Book reviews for "Bell,_Gertrude" sorted by average review score:
The Desert and the Sown: The Syrian Adventures of the Female Lawrence of Arabia
Published in Paperback by Cooper Square Press (December, 2001)
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Marvelous Book
Having read a current bio about Gertrude Bell (Desert Queen), which I found a bear to get through due to the less than amazing quality of writing, I was curious about Bell's own writings and thrilled to find some still in print. Gertrude Bell could write!! What a wonderful book. Having an interest in archaeology and the history of ancient civilizations, I enjoyed the material she offered. But even if those aren't areas of interest to you, the people she met and talked to give one a better understanding of the midEast and of people in general. This was a hard book to put down. My only desires were that a map had been provided and that all of her wonderful pictures would have been printed on glossy paper so they could have been better appreciated. (I would have paid the extra!)
Gertrude Bell: The Arabian Diaries, 1913-1914
Published in Hardcover by Syracuse Univ Pr (Trade) (November, 2000)
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Very highly recommended reading for women's studies
Gertrude Bell was an English woman who lived an extraordinary life of adventure. She rode with bandits, braved desert shamals, was captured by Bedouins, and sojourned in a harem. The counselor to kings and prime ministers, her illustrious colleagues included Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Very highly recommended reading for women's studies, and 20th century studies reading lists and library collections, Gertrude Bell: The Arabian Diaries, 1913-1914 is wonderfully illustrated with her photography and exemplifies her elegant, vibrant prose, as well as documenting her on of the 20th Century's most daring, resourceful, independent, and larger-than-life characters.
The Hafez Poems of Gertrude Bell: With the Original Persian on the Facing Page (Classics of Persian Literature ; 1)
Published in Paperback by Ibex Pub (June, 1995)
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Returned my copy for credit !!!
I too found the translation "dry bones" with no spirit to give life...I think it takes a poet to properly "translate" a poet.Literal translation just won't do. My highest praise in the exciting poetry of Hafez, will be found in the translations of Mr. Daniel Ladinsky : The Gift...or The Subject Tonight Is Love... Sorry Ms. Bell.
close to the source
First one must understand that to translate means to change. With that in mind all the Persian poetry translated is changed poetry. Ms. Bell's book is exceptional because it has both Farsi (Persian) and English. To truly understand Bell's Hafiz book you must not only be able to read Farsi and English or you must be conscious enough to "understand" the "meaning" of the poems. Since most people do not fit in this category selecting Bell or Ladinsky, or another translation will only matter to your personal taste rather than accuracy. So maybe it's best that you read different translations to get different "flavors" of Hafez. Enjoy the books and love one another, remember "all you need is love."
The best English translation of Hafez
In the first place, you have to admit that this job really can't be done. The principal pleasures of Hafez are to be found in his intricate imagery combined with the music of his verse.
After a diligent search (and knowing some Farsi myself), I have concluded that these are by far the best English renditions of Hafez, done by a brilliant Englishwoman who was highly fluent in both Arabic and Persian. If you read these translations, you will get a good sense for the meaning of Hafez.
To dismiss these brilliant renditions -- comparable, in their way, with Fitzgerald's stunning translations of Omar Khayyam -- is simply a subliterary act, and to prefer the fraudulent new-age nonsense perpetrated by Daniel Ladinsky to the authentic merit of these informed and passionate renderings, is simply to proclaim yourself a Know-Nothing.
Highly recommended!
Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Advisor to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
Published in Hardcover by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday (September, 1996)
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A tedious rendering of an interesting life
Gertrude Bell was a fascinating woman, doing things that women just didn't do in the early part of this century: meeting Arabian royalty (and bandits and terrorists as well), going places uncharted by European men or women, and becoming something of a heroine to many Arabs of high and low rank. But this book, though it starts off well, becomes rough going fairly quickly. It feels as if Wallach quotes extensively from Bell's letters simply because she had access to them, not because they were always interesting or enlightening (though some were). There is lots of repetition (we must hear about once every two or three pages that she drank "bitter coffee"; the phrase "Young Turks" is defined three times, each time slightly differently, inside of about one hundred pages) and inexact detailing (three fairly detailed maps of the Middle East still leave out a number of sites important to the events of the book). By the end, when Bell was doing her most important political work in the construction of modern-day Iraq, I was skimming over the thick accrual of tedious detail that doesn't really bring Bell to life in the way she deserves.
An amazing woman in any time period
Gertrude Bell contributed so much during her life and because common history has overlooked her, I liked the historical tone of the book. I didn't find it dry. Imagine a woman trekking off into the mideastern desert alone - even today that would be an amazing, strong woman. Imagine the strength and curiosity that enabled Ms. Bell to accomplish these adventures at the turn of the century.Even the rigid British colonialists realized that they needed the help and knowledge of a "woman." The many facts in the book help me picture her daily life. The photos - of her on her desert treks, and of the place she was held prisoner - make the story even easier to imagine. I have recommended this book many times, and discussed it even more times.
A sweeping biography of a woman ahead of her time
A sweeping, fascinating tale of a woman ahead of her time. This will written, well researched biography was hard to put down. Gertrude Bell herself, a contemporary of Lawrence of Arabia, was a complex, brilliant woman whose life was peppered with many tragedies as well as adventures. Diminutive in size, she scaled mountains, camped in the desert and broke bread with tribal chiefs. She felt more at ease in the Middle East than her own homeland of England, where Victorian women were ruled by social confines. Perhaps it was because of her sex that Arabians allowed her more carte blanche. In a countryland which shuts its women off like trophies, Bell was often treated more like a preistess. She had the audacity to be ultimately feminine and intelligent at the same time, which gave her a special status on foreign soil. Professionally, Bell triumphed, and was accepted as an authority on the Middle East. Her love life, however, as well as relationships with her own family, fell short. If you want to entreat yourself to an adventure of a female "Indiana Jones", I recommend this book. Even if you don't care for Gertrude Bell's character, you will not forget her.
Am Ende des Lavastromes : durch die Wüsten und Kulturstätten Syriens
Published in Unknown Binding by Promedia ()
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Amurath to Amurath, a Five Month Journey Along the Banks of the Euphrates
Published in Paperback by Gorgias Press (February, 2002)
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Arab War Lords and Iraqi Star Gazers: Gertrude Bell's the Arab of Mesopotamia
Published in Paperback by iUniverse.com (February, 2001)
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The Bell in the Fog and Other Stories
Published in Textbook Binding by HarperCollins (June, 2005)
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Bell in the Frog and Other Stories
Published in Hardcover by Irvington Pub (June, 1972)
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Catalogue of the Gertrude Bell Photographic Archive
Published in Unknown Binding by Dept. of Archaeology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne ()
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