Stein, Gender, Isolation, and Industrialism New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio
by Duane Simolke
Reviewed by Joe Wright
This book is the work of Dr Simolke. It served as his doctoral dissertation. It shows the relationship between Sherwood Anderson, his work and Gertrude Stein. In Dr Simolke's own words, "I consider Gertrude Stein, gender roles, the machine in the garden, feelings of isolation, and attempts at communication, as they all relate to Sherwood Anderson's masterpiece."

Of course the masterpiece he is talking about is the story cycle, Winesburg, Ohio. Published in 1919 about a small town in Ohio becoming industrialized and what that does to the lives of the people of Winesburg.
New Readings would be a great companion to go along with Anderson's Winesburg. It gives you not only the history of Mr. Anderson, but also the history of his stories. In Chapter 4 Men and Women, Dr. Simolke talks about how Mr Anderson's 1923 novel Many Marriages was banned by many libraries and book stores due to the fact that the book mainly focuses on nudity and sex.
If your a tried and true fan of Gertrude Stein or Sherwood Anderson New Readings is a must have!

Pour yourself a little brandy, pull your chair up to the fire, and read Duane Simolke's Stein, Gender, Isolation, and Industrialism: New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio. Better yet, dust off your copy of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, and then read Simolke's remarkable explication of Sherwood Anderson, the influence that the great Gertrude Stein had on his writing style, and the equally important effect of turn-of-the-century industrialization on Anderson and the stories he tells. In this straightforward, yet literary accounting of Anderson's Winesburg narratives, you will come to a fuller understanding of what motivated Anderson to write his story cycle, what part homoeroticism and homophobia played in the story "Hands" and "The Untold Lie." This work should be required reading in any college course involving the art and craft of short-story writing as well as in courses on Sherwood Anderson, himself. I found the greatest pleasure in reading a while from Simolke's work, then reading from Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. Simolke's book is a great reading guide, as well as a thoughtful and measured reading experience all by itself. ---Ronald L. Donaghe, author of Uncle Sean

What a pleasure to read a dissertation embracing the poetry and passion of simple language as well as the art of old-fashioned story-telling exemplified by the often underrated Sherwood Anderson.

In seven chapters Dr. Simolke (whose lyrical collection THE ACORN STORIES was clearly influenced by Stein and Anderson) examines themes of alienation, sexuality and gender in Anderson's masterpiece WINESBURG, OHIO.

Bringing fresh perspective to Anderson's best known work (considered by critics to be a forerunner of modern fiction with its focus on "real folks" and small town America of the early 20th Century), Simolke candidly explores sexual subtext.

In "More Than Man or Woman" he writes, "I call attention to all this terminology because Anderson transcends those societal perceptions of gayness; his use of gay themes has little to do with sex and everything to do with human contact."

Do we need still one more analysis of the work of another dead white guy? Yes, most certainly, when it is as refreshingly and unabashedly enthusiastic as Simolke's. Criticized as being sentimental and outdated, WINESBURG becomes relevant again in this unapologetic and insightful re-reading.

Thomas Aquinas was an extraordinarily systematic thinker and writer. Because of this, one of the best ways to comprehend "Summa Contra Gentiles" is through consideration of its structure. At the highest level, it consists of 4 books, with the third book in two parts, on account of its length.

The titles of the five volumes are as follows:

Summa Contra Gentiles: God

Summa Contra Gentiles: Creation

Summa Contra Gentiles: Providence, Part I

Summa Contra Gentiles: Providence, Part II*

Summa Contra Gentiles: Salvation

Each volume is formally divided into about 100 short chapters. A typical chapter gets its title from some proposition that is to be affirmed, or in some cases refuted. Each paragraph is an argument in support (or denial) of that proposition. The chapters are themselves ordered so that the later chapters build on what the arguments in the earlier chapters have established, and it is this arrangement of chapters that constitutes the real structure of "Summa Contra Gentiles".

Although in his later "Summa Theologica", Thomas formalized the higher-level structure of his writing, he did not do so here, which somewhat complicates any presentation of this structure - the book titles are so high level that they give little feel of the work, and the chapter titles so numerous that the reader is easily overwhelmed by a list of them.

In order to give the reader some sense of the overall work, I've prepared an outline of the work that (hopefully) is short enough to be readily comprehensible and long enough to give the reader an understanding of what topics are covered and in what order. This outline is presented below:

1.0 Summa Contra Gentiles: God

1.1 Intention of the Work (1 - 2)

1.2 Truths of Reason and Revelation (3 - 9)

1.3 That God Exists (10 - 13)

1.4 That God is Eternal (14 - 20)

1.5 God's Essence (21 - 28)

1.6 That God is Known (29 - 36)

1.7 That God is Good, One and Infinite (37 - 44)

1.8 God's Intellect and Knowledge (44 - 71)

1.9 God's Will (72 - 96)

1.10 God's Life and Beatitude (97 - 102)

2.0 Summa Contra Gentiles: Creation

2.1 Purpose of the Work (1 - 5)

2.2 That God is the Creator of All Things (6)

2.3 God's Power Over His Creation (7 - 29)

2.4 For and Against the Eternity of the World (30 - 38)

2.5 The Distinction of Things (39 - 45)

2.6 Intellectual Substances (46 - 55)

2.7 The Intellect, the Soul and the Body (57 - 78)

2.8 Immortality of Man's Soul (79 - 82)

2.9 Origin of Man's Soul (83 - 89)

2.10 On Non-human (Angelic) Intellects (90 - 101)

3.0 Summa Contra Gentiles: Providence (Parts I and II)

3.1 Prologue (1)

3.2 Good, Evil, and God as the End of All Things (2 - 25)

3.3 Human Felicity (26 - 63)

3.4 How God's Providence Works (64 - 94)

3.5 Prayer and Miracles, Magic and Demons (95 - 110)

3.6 Rational Creatures and Divine Law (111 - 130)

3.7 Voluntary Poverty and Continence (131 - 138)

3.9 Rewards and Punishments (139 - 147)

3.10 Sin, Grace, and Predestination (148 - 163)

4.0 Salvation

4.1 Forward (1)

4.2 The Trinity (2 - 16)

4.3 The Incarnation (27 - 55)

4.4 The Sacraments (56 - 78)

4.5 The Resurrection (79 - 97)

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* in searching for Part II of "Providence" in Amazon's book catalog, be sure to search by the full title, or the search results may just return part I.

The first volume of "Summa Contra Gentiles", "God", concerns the existence and nature of God. Although that volume requires the reader to know a certain number of technical philosophical terms, it does not otherwise require of him a great deal of contextual knowledge to appreciate.

This volume, the second volume in the work, "Creation", is more demanding. When the reader reaches the chapters concerning the intellect, the reader may well feel in reading it that he has come in on the middle of a long and complex argument. The reason that he may feel this way is because that is what he has done.

The center of the controversy is Aristotle's analysis of the intellect. His exposition on that point was not successful if we measure success by the ability of intelligent careful readers to come to a shared understanding of what he thought. Thomas's part in these controversies are the heart of this, the second volume of "Summa Contra Gentiles".

While the best thing that the reader could do to prepare himself to read this book would be to be well-read in Aristotle in general (and his "De Anima" in particular), that may not be possible for all readers. Therefore, as an aid to readers, this review will present the key terms in the controversy and what they meant (at least what they meant to Thomas)*:

Sensible - objects of sense - things that can be seen, heard, felt, tasted or smelled. Individual houses would be sensible. Contrast with "intelligible".

Intelligible - objects of reason - things that can be understood, but not sensed. The concept of "house" would be intelligible. Contrast with "sensible".

Phantasm - a sensation, whether the immediate result of the sight, hearing, touch, smell or taste of a sensible object, or a recollection of one of those sensations, or an imagined sensation. Contrast with "knowledge".

Knowledge - a correctly understood intelligible object; remembered sensations are not themselves knowledge. Contrast with "phantasm".

Memory - the repository where phantasms can be kept for later recall. Images of houses could be kept here so as to enable later recognition of them. Contrast with "possible intellect".

Possible intellect - the repository where knowledge is kept. Knowledge of what "house" means would be kept here. Contrast with "memory".

Cognitive power - sometimes used to refer to the intellect, sometimes more narrowly to the power that responds to phantasms - for example the ability to see a house, recall the image from memory, and recognize that house. Contrast with "agent intellect".

Agent intellect - the power that deals with knowledge - both in creating new knowledge from phantasms and from previously existing knowledge. Contrast with "cognitive power".

Soul - when classical philosophers debated what "the soul" was, what they were debating was what differentiated living things from non-living things. While Thomas followed Aristotle in the view that the soul was the form of the body (i.e. - what differentiated living things from non-living was not what they were made of, but how they were put together)

Nutritive soul - that most general power of the soul by which life is present in anything: its operations being reproduction and the use of nutriment. All living things have a nutritive soul.

Sensitive soul - that power of the soul through which a living thing is aware of its environment, as through touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight. The difference between animals and plants is that animals have a sensitive soul while plants do not.

Intellectual soul - that power of the soul that gives the ability to reason. According to Thomas, the intellectual soul differs from the nutritive and sensitive soul in that it is not just a form, but a substance as well, and so can exist without the body. Much of "Summa Contra Gentiles: Creation" is devoted to establishing this doctrine against competing doctrines of Plato, Alexander, Avicenna, and Averroes, among others.

Separate substances - intellectual beings without bodies, such as angels.

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* In my review of "Summa Contra Gentiles: God", I included definitions for more basic Aristotelian terms than these, such as form, matter, substance, etc. Readers unfamiliar with these more basic terms might want to read that review.

Bourke's translation of this key text of Aquinas is accurate and hightly readable. A valuable resource.

What a great idea for a book! It teaches kids to accept others and at the same time they learn the facts about Cerebral Palsy.

You can do anything if you try hard enough. This book is great because it shows that even if you are challenged there is a way you can meet your goals. Just like kids at my school that are in wheel chairs still do p.e. and everything else.

It's a great book!

Very interesting to learn about other people's disabilities. Easy to read.

I first started reading this book via a Jewish study class and I found it quite comprehensive, while not insulting one's intelligence. The practice exercises help quite a bit, and they draw upon previous lessons so as to bring together everything learned up to a certain point. Please keep in mind that this book does not teach you how to translate modern Hebrew. It is good if you want to begin learning Hebrew, but don't expect to be able to order a falafel on the streets of Haifa after finishing this book. Essentially, this book provides the base for the house, but you'll need further reading to build on that house in terms of modern language translation. That having been said, I still highly recommend that one has this book if you're either beginning the study of Hebrew or are reacquainting yourself with it.

I taught myself to read Hebrew in several weeks using this little book. The material is exceptionally well paced; each chapter introduces just the right amount of new material and reinforces previously learned letters. This is the best book I've found for adults who want to learn Hebrew.

You can either get this book by itself or with several cassette tapes. Someone loaned it to me to begin my Hebrew studies, and I have to have my own copy now. Small doses of the aleph bet, with special attention paid to look-alikes and sound-alikes.

I found this book at the library by chance. I was looking for a more books about Queen Elizabeth I. This book is a great introduction to women in history. It is easy enough for my then 8 year old to read for the Texas Reader's club. I am definitely checking it out for my 7 yr to use for her TX Reader's club requirements.

I checked "Ten Queens" out from my local library to brush up on my reading of some of my favorite historical figures of all time- Cleopatra VII and Eleanor of Acquitaine.
While the book shed great light on two of the most famous women in all of ancient/medieval history, the author also brought to light lesser known queens. All of a sudden, I have a great respect for the fearless Zenobia, the corageous Boudicca, and, of course, the Biblical Esther. He has done an oustanding job of researching all of the queens and presenting them all in a favorable light (though let's not forget Christina's hypocritical ways, Cleopatra's love affairs, and Catherine the Great's promiscuity- for history's sake).
All in all, a great book worth the money.

My nine year old daughter thoroughly enjoyed this overview of famous women rulers from ancient times to the 18th century.

My kids laughed histarically when we got this book from the library for my six year old to practice reading. My four year old also wanted to read it himself. The text is simple enough for them to repeat after I read it to them. They love this silly book so much I'm going to buy one for them. It is definately a keeper!

I disagree that this book can be scary for little ones. I used to read this book to my now 16 yo brother when he was 2 yo. He had it memorized and just loved it! It was his absolute favorite book. I found it again and now I'm ordering it for my 6 yo daughter.

My children loved reading the creative attempts to escape going to bed. Adults can also relate to the young frogs antics. The illustrations are very expressive and the vocabulary is great for an early reader. This book is one that will be read many times.

My my my. What a book! The story of the first missionary from North America, Adoniram Judson did not disappoint this reader! Although it did start a bit slow at first, it ended up being quite inspriational for me. This story is a good illustration how God shows His sovereignty, especially to those who are willing to take a leap of faith and put their whole lives in His hands. If you were ever thinking about being a missionary or if you already are, this book is a must read. If you are questioning God's providence in people's lives, this is a must read for you, too. But be fair warned; be prepared to be emotionaly envolved in this book.

This was the best biography that I have ever read. The testimony of salvation of both Adonirom and Nancy are given in great detail. The book also gives some great details of Adonirom's methodology for starting a mission. After reading about the tremendous trials he went through, you will find it difficult to ever complain again about your lot in life. In addition to the great spiritual benefits the book affords, it is a very enjoyable book to read. The author does a great job of keeping the interest level - it is a hard book to put down.

This book is mandatory reading for those who are interested in the life of Judson or the history of Christian missions. Anderson writes the story of Adoniram Judson in a clear and compelling style. The spirit and sacrafice of Judson stand outs clearly in this moving work. The life of Judson has propelled many Christians to a more devoted Christian commitment. Anderson demonstrates her scholarly research in a format that is very accessible. The one weakness seems to be her misunderstanding of Adoniram Judson's father's theological viewpoint. However, this is very minor and does not significantly impact the power or value of this work.

This is a collection of the Target: 2006 Storyline of the UK Transformers comics. I enjoyed this graphic novel alot. Although, neither this or 'Fallen Angel' can ever be better than the last issue's of the US comic(by far my favorite). Pick this up if you have already read this US comics (if not get those first).

This is the best Transformers comic book story ever told! Target 2006 was written by Simon Furman, with Art By Jeff Anderson, Will Simpson and Ron Smith! But the Best UK Transformers artwork is done by Geoff Senior! Ultra Magnus, Autobot Leader of 2006 travels back in time to 1986 stop Galvatron,Cyclonus, and Scourge from creating a weapon of distructive power that could destroy the Chaos-Bringer Unicron! These characters came from the epic saga of Transformers the Movie! on the back of the book it says "In Target 2006, Arch-Decepticon Leader Galvatron travels back in time to lay the foundations for the future destruction! With Optimus Prime missing, feared dead. Cybertrons greatest Hero, Ultra Magnus maybe Earth's last hope! These Books reprint Transformers UK #78-88! Highly Recommended!

This collection is from the British Transformers comic and was published just before the TF movie was released. Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge have travelled back in time to the 1980's during the events in TF Movie to build a super weapon to destroy Unicron and free themselves from him. The time travel method they use rips 1980's Optimus Prime and several other Transformers out of the present, causing Ultra Magnus to journey from Cybertron to try to discover what has happened to the Matrix. On 1980's Cybertron itself an Autobot terrorist cell is planning a debilitating strike on the Decepticon government. This is, without doubt, one of the best TF stories ever written. The british team were at their peak during this era and you owe it to yourself to purchase this book.

This is the first book in an overlooked "future history" series by author Poul Anderson. Essentially, it postulates: 1) mankind develops cheap interstellar travel within a few centuries; 2) there are quite a few worlds inhabited with sentient beings; and 3) humans and aliens are just as greedy in the future as humans are right now here on earth. Anderson takes these three postulates and projects what I have found to be the most plausible extrapolation about what an interstellar human civilization would be like that I have yet found.
Those familiar with the broad range of Anderson's work know that he believes that the market "functions as effortlessly and as inevitably as gravity." The Trouble Twisters deals with interstellar merchant-adventurers out to make a buck. No "Prime Directive" here. Human civilization is dominated by the Polesotechnic League ("League of Selling Skills") and is unabashadly capitalist. Private corporations and merchant-adventurers dominate space travel for the very good reason that they plan to make a profit by it. (Something to think about in itself. NASA hasn't gone to the moon lately.)
Anderson's characters are well-developed, and the stories will make you think and make you laugh about the predicaments people (and aliens) manage to get themselves into. Recommended.

It has been awhile since I read this book and have been looking to read it again. That alone is one of my criteria for whether a book is any good or not. The main characters have plenty of depth and history but what still grabs me still today is the situations the author places them in and that they have to think their way out. In one instance they have landed with a crippled ship miles away from a repair depot. The depot has the equpment to fix the ship but it is very heavy and needs to be transported. The hitch is the locals consider a circle to be a religious topic and doesn't allow them to be used as wheels (Sacrelige!) How do they transport a few tons of equipment without using a wheel? Not only is it approached from a scientific angle but also how this discussion affects the local population who have lived under the church's limits on thinking about circles. My explanation doesn't to the story justice. Anderson is a master at this type of delimma and tells the tales very well. I'd recommend this book in a heartbeat. Now if only I can find a copy.

Another in Anderson's Polysotechnic Universe, the book is three novella's from the career of interstellar horse trader and protege' of Solar Spice & Liquour's Nicholas Van Rinjh, David Falkyn. I remember these stories fondly from my college days and I'm afraid that Anderson's cowboy capitalist view of interstellar relations has forever prevented me from joining the Trekkie's cashless society of the future camp. It puzzles me that no television producer has jumped on old Nick and David for a sci-fi series. The stories in the series are ingenious looks at cultural collision with a distinctly (almost) conservative Republican bias. In each story, it is not figuring out how to outshoot some nameless menace that makes the story. It is rather the struggle to figure out how two very different cultures can make money off each other without killing each other. I love the whole concept. Hollywood may not be ready for that yet. In Anderson's stories, Van Rinjh is not an altruist and Falkyn is a bit of a chauvinist. What a wonderful antidote to Star Trek's "we've eliminated all want & any need for money" fairy tales as well as the equally "extreme the other way' doom and gloom futures that are tossed at us on the toob. This is the future as Wild West and what a lot of fun it is. Violence tends to be personal and immediate without the unlikely "intergalactic empire" liberal futurists envision (whether benign or evil). Very satisfying and you don't have any magicians mucking up the works (except for the local fraudulent hedge wizard types). I like my sci-fi technical, intellectual and pure like this. Poul Anderson is one of my all time favorite reads and this was a good book! Tom Kin

The author really brings out the best in these 20 wonderful horses. He gives a short summary of each of the horses most famous traits and the pictures are just gorgeous. Seriosly every horse lover should own this. Its so realistic it makes me shiver.

This book has excellent illustrations and great accounts of each of the twenty famous horses mentioned in it. This is a wonderful gift for anyone who loves horses!

This is a wnderful children's book about some of the greatest horses of our time. All thoroughbred racehorses, they include the stories of the forgotten and unfortunet...Dark Secret, Troublemaker, the pet-racehorse and the one that the Black Stallion series was based on (the island stallion!).