What a shame that THIS edition of them all is printed in the worst edition. The paper is brittly, gauzy and somewhat iridescent, the ink is sallow on the paper, the book lacks an introduction, any critical notes (any indication that the last words of the text are in fact the last words, and not a typo or printer's error, seeing as how they end at the bottom of the page and are followed immediately by the plastic cover).

It is perhaps because of the Aeneid that the phrase "les traductions sont comme les femmes: quand elles sont belles, elles ne sont pas fideles; quand elles sont fideles, elles ne sont pas belles." I have spent much of the summer in meticulous scrutiny of four editions of the aeneid: the lind, mandelbaum, humphries, and billson. the process has led me to some resultant nasty and pretentious slants of minds against the first and third of the abovelisted translations, which are in many parts mistaken, lacking in detail, and overall, diluted and generalized. the billson is actually a very difficult text if one is without a firm grounding in the english poetry that flourished a few centuries ago; billson takes delightful ''liberties'' in his word choices, and takes a unique and exhilarating grammar form, that is typically ''classical''.

i do not recommend reading this one, nor reading it in close comparison to all the other available translations. pick up a copy of wheelock's latin instead.

[This review refers to the Dover Thrift verse
edition of the AENEID translated into English
by Charles J. Billson in 1906.]

As incredible as it may seem, I prefer this
Billson verse translation over that of Allen
Mandelbaum (which I also have in the Bantam
Classic edition, 1970). What causes one person
to like one translation, and another to prefer
someone else's? It is a matter of taste, but
also of conditioning through aesthetic experience
and expectation. I have read a great many poems
in a great many forms. To my sense and sensibility
there is something about the Mandelbaum translation
of the AENEID which is too confining...too clipped...
it does not seem, to me, to flow freely. And yet
Billson's translation has archaic word choices --
but the flow of his translation seems more interesting
and "freer" than that of Mandelbaum.
Here is a sample of Mandelbaum:

I sing of arms and of a man: his fate
had made him fugitive; he was the first
to journey from the coasts of Troy as far
as Italy and the Lavinian shores.
Across the lands and waters he was battered
beneath the violence of High Ones, for
the savage Juno's unforgetting anger;
and many sufferings were his in war --
[Bantam Classic, 1970.]

And here is Billson in the Dover edition with
the same passage:

Arms and the Man I sing, who first from Troy
A Doom-led exile, on Lavinian shores
Reached Italy; long tossed on sea and land
By Heaven's rude arm, through Juno's brooding
ire,
And war-worn long ere building for his Gods
A Home in Latium: whence [came] the Latin race,
The Lords of Alba, and high-towering Rome.

To my senses, and sensibility, there is something
about Billson's language and flow which seems to
have more august grandeur -- epic style, sound, and
sweep.
Here is an even more telling example -- the famous
scene in which Aeneas plucks the Golden Bough:

[Mandelbaum:] ...just so
the gold leaves seemed against the dark-green
ilex;
so in the gentle wind, the thin gold leaf
was crackling. And at once Aeneas plucks it
and, eager, breaks the hesitating bough
and carries it into the Sibyl's house.

[Billson:] So on that shadowy oak the leafy gold
Glimmered, and tinkled in the rustling air.
Forthwith Aeneas grasped the clinging bough,
And plucked, and bare it toward the Sibyl's
cell.

There seems to me a fineness of poetic sensitivity
there, in Billson, to choose those words just so --
and have the words almost resonate with the sounds
of the objects they are describing.

This review is one of the this particular translation and not of Virgil's Aeneid. This translation is outstanding. It is a prose translation undoubtedly made by some nineteenth century British Classicist. That, however, takes nothing away from it. This is the one translation I have found that actually succeeds at keeping the beauty of Virgil's words. It makes for great sounding language and it is not spoiled by modern idioms or expressions. The translator keeps his text very literal and yet somehow manages not to sound redundant or awkward. Indeed, the words simply flow. I do not know who the translator is and oddly enough, the book doesn't tell you either. I highly recommend this translation especially to anyone who is tired of the classics not sounding like classics.

Swifts "A Modest Proposal" was a well written glimpse of what the future would be like. It was written in the 1700s and presents disturbing views of what to do about homeless individuals and people in general. It is surprising that a lot of what the book predicted, as a means to prevent those horrific circumstances came true. In the "Modest Proposal" It presented a terrible vision of what may happen in the future if humans in general would not refrain from treating each other like animals. A lot of it's predicitons came true.

It presents disturbing views because it's sole purpose is to disturb us, so we do not repeat these terrible acts of torture in real life. It is hard to acknowlege the fact that a lot of these acts of human torture are practiced in the world today. I recommend this book be read in order to understand and prevent future torture in society today.

This satire takes a sarcastic approach to reveal a serious point. This story condemns England for mistreatment of the Irish.

"A Modest Proposal", by Jonathan Swift, is a biting satire about life in 18th Century Ireland, in which the author seeks to find "a fair, cheap, and easy method" to transform the sick and starving children of Ireland into productive members of society. Swift's proposal, hardly modest, is to fatten up undernourished poor children and then sell them to more well-to-do families as food. By presenting this outrageous concept as an interrelated string of seemingly logical arguments, Swift leads the reader to understand that his proposal could simultaneously solve overpopulation and unemployment, save the poor from having to spend their meager resources on raising children, provide the poor with desperately needed extra income, and also give the wealthy access to a yet untapped high-protein delight. Of course, Swift is writing tongue-in-cheek, to shock the reader into rejecting his outrageous negative proposal and instead formulate a more sensible positive one. Although written in 1729, Swift's essay is still relevant in the 21st Century. For a really good and very quick read that repulses, amuses, and challenges you to think, I highly recommend this classic work.

In Homer's "Iliad" the one reference to Oedipus suggests he ruled in Thebes until he was killed in battle. However, in the more famous version of the tale, told by Sophocles in his classic Greek tragedy "Oedipus the King," Oedipus blinds himself and leaves Thebes. In "Oedipus at Colonus" Sophocles tells of the final fate of the exiled figure. Colonus is a village outside Athens, where the blind, old man has become a benevolent source of defense to the land that has given him his final refuge.

"Oedipus at Colonus was produced posthumously in 401 B.C.E., and the legend is that it was used by Sophocles as his defense against the charge of senility brought by his children. In terms of its lack of dramatic structure (the scenes are connected by the character of Oedipus rather than by the loosely constructed plot) and the melancholy of its lyric odes it is the most atypical of the extant plays of Sophocles. "Oedipus at Colonus" is the most poetic of his plays while being the least dramatic as well. But it is the characterization of Oedipus as a noble figure that stands out. This is still the same proud and hot-tempered figure who vowed to solve the reason for the curse on Thebes in the earlier play. But this is also an Oedipus who has accepted his punishment, even though he insists that he is innocent. After all, the sin responsible for his exile was really that of his mother; if you read "Oedipus the King" carefully you will see that the incestuous part of the prophecy was added by the Oracle after Jocasta tried to have her infant son killed in order to save her husband's life. Consequently, when Oedipus claims to be a helpless victim of destiny, there is ample reason to agree with his interpretation of events.

The fact that this was the last play written by Sophocles offers a line of analysis for understanding "Oedipus at Colonus" as well. You can read in certain lyrics, such as the first "staismon" with its ode to Colonus and the characterization of King Theseus of Athens, the playwright's praise for the democratic institutions and proud history of Athens. On a more psychological level you can consider the play as articulating Sophocles' views on death. These other considerations tend to reduce the importance of the title character, but there is the compelling argument of the play that through his personal suffering Oedipus has been purified.

In Homer's "Iliad" the one reference to Oedipus suggests he ruled in Thebes until he was killed in battle. However, in the more famous version of the tale, told by Sophocles in his classic Greek tragedy "Oedipus the King," Oedipus blinds himself and leaves Thebes. In "Oedipus at Colonus" Sophocles tells of the final fate of the exiled figure. Colonus is a village outside Athens, where the blind, old man has become a benevolent source of defense to the land that has given him his final refuge.

"Oedipus at Colonus was produced posthumously in 401 B.C.E., and the legend is that it was used by Sophocles as his defense against the charge of senility brought by his children. In terms of its lack of dramatic structure (the scenes are connected by the character of Oedipus rather than by the loosely constructed plot) and the melancholy of its lyric odes it is the most atypical of the extant plays of Sophocles. "Oedipus at Colonus" is the most poetic of his plays while being the least dramatic as well. But it is the characterization of Oedipus as a noble figure that stands out. This is still the same proud and hot-tempered figure who vowed to solve the reason for the curse on Thebes in the earlier play. But this is also an Oedipus who has accepted his punishment, even though he insists that he is innocent. After all, the sin responsible for his exile was really that of his mother; if you read "Oedipus the King" carefully you will see that the incestuous part of the prophecy was added by the Oracle after Jocasta tried to have her infant son killed in order to save her husband's life. Consequently, when Oedipus claims to be a helpless victim of destiny, there is ample reason to agree with his interpretation of events.

The fact that this was the last play written by Sophocles offers a line of analysis for understanding "Oedipus at Colonus" as well. You can read in certain lyrics, such as the first "staismon" with its ode to Colonus and the characterization of King Theseus of Athens, the playwright's praise for the democratic institutions and proud history of Athens. On a more psychological level you can consider the play as articulating Sophocles' views on death. These other considerations tend to reduce the importance of the title character, but there is the compelling argument of the play that through his personal suffering Oedipus has been purified.

Many people make the mistake of only reading part 1 of this trilogy. In my opinion, it is a horrible mistake to ignore parts 2 and 3. The blind Oedipus is touchingly lead by his daughter. (I can not help but suspect this inspired the relationship between Edgar and Gloucester in Shakespeare's "King Lear.") It is also in this play that we see Creon is not exactly an outstanding citizen. He seemed nice enough in part 1, but once he has Oedipus' power, he is somewhat of a tyrant. It is also in part 2 that we are able to get a closer look at Oedipus. (REMEMBER, HE DID NOT KNOW HE HAD KILLED HIS FATHER, MARRIED HIS MOTHER, AND HAD CHILDREN WITH HIS MOTHER.) It is in this play that we see the human side of Oedipus. I can not overestimate the beauty of the scene where "seemingly sighted" he enters the Greek Version of heaven. Again remember, the story does not end here. You MUST read "Antigone" (Part 3).

Lewis Carroll sends Alice on a second set of adventures in some territory that is beyond our world. This time she crosses a mirror and enters a game of chess. She will eventually become a queen but she will in all possible ways express her deep desire to rebel against a world that is seen as having too many limitations and frustrating rules. She will in a way rebel against the game of chess itself when she comes to the end of it and pulls the tablecloth from under all the pawns and pieces to have peace and quiet, to free herself of absolute slavery. But what is she the slave of ? Of rules, the rules of the game, the rules of society, the rules of education. Of words and their silly ambiguities that enable them to mean both one sense and its reverse, that enable them to lead to absurd statements and declarations that completely block her in blind alleys and impasses. But at the same time, her return to the normal world that transforms those adventures into a dream, is a rejection of such adventures and of such rebellion as being absurd and purely fantasmatic, dreamlike. There is in this book a rather sad lesson that comes out of this ending : children can dream adventures, can dream perfect freedom, but reason brings them back to the comfortable world of everyday life and submission. And there is no other way possible. This book is pessimistic about a possible evolution from one generation to the next thanks to the retension of childish, childlike dreams, forgetting that the world can only change and progress thanks to the fuel those dreams represent in our social engine.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

"Through The Looking Glass" is, perhaps, not QUITE as good as "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland", but it's close enough to still rate five stars. Not, properly, a sequel to the first book, there is no indication at any point in it that the Alice (clearly the same individual, slightly older) from this book ever had the adventures in the first one; there is no reference to her previous adventures, even when she once again meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Obviously, the two books are intended as parallel adventures, not subsequent ones.

The most memorable bits from this book are doubtlessly the poem, "Jabberwocky", as well as chapter six, "Humpty Dumpty". But all of the book is marvellous, and not to be missed by anyone who enjoys a magical romp through silliness and playful use of the English language.

(This review refers to the unabridged "Dover Thrift Edition".)

Carrol was a profound and wonderful writer, and Through the Looking Glass... is definate proof of this. Though there isn't much evidence that he was a pedophile, you shouldn't grade his works simply on who he might or might not have been. Through the Looking Glass... is one of the greatest works of literature in the english language, and will continue to be despite the author's supposed problems.

Trendy revisionist garbage as to be expected from the Yale imprimature. This edition is strictly for collegial faculty club bores. Get the edition edited by Stefan Collini instead he's less interested in himself.

[From the Plains of Troy...
awakened from the dream]

[in his own words...]

"The whole scope of the essay is to recommend
culture as the great help out of our present
difficulties; culture being a pursuit of our
total perfection by means of getting to know,
on all matters which most concern us, the best
which has been thought and said in the world,
and, through this knowledge, turning a stream
of fresh and free thought upon our stock
notions and habits, which we now follow

staunchly but mechanically, vainly imagining
that there is a virtue in following them
staunchly which makes up for the mischief
of following them mechanically."
* * * * * * * * *

"Culture, which is the study of perfection,
leads us, as we in the following pages have
shown, to conceive of true human perfection
as a HARMONIOUS perfection, developing all
sides of our humanity; and as a GENERAL
perfection, developing all parts of our
society. For if one member suffer, the
other members must suffer with it; and
the fewer there are that follow the true
way of salvation, the harder that way is
to find."
* * * * * * * * *

"Now, and for us, it is a time to Hellenise,
and to praise KNOWING; for we have Hebraised
too much, and have over-valued DOING. But the
habits and discipline received from Hebraism
remain for our race an eternal possession;
and, as humanity is constituted, one must never
assign them the second rank to-day, without
being ready to restore them to the first rank
to-morrow. To walk staunchly by the best
light one has, to be strict and sincere
with oneself, not to be of the number of
those who say -- and do not; to be in
earnest, -- this is the discipline by which
alone man is enabled to rescue his life
from thraldom to the passing moment and
to his bodily senses, to ennoble it, and
to make it eternal."
* * * * * * * * *

This edition is preferable to the gimmicky version published by Yale, where the original text is lost beneath the imposition of leftist ideologues.

Why an "introduction"? If you are a fan of ghost stories and have a collection of books on the subject, you probably already have all the stories in this book. I will not list them all since another reviewer has already done so.

Although all of the stories deal with ghosts (well, "The Monkey's Paw" is arguably not a ghost story, but spooky nonetheless), most of them do not deal with a malevolent spirit bent on our destruction. Only "The Judge's House" and "A Ghost Story" deal with an angry spirit. The rest are tales of ghostly happenings, but nothing like you might find in a horror movie.

Given the price, I would recommend this to someone who does not normally read a lot of ghost stories. Otherwise, you probably have these in your collection already.

With all fairness to these legendary authors who have endured with us beyond their time, and to their mastery of writing to which we all aspire, it is a difficult old world, almost archaic, style of writing for me- to understand the story beyond the writing. I most enjoyed the first story, the haunted coach ride, and one of the other stories with the rat on the bell rope, but after that, my interest waned somewhat. The stories weren't frightening to me. But the importance of these readings- these are classic writers. I highlighted new words and looked them up- something gained after all.

Ten classic horror tales that will have you keeping the lights on at night! These tales were published between 1864 and 1912, which is considered by some to be the "golden age" of horror and supernatural fiction. These stories are a great cross-section of the genre, and at this low price, it makes a wonderful introduction to the classic ghost stories.

A previous reviewer (annalait@apia.vlk.fi) commented that Miss Julie is a true story about Strindberg, his 16 yr. old lover and his wife Harriet. This is not entirely correct. It is based on one of his marriages - to his first wife Siri von Essen. He married Siri in 1877. Miss Julie was written in 1888 and was first put on stage in 1889 with Siri acting out the role of Julie. He divorced Siri in 1891 and did not meet Harriet (who was actually his third wife) until 1900. They married in 1901. Strindberg identifies with Jean in the play. Strindberg felt inferior to Siri (a Baroness). Jean was also inferior to Julie but he triumphed over her in the end.

"Miss Julie," by August Strindberg, is a play with three speaking parts: Miss Julie, a nobleman's daughter; Jean, a young valet; and Christine, a cook in the household. The Dover Thrift Edition version is translated by Edwin Bjorkman. A brief introductory note states that the play first appeared as a printed text in 1888, a year before its first staging.

The play's title character is bold and flirtatious; her behavior, unsurprisingly, leads to controversy. "Miss Julie" is a fascinating glimpse at a society that is rigidly ordered around class stratification, gender roles, and sexual conduct; the play looks at the consequences when people resist this rigid order. The play has some really startling, thought-provoking dialogue.

Recommended companion texts: "Hands Around," by Arthur Schnitzler; "Daisy Miler," by Henry James; and "Cuckoos," by Giuseppe Manfridi. Each of these three literary works shares at least one significant theme or motif in common with "Miss Julie."

See the universal Man and Woman turn away everything for lust in this epic short drama of classic literature. A emotionally wrenching work complete with chorus.

Some of these stories were a mere five pages long, so when i first started reading this collection, i thought i'd be done in no time at all. Of course, i had not realized Kate Chopin had some of her characters speak in dialect. This is something that i have never been able to overcome. There is a reason why written language is standardized, so that it is comprehensible! I don't care if it's in English or Spanish; i have a hard time going through that kind of text. Those stories took me a long time to read, and eventually i lost interest and skipped through entire paragraphs.

The best story, in my opinion, is the one that gives name to the collection. We are creature comforts, and need the occasional pampering. The woman in the story lets herself be spoiled just for one day, no matter how good and unselfish her intentions were for the money. I can identify with her weakness.

The 'romantic' stories were quite bland, and that, combined with the incomprehensible Acadian-speak, did not leave me with a good impression about this author.

I came on this book by chance, having never heard or Kate Chopin or her more famous book "The Awakening." This slim volume of short stories is my only experience with her still.

The easy pace of the stories, the charming lilt and rhythm of the dialogs, gives a good impression of bayou life, something that I am not very familiar with. Pace is something in common with all of the selections, with none of the characters getting very excited or overwrought, even in the midst of a fight or falling in love. "The Big Easy," they call it, and I believe it from these tales. They are small, psychological portraits, well written and engaging.

"Desirees Baby" was an almost Lovecraftian psychological horror tale, of hidden ancestries creeping unwanted across generations. "The Dream of an Hour" is in a similar vein, with a twist ending. Most of the stories are gentle, understated love stories both romantic ("A Night in Acadie") sad ("At the Cadian Ball," "Azelie,"), forbidden ("A Respectable Woman") and funny ("Madame Celestins Divorce.") I must admit to being charmed by each love story, and hoped the best for everyone involved. "A Pair of Silk Stockings" and "A Gentleman of the Bayou Teche" are both brief glimpses into a small world, and equally good.

I am glad to be introduced to Kate Chopin, and look forward to seeking out "The Awakening."

The first story alone was worth the [money] I paid for this book. It was a sad, gentle social commentary (or maybe not so gentle) that seems very much like the work of someone who would raise so much public outcry (for "The Awakening") that she would never be published again. One or two of the stories struck me as being bitter, but the others were up to her current day reputation. Many of the stories hinge on careful character studies of Acadians, the Acadians being descendants of French families relocated to the United States when Canada become unarguably British. The French dialect used in some of the stories only made the collection richer, in my mind. It would have seemed false to have these people speaking proper English. On reading the other reviews, I tend to agree that it might be a good idea to skip this book and buy Bayou Folk or another more thorough collection. If you know you love Kate Chopin's writing, do that. Otherwise, this collection is a good introduction although it can't beat "The Awakening."

This is a book that you will love or hate. Saki writes with a sadistic flair that both enthralls you and horrifies you. This book is not one story but many written about the so called rich upper class who went around England during the time Saki lived. Saki seems to take pleasure in putting the prideful and boastful rich in their places and making them squirm a little. There are other stories that show Saki's dark and sinister side. As an example I will give you a short run down of Srendi Vashtar. A sickly boy is living with his cousin and she is extremely cruel to him. She takes pleasure in depriving him of even the slightest happiness. The boy hides the few things that bring him happiness away from his cousin. These things consist of a chicken and a ferret in a cage. The boy hates his cousin so much that he even rejects her religion and makes up one of his own basing it on the ferret. He prays to the ferret for deliverance from his cousin, which he finally gets. I will not ruin the ending for you, but I will tell you it has a bloody and shocking ending. Saki also has stories with a twisted humor that is actually funny and pleasing to read. Overall I enjoyed this book and recommend it

This was a very good book. The stories were all eye catching and made your mind wonder. At first when I started to read the book, was was a little lost. The stories all have some kind of catch to them, and it takes a little while to figure out what Saki is trying to say. The way he embraces the plots of these stories makes you wonder where he is coming from. Personally, I started to wonder if Saki was trying to tell some of his life within these stories. To me, some of the stories resemble society and how people act towards each other. Saki makes fun of society and that really interested me. I liked how he used metaphores on the stories. These excititng twists made the stories even more enjoyable to read. Some of the stories made fun of the characters or at least one character, but it was not in a very subtle was, he made it kind of a secret. THe unique thing about these stories was the way that Saki put them together. He really made you look deeper into the stories to get the real meaning of them. I would definately suggest this book if you enjoy stories with twists and deep meanings.

This is a very good book. I enjoyed the way that Saki uses animals to deface the way he feels about society. In many cases the animals use trickery to fool the people around them. In my opinion this story is a parallel to Saki's life. The animals represent how he felt and what he wanted to do in some instances, but society would not allow it. From a ferret god to a talking cat this book will make you think of how you feel about society and what you could do if society allowed it. The stories are exciting and I would recommend this book to anyone who is frustrated with the way society is.

This is a classic, and perhaps the most boring classic of all time. I think this is one of those books that no one has actually read cover to cover.

So we all had to plow throught this poem wit its unpronounceable names, and far-off places that one on has ever heard of.

So why bother? I think that Joseph Cambell has made the point over and over again that there is more to these stories than mere entertainement. These legends were not only history, but they were also CULTURE, intended to CULTIVATE a civilization. We learn of order, honor, and duty as were read a rough legend as Beowulf. These legends held socitey togeather. We studied them in our English classes, but we should be reading them in our history, philosophy, and relgious classes too. Ther is more to these stories than a good time.

There are two main drawback to this translation. The first is that it is in prose form, rather than the poetic form, so we loose some of the majesty of the tale. The early classics were alays poems, not only toaid in memeory, but to set it apart from normal conversation. This was to be sacred words describing sacred events.

The second problem, is that the translation is very rough and wordy. The essence of poetry is is brevity--quick thoughts quickly spoken. The wordiness almosrt makes this poem a transliteration rather than a translation. It is not converational English, but sounds like it was done by a musty scholar to appease other musty scholars.

I reccomed Seamus Heaney's recent translation. The pome has been given a second birth by this smmmother and even poetric translation. His version is converational, firendly, and has the spark of genius that you woyuld expect from a Nobel lauriate.

Beowulf is a wonderful poem, not just because of the wondrous adventures of its heroes, but rather because it shows the courteous manner in which the Germanic kingdoms of the middle ages carried themselves. Some people may think the characters simple or lacking complexity, but that is because this poem is not trying to confound or illuminate: this was written for courtly recitation and illustrates courtly and courteous manners, rather than adventures.