The "Gradus" was once the preferred method of language and art instruction. It consisted of copius examples that the student transferred verbatim into a copybook, and then analysed under the supervision of a tutor. The compiler of this book succeeds in this challenge using a comprehensive, though at times frustrating format. Every device (there are about 550 listed, though 2,000 are identified in the index) begins with a short definition, sometimes followed with synonyms and antonyms, other times with obscure references to other books. Next are several examples, many drawn from contemporary literature, television and film, followed by a number of remarks. Personally, I find the book inconsistent in places. Where it shines is in its analysis of the more "common" techniques (for example the discussion on intonation, irony, narrative, question, reasoning, etc.). The examples are excellent, the commentary and remarks explore these techniques in depth. BUT, if you are searching for insight on some of the less common or outright rare and never used techniques; in fact, where you might find this book useful, it sometime lets the reader down, and yet at other times excels. Often you are referred to the OED, or works on rhetoric, linguistics, etc. Sometimes the examples are simply citations of other works (for example, "see Lucky's speech in Waiting for Godot") and in other cases they are quite unique. Consider for example the entry under "EPANADIPLOSIS" - the useful definition is "The ending of the second of two corrrelative clauses with the word or words that began the first. See Dumarsais (4:139), Scaliger (4:30), Lausberg, and Morier." --- Well, I don't have access to these tomes, not likely to either. I need to rely on the examples. Two are given, both very interesting. The first is from Malcolm X, "You bleed when the white man says bleed. You bite when the white man says bite, and you bark when the white man says bark." The second is Robert Frost "Possessing what we are still possessed by, Possessed by what we now no more possessed." O.K., this technique appears to have promise. But we find in the remarks that "the desired effect is emphasis, hackneyed and hyperbolic repetition ... where many of the examples seem to occur by chance." I don't see the element of chance in either example. The technique, in my opinion, is considerably more dramatic, almost hypnotic. The emphasis follows on the next passage. This is a book of forms, and forms are the basis for literary development. ON balance, the author succeeds by creating a useful GRADUS, a sourcebook for the exploration of forms. This is an excellent book. Unique in comparison to other "competitive" books and texts on rhetoric. Its fun, full of insights and the best book on the subject currently available.

This is by far the best dictionary of any of the French creoles I've seen to date. As such, it's a must-buy for people interested in Louisiana Creole or any of the other French Creoles, Cajun, general French dialects, or dialects of American English in general, and certainly in Southern US dialects or Black Vernacular English. (In fact, until someone puts this kind of work into a Haitian lexicon, the /Dictionary of Louisiana Creole/ might have to do if you need a nice big Haitian-English-Haitian lexicon.)

This lexicon uses a coherent phonemic orthography, has a wide base of sources, and has lots and lots of example sentences (something I always appreciate). The lexicon deals well with lexical variation, which is a problem area in any dictionary of Creole. The lexicon is well printed -- in organization of entries, choice of font faces and sizes, and in quality of reproduction. And, altho it's new and only time will tell, it seems well bound.

The notable parts of this edition are:

* An about 20 page grammar sketch of the language.

* About ten pages on using the dictionary, orthography, and bibliography.

* About 470 pages comprising the creole lexicon. Each entry here consists notably of the Creole headword (and alternate forms); translation into American English; translation into Modern French; and example sentences in Creole (each translated into American English, but not into French). Then if there are subentries, those are listed too, with their own translations and examples. There are abbreviations noting the source of the data.

* An English-to-Creole index. About 80 pages.

* A French-to-Creole index. About 80 pages.

Voici un livre qui essaie de nous illustrer à propos de la langue française en Louisiane : qui la parle, comment on la parle, ses problèmes et ses besoins. J'espère que ce livre encouragera d'autres auteurs louisianais à écrire à propos de cette branche de la francophonie parfois si oubliée. Encore d'autres livres!

I have had the pleasure of visiting the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. If you ever have the chance to go, I highly recommend it. I spent three wonderful days in the Hermitage and would have been content going back every day for the rest of my vacation. Although some museums surpass the Hermitage in their collections (surprisingly few), none has fewer visitors per masterpiece. It was not unusual to be alone in a room of Van Goghs for 30 minutes at a time. The lightly guarded museum does not even have a security guard in every room. So the experience of the museum is a wonderfully intimate one.

If you never go to St. Petersburg, you must get and read this outstanding work about the French art from 1860 to 1950. Most of these works do not travel very much, so you won't see them otherwise. That would be a terrible shame, because many significant works, especially the Matisses and Gauguins, from this period are in the collection.

How did such a great French art collection find its way to Russia? That's an interesting story, and the book begins with a long essay about that. Although the Czar and the nobility had always collected art, this period of French art was not very appealing to them. A new merchant class had grown up, and they embraced advanced art from France (beyond the salon portraits the nobles commissioned) that became known as Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. After the Communists firmed up their hold on Russia, museums were consolidated and private collections were expropriated. You will enjoy seeing black and white photographs from the many private museums that these business people sponsored. The Shchukin and Morozov collections form an important base for this collection, as well as having provided important support for these French artists before they were well established.

In most art books, not enough of the reproductions are in color. This book is the exception. The reproductions are essentially all in color. There are 433 of them in color. They are also done in large sizes in many cases, which makes it easier to appreciate them.

The Hermitage is particularly rich is works by Matisse and Picasso, and these are presented in depth in this book. You will also find lots of Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Gauguin, Degas, Van Gogh, Rodin, and Bartholome. Outstanding examples of works by lesser known artists round out the collection in a way that will give you a different sense of the period than you get at the Musee D'Orsay or the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Albert Kostenevich is by far the world's authority on these works, as their primary curator for over 30 years. No one else has had nearly as much access or incentive to study them. He has written several fine, detailed essays that relate the works to each other and explain the works. In fact, this is better than going to the Hermitage because you would not have him at your side to explain things there.

And, naturally, if you have been to the Hermitage, this book makes a fabulous souvenir. Treat yourself today!

After enjoying this wonderful book, ask yourself, what other outstanding art collections have I not yet seen? Even if you cannot visit them, there may well be a book on the collection that you can order from Amazon.com!

This is an exhaustive dictionary of haitian creole. Have used the book in an intensive creole course. Found this dictionary to be the best of several offered. Gives definition as well as usage guidelines. This make the book an excellent resourse for those new to the language as well as to all who need or want to use creole.

This book is an insightful view of Moliere's classic plays.

If you buy this book...you will not be sorry. Dr. Randall's writings and reflections on Marcel are some of the best critiques of a lost art of existentialist philosophy. Having him as an instructor for may years now... for someone to read his reflections on hope in Marcel, one can really sit back and relax in life and the future.

Recomended for any undergraduate studing the French Revolution.

This is the novel Camus was working on when he died. It is unfinished and intensely personal . That the work is autobiographical is evident from the inconsistent naming of characters; in one place a characters name is fictious, in another from Camus' life. For example, the mother is once called "Widow Camus."

The work wasn't published following Camus' death but only much later. In some measure that was due to the fact that Camus was out of favor with the French intellectual left for his criticism of Stalin and his position on what should be done with Algeria, the land of his birth.

The recollections of his childhood are wrapped within a visit to his father's grave then to his mother. The father was killed in the first world war. It was the father's first visit to France and he died there. The father plays little role, dying when Camus was quite young. There is the story of his father attending a public execution and the effect of that on him and the child.

Extreme poverty permeats his youth. He did well in school and with the help of a teacher he dearly loved, he was able to continue with schooling. But read the story in his words. Rough as they are, they are better than mine.

It is, after all, about their own lives that writers write best. Here is no exception, and this book, far beyond any other recollection of childhood I have ever read, exhumes the anguish of memory. The chronicle of his past is underscored by poverty, but out of that, Camus has built a recollection of childhood that overcomes bitterness and misanthropy and finds redemption. Somehow, Camus has emerged as the completed man, the mature man, who can finally be consoled, rather than confronted, by his own past; above all, he has characterized his life as an emotional journey, and in finding solace in the destination to which he has arrived, for better or worse, he elevates those principal forces that steered his course, his mother and his childhood instructor. This is indeed, as Camus himself termed it, the novel of his maturity, and the only unfulfilling aspect of his story is that it will remain unfinished. As the story relates, however, we can always find happiness in what we have, even if it is not exactly what we wanted.

It is, after all, about their own lives that writers write best. Here is no exception, and this book, far beyond any other recollection of childhood I have ever read, exhumes the anguish of memory. The chronicle of his past is underscored by poverty, but out of that, Camus has built an evocation of childhood that overcomes bitterness and misanthropy and finds redemption. Somehow, Camus has emerged as the completed man, the mature man, who can finally be consoled, rather than confronted, by his own past; above all, he has sketched his life as an emotional journey, and in finding solace in the destination to which he has arrived, for better or worse, he elevates those principle forces that steered his course, his mother and his childhood instructor. This is indeed, as Camus himself termed it, the novel of his maturity, and the only unfulfilling aspect of his story is that it will remain unfinished. As the story relates, however, we can always find happiness in what we have, even if it is not exactly all that we wanted.

"The Stranger" is a wonderful little book, filled with deceptively simple language and actions. It's understated, very subtle, and except for the outright atheist vs. church stuff at the end, you've really got to work for it. You can pick it up, read it in a night, put it down, and refuse to be affected...but if you listen, the meaning is in there, deep and dark, not didactic, more like a whisper.

The apparent indifference Mersault carries strikes one as inhuman: shrugging off his mother's death, swearing off the church, agreeing to marry in a heartbeat, and, most poignantly, accepting his fate - a death sentence. But the things Mersault is trying to say through the gaps between what's actually on the page is simple: it's all arbitrary, we're fools on a ball spinning around a star, and contentment is the simplest thing to feel amidst chaos.

Although the murder and the trial, and definitely the funeral, are fantastic moral-bending existentialist scenes, what sticks with you in the dark of night, is as simple as the prose and also as endlessly complex: we're here, we'll never understand each other, we see what's most convenient to see, and we all die in the end anyway, whether or not our tenure here can be marked as "good" or "bad" or "moral". Not the most uplifting read in the world, but literature is a cruel mistress sometimes.

A book about the "Absurd" hero... A man who can only enjoy the moment, with no thought of the future or the past, who does only what feels good at the moment... who is not ruled by the monotonous machinery of the world, who refuses to set routines... and yet becomes entangled in the impersonal machinery of society.

By the way, this book is about as un-autobiographical as is possible for a book to be. Yes, Camus grew up in Algiers and loved to swim, but he was primarily a thinker; he was utterly incapable of turning off his mind and thinking everything through. He philosophy was completely opposed to the Meursault's view of life. Yet, like me, he found in Meursault a certain honesty, of living consistently, without faking emotions and conventions. But it was ultimately against Meursault's attitude that Camus fought in his books and essays.

It is a philosophical novel, and no doubt people will be turned off by anything that challenges them, but definitely give this book a chance. It has more to say than all but a handful of books five times the length of this one. I read it almost ten years ago for school, and have read it a half dozen times since, as well as every other novel Camus wrote... those for my own enjoyment. Put aside that King book for a week and read one of the greatest books ever written.

This is one of my favorite books. I first read it in high school and fell in love with it. Mersault (the main character) finds himself guilty of murdering an Arab. The book soon reveals it is his lack of involvement in society that stands trial. I strongly recomend this books for those that are interested in existentialism.