Wharton's prose is impressive on many levels. She really brings the reader into Ethan's tormented mind, and the effect is heartbreaking. Her representation of American vernacular speech is intriguing, as is her use of foreshadowing. Ethan--"the most striking figure in Starkfield, though he was but the ruin of a man"--is a memorable creation.

Ultimately, "Ethan" is a horrific vision of human coldness, cruelty, bitterness, hopeless, and longing. Despite Wharton's abundant talent, the book is a hard pill to swallow.

This story takes place in the cold, bleak winter farmlands of Massachusetts. Ethan Frome, a poor farmer, has a hard life tending to his land, trying to make a meager living, and also taking care of his ungrateful, demanding, sickly wife, Zeena. When her cousin, Mattie, comes to help her, Ethan's life changes completely. He falls deeply in love with Mattie. This being the 1800's, he must endure the stifling conventions of that era's society also. There love for each other proves to be a fascinating story.

I loved this book. This is a story that will definitely take you away. You'll actually feel you are there. Edith's detail description of the scenery and landscape of that time are truly vivid. I found myself pausing from my reading to look outside to see if it was actually snowing. I highly suggest you find time to read "Edith Wharton's books, you'll be grateful. I certainly was!

The story itself is fairly simplistic on the surface. In the hands of a lesser writer, it would have been a simple "things that go bump in the night" ghost story of no consequence. However, the ambiguity of the narration brings the story a great deal of depth. Are we to trust the governess's story, or is the entire plot merely a figment of her imagination or a neurotic response to her sexuality? The brilliance here is in the wide range of interpretation. The entire novel can be taken either way (or both ways at once) equally well, which is fascinating.

Many reviewers have (unfavorably) commented on the writing style of Henry James, noting its complexity and verbosity. While his prose can be difficult to master (I had to read several sentences multiple times to decipher them), the complex language does not merely use extra words for the sake of making the story longer. Instead, every bit of detail in the sentences modifies and elaborates on the text, helping greatly to create the haziness that permeates "The Turn of the Screw." I thoroughly enjoyed the style of writing here, and this is coming from somebody who criticized the language in "Wuthering Heights" and "Tess of the D'Urbervilles." The complexity enhances the novel, rather than weakening it.

All in all, I was astonished by the great quality of "The Turn of the Screw." One last note - I highly recommend the Norton Critical Edition, featuring authorial commentary, reviews, and criticism. An excellent choice.

Although this book is short, its impact is nevertheless profound. The story's setting is surrealistic, leaving many factors open to speculation and debate. The end is at the same time chilling and mysterious. The enigmatic nature of the story adds to the mystery and terror and this book is sure not to disappoint any reader looking for a haunting and unforgettable story.

There may be a bias towards poetry and high literature in the selection. Poetry, however, is the only genre in which an anthology of this size can give you almost everything you want to know. Individual edititons of classic novels or plays, however, are a lot easier to get hold of than books of poetry, so I feel the editors' choice is fully justified. You will find yourself turn back to the Norton Anthology even long after you have finished college; it is a book that opens up new worlds.

I'll confess that I don't really understand these accusations. It is both what it looks like and what it claims to be: 3,000 pages with as much bang for your literary buck as is possible. The only novels included are those which are exceedingly important and/or representative of a period... which is as it should be.

And frequent updates (which take place every few years -- hardly a serious issue for most people) are absolutely necessary. A static canon would be boring, and likely would leave scholars with nothing to do. I, for one, am happy with the authors added in the seventh edition.

It's an outstanding introduction to two centuries of English lit.

Twain completely dissects the "good ol' days" of Arthurian Britain by exposing the vicious social practices of the time: white slavery, le droit de seigneur, confiscation of property in event of suicide, the complete lack of impartial justice, the degrading influence of the Church on the mass, etcetera etcetera etcetera...

The Arthurian legends are wonderful tales, but they are a mythic literary production; Twain deals with the brutal reality of daily living in the Dark Ages, and points out that the good ol' days were not so good, anyway.

As for its applicability to modern America, I am not fit to judge. Perhaps it's there. But "The Connecticut Yankee" is a wonderful tonic for those prone to romanticizing the past. Twain seems to agree with Tom Paine that the English nobility were "no-ability", and simply the latest in a series of robbers.

And, of course, the book is stuffed with wonderful Twainisms... My favorite is his observation that a conscience is a very inconvenient thing, and the significant difference between a conscience and an anvil is that, if you had an anvil inside you, it would be alot less uncomfortable than having a conscience.

Twain also mentions the beautiful mispronunciations of childhood, and how the bereaved parental ear listens in vain for them once children have grown.

You'll never look at castles the same again...

"Which country has put forth more of a concerted effort to adopt Marxist ideals, which country has tried its level best to adopt economic policy more in line to that espoused by the Communist Manifesto: U.S. or Russia? Japan or China? Kenya or Tanzania Puerto Rico or Cuba? Namibia or Angola? Hong Kong or Viet Nam? West Germany or East Germany?" Guess what? NONE of those countries even TRIED to adopt "economic policy more in line to that espoused by the Communist Manifesto" (which is fundamentally not a treatise on economics -- that'd be "Das Kapital"). Each of these countries adopted backwards, reactionary regimes based on the nationalist system of "socialism in one country," directly contradicting Marx and Engels' vision of an international workers' movement.

"Let's look at the results: over 100,000,000 killed and countless imprisoned, and an ideology for the Democratic Party." Hmm, so by that logic, Christianity is an evil system of thought because of the countless hundreds of millions killed in its name, if not its actual beliefs. And anyone who thinks the Democratic Party is "communist" must lie somewhere to the right of Mussolini on the political spectrum.

"Communists should ask themselves why only murders and tyrants have espoused their ideology." Gee, I espouse communist ideology. I guess I'm a murderer and a tyrant, then. Thanks for clearing that up -- my mind had been so damaged by this evil, deceptive swill that I didn't even realize I'm one of history's great villians!

As for the book itself......well, I have to be honest, it's not that great. It was written in a hurry and it shows, not only in its brief length but in its severe disorganization (there is much overlap between the various sections) that makes reading certain parts of the book an exercise in patience and concentration -- an exercise that is quite simply not worth the trouble when there are plenty of other works out there on socialist/communist thought espousing the same ideas as Marx and Engels but in an eminently more readable fashion. The best example, I think, is the writings of Rosa Luxemburg, who maintained a relative fidelity to Marx and Engels' theories but also grappled with the practical implementation of an international workers' movement -- which she unfortunately did not live long enough to lead. (Which raises the question: if a socialist state is such an unworkable and unreasonable goal, why did they bother killing her in the first place?)

Hard Times has yet a misleading title. It gives one ideas of harshness, depression, poverty, and social decline--although the actual reality of then-London, still not something you would choose to read. However, Hard Times has as much depression and poverty as any of Dickens' other works. It is just in this case that Dickens chooses to remind the world that in the deepest despair there is beauty yet to be seen.

Dickens was a strange author. In his supposedly inspiring books, you get an overdose of sadness, and in his depressing books, you find beauty. It is this case with Hard Times.

It is a poor, honest man's search for justice in a world where only the rich have merit. It is a girl's search for true love while battling the arranged marriage for money. And lastly, a woman's search for recognition against her favored, yet dishonest brother. It is these searches that at last come together and become fufilled. And, while at the same time telling a captivating story, it comments on the then--and still now--presence of greed and total dishonesty one has to go through for money.

The title of this review sums up Hard Times. Its beauty comes from the pure searches for truth, the sorrow comes from the evil the characters most overcome to get there, and the honesty is both the truth with which Dickens portrays life and the the overwhelming truth that these protaganists create.

Holly Burke, PhD.

Clinical Psychologist, Abnormal Psych. Professor

Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins Inst.

Like Antoinette, Rhys grew up in the Caribbean, a troubled and hermetic world of Creoles, colonists and former slaves. Antoinette is truly a loner--the reversal of family fortunes causes her to be rejected by her own people, and despised by those who previously were on a lower rung of society. Throughout the novel, Antoinette is used, buffeted and never in charge of her own life. She feels that, as a woman, she is an object, not a person. As a woman, she is not in charge of her ultimate destiny, and this provides the conflict for the novel. Her madness is only an extension of this isolation and rejection.

What makes Rhys a masterful novelist is her use of conversation and immediate events to describe the world in which Antoinette lives. There are no long passages of exposition; we see the world only through the eyes of the characters, mostly at the same time that they experience it. However, the immediate events and conversation or narration are so cleverly constructed that the reader sees through the narrator's eyes and can really see and feel the surroundings. This intimate point of view puts the reader in the skin of the character, but can be a bit confusing because we cannot always rely on the veracity of the narration. The point of view itself switches in the novel from first person to third person, in the second part, and back to first in the third and final portion, where Antoinette is locked in the attic.

The novel is in no way a re-write or version of "Jane Eyre." In "Jane Eyre", the madwoman is not really a character--she's a symbol for evil, for carnal and worldly desires yielded to without regard for the soul. "Wide Sargasso Sea" develops the madwoman into a character. Rhys slyly copies the beautiful symmetry of "Jane Eyre", where events occur in a sort of repetition; in "Jane Eyre", the heroine must leave a hostile home and find a haven, which then becomes hostile because it fails to nourish her soul with love (Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield and then Marsh House. Only when Jane can marry her Mr. Rochester on HER terms, does she find a true home.) In "Wide Sargasso Sea", Antoinette's home burns twice, a similar use of symbolism, here representing rejection by the world.

"Wide Sargasso Sea" is often listed as a "must-read" book --it certainly is a unique book and was far ahead of its time when Rhys wrote it. It's really worth reading.

"Wide Sargasso Sea" is narrated in several different voices including Antoinette and Mr. Rochester. These voices switch throughout the novel with little warning. Some may find this hard to follow. The novel also creates a great sense of place. Rhys does an excellent job of evoking the hot, humid atmosphere of the Caribbean.

"Wide Sargasso Sea" was a recent selection in my book group. We enjoyed discussing it while dining on Caribbean fare. The discussion focused on topics such as colonialism, rich vs. poor, slavery, love, and of course madness. This was a good book for a discussion group since there were many themes to cover and also since it was inspired by "Jane Eyre", the group could also compare both books. I read the Norton Critical Edition of "Wide Sargasso Sea" which contained footnotes and an Appendix of essays and articles written about the book. The footnotes helped to deepen my understanding of the book since there were many references (literary and otherwise) that I may've missed.

It would be simple to compile a lengthy book filled with similar quotations, thereby "proving" that Islam is a murderous, hate-filled religion. Such a book would, of course, be grossly unfair, but it would be no more unfair than "Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel" by Norton Mezvinsky and Israel Shakak.

Mezvinsky is professor of history at Central Connecticut State College. He teaches the lone course offered by Central Connecticut in Jewish history, as well as two courses on contemporary Middle Eastern politics. Shahak is deceased.

Mezvinsky claims that his focus on Jewish fundamentalists, is justified because they threaten to take power in Israel as Islamic Fundamentalists did in Iran. This should concern Americans, he says, because Israel is "a powerful state... that wields great influence in the United States." The threat that fundamentalists pose to Israeli democracy is similar in Mezvinsky's view, to our domestic situation in which "Christian fundamentalism (is) a real threat to democracy in the United States."

It escapes Mezvinsky that Jewish and Christian fundamentalists, unlike Islamists, are peaceful groups and are but tiny fractions of the populations in which they live while Islamists in many places are a large and growing segment of theirs. The truth is that in the United States as well as Israel, fundamentalists who espouse replacing democracy with theocracy constitute a mere fringe and bear no resemblance to the looming menace portrayed in "Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel."

In Mezvinsky's view, the threat posed by observant Jews goes beyond their impending destruction of democracy, because he holds that Judaism is an evil faith. Judaism, a religion of racism "comparable to the worst form of anti-Semitism" has produced adherents so immoral that they believe "the blood of non-Jews has no intrinsic value." Furthermore, "Jews killing non-Jews does not constitute murder according to the Jewish religion and the killing of innocent Arabs for reasons of revenge is a Jewish virtue."

If his portrayal of Judaism does not sound like the Jewish religion that you know, Mezvinsky has an explanation. Rabbis and scholars have been keeping the truth from us. They are "supreme hypocrites" who have hidden from other Jews "The actual fact that the cabbalistic texts, as opposed to talmudic literature, emphasize salvation only for Jews."

Mezvinsky, of course, misses two important points. The first is that the Kabbalah, like the Talmud, is not a single book but a veritable ocean of scholarship and commentary. In such an ocean, it is possible to find a quotation to prove almost any point, although even Mezvinsky has to admit that the evil he sought is not in the Talmud, but only in the Kabbalah.

The second point is that the Kabbalah, that vast sea of mystical lore and wisdom, is not normative Judaism. Kabbalah is for Jews an option and an acquired taste, like Sephardi music or Ashkenazi cooking. It is also, of course, a complex if chaotic body of thought that by no fair interpretation deserves Mezvinsky's epithet of "Jewish Nazism."

Beyond the malicious absurdity of its premise, Mezvinsky's work is riddled with undocumented slurs and falsehoods presented as fact.

* "No Orthodox rabbi" has criticized the posthumous glorification of Baruch Goldstein.

* "The Israeli government induced Jewish immigration from Iraq by bribing the government of Iraq to strip most Iraqi Jews of their citizenship and to confiscate their property."

* "Before the advent of the modern state, Jewish communities were mostly ruled by rabbis who employed arbitrary and cruel methods as bad as those employed by totalitarian regimes."

In Norton Mezvinsky, the state of Connecticut is paying the salary of a professor of Jewish history who has a limited understanding of that history. And a professor of history who is apparently unacquainted with "the arbitrary and cruel methods" employed by totalitarian regimes around the world.

There's also a large pool inbetween, by which I mean people who don't feel the need to go out of their way to express themselves as either anti- or pro-Semitic. I'm not a Jew; Judaism is not part of my idenity. Neither is Hinduism or Sikhism, for that matter. Therefore, I don't go out of my way to show that I have an opinion on the matter. Instead, I tried to learn as much as I can with an open mind.

If you truly believe anti-Semitism is wrong as its core, not because you happen to be the target of its vileness, but because it is demonstratably WRONG, then my approach shouldn't trouble you. Nor should this book.

I give it four stars because it is well written and very interesting. It is 100% correct? I have no idea. I intend to read more, as much as I possibly can in this life. It will contribute to my understanding of the issues, whether I find more evidence to support it or disprove it.

An anti-Semite doesn't need this book, but it will fuel his misguided views the same any other book would. A dedicated Jew doesn't need this book, but it might inspire him to attempt to disprove its thesis. I look forward to reading that book when it comes out as well, particularly if its written in the spirit of enlightening its readers, not demonizing its opposition.

The prose is the thing -- James was dictating by this time (how on Earth does one dictate a novel?), and it shows. His chewy ruminations and meandering, endlessly parenthetical sentences are hard to digest. I think James went too far in his late style, and "The Ambassadors" might have benefited from a sterner editor. Still, this is an important book, absolutely worth the read.

Lambert Strether, a fiftysomething turn-of-the-20th-century bourgeois Bostonian gentleman on an aristocratic lady's errand--she will not marry him until he convinces her son Chad to return to Massachusetts. We see his struggle with his uncomfortable position when he realizes Chad is no longer a spoiled young prep-schooler, but a young gentleman of increasing refinement and self-awareness. And if Strether is anything, by the way, he is one of the most supremely self-aware characters in literary history. Once that Paris air starts to play its magic with Strether himself, we are off to the races. Keeping in mind, of course, that with James' prose we are racing with tortoises. James invites us to ponder how many chances a person truly gets in this life to reinvent his or her self? And if we get the chance, do we always take it? How much should we weigh the consequences before we decide? How much are we willing to accept them after we have chosen?

For similar themes with clearer, faster-paced, and wittier prose, try Edith Wharton's marvelous homage to James, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE.

The main character is a late-middle-aged widower named Lambert Strether who edits a local periodical in the town of Woollett, Massachussetts, and is a sort of factotum for a wealthy industrialist's widow named Mrs. Newsome, a woman he may possibly marry. Strether's latest assignment from Mrs. Newsome is to go to Paris to convince her son, Chad, to give up what she assumes is a hedonistic lifestyle and return to Woollett to marry a proper, respectable young lady, his brother-in-law's sister to be specific. There is a greater ulterior motive, too -- the prosperity of the family business relies on Chad's presence.

In Paris, Strether finds that Chad has surrounded himself with a more stimulating group of friends, including a mousy aspiring painter named John Little Bilham, and that he is in love with an older, married woman named Madame de Vionnet. Providing companionship and counsel to Strether in Paris are his old friend, a retired businessman named Waymarsh, and a woman he met in England, named Maria Gostrey, who happens to be an old schoolmate of the Madame's. When it appears that Strether is failing in his mission to influence Chad, Mrs. Newsome dispatches her daughter and son-in-law, Jim and Sarah (Newsome) Pocock, and Jim's marriageable sister Mamie, to Paris to apply pressure. Ultimately, Strether, realizing that he's blown his chances with Mrs. Newsome and that Chad has the right idea anyway, finds himself enjoying the carefree life in Paris, which has liberated him from his lonely, stifling existence in Woollett.

Not having cared much for James's previous work "The Wings of the Dove," I felt something click with "The Ambassadors." Maybe it's because I found the story a little more absorbing and could empathize with Strether; maybe it's because my reading skills are maturing and I'm learning to appreciate James's dense, oblique prose style. I realize now that, for all the inherent difficulty in his writing, literature took a giant step forward with Henry James; if the Novel is, as he claimed, "the most independent, most elastic, most prodigious of literary forms," it takes a writer like James to show us how.

Mainly, the story is about a young soldier named Henry Fleming, the youth. He enlists into the army of the North side during the Civil War. He is glad to join, but then, he begins to doubt himself and he is afraid he will run instead of fighting in battle. Indeed, he runs away, but then discovers that he is a coward. Henry has a second chance to prove his bravery, in which he succeeds.

If you understand the main point of the story, and you understand the symbolism such as the squirrel, and Jim Conklin dying, then it become pretty good. But if you read it and not pay attention to every single thing it describes, it gets boring. That was my problem, I wasn't paying attention to EVERY little thing that happened. In conclusion, I thought this book was okay (if you understand it), but it's not the BEST book I've read about war. A good war book is ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT.

The Red Badge of Courage tells the story of a youthful boy, Henry Flemming, who goes to war. After many rumors of battle cause Henry to doubt his courage when faced with battle, Henry's group finally goes into battle. Henry does not run away during the fighting, and gains confidence. However, the second battle that he sees causes him to flee. The rest of the story tells of How Henry comes to terms with his fear, and eventually returns to the battle line.

The only complaint that any reader could have is that Crane uses almost too much detail. Because there is so much detail, the reader could loose track of the plot. The great detail is, however, what makes this such an outstanding book. Any reader that can get "into" a book will thoroughly enjoy The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane.