Which is to say it was not a strict rendering of what Ovid wrote butĪn imaginative reworking of it, something that is often frowned upon by serious scholars. Slavitt, was called a "free translation", Great writers, old and modern, have been influenced by Ovid's writing. I could see why theĪncients might have thought this was hot stuff and why so many other The identities of the people and places apparent. I no longer needed to check every reference as this translation made I found one that suddenly made Ovid's stories jump off the page. Then, halfway through, I checked out some other translations. Of metamorphoses (literally, changes of body) as possible. To follow, as it kept jumping around to fit in as many of these subplots Over and over, whenever some interest would be created by one of theseĬharacters, he or she would turn into a tree or fish or bird or Look up the mythological figures in footnotes or other sources to figure out what was going on. So how come I found it deadly dry, repetitive and boring? Was said to be wickedly delightful to read compared to other ancients.Īnd I was reading an acclaimed translation into modern English. This was supposed to be one of the great books of Western culture. My first reaction to Ovid's Metamorphoses was mystification.
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Parents need to know that Efrén Divided is the first novel by Ernesto Cisneros, who grew up in the Southern California neighborhood where most of the story takes place. Kind teachers and administrators at school provide stability, support when things are at their worst. Efrén points out that while most of the kids in the neighborhood hijack internet using stolen codes on the neighbors' Wi-Fi, his mom has always insisted they pay for their internet account. Despite this, they teach their kids good values. illegally, and live in constant fear as they work hard and try to keep their U.S.-born kids safe, living in a studio apartment in an iffy neighborhood. Efrén's parents fled a desperate situation in Mexico, entered the U.S. He lives with his grandmother because his father abandoned him and his mom has a drinking problem. His best friend, David, the only White kid in the neighborhood, has a big nose, loves flashy clothes, is sometimes foolish and full of himself but proves a more true and loyal friend than Efrén in a bad moment gives him credit for. For most of story he's not only his siblings' main caregiver, he also works hard, does well at school. Efrén is carrying a heavy load for a seventh grader, even before his mom gets deported. Jack Block Award for Distinguished Contributions to Personality Psychology, Society for Personality and Social Psychology.Special Professor on “Regulation of Social Interaction,” VU Free University of Amsterdam.Theoretical Innovation Prize, honorable mention (2nd place overall), Society for Personality and Social Psychology (for Baumeister et al., 2007, “How Emotion Shapes Behavior…”, in PSPR). Lifetime Achievement Award, International Network for Personal Meaning.“Self-control and stress: A limited resource model,” research grant funded by National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 1RL1AA017541, $1,064,690.“Free will: A laboratory based approach to a rigorous scientific theory,” research grant funded by the John Templeton Foundation, $328,397.Distinguished Service Award, Society for Personality and Social Psychology.Grants, fellowships, and honors received during the last 10 years: Third Postdoctoral Phase – Appointment Qualification. I finally went for it when I realized I would prefer to be a failure at something I wanted to do, then a success at something I didn’t. I always knew I loved to write, but it took me a long time to summon the courage to chase the dream. I come from a long line of Irish storytellers on my father’s side and theatre people on my mother’s. What prepared me for a life of writing fiction? Though I have a BA from Brandeis University in English and American Literature and a BFA in illustration from Rhode Island School of Design, the true answer is probably genes. I love the crazy fun and infinite possibility of storytelling. I love when characters come to me out of nowhere and make me cry so hard my mascara runs or laugh until my stomach hurts. I love to slip into another person’s skin and feel what it’s like to live another life. I love words, dictionaries, thesauruses, sharp pencils, the smell of book ink and the delicious art of carving out sentences on clean white paper. There’s a Lego in my bum which fits with the Lego in my chair and when I sit down to write, I hear the satisfying snap of the two pieces fitting together. About Lear less has been written, perhaps because there does not seem as much to say. Of the two great makers of nonsense, Carroll rightly has received more attention, because of his twists and quirks, because of his photography and the ghost of pedophilia falsely supposed to cling to his obsessions. Like the porn, it was amazingly generative, so that most works of Dada and Surrealism bear the marks of mid-Victorian Englishness, descending from Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, as much as modern erotica takes on those nineteenth-century disguises. All that sense, decorum, and propriety produced the first fully achieved literature of nonsense. The Victorians, famously puritanical, are also famous for providing the template of modern pornography-the words “Victorian classic” on a paperback have long meant a dirty book-while on the other side of that earnest, progressive Victorian rationality are the mad leaps of Victorian irrationality. Cultures, like caterpillars, crawl forward in contradictions, drawing back and then suddenly springing forward. Kit can lead her ship and clever crew on her own, but with the fate of queen and country at stake, Kit and Rian must learn to trust each other, or else the Isles will fall. But Kit has her orders, and the queen has commanded they journey to a dangerous pirate quay and rescue a spy who's been gathering intelligence on the exiled emperor of Gallia. Rian Grant, Viscount Queenscliffe, may be a veteran of the Continental war, but Kit doesn’t know him or his motives-and she’s dealt with one too many members of the Beau Monde. I for one look forward to the next book in this series, so very well written by Chloe Neill. But the waters become perilous when the queen sends Kit on a special mission with a partner she never asked for. The Bright and Breaking Sea was a wonderful magical world created by Neill, filled with two great heroes, fabulous secondary characters, exciting adventures, seafaring escapades, pirates, and a budding romance. Her ship is small, but she's fast-in part because of Kit’s magical affinity to the sea. Kit Brightling, rescued as a foundling and raised in a home for talented girls, has worked hard to rise through the ranks of the Isles’ Crown Command and become one of the few female captains in Queen Charlotte's fleet. Chloe Neill brings her trademark wit and wild sense of adventure to a stunning seafaring fantasy starring a dauntless heroine in a world of magic and treachery. Nonetheless, this is a spirituality classic, and an especially engaging parable for adolescents. The dreamy seagull photographs by Russell Munson provide just the right illustrations-although the overall packaging does seem a bit dated (keep in mind that it was first published in 1970). Ultimately, he learns the meaning of love and kindness. Instead of being enfeebled by age, the Elder had been empowered by it He. This is an audio recording of the classic book, which tells the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a seagull who is bored with the daily squabbles over food. (At one point our beloved gull is even banished from his flock.) By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan gets the ultimate payoff: transcendence. The gull sees farthest who flies highest. Ultimately this is a fable about the importance of seeking a higher purpose in life, even if your flock, tribe, or neighborhood finds your ambition threatening. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight." Flight is indeed the metaphor that makes the story soar. "For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. "Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight-how to get from shore to food and back again," writes author Richard Bach in this allegory about a unique bird named Jonathan Livingston Seagull. As things finally looks good for them, James reappears, and tries to convince Claire to take him back. She knows she mustn’t poach her sister’s boyfriend, and even if she ignored the age difference, she senses that there are parts of Adam’s life he isn’t being open about.Īfter many incidents born from Claire’s insecurity, she and Adam starts seeing each other personally. Although he is younger that Claire, she is very attracted to him, and when he is interested in her as well, she is in a dilemma again. When Claire starts to heal, and look like a functioning human being, her younger sister Helen brings the gorgeous Adam home. She tries to find what would cause her devoted husband to cheat on her, but the more she looks, the more unbelievable it seems that their marriage fell apart. Her parents try to help her, and she slowly rebuilds her life and confidence. Dumbstruck with horror, she flees their apartment and returns to Dublin to her family.Īs she tries to cope with her heartache and new child, and she goes through a lot of ups and downs. Her husband James leaves her on the day her daughter Kate is born, telling her he has found someone else. Claire Walsh’s life falls apart the day that was supposed to be one of her best ones. However, during his time at the UN compound, he began translating The Great Game into his mother tongue Pashto, so that "They can see how our history has repeated itself.Only if we understand our history can we take steps to break the cycle". In 1996, when the Taliban took the city, they promptly seized and murdered him. Najibullah translation Īfter the fall of Kabul to Afghan mujahideen forces in 1992, the last Soviet-backed president of Afghanistan, Mohammad Najibullah, sought refuge in the capital's UN compound. When play began early in the 19th century, the frontiers of the two imperial powers lay two thousand miles apart, across vast deserts and almost impassable mountain ranges by the end, only 20 miles separated the two rivals. At stake was the preservation of India, key to the wealth of the British Empire. The Great Game was played between the Russian Empire and British Empire for supremacy in Central Asia. In this work, the author relates the story of a time best described by Captain Arthur Connolly, of the East India Company before he was beheaded in Bokhara for spying in 1842, as " The Great Game". The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia (US title The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia is a book by Peter Hopkirk on " the Great Game", a series of conflicts in the 1800s between the UK and Russian powers to control Central Asia. I am tempted to say that one may understand this family across cultures, language and time. Because of her masterful writing, this never becomes more confusing than it should be, which is very confusing, and that, I think, is what makes this book a universal portrait of “family”, even though her particular story is as unique as they come. And we are plunged into infinite mental states. The novel starts in the middle, goes to the end of the beginning, then the beginning of the end, and then ends with the beginning of the beginning and the end of the end.īefore meeting her brother for the first time in years, Rosemary thinks about the “theory of mind” which encompasses the number of embedded mental states one is capable of (science says five to seven, she thinks possibly infinite). Why was it hidden from us for 25 percent of the book? Because Fowler wants us to think of her as a sister like any other, and not a pet. Her sister, we soon find out is a chimpanzee. When she begins the novel, right in the middle, both her siblings have disappeared. Narrated by Rosemary Cooke, a girl who was brought up with a brother and sister, by parents who were psychologists. Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves broke my heart a thousand times over. |