an example of the young Nicholas trying to make sense out of the troupe's willingness to follow Martin on his dangerous path:

"They were in some fear perhaps, but it was not fear of offending God, it was fear of the freedom that Martin was holding out, the licence to play anything in the world. Such licence brings power........Yes, he offered us the world, he played Lucifer to us in the cramped space of the barn. But the closer prize he did not need to offer, it was already there in our minds: the people would flock to see the murder played. And they would pay. In the end it was our destitution that won the day for him. That and the habit of mind of players, who think of their parts and how best to do them, and listen to the words of the master-player, but do not often think of the meaning as a whole. Had these done so, they would have seen what I, more accustomed to conclusions, saw and trembled at: if we make our own meanings, God will oblige us to answer our own questions, He will leave us in the void without the comfort of His Word."

Unsworth raises some interesting themes in this short passage, themes that would have troubled any thinking person in the fourteenth century, who needed to come to terms with the fear of not following the Word of God as interpreted by religious leaders, however Unsworth is content to raise these issues and does not explore them to such an extent that they will get in the way of the central subject matter of his book which is the murder mystery. It cannot be considered as great literature, but is certainly very good literature. What Unsworth has written is a superb historical work of fiction; dripping with period detail that explores the thoughts and actions of a group of travelling players, who push their envelope further than is advisable in the society in which they struggle to live. There are plenty of insights into the world of nascent dramatics and a world view that makes this reader appreciate the comforts and freedom of the 21st century. But what of the murder mystery at the heart of the novel? Is it a good one? It is well worked with no loose ends and thoroughly in keeping with its period, there are some surprises, but most lovers of such stories will have got to the denouement well before the author. I found it satisfying enough, although at the end of the day it lacked some excitement as the danger to the characters was resolved off stage with their story being recounted second hand, nevertheless a four star read

Morality Play sounds very interesting. Where does it take place? (Or is it non-specific?) It sounds like the concept is similar to that of The Name of the Rose, which is also set in the 14th century.

The town in which the action takes place is not named although as the travelling group are on the road to Durham in the very north of England and are some days away from their Lord's castle, I would hazard a guess and say they were probably somewhere in Yorkshire or Lancashire.

That sounds like a good one! On to the wishlist it goes ....

I remember enjoying Morality Play when I read it many years ago. Your review brings back a lot.

Thanks for a great review.

Excellent review of Morality Play, Barry. I recently bought a used copy of Sacred Hunger and am now tempted also by this one. Fortunately, our library system has many of Unsworth's books.

I've never read any Unsworth but this sounds intriguing, especially because I've been reading about medieval times in other books.

Great review. I really liked this book and was struck by the way Unsworth was able to portray the fear and unease of a changing world for a group of uneducated people as the troupe works through the play and the audience responds.

We had our book club meeting today and no-one liked Shantaram, at least no-one owned up to liking it, although I did make a case for his descriptions of life on the streets of Bombay. It turned into a bit of a competition to find the most over-the-top bits of the book, we all agreed that his repeated attempts to explain the meaning of life at taught him by Khaderbai the godfather of the Bombay crime barons was the most hilarious.

Great review, bas. I hope to check that one out.

that sounds like an amazing book. Wonderful review!

Thanks folks

Diana Krall - Marciac 30 July 2013
Diana Krall was the headline act tonight in the chapiteau at the Jazz festival. Extra seating had been installed taking the capacity above the 6000 mark. It was evident that the concert was sold out, because of the number of people trying to sell tickets at the entrance to the festival area. This was the last night of a European tour for her and she was supported by Stuard Duncan (guitar, violin) Aram Bakjakian (guitar) Patrick Warren (keyboards) Dennis Crouch (bass) Karriem Riggins (drums). Most people though had come to see Dianna Krall and she did not disappoint playing a one and a half hour set remaining seated at her piano throughout. Introduced as Madame Krall by the compare and noted in the past for being a little diffident with her audience here, (she had once complained that she felt tired) tonight she seemed happy to be on stage and enjoying playing and singing from her extensive repertoire of show tunes and modern classics. I had not seen her before and was immediately struck by her voice which is a wonderful instrument which she can bend around a tune in a way that sounds tuneful and satisfying. I am sure that many hours of practice has resulted in her being able to deliver the songs with such consummate ease; her contralto vocals never lacking for pitch and timing. She also played a lot of piano rocking out some fine introductions to the songs and playing assuredly on the slower numbers. The guitarist and the violinist were given some short solo space in a few of the songs, but this was Diana Krall's show and she needed little help.

She explained that some of the songs she was playing tonight were from the 1920's, which she had discovered in her fathers house and so many of the early numbers would not have been familiar to the audience. She had jazzed up the arrangements and found the opportunity to punch out some boogie-woogie and barrel house piano on some of the quicker tempo songs, Lynn found the slower numbers a bit mawkish, but I was captivated by that voice. She then played a number of more familiar show tunes before launching into her repertoire of Canadian songwriters and featured songs by Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and The Band. There were more modern classics including a very fine version of Bob Dylan's Simple Twist of Fate. I thought it was a good programme of songs and she came back on stage to do three more tunes for an encore. The audience was satisfied. I would certainly go and see her again as she makes songs sound so musical. She is no great personality and seems a little uncomfortable talking to the audience, but it is all in the singing of the songs and for that I am willing to pay my money.

Shai Maestro
The first act tonight was the Shai Maestro trio, who did not rock anybody's boat. He played mostly original material in tuneful carefully constructed arrangements. Music to float along by, but with also a certain amount of depth and lovingly played. I got a bit fed up with his obsequious stage presence and came to the conclusion he was following in the footsteps of the now defunct EST trio who pioneered this sort of music a decade ago. It is thoughtful and precise, but for me lacking in excitement or originality, but I was happy to pass an hour or so listening to his playing. He got a very good reception from the packed house tonight.

Love to chat but you have put me in the mood for youtube.

Earth Abides by George R Stewart
This novel is listed in Abe's 50 essential science fiction novels as well as Pringle's 100 best science fiction novels, it is also published in the SF masterwork series. It has many excellent reviews on LT and so my expectations were high. I was not disappointed. Published in 1949 it has claim to be one of the first dystopia novels and if not the first it is certainly one of the best that I have read. This is the sort of science fiction novel that if you chanced upon it in the 1960's it would probably make you a science fiction fan for a long time to come and it still reads well today; as long as you allow yourself to view things from a 1940's perspective. This is particularly important for this novel because civilization is basically halted in its tracks when a mysterious plague wipes out most of the human race in little over a week. There are only very few people that survive and the story is told from the POV of one of the survivors: Isherwood Williams (Ish for short)

The 1940's were in some respects more gentle times than today and this is reflected in Stewarts view of a world where survival is the key to existence, but there are no gangs of motorcycle warlords roaming the streets as you might find in a Mad Max film, people are more inclined to help each other than shoot each other on sight or torture each other to death. Ish is an academic with a few practical skills, who at times prefers his own company and feels uncomfortable in certain social situations, but he has a good heart and a will to keep going when faced with a devastating situation. He had been up country in a log cabin when he had suffered a rattlesnake bite, he survived but was laid up for a week, when he came back down to civilization he found he was possibly the only person left alive following a great plague. Stewart grips the reader from the start with Ish's predicament and his search for fellow survivors, there are very few of these and most of them have been driven insane or just given up at the prospect of being alone in the world, however Ish does find a few individuals and they band together realising it is their best chance to survive. Ish's story is the story of this small community, who get around to calling themselves the Tribe when babies start to be produced.

Stewarts master stroke is to make this group a very ordinary collection of individuals, there are no obvious leaders of men, no one has more than the most everyday practical skills and no one is a scientific genius, their time is spent trying to adapt to their new situation, certain rituals are established, although religion is largely avoided. Stewarts big theme is the how quickly civilization would disappear for a group like this, who do not have the man power or the skills to keep even the electricity supply functioning. When the lights go out the group resort to gas lamps and candles only dimly aware that when these run out they cannot be replaced. Ish is the only one of the group who thinks about the future and attempts to halt the groups slide into ignorance and perhaps barbarity as they soon become little more than hunter gatherers. There is however an underlying humanity in the Tribe and this is what makes the reader care about them and about Ish.

Stewart intersperses his narrative with some ideas of how the natural world would adapt following the near demise of man, this is evident within the story itself as machinery no longer works, vegetation re-establishes itself everywhere and concrete and steel deteriorate, but the little asides are fascinating and are brief enough not to get in the way of the narrative. For the most part the book is well written although there is some annoying repetition when Stewart forces his point across, and I wanted to say to him that his readers may not be as dumb as many of the people in the Tribe.

I did not have to suspend belief in this story and could well imagine a similar situation for a group of individuals who survive a plague in the 21st century, for example what would they do when their cell phones stopped working. Great science fiction and a very good novel which I would rate at 4.5 stars.

oh I think I might like that! Thanks for the excellent review.

Enjoyed your Wayne Shorter 4 review Barry. I think I'd have definitely been one of those staying to the end... Danilo Perez is a fantastic musician. I remember seeing him in Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations World Orchestra way back (in the late 80s?) - unfortunately not in the flesh, but it was a TV broadcast that I captured on VHS and played back many a time. That was a hell of a band - Dizzy, Arturo Sandoval, Claudio Rodditti, Flora Purim, Danilo Perez, James Moody...

Terrific review of Morality Play as well!

...And a great review of Earth Abides as well. I've had this one on my wishlist for a while - just waiting for that magic moment when I'll come by a copy - and your review has reaffirmed for me that I really do want to read this sooner rather than later.

I was alerted to Earth Abides when Steven reviewed it earlier this year, and now with your review I think I have to look for it, although I am not usually a science fiction reader.

Great review of Earth Abides, Barry. I also enjoyed your comments on the Diana Krall concert. I googled her, listened a bit, and then found that she is playing in our area this Fall. I hope that we will be able to attend. Thanks for the introduction to her music!

The annual book swop today for English readers in this corner of South West France. We came away with two large carrier bags of books. The couple that host the event now have such a large collection of books that there is plenty for everybody and so you can load up the boot of your car for free. I came away with:

The Dante Club by Mathew Pearl
Lanark Alasdair Gray
A House for Mr Biswas V S Naipaul
Angels and Insects A S Byatt
Don Quixote, Kathy Acker
Beloved Toni Morrison
Shikasta Doris Lessing
Year's Best SF 13 Edited by David G Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
The Dark Labyrinth Lawrence Durrell
The Middle Age of Mrs Elliot Angus Wilson
Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller
Brighton Rock Graham Greene
Hawkwood: Diabolical Englishman Frances Stoner saunders
Synchronicity; An Acausal connecting principle Carl Jung
Popular literature; A history and Guide, Victor E Neuburg
Tom Jones Henry Fielding
The Moonstone Wilkie Collins
Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy
The Return of the Native Thomas Hardy
Crime and Punishment Dostoyevsky
Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott
Selected short stories, Guy De Maupassant
War and Peace Tolstoy
Nostromo Joseph Conrad
Lord Jim Joseph Conrad
The Deep End, Granta Granta collection of short stories
She H Rider Haggard
The Ice Storm Rick Moody
A Question of Belief Donna Leon
Friends in High Places Donna Leon
Foucaults Pendulum Umberto Eco
The unvanquished Willaim Faulkner
The American Henry James

Lynn felt she could carry a few less books than me and she came away with:
The Last Secret of the Temple Paul Sussman
Death in a Strange Country Donna Leon
The Anonymous Venetian Donna Leon
Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift
Snow Orhan Pamuk
I know this much is true Wally Lamb
The Three Daughters of Madame Liang
The Children of Hurin J R R Tolkein
Interesting Women Andrea Lee
The Third Heaven Conspiracy Guilo Leoni
A Week in December Sebastian Faulks
Chowringhee Sankar
The Glass Palace Amitav Ghosh
The Birth of Venus Sarah Dunant
Jar City Arnaldur Indridason
The Light of Day Graham Swift
Arthur and George Julian Barnes
Our Game Le Carre
Street Dreams Faye Kellerman

What fun! And what a great list of books!

What a great haul!

I'm envious that you got to see Esperanza Spalding, she is one of my favourite musicians.

Wonderful load of books!

Hope your vehicle has a sturdy suspension. What a great haul and it looks like the two of you can trade most of them back and forth.

I would love to see Diana Krall in person. I've only heard her music. Was Elvis Costello there too?

VERY nice haul! What fun! Just went and read wandering_star's review of Interesting Women and think I'll look for that.

Some great books there. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of Kathy Acker.

Earth Abides looks quite fascinating, and resonates well with my recent read of Fahrenheit 451. I might need to check out these "SF Masterworks" books.

As a Jung fan, I'm curious to see how you will like the book on synchronicity. Jung can be a difficult writer, as he's not very linear, but if you sink into his style the connections become clear.

>151 baswood: wow!

I learn so much from your reviews, books I'll likely not get to, but Morality Play went right to the wishlist.

Paco de Lucia Marciac jazz festival Monday 5 August

After his sensational performance here three years ago it was clear that this was going to be another sold out concert. He walked on stage alone and sat down, made himself comfortable and then took up his guitar and for the next ten minutes gave a master class in modern flamenco guitar playing. It was passionate, intricate and tuneful with notes ringing out true and clear. Gradually the rest of his entourage joined him on stage and we were treated to some wonderful music. Antonio Sanchez on second guitar, Antonio Serrano on harmonica, Alain Perez bass guitar, Pirana percussioin, Rubio vocals, David de Jacoba vocals and the dancer Ferruco who also sings. Paco de Lucia has been around the world music scene for a long time and has led jazz groups, but over the last few years he has gone back to his flamenco roots, but he has brought to the music a certain gloss from his musical experience. He plays vibrant flamenco music, but there is more shape to the songs and above all a music that can crossover without sacrificing too much of the passion of the flamenco. You have only got to see his two singers fists clenched down by their sides as they improvise over the rhythms set by the band. It is not all improvisation and they come back to recognisable refrains, which gives the audience something to latch onto. Brilliant solo spots from Paco and Antonio Serrano on harmonica make most of the songs live in the memory.

Perhaps the highspot of the performance is the dancing of Ferruco. His footwork is a blur of Cuban heeled stamping as he struts his stuff in front of the group. There is a groundswell of expectancy from the audience as he walks to the platform at the front of the stage. We know we are going to see some fireworks and he does not disappoint; long hair dripping with sweat flying about his head as he performs impossible twists and jumps. The audience loved him.

I think.that would have knocked me out! And what a way to go!

I love flamenco! Sounds like a wonderful experience.

The Paco de Lucia concert sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing your comments about it.

Great list of books, which includes quite a number of tomes. That's a whole year's reading for most people.

The Sleeper Awakes H G Wells
I can see plenty of reasons why people and critics have not liked Wells' story of a London 200 years in the future as much as some of his earlier science fiction because it can be read as:
An anti-capitalist rant
Overtly racist in its portrayal of a negro police force
A novel that literally finishes in mid-air
Wells' vision of the future falls fairly wide of the mark
Structural problems with passages of world building that seem levered into an adventure story
Very little character development.

Wells himself was not happy with the original novel published in 1899 as When the sleeper Awakes, because in 1910 he published a revised version calling it more simply The Sleeper Awakes. His reasons for the revisions were that the original novel was written in too much haste and at the same time as Love and Mr Lewisham with the latter novel taking precedence. Looking back he found some of the writing clumsy and he also wanted to remove any hint of a love affair between Graham (the sleeper) and Helen Wotton. There was no drastic re-write and he did little more than tidy up his novel and so must have been reasonably happy with it.

Having read the revised version I would brush aside most of these criticisms because I think Wells has written an astonishing science fiction novel; packed with ideas that have been mined by many writers following him, when they created their dystopian worlds: 1984 and Brave New World foremost among them. The story perhaps has a too simple premise; A man(Graham) wracked by insomnia eventually falls asleep, not waking up until 200 years in the future. While he has been sleeping his investments have accrued and been managed by friends to such an extent that he is in effect owner of half the world, by the time he wakes up in 2002. He awakes to a very different world, one where rampant capitalism has resulted in a society divided by class. A few ultra rich people control the cities, forcing the working population to labour under awful conditions in order to qualify for food rations. A Political schemer Ostrog has been using the legend of (the Sleeper) as a way of garnering support from the working population in order to seize power from an elite Council, however when the sleeper awakes against all expectations and proves to have his own ideas about how the city should be run then conflict with Ostrog is inevitable.

It is Wells description of a city of the future that is so fascinating, with it's moving walkways, the giant wind machines responsible for providing power, it's omnipresent advertising with sound bites designed to hook people into buying the products, Its denuding of the countryside forcing people to live in the glass cities, the complete destruction of the family unit with dormitories for raising children, the use of psychology and hypnotism that largely replaces medicine, the babble machines that constantly give the people the latest news in sound bites and finally the condition of the lower working classes forced to wear a uniform and literally being fed according to how hard they can work. It is the city of London that Wells is describing and it is nothing like the London of 2002, but Wells' vision of the future could merely be out in timing rather than fact. It is Wells' skill in creating this future world in which he sets his story that is so impressive and the story has its moments of excitement; Graham's escape over the glass rooftops of London with the ever present wind vane machines looming in the background. The fight between Graham and Ostrog in the vast hall of the Council and finally Grahams derring do in the monoplane above London. Yes there are times when the story is suspended while Wells describes his new world, but that is the case with many science fiction novels and Wells is more skilled than most.

Finally perhaps it is Wells' lack of humour in this novel that makes for less than a completely satisfying read. Graham shows plenty of courage, political nous and a desire to put things right as he sees it. He says to Ostrog;

"I came from a democratic age and I find an aristocratic tyranny" "Well" says Ostrog "but you are the Chief Tyrant"

I feel that Ostrog's witty reply would have been lost on Graham, perhaps Wells should have given him, and expanded that love interest with Helen Wotton after all, just to show him in a more human light, but obviously this was not Wells' intention.

Remembering that this book was written in 1899 and that Victorian views on race and sex were different to some of our own then I think this is a disturbing and thought provoking view of a future that still might be ahead of us. Even if that is not the case Wells' world building is impressive and with a story line that has moments of high drama and imagination I would not hesitate to recommend this to readers interested in early science fiction. It may not have quite the literary merit of 1984 or Brave New World, but can be read as an interesting precursor and H G Wells knew how to write a good novel with wide appeal. I would rate this as 3.5 stars

The whole premise sounds rather interesting and very imaginative.
Love your Wells reviews. Every time I read one that Wells book I have here gets nudged more upward on the TBR pile!

Great review of The Sleeper Awakes, Barry. I've just added the e-book to my Kindle.

Joe Cocker - Marciac Jazz Festival 7th August

Another sold out concert at this years festival as the Joe Cocker rock show came to town. I can't remember if I had seen Joe back in the 1960's when he first came onto the scene, but I have certainly heard most of his early discs. So the first question in my mind as he came onto stage was "is that wonderful rock voice still functioning." All doubts were dispersed when he launched into his first song Dave Mason's "Feeling Alright" He still sounded good. He fronted a large group of excellent rock musicians and a couple of female backing singers, but he did not need to hide behind their talents as he belted out one song after another. He sung highlights from his two more recent discs, but it was the old songs that pleased me the most. He has always done a great job with Beatle songs and tonight he did "Come Together" and ended the show with "With a little help from my friends" which had given him his first big hit. He still managed to make a fair fist of that sort of strangulated scream he does in the middle of the number. I felt a bit apprehensive for him when he executed a sort of two footed jump at the end of the show, because now he is quite a portly gentlemen, but he repeated the feat for his encore, although not getting quite so high off the ground. All was well and there were plenty of people dancing in the aisles at the end of the show. A good rock concert.

I'm glad to hear that Joe Cocker is still delivering the goods. Great concert review, Barry!

Altho, that photo doesn't go with "rock conert". I was at a Ringo concert a few years ago and I remember looking around and thinking sheesh, what are all these overweight gray haired old people doing at a Ringo concert. Then I thought, "Oh............"

I visited Red Rocks Amphitheater yesterday in Golden, CO and it is at about 6,000 ft. I never thought about how altitude would effect singing performance but now I wonder.

Joe Cocker has always been one of my favorite performers - just as much joy to listen to as to watch! The last time I saw him "perform" was when he did "Come Together" in the movie, Across the Universe. It was a brief appearance, but it was awesome!

What a blessing to have all this wonderful music come to you baswood!
I'm not jealous at all.
*fingers crossed behind my back*

>171 mkboylan: My aunt lives in Colorado and she took us to Red Rocks Amphitheater when I was probably around 7. We saw the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (I don't remember that too well) and this hysterical comedian with a banjo who blew up balloons and put arrows through his head. Always proud of the fact that I got to see Steve Martin live! :)

Loved your review of the Bakhtin, Barry -- I must get to that one. Glad you like Morality Play and I'm envious of your glorious book haul. Sounds like you're have a rewarding music fest too!

My interest in early science fiction has led me to peruse the free books available at the Gutenberg Project and I downloaded today:

1871 The Coming Race baron Edward Bulwer Lytton
1886 She H Rider Haggard
!886 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson
1889 looking backward 2000-1887 Edward Bellamy
1911 The Hampdenshire Wonder J D Beresford
1912 The Lost World Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1917 The Princess of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs
1921 A voyage to Arcturus David Lindsay
1923 The Girl in the Golden Atom Ray Cummings

I have recently read Journey to the Centre of the Earth and 20,000 leagues under the sea by Jules Verne, but I am wondering if anybody has any more suggestions for very early classic science fiction/fantasy

For the sci-fi lovers, there are 16 Ray Bradbury science fiction books on the Kindle daily deal for $1.99 each.

#174 - I've read 5 of the ones on your list--all a long time ago except for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which I re-read earlier this week. Some of the others are already on my Kindle. Edgar Rice Burroughs's novels were an addiction at one point. I read over 40 of them, finally giving out midway through the Tarzan series. A Voyage to Arcturus is one of the bleakest novels I've ever read--I'm looking forward to seeing if you can make more sense of it than I did.

Here are some additional pre-1939 SF works I would recommend:

1872 Erewhon by Samuel Butler
1920 R.U.R. a play by Karel Capek (gave us the term "robot")
1924 We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
1936 War with the Newts by Karel Capek

ETA: A great source for links to free science fiction ebooks is the Project Gutenberg Australia "SF at PGA" page. There is a huge list with links to books on PG US, PG Australia, and other sites. The list is in multiple parts, starting with Australian authors. As you'll see, however, the list includes a lot of gothic and suspense fiction (e.g. Northanger Abbey) that can't be considered science fiction.

I read She a million years ago and don't remember it at all. We and Capek are definitely books/authors I've got on my mental wishlist.

Thanks for the suggestions Steven. I had forgotten about Erewhon and so will add that to my kindle.
I have ordered the Karel Capek books, which I believe have been recently translated as War with the Newts has featured on various threads here.
I will explore further those links on Project Gutenberg Australia.

Rebecca I am starting She today as light relief while reading Gargantua and Pantegruel

I just ran across a list I compiled a few months ago of 100+ SF books I wanted to read or re-read. Here are some additional pre-1939 ideas from it:

1890 News from Nowhere by William Morris
1908 The Iron Heel by Jack London
1913 Lesabéndio: An Asteroid Novel by Paul Scheerbart
1913 The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle
1915 Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
1915 Plutonia by Vladimir Obruchev
1934 Triplanetary by E. E. Smith (1st of the Lensman series)

>164 baswood: - I love those old images of the future. I still feel disappointed that I don't live in a future designed by SF artists.
I've always avoided The Sleeper Awakes on the basis that it was usually described as a bit of a mess but your review makes it sound much more interesting. I wonder if some of the criticism at the time could have been down to producing a clutch of masterpieces and then something not up the expected standard.

>169 baswood: - it is amazing that Joe Cocker is still alive, I'm sure that in the late 60's and early 70's he was near the top of rock stars most likely to die suddenly. I always link him with Rod Stewart as singers with great voices but too lazy, too content just to release material for the sake of it, with no quality control. (Yes, I know Rod Stewart's Songbook series sold and sold and sold but that doesn't make the albums any good).

So I am wondering what the criteria is for rock stars most likely to die suddenly. Over indulgence in drugs or alcohol must be at the top of the list.

Yes, but then there's Mick Jagger . . .

He's pickled!

Airplanes must come in a close second - Patsy Cline, Lynard Skynard, Richie Valens, Jim Crocie, Stevie Ray Vaughan (*sniff*)

Mick Jagger is pickled, as Vivienne says, and Keith Richards is a zombie remember!

Ahh, time to listen to some Stevie Ray Vaughan...

>184 avidmom: - you missed four of the biggest to die that way: Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Rick Nelson & John Denver.
On behalf of commercial airlines and to ease the mind of those about to depart on holiday it should be noted that all of these deaths were in small aircraft.
On a pedantic level SRV died in a helicopter accident and we all know that they aren't really aerodynamic.

The night of the saxophones at Marciac Thursday August 8

Ravi Coltrane quartet + Steve Coleman followed by Joshua Redman quartet



Superb night of music in the chapiteau on Thursday night. I think I saw and heard the two best younger generation saxophonists in the world this evening in Steve Coleman and Joshua Redman, while Ravi Coltrane was not too far behind. Steve Coleman on alto saxophone guested with the Ravi Coltrane quartet featuring Ravi on tenor sax David Virelles on piano Dezron Douglas on bass and Jonathan Blake on drums. After a couple of numbers by the Ravi Coltrane Group; Steve Coleman walked out on stage and immediately the music seemed to move up a gear, he has a wonderful broad tone, nothing too flashy, but his playing is both intricate and inventive. The group played mostly original compositions, but the interplay between Ravi and Steve was breathtakingly precise and rhythmic and when it came to Steve Coleman's turn to solo he played as though he had power in reserve as the notes tumbled out of his horn in beautiful patterns. There were excellent solos from David Virelles on piano and the Jonathan Blake a giant of a man on drums powered everything along superbly. Wonderful jazz.

After the interval Joshua Redman came onstage like a man with something to prove and launched into a fiery version of "Summertime". I have never seen him so animated as he played some prodigious leaps and swoops of notes as he blazed through Gershwin's brilliant aria. His group consisted of Aaron Parks on piano Reuben Rogers bass and Gregory Hutchinson drums and they are a world class jazz quartet. Joshua then paused for breath to introduce some of his own material, but he still seemed to be playing like a man possessed: but he slowed everything right down when he improvised over the chords to "Stardust" and got a tremendous round of applause when the audience recognised the song. Aaron parks on piano with a style very different to Davis Virelles in the previous set took some exciting solos and it was a privilege to hear such great playing from both these pianists tonight. Joshua Redman is a great favourite here at Marciac and many of us remember a superb duo performance with Brad Mehldau three years ago, but tonight it was all about his group. He encored with a lovely version of the Beatles "Let it be"

I realised that apart from being such great saxophone players Ravi and Joshua are sons of famous Jazz fathers and Coleman is also a famous name in jazz.

The night was not over yet although it should have been. After another interval we were treated to Celine Bonacina Reunion. A six piece group that features Leila Martial on vocals. Celine plays mainly baritone saxophone, but as good as she is, she is just not in the same league as Coltrane, Redman or Coleman and it was a disastrous piece of programming to put her on the same night. I sat through three numbers before deciding that the music I was hearing was somehow contaminating what I had heard before and when I suggested we should leave there were no complaints.

Wow! That sounds like an amazing concert, with three of the best young saxophonists out there. I've seen Joshua Redman two or three times, but I have yet to see Ravi Coltrane or Steve Coleman. Thanks for your superb review, Barry.

#179 Some great ideas for pre 1939 science fiction there Steven.

I have also discovered this web site http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/timeline.html

I must come up with a reasonable definition for science fiction that is not too all encompassing

I have also been playing with the list feature on LT and must be careful not to spend too much time there.

#190-191 - That's a great link, but that neon green background!

Just catching up again Barry...

Like your book swap haul. Wow! An impressive collection. I'll be interested to hear what you think of Rick Moody once you get around to that one.

Thank you for such an excellent review of the Paco de Lucia gig! I also love flamenco - though I admit it's only a relatively recent discovery in the last few years. I did know some of Paco's music previously though through his world music and jazz connections. I play cajon (box-drum) in a couple of bands, and it was Paco's percussionist that he brought the first Cuban cajon (or was it Peruvian? - it hails from both places) back to Spain for not too long ago. Within a very short time it has become established as a mainstay of modern flamenco, and it has spread rapidly from there to all manner cross-genre acoustic performances everywhere. (You usually see a handful of them on display each year during the BBC's saturation coverage of the Glastonbury Festival for example).

I very much enjoyed your fascinating review of The Sleeper Awakes. Like Avidmom I love your Wells reviews.

Great review of Joe Cocker, and it is very heartening to hear he still has that extraordinary voice. I bet that was a fun show.

One early attempt at what could loosely be labelled as 'science fiction' that is relatively less known is The Scarlet Plague by Jack London. It's certainly not his finest work but I thought it was a diverting and quite prescient novella. It was published in 1912.

The Night of the Saxophones sounds like it was a very memorable concert. From your description, I think I would have snuk out too after the second interval. That'd be like Ornette Colman with Sonny Rollins being followed up by Acker Bilk!! - Or is that mean?

I'm very jealous of you having such a high class local festival. I used to live about 50km from the Red Sea Jazz Festival which used to have a very good reputation and broadly appealing line up from year to year. I can't vouch for it these days though... (Did I say how much I enjoyed your Wayne Shorter review?)

Thanks for stopping by and catching up Paul. I was very impressed by Rick Moody's Purple America

There are a couple of jack London books that seem to resonate with science fiction fans -- I will explore further.

If you're talking early science fiction, don't forget Mary Shelley - not just Frankenstein, but The Last Man.

I made a couple of surprising Australian discoveries quite recently: Vandals Of The Void by James Morgan Walsh (NOT Jack Vance) from 1931, apparently the first "space opera", and The Germ Growers by Robert Potter from 1892, an alien invasion story that predates The War Of The Worlds. (It's a religious allegory, but the pure science fiction bits, e.g. alien technology, are well done and engaging.)

Thanks Liz, I was just thinking I should re-read Frankenstein, which has claims to be the first science fiction novel and The Last Man looks very interesting. Those Australian discoveries look interesting as well. More books to add to the list.

I can with all certainty state that Walsh's Vandals of the Void was not the first "space opera". By the time that was published in 1931 E.E. 'Doc' Smith & Edmund Hamilton had already started publishing, and so had a few others.

Here's a good overview of the History of SF. (This website, although a few years out-of-date is the SF site for details of authors, themes, etc).

Sorry, that was probably the wrong choice of term---it may be the first story of a battle in outer space. (Perfectly willing to be corrected on that point, too!)

Marciac jazz Festival 2013 Final night of concerts in the chapiteau

It has become a tradition at the festival for the dancers to inherit the party. Many of the seats are taken out and the drinks bar comes inside the auditorium. We started off with The Trio Rosenberg with special guest Costel Nitescu on violin. The gypsy swing groups are very popular in this part of France and there are no better practitioners than the Rosenberg trio, putting them on with a fiddle player and letting them loose on a cache of songs from the Django Reinhardt songbook was bound to get everybody tapping their feet and in the mood for a good time. After much drinking at the bar the final act was Goran Bregovic and his orchestra of marriages and funerals. Titled as Champagne for gypsies tour this Slavic brass band directed by Goran Bregovic ripped through songs that were alternately stately (for funerals) or wild dancing music (for the weddings). Irresistible music for dancing and the arena was in party mood and so were we, drinking far too much, but at 2am after the show had finished there were still plenty of places in town where we could get some food.

Sounds like a fun night!

The end of the Festival and so back to the books, join me in part 4