Like her former partner Robert A. Johnson, Helen Luke is a master of rendering the psychological meanings in great literature understandable and relevant to all people wishing to gain a deeper level of understanding about the growtn of the human soul. Having plumbed the depths of her own psycho-spiritual aging process(Such Stuff As Dreams are Made On), Ms. Luke has created a work fusing literary scholarship and personal experience into a guide for all of us to follow towards the inevitable. When the time comes for me to plant my oar (read her interpretation of The Odyssey)and turn towards the life of prayer, song and storytelling I will be eternally grateful to have had this wonderful Wise Woman as my guide. Deserving of a wide readership.

Any one interested in creating an education system that is child centered, flexible and interesting should read this book.
The Met, a public highschool in Providence, RI., is the focus of a 2 year study by the author that culminated in this book. This is a special place where real learning takes place and children are valued for their interests and their individualism.
It almost makes me want to go back to highschool or atleast move to Providence so that my children can go there. Thank you to the author, eliot Levine, and to everyone associated at the Met for being brave enough to go against the tide and create a school that will hopefully be the model for all schools in the future.

This is a thorough, well-organized compendium of all aspects of George Eliot's works, their reception, publishing history, etc. If you are reading Felix Holt, you'll find everything you need to know about the Reform Bill of 1832. Other entries, such as "Moral Values" and "Romanticism" are brief but well-written and can deepen the perspective as you read. Each of the novels has a dedicated entry describing the plot with interpretive aids. A very valuable resource.

Percival's Angel uses the Arthurian legend the setting for a new story. If you are a fan of Arthurian legend and enjoy reading the stories that focus on faerys and their relations with humans you will enjoy this book. If you are looking for a more standard retelling of the legend however you should try Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon.

I highly recommend this lovely book. The basic plot centers around the Elliot family who purchase a Medieval inn in the English countryside. Themes include continuity (of family)and healing from past mistakes and poor decisions. Goudge is a very descriptive writer. She takes you to the houses Dameroshay and the Herb of Grace, and into the enchanted forest where the fairy person lives, caring for the needy animals. Characters are true to life set in the post WWII period. I also recommend this for using in High School English lit courses (which I teach) for examples of not only descriptive writing, but also for allusion, character development, and good use of plot. Even though it is out of print, this is a lovely book that deserves numerous readings and will provide hours of enjoyment.

Morrison's timely post-Marxist screed comments sagely upon a variety of contemporary critical debates. Those familiar with the polymathic cultural critic's briefer interventions will not despise this, his first sustained engagement with Modernism's embryonic (and full-blown) fascist affinities. Those who fashionably scorn and/or valorize Modernist pieties, or who rest secure in the "knowledge" that the Modernist trajectory has trailed off the cultural radar screen, will find much to raise hackles here. If, like a PoMo Pilate, you find yourself questioning Truth, but not staying for an answer, you'll really relate to the characters in this book, and you'll hate when it ends. There's some unnecessary talk about a guy called "Ideology," and frankly offensive references to a brother named "DeMan," but the true-to-life characterizations of the protagonists and visual descriptions of settings carry the reader through and make this page-turner impossible to put down. I hope Morrison keeps up writing like this, and I will recommend this book to all my co-workers.

Ellman's book is one I return to as I teach Eliot and Pound. Her work is powerfully, and usefully, illuminating, especially in its examination of the interrelation between (aspects of) theory and literature. I especially admire her use of Freud and Bataille in her reading of "The Waste Land" (via the notions of the "uncanny" and the "abject"). Her readings do in fact read the poems instead of enacting the masturbatory fantasies that academics can sometimes fall prey to. This is an unjustly unknown book: Ellman's critical intelligence is staggering.

I cannot think of wanting to do anything more than watching a University of Illinois f-ball game at Memorial Stadium. Ever since I was young I have never missed a game if it were possible for me to go. My Junior year in high school I picked up this book on Ray Eliot. The book instantly caught my attention because I love the illini and the forward was written by Ray Nitchzke (former u of i and packer great). In Nitchzke's message he said how Ray Eliot was very compassionate, caring and inspirational. He talked about how he believed Ray was the most inspirational coach he had experienced (this coming from the man who was coached by the great Vince Lombardi). I now play college football and I can truthfully say I wish I too could be inspired by Coach Eliot. This book does that and I constantly look to it for guidance. I believe this is the best book I have ever read (despite the Bible). It teaches its readers about more important aspects in football: sportsmanship, desire, courage, love, etc. These values that Ray Eliot instilled in his players were more important than championships. In his 18 years, Eliot's Illini teams won three big ten titles and two Rose Bowls. They also upset the #1 team in america 3 years in a row at one time in the early 1940s. I'll leave this review with a quote from the first page of his book. --"The boy is more important than the game."-- --Ray Eliot--

I borrowed this book from the library. It is fantastic and opened up my eyes to much of the beauty of Eliot's masterpiece - the Four Quartets. I had already appreciated these poems, but they are notoriously difficult. By focusing on the meter, but combining this with general comments on the Four Quartets, Reibetanz really does us a service. She spends one chapter on discussing how Eliot developed his meter in earlier works, then devotes a chapter to each of the Four Quartets, finishing with a conclusion.

The writing throughout is clear and non-technical. Even if you have only a basic understanding of meter and literary criticism, you can read it and enjoy it. And clearly Reibetanz loves the work and knows it well. She goes virtually line by line to elucidate the poem and point out subtle things Eliot is doing. Showing first and foremost how he uses meter to accomplish changes in feel, rhythm, mood, etc., and also drawing parallels to his other work. But she also gives interpretations of the sections, which (even if you don't always agree) are wonderful and will definitely spur you on to have more great thoughts of your own.

Highly recommended! How can this be out of print?

So you think the critics give unqualified adoration to our early moderns? Think again. Stanford, in elegant, tight, perfectly clear prose tells the story of the revolution in poetry at the opening of the 20th century from a different point of view, that of the Wintersian formalists. These are the followers and students of the great poet and critic Yvor Winters, whose radically neo-classical views cause a storm of debate in the first half of the century. (See my reviews of Winters books at my amazon site.) Stanford incisively explores the poetry of five great poets and makes a strong case for the stature of Robinson and Winters -- can you believe that? -- above that of the divinely canonized threesome also studied here. You will never read Stevens (who's the best of the remaining three), Pound, or Eliot the same again after you have studied them carefully with Stanford. This is a masterful work of literary criticism and one much needed in our chaotic times in the field of poetry. Moreover, it is a stirring treatise on the value of poetry to life and thought, a comment that would be the summit of praise coming from Yvor. I hope you'll give this great book a try if you love poetry. It might change your whole approach to the art. It's not that Stanford will induce you to leave Eliot and Pound behind, but open you up to greater vistas in the high arts of human language. Be sure to check out my other recommendations at my amazon.com personal site.