This is an excellent text if you are interested in having your reality turned on its head. I have used this reference in almost every paper I have written since beginning my path down the winding road of critical theory. I recommend it to anyone who thinks about why we think the way we do, anyone interested in hegemony, and anyone who thinks something is wrong with our world but s/he feels s/he just can't put a finger on what it is. This is a foundational text for anyone studying literary theory or philosophy. It contains the famous I.S.A. essay, a must read for anyone who functions metacognitively!

This is a very good book about how Lenin was made into a god to Russia. There is a lot of detail about Lenin's life, but more about what happened to Lenin after he died. It was not to surprising his body was preserved and put on display. In this way he was treated as the Orthodox Church has always revered its saints by keeping relics and body parts. Lenin's wife was angry that Lenin was not properly buried, but Stalin's idea was to make him into a saint. For all the years following Lenin was practically worshipped. This book shows how the cult was created by the Communist Party and forced on Russian citizens. The book treats Russians and Lenin with respect, and it has very good history.

A fictional diary, this Lenin's tale through his own eyes, starting from early boyhood until shortly before his death. Though some 700 pages, it is more exhaustive than exhausting, and so awfully entertaining I daresay for a month I couldn't put it down. While no substitute for Trotsky's history of the Revolution, this is a historical distillation bound to give an insight into both Lenin and his times. Alan Brien has worked an undiscovered masterpiece!

This novel is misunderstood, both by the pedophile minority and the normophile majority, as glorifying sexual attraction to children. That it assuredly does not do. On the contrary, the protagonist undergoes an Epiphany and recognizes his mistakes. In the first half of the book, Humbert criticizes every adult he meets. For the second half, he discontinues this pattern.

Nabokov was decades ahead of the professional writers on the subject. He commits rationalizations which de Young commented on in 1982. He comments on "blurred boyish blondes in faded slacks" and his love-object's "beautiful boy-knees" and "blurred boyish blondes in faded slacks." In 1962, Fitch was the first professional writer to comment on pedophiles' preference for androgynous children.

Our hero also ascribes magical powers to himself and those like him. He thereby jumps the gun on "A Study of the Child Molester," which was published in 1984.

Most significantly, he shows the tendency of pedophiles to idealize their subjects. The first professional writers to comment on pedophiles idealizing children were McCormack & Selvaggio (1889) and Segal & Stermac (1990). Humbert opens his testimony with "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my lions" and finally regrets pursuing "the great resegray never-to-be-had."

I read the erotic parts of this book in high school. Reading this book now was quite disturbing. The perspective of having a teenage daughter and working in social work made the book seem quite different. The book is extremely well written and I highly recommend it.

I think that our society views pedophilia differently now that when the book was written.

Nabokov's accent (half english, half french, half russian) brings a fantastic, rhythmic power to this tape, in which the great man reads from his prose and verse (which he once defined as "concentrated prose"). Until you've heard an author read his own stuff, you don't really have a sense of what he had in mind, especially with verse, it being essentially an oral form. (at least the poetry I like.) Nabokov's neglected poems are among his best things, much better than his tedious early and late novels. Especially worthwhile is the author reading the same poem in Russian and in English -- both have the exact same cadences!

n.b. James Mason reading Lolita is even better than Nabokov's version. I suspect Nabokov had someone like him in mind when writing.

The three interwoven narratives are funny, sad and poignant, and the hero is a combination of resolve and absurdity as he doggedly digs his tunnel. This is a charming story, beautifully told and translated.

Though Nabokov's novels, like the luscious "Lolita" and the poetic "Pale Fire" are well-known and read, it's little known that he was also a playwright. This book collects some of his better dramas, all written when he was still a young man, and all written in his native Russian rather than the English that he mastered. One, blank verse masterpiece, is translated so poetically you won't know the difference. A great book to place next to his novels.

...is very highly recommended for Russian History academic reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Among the many books on icons, this is one of the oldest still in print. Why has it become a classic? Because it was written by one of the greatest twentieth century theologians, Vladimir Lossky, and by one of the greatest 20th century iconographers,Leonide Ouspensky who spent the whole of his artistic life in France painting icons and frescoes. Their approach is unique not only because of their deep experience of the Orthodox faith, but also because of the way they decided to describe the colour prints reproduced in this volume. What we have here is a superb commentary in the form of selection of poetry from the feasts during which these icons are placed in the middle of the church. Much of this Byzantine hymnography has no parallel in the West. It is what is heard in the eastern Christian church throughout the liturgical year which this volume beautifully illustrates both in word and image. The authors' feeling for the uplifting prayer of which icons play such a vital part is genuine and rarely found in any other book about the iconographic tradition. All Christians and many non-Christians will appreciate their respectful presentation of the revelation of God to man as it is presented in this book.