Weinbaum's writing is as fresh, entertaining, and though-provoking now as it was nearly 70 years ago (not that I was there, mind you :-) ). This book is a 'must have' for anyone who likes the field of science fiction, or enjoys a good yarn.

Stanley G. Weinbaum in his 1 1/2 years as a published author broke new ground in his stories involving real alien aliens. In one of the stories in "The Best of" collection he also predicts the atom bomb being used in the south Pacific. This was in 1934 or 1935. There are 12 of his 23 stories in this collection. If anyone knows of a more complete colection, please let me know

Back in May of 1981 I read Tennyson: The Unquiet Heart, by Robert Bernard Martin, and I thought that was the perfect biography. Because I had such good memories of that great book, I decided to read this bio by Peter Levi. It does a good job, but whether I am not as interested in Tennyson as I was in 1981 or what, I did not enjoy the book as much. In my youth I committed to memory a few of Tennyson's poems (including Locksley Hall) and that memorization has been a source of enjoymnet to me for many years.

Before I read Enoch Arden, I imagined Tennyson's beliefs to be fairly conventional for his time. He was, after all, Queen Victoria's Poet Laureate.

And yet, reading this long narrative poem from today's perspective, it's hard to imagine that its author was trying to portray Providence as a benevolant force. At best, it might be taken to deny that there is any divine force shaping our lives (which would be my belief); at worst, it might speak of a malicious Deity who delights in tormenting good people with cruel ironies.

The story concerns a woman and two men who were intimate friends as children. When they grow up, the woman marries the rougher of them, Enoch Arden. Perhaps she feels he needs her more than the other, more respectable fellow who also wishes to marry her.

At first Enoch prospers and builds a good life for his wife and family, but then he loses everything, through no fault of his own. He goes to sea as a common sailor, determined to rebuild his family's fortune, but is shipwrecked. He finds himself alone on a desert island where he survives for many years.

What follows has been imitated so many times that it is fairly predictable, though Tennyson's rigorous Victorian verses lend it tragic eloquence. After many years of waiting, certain that Enoch has died, his wife finally agrees to marry the other man, thanks in part to what she takes as a message from God. She and her husband are happy and prosper.

Of course, Enoch is found and returns to his village. No one recongnizes him and, enquiring anonymously after his wife, he learns that she has married his best friend and that the children of both men are living happily in the new family.

Now Enoch, like the other two main characters, is as nearly perfect as anyone can be. This good man determines never to reveal himself and ruin the lives of the others. He lives the rest of his years, mercifully not too many, in a rented room, with no contact at all with those he loves. Eventually his landlady figures out who he is, but keeps his secret until after he dies.

In one of the most wrenching scenes in the poem, Enoch allows himself one surreptitious look through the window of the happy family. A superficial reading of this scene, or the one in which he dies, or any number of others, would give the impression of ripe melodrama. Many readers have objected to the very last line in which we are told that seldom had the village seen as rich a funeral as Enoch's. This is often interpreted as a gesture of consolation, but I contend that it is the opposite. It is the most bitter of ironies.

This book had writing all over the inside which was not disclosed in the book description. Sorry to say we were disappointed.

This is one of the best collections of Tennyson's poems I have ever read. Tennyson's wonderful poems are artfully compiled into this book. I would recommend it to anyone who loves Tennyson's poetry or just wants to see what its all about.

Do not buy this book. I adopted it as a text book for a course I am teaching but have found typos in just about every poem I have read in it. Some you can figure out:

"How sweet--while warn airs lull us, blowling lowly"

"Warn" is supposed to be "warm." But others are really confusing:

"Thro' many a women acanthus-wreath divine!"

"Women" is supposed to be "woven." I checked these in the first edition of the Norton Critical--the first edition has the correct lines. I guess Norton just scanned the first edition and put it on the shelves as a second "edition" without even editing it.

Very sloppy work--please don't buy the book. The texts are well selected--it is nice to have The Princess available. And the critical readings are also well chosen. But the texts are hardly readible.

Publisher New York Thomas Y.Crowell & Co. 13 Aster Place. Calf bound Complete edition. Tennyson only. no publishing date. Poems such as Battle of Brunanburh,the princess. The Holy Grail etc. Very old. unable to varify worth.

"Alfred Lord Tennyson" is a compilation by Marion Shaw of the feminist views within the poet's works. Marion Shaw deeply investigated the works of Alfred Lord Tennyson to discover the numerous feminist references the great poet used in his works to express his thoughts on gender equality. The book itself consists of 174 pages, including a chronological table of Tennyson, an alphabetical list of references, and an index. Shaw identifies such feminist views as marriage, romantic love, mothers, desire, and even death. She pinpoints each of these topics in Tennyson's writings and beautifully praises him.