One of his lesser known works, Shakespeare's Trojan play is also one of his most intriguing. Not quite a burlesque, 'Troilus and Cressida''s lurches in tone, from farce to historical drama to romance to tragedy, and its blurring of these modes, explains why generations of critics and audiences have found it so unsatisfying, and why today it can seem so modern. Its disenchanted tone, its interest in the baser human instincts underlying (classical) heroism look forward to such 20th century works as Giraudoux's 'The Trojan War Will Not Take Place' or Terry Jones' 'Chaucer's Knight'; the aristocratic ideals of Love and War, inextricably linked in this play, are debased by the merchant-class language of exchange, trade, food, possesion - the passionate affair at its centre is organised by the man who gave his name to pimps, Pandarus, and is more concerned with immediate sexual gratification than anything transcendental. The Siege of Troy sequences are full of the elaborately formal rhetoric we expect from Shakespeare's history plays, but well-wrought diplomacy masks ignoble trickery; the great heroes Ajax and Achilles are petulant egotists, the latter preferring the company of his catamite to combat; the actual war sequences, when they finally come, are a breathless farce of exits and entrances. There are a lot of words in this play, but very few deeds.

Paris, Prince of Troy, has abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Led by the latter's brother Agamemnon, and his Machiavellian advisors Ulysses and Nestor, the Greeks besiege Troy, demanding the return of Helen. However, Achilles' dissatisfaction at the generals' endless politicking has spread discontent in the ranks. Within Troy, war takes a distinct second place to matters of the heart. While Paris wallows in luxury with his prize, his youngest brother Troilus uses Pandarus as a go-between to arrange a night of love with his niece, Cressida. When one of the Trojan leaders is taken prisoner by the Greeks, the ransom price is Cressida.

There is only one character in 'Troilus' who can be said to be at all noble and not self-interested, the eldest Trojan prince Hector, who, despite his odd interpreation of the quality 'honour', detests a meaningless war, and tries to spare as many of his enemies' lives as he can. He is clearly an anachronism, however, and his ignoble slaughter at the hands of a brutal gang suggests what price chivalry. Perhaps the most recognisable character is Thirsitis, the most savagely cynical of his great Fools. Imagine Falstaff without the redeeming lovability - he divests heroes and events of their false values, satirises motivations, abuses his dim-witted 'betters' and tries to preserve his life at any cost. Written in between 'Hamlet' and 'All's Well That Ends Well', 'Troilus' bears all the marks of Shakespeare's mid-period: the contrapuntal structure, the dense figures, the audacious neologisms, and the intitially deferred, accelerated action. If some of the diplomacy scenes are too efective in their parodic pastiche of classical rhetoric, and slow things down, Act 5 is an amazing dramatic rush, crowning the play's disenchantment with love (with an extraordinarily creepy three-way spaying of an infidelity) and war.

The New Penguin Shakespeare is the most accessible and user-friendly edition for students and the general reader (although it does need updating). Unlike the Oxford or Arden series, which offer unwieldy introductions (yawning with irrelevant conjecture about dates and sources) and unusable notes (clotted with tedious pedantry more concerned with fighting previous commentators than elucidating Shakespeare), the Penguin's format offers a clear Introduction dealing with the play and its contexts, an appendix 'An Account of the Text', and functional endnotes that gloss unfamiliar words and difficult passages. The Introduction is untainted by fashions in Critical Theory, but is particularly good at explaining the role of Time ('When time is old and hath forgot itself...And blind oblivion swallowed cities up'), the shifting structure, the multiple viewpoints in presenting characters, and Shakespeare's use of different literary and linguistic registers.

Troilus and Cressida is one of Shakespear`s many romances, and, like most of his romances, is a tragedy. Since time immemorial, Shakespears` works have been used as plays, literature and (least often) just casual reading. While Troilus and Cressida is one of the less known plays, it is no less a good one. It is based in Troy(as the name might imply)during the much renowned Trojan War. The valiant Troilus, son of the Trojan king is enamoured of Cressida, also of Troy. Meanwhile, the Greek hosts have laid siege to the city, and the warrior Achilles refuses to fight, encouraging further interaction between the two sides. Cressida, however, is the daughter of a Greek sympathizer(if that is the correct word)and may not be able to honour her commitment to the Trojan prince...

I think this is one os Shakespeare's most underrated plays, probably because of all the uncouth characters. Based on Chaucer's rendition of the story, T and C are Trojan lovers, and she is then traded to the Greeks in exchange for captive soldiers. Aside from this, the women of Troy are wanton and lustful, and the men are prowess driven. If you can deal with this, you will really enjoy Shakespeare's ability to wrap this into all kinds of twists and turns. It delivers a mixture of satire, comedy, romance, tragedy, and a semi-historical (in that people at the time probably believed the Trojan War really happened). Interestingly, this mixture of laughs and tragedy is reminiscent of war novels I have read about Vietnam. The romantic dimensions give this play its edge, and somehow WS manages to make it plausible in spite of all the killing and deceit going on at the same time.

this book is directed towards high school students preparing to take mathematics competetion such as the CMC and IPO. the book contains 100 thinking skills math question with solutions. Being a high school student (with a huge intrest for math) i was able to solve 71 problems, but i must admit that i really did face ALOT of problems solving some of them.(wait till you see the solution for question #5, #8, #41 and 46 Recomended to any high school student prepared to sit any exam or have an intrest for pure thinking skills math qestions, but if you are looking for something REALLY hard then you best look somewhere else...

This weird titled book contains 100 mathematical problems. Most of the problems in the book require high school level mathematics.... Personally I - a high school student- found no difficulty solving 71 problems in the book. Unfortunately a good number of the problems in the book, I have seen in other mathematical problem books. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the problems in the book. The book is targeted to those students preparing to take math competition such as ILO and the CMC. The solution of the problem are clearly outlined and I had no difficulty following them...wait till you see the solution for problems #21, #41, #42 and #90... I strongly recommend this to high school student interested in mathematics, if you are looking for something REALLY REALLY hard you could well steer away from this book and find something harder...

The Green book of Mathematical Problems is definitely a great book. It contains challenging brainteasers that will be of interest to anyone interested in undergraduate-level mathematical problems dealing with real numbers, differential equations, integrals, polynomials, sets and other mathematical topics. This book offers a selection of 100 problems with hints and solutions. The hints are very helpful and the solutions are easy to follow. The book isn't expensive. So it's a good choice.

This volume consists of a selection of letters by the British comic actor, raconteur and, lattery, chat show regular Kenneth Williams. The letters cover the period 1947-1988, and reflect Williams's early days as a struggling actor, the years in which his fame was at its height, and the somewhat sad later years leading up to his death.

What comes over strongly is how deeply lonely and unfulfilled Williams was - there is a lot of emotion in his letters as well as his tendency to give forthright opinions on whatever caught his interest. Williams believed he was a serious actor, often expressing distaste with the work he actually did. His struggles with his "celibate homosexuality" and declining health appear in many of the letters.

I thought that whilst this volume was interesting, "The Kenneth Williams Diaries" gave far more of an insight to the man, and were a much better read. I should imagine that if one started reading this book before reading the "Diaries" it could be frustrating.

I read this having read KW's diaries which were quite incredible. The letters detail his correspondence with assorted London glitterati and reveal even more about his repressed character - his hatred for the work he found himself famous for, being gay etc etc. Very highly recommended

Stephens is a bit much as Richard (does he have to yell so often?) but the supporting cast, with Michael York in a multitude of roles, Dame Peggy Ashcroft as Margaret, Glenda Jackson as Lady Anne and Jeremy Brett as the Earl of Clarence (for once, the part is done right--Brett comes off as believable, not as a whiny brat as in many portrayals) is fantastic. Unabridged, as another reviewer noted, and digitally remastered, this recording is the best I've come across so far. Highly recommended!

This is a terrific version of Shakespeare's play, starring Robert Stephens as the wicked King Richard in a deliciously "over the top" performance. Audio book lovers should take heed: this is the *unabridged* play, on three cassettes and clocking in at approximately four hours! And indeed some of the more formal lamentation scenes do tend to grow tiresome (but that is a feature of the play and not the performers' fault); however, the vitality of the Richard scenes amply outweighs this. The supporting cast, including Glenda Jackson, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, and Cyril Cusack, is uniformly excellent, but top honors must go to Stephens. The recorded sound (digitally remastered from a 1967 recording) is very good. Highly recommended.

The Wilkes-Barre Attack in the Two Knights is one of the most complicated and devasting counter attacks in the open game. Yakov Estrin was a leading Russian writer on the Two Knights as well as other systems. In 1977, he wrote a book on the Wilkes-Barre called the Traxler Attack for Chess Enterprises. Traxler was a European who had played maybe 5 or 6 games with the opening. Kenneth Williams was a brilliant correspondence player with the Wilkes-Barre Chess Club who along with other members of that chess club did a tremendous amount of work on the opening in the 1930's that was published in Chess Review. Estrin's name change infuriated him and he proceeded to destroy the first edition of Estrin's book with his analysis, so much so that the 2nd edition (if there was one) was renamed the Wilkes Barre. The book is in algebraic, the typesetting is horrible but the analysis is absolutely brilliant. Williams was a Correspondence master of the first rank whose business interests did not give him time to play over the board. Great content but rotten typesetting!

That I know of, there are but 2 books on the Wilkes Barre. This one and the one by Estrin. This one mentions Estrin's book and picks some good and bad points made by Estrin. Having not read Estrin's book, I don't know but this book will bring surprise and horror to your opponent's faces.

Having been in 2 college level courses that use this book, one being in my ap govt in high school and the other here at UTD, its a standard for Govt classes that are good

This manual gives good visual and written description of the taping procedures. It is thorough in the descriptions however a bit wordy at times. Overall I find this book a great resource for any coach, trainer or person going into either field to use as a college resource.

An alternate and awesome approach to Math. If u can teach your kid using these books right from the age of 9 or 10 then he is sure to develop very very strong and powerful mental skills in maths. Ever thought you could do 57823423/21345 in a single line ?? With the techniques from this book your kid would do it in seconds( maybe without touching a pen or a peice of paper!!) Just make your kid work with this book for a couple of hours every week and in a few years time he'll be a mathematical genius!!

This lavishly illustrated biography of David Gilhooly follows his career from his student years, doing ceramic sculpture at the University of California-Davis where "Nut Art," later called "funk," emerged in the 1960's, through to the early 1990's, when he established his own press and print studio. Among the illustrations are works by artists with whom Gilhooly has been associated, including Robert Arneson and Wayne Theibaud.

Perhaps Galraith's greatest appeal as an economist is the disdain he holds his own profession in. He is a merciless critic of thoughtlessness, ignorance, and the status-quo--and he's quite fun to read.

Because this is an anthology of his life's work, themes are occassionally repeated. But you don't need to know much economics, and the writings are current.