Product Description
A new collection of poems by Robert Graves. ... Read more

Product Description
The life of Sergeant Roger Lamb, a young Dubliner who had served the Royal Welsh Fusiliers during the American War of Independence was the subject of a novelistic enterprise originally published in two parts because of war time paper shortages. The final result is a pair of picaresque novels concerned with the passions and frustrations of a distant war which mirrored many of Graves' own feelings for World War II which was happening around him. As an account of the struggle for independence, the horrors and excitements of war, the two novels were well reviewed and popular when published in the early 1940s. This chance to have both parts of what Graves considered to be a single project in one volume offers the opportunity of access to a literary and historical creation which both opens up the world of the American War of Independence, and the creative life and mind of a great writer of the 20th century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting Perspective Somewhat Boringly Presented
Originally published in England under the title "Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth", this is the first half of Graves' retelling of the life of a British soldier fighting against the American revolutionaries. As regimental historian in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, he had come across the real Sgt. Lamb's record of service. Twenty years later, while living in America, Graves was near broke and casting about for an idea for a popular book when he remembered Sgt. Lamb. He then duly immersed himself in Revolutionary War history to create order to create this faux memoir. This first volume starts by recounting the childhood of the protagonist, an Irish boy raised near Dublin's docks and given to dreams of adventure. Seemingly destined for a life at sea, his hopes are derailed by his father, who has already lost one son in naval battle and refuses to lose the other.

But the boy Lamb finds his way into the military nonetheless, and ends up a redcoat infantryman. The first third or so of the book outlines his path to the army and then training. This is followed by a lengthy background on the American Revolution, from the perspective of a British citizen of the time. For Americans, this is probably the most interesting part of the book -- a quite different perspective on events than one generally receives as a youth. Highlights include the venality of the "Founding Fathers" and the nastiness of the Boston mobs. Once Lamb actually gets to North America, the book started to lose my attention. His picaresque adventures aren't that enthralling, and while some of the detail of daily life in Canada is kind of interesting, it's not enough to grip one. One episode has him sent off to learn the ways of the Indians so that he may return to impart them to the redcoats, who were fairly hapless against the revolutionaries' guerilla tactics. Another plotline is his rivalry with a fellow soldier, revolving around a woman they both wooed in Ireland and the other married. This descends into melodrama of the Thomas Hardy type.

Written in the stilted, formal style of a semi-educated 18th-century Englishman, the prose does a better job of mimicry than of actually being readable. While Lamb's fair-minded assessments of the Continental Army and its success make for a novel perspective, one would have to be greatly interested in Revolutionary War history to make reading this worthwhile. The bits and pieces about British vs. American tactics are decent, but scant. This first book ends with the capture of Lamb and his comrades at the Battle of Saratoga. His escape from prison camp and subsequent adventures are described in "Proceed, Sergeant Lamb", which I will not be reading. There are also editions available which combine the two books. ... Read more

Product Description
Graves's poems have been re-edited in this volume as part of the "Robert Graves Programme". These 151 poems allow Graves to speak with his original voice. By including the historical context, this book allows readers to follow the poet's progress from schoolboy to mature writer. ... Read more

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**Attention--CHAPTER ONE ONLY. The entire eBook release: Fall-2010.

What makes a man, a man? How do we measure a man?

James Robert Copeland lives today in celebration of our country’s enduring freedom. JR’ (as he likes to be called), enlisted in the Army the day after Pearl Harbor and he was mad as hell. Typically, when your 22 years old and the son of a coal mining family from West Virginia, a meaningful life doesn’t present itself on a silver plate. JR’ is not typical in any regard. With his eight grade education he was singled out to lead men under his command to safety along the berms of Omaha Beach, Normandy, France. He did just that but lost a few men. He was shot twice himself. It was a horrific day.

JR’ Copeland, Staff Sergeant, 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion had a duty to his country. He did it with pride and performance and plenty of gusto. How JR’ became a heroic leader of men is this story; his upbringing, his family, his beliefs, all contributed to what would become a magnanimous human being. JR’ Copeland, 89, still celebrates today.
... Read more

Product Description
The third title published as part of the "Robert Graves Programme". This text is a collection of Graves's stories. Other titles in the series are "The Centenary Selected Poems", edited by Patrick Quinn and "Collected Writings on Poetry", edited by Paul O'Prey. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

The book that helped me most in writing
When I was a college student in China back in the early 80's, an American teacher brought us this book and made us read and follow it to the letter. Boy did I ever hate a college teacher: The first couple of months of her writing class turned out be excruciating to every student despite her seemingly simplistic motto: "Say what you mean, and mean what you say!" But her guidance ---- and this book's teaching quickly made its mark. Now, after 25 years in both public and private sectors, I have to say this book was by far THE most helpful tool in developing and improving my writing.

Too bad I forgot that American teacher's name. She was not very tall, was in her late 40's or early 50's andteaching in the smallest college in Beijing. If you are reading this review, A BIG, BIG THANK-YOU for teaching me how to write and for introducing me this book!!!

If you are serious about improving your writing, please read this book and practice its preaching. After a few months / years, you will never write the same way again.

As good as ten years' of writing experience
With only a high-school education in English, and a style gained by reading excerpts from cereal boxes, a person can become a master of prose by seriously studyng two books.Both were written fifty or so years ago but clarity in thought and style were in vogue even in the times of Euclid.The first book is not easy to read but is really fun and so well-written it sings--"The King's English" by H.W. Fowler and F.G.Fowler.(Don't accept any interloper's revision of the book!)The second book, and it will give a writer courage,is the present one: "The Reader over Your Shoulder," Graves and Hodge.

The Granddaddy of Fisking
THWACK! Down comes the headmaster's birch-rod on the sensitive knuckles of the bumbling pupil. Botch that passage again, lazybones, and I'll have your hide!

Poet-novelist Robert Graves and historian Alan Hodge have written a delightful book containing a very quirky 126-page critical history of English prose, a few short chapters listing every conceivable principle of clear & graceful writing, followed by some 200 pages of the most carping, anal-retentive editing & revising you've ever seen. Unlike most style-book authors, who criticize hypothetical or anonymous examples of bad prose, Graves & Hodge courageously tackle many of the biggest names of their era (Hemingway, Aldous Huxley, Bernard Shaw) and relentlessly pick, pick, pick until the carcass is clean and the bones lie strewn about the lair. Then they put it back together again PROPERLY, the way the author should have done it the first time. As G&H themselves note, the book might as well be subtitled "A Short Cut to Unpopularity".

Of course, if any headmaster ever treated me the way G&H treat their victims, I'd be outraged. Luckily, we are not one of their hapless victims suffering under their harsh tutelage; so, although we wince in sympathy with those being raked over the coals, we can also profit greatly from their chastisement. "The Reader Over Your Shoulder" is the most painstaking and explicit guide ever published on the craft of revising one's prose. Ideal for self-study. But beware: G&H get under your skin and stay there. Even as I write this review I can sense these two meticulous sadists hovering over my shoulder and I ready myself for a thrashing.

This review refers to the out-of-print, unabridged 1944 edition.

Worthwile, but . . .
Robert Graves was one of the best writers of his era, but as this book shows, he was also a Puritan when it came to language.While this book contains many useful tips, it is also pedantic and argumentative.As many of the reviewers noted, Graves and Hodges often illustrate poor writing with examples that seem, in an initial reading, to be sound.Perhaps this merely shows that modern readers are being anaesthetized by bad prose, but I don't think so.If Graves and Hodges loosened up a notch or two they would have written a much better book.

The authors leave the topic of style a little too early for my taste, making the book more of a guide to editing than a guide to writing well.

Still, the book focuses on developing a prose style that is logical, clear, and succinct--the backbone of all good prose.

The pot over the shoulder of the kettle. (Or something.)
I just don't know about this book. ... I got it out of library, started reading it and came across this passage:

"For example: 'Everyone this autumn is wearing amusing antelope-skin gloves.' This may have been true in 1934 of every woman, or almost every woman, of a certain income level in certain London districts; elsewhere it was demonstrably untrue. Fashion notes of this sort ... historians will find them most misleading."

Are these guys for real? Two distinguished authors, one a professor of English literature, apparently totally missing the point and purpose of "Fashion notes". It hardly needs to be said that historians are probably the last people for whom these fashion notes are written, at least if my own experience of historians' dress-sense is anything to go by.

And then there's this example from a letter by an evacuee girl in the second world war:

"'The old cat was on to me yesterday about being careful with my crusts. I bet she's careful enough with hers, the old ... I don't suppose she'd give one to a beggar-child, not if it was starving. I must waste not and want not and put everything in the savings bank ... I must bow down to her as if she was a little tin image. I must get out of this place before I go potty.'"

Here is Graves and Hodge's analysis:

"Great care must be taken to let the reader know just when the ironical note is sounded and just when it ceases ... The three 'I must's here are not parallel. The first is the reported advice of the Old Cat; the second is the writer's ironical deduction...; the third is the writer's practical decision, given without irony."

Now, what exactly do Graves and Hodge intend by presenting this example? Are they saying that the girl's letter does NOT make it clear when she's being ironic? Coz frankly I think it's stunningly clear. To anyone. I think it's a remarkably well written letter, lucid and eloquent -- which is why Graves and Hodge were so easily able to explain the precise function of each 'I must' in the first place.

Graves and Hodge have themselves been guilty of a lack of clarity here -- are they criticising the letter or not? -- and for a book about good style in written English this is unforgivable. ... Read more

Product Description
Shows Ford Madox Ford's poetic development from his early lyrics to his later conversational style. This volume displays, as well as early work, his less familiar modes, including satirical pieces never before collected. ... Read more

Product Description
Graves's poems have been re-edited in this volume as part of the "Robert Graves Programme". The text restores hundreds of poems that Graves omitted from the canon or overlooked in his continual refinements and, with its scholarly apparatus, should lead to a re-evaluation of his poetic oeuvre. ... Read more

Product Description
Robert Graves is one of the century's most resolutely dedicated poets. His is "an overriding poetic obsession," and few poets have suffered more at the hands of a fate so persistently embraced. Fewer still, however, have wrought that suffering into so remarkable a poetry-as is evident from this enlightening study. This study presents a thematic treatment of Graves' poems and provides a new reading of Graves' work, often contrary to accepted wisdom. ... Read more

Product Description
Set in Eberhardt with Lithos display at The Folio Society. Printed by Grafos, S.A., Barcelona, on Caxton Wove paper and bound by them in quarter buckram with paper sides with a design by Grahame Baker. Interior illustrations by Grahame Baker. Maps by Denys Baker. Slipcased.The Greek Myths was first published in 1955 by Penguin Books, and was reprinted with amendments in 1957. An edition revised by Robert Graves was published in 1960, also by Penguin Books. The text of this edition follows that of the 1960 edition, except for the deletion of Graves's source notes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Depends on what you are looking for
I prefer a book that's more illustrated and an easier read. If you are looking for a comprehensive text on Greek mythology this is a good set but if you are just looking to read for entertainment this set is a little too in depth.

Fascinating and comprehensive presentation of Greek myths, with idiosyncratic analyses of their likely genesis and evolution
Greek myths have survived in the form they have in large measure because of the cultural artifacts they've influenced.Other ancient, and now no longer active religions, have not permeated western literature, philosophy, and art as extensively as the ancient Greek religion. In a previous millennium its influence was significantly extended with the Roman adoption, with modification and expansion, of Greek religion and culture. The influence of Greek myths is pervasive, even today, in language and literature.This work captures the range and scope of these myths, possibly, in a more comprehensive and exhaustive manner than any other previous work.

The intriguing and fascinating retelling of these myths, by the author of "I, Claudius", is categorized into Chapters, e.g. "Beginnings", ...""Revolts Against the Gods", ..."The Trojan War", etc.Within each chapter myths are discussed in turn. Each myth and its variations issuccinctly described. This is followed by Graves' analysis of the genesis and evolution of the myth.His presentations of these myths have been justly praised, while his exegetical interpretations have, with some justification, been subject to negative criticism. Graves tends to interpret different myths as variations of the same theme, where its difficult, even for experts, to see the same connections the author does.

This work was originally published in 1955, amended in 1957, and then further revised by the author in 1960.This two volume edition, to quote the publisher, "follows that 1960 edition, except for deletion of Grave's source notes"

Reading can, and one hopes usually will, be a quite pleasurable experience, not only because of content, but also because format, binding, paper quality, and illustrations contribute to make it so. For all these reasons, this Folio Society edition is a pleasure to read. Printing the material in two volumes was the correct decision. It makes the books just the right size to handle easily. Additionally, the black and white illustrations, font, and text layout are nicely matched to the material. The myth stories are informative and interesting, and Graves delivers them with a unique style, zeal, and charm.Thus, even with the frequent idiosyncratic analysis of these myths, this work is highly recommended.

Beautiful Edition with illustrations and maps
These two volumes illustrated by Grahame Baker,offer a scholarly but enjoyable presentation of the Greek myths even including a discussion of the Alphabet. It is an excellent addition to any library both as a reference and for the joy of reading.

'WHO WAS THAT OTHER ONE?'
The number of characters in the Greek myths is so huge that students complained of memory-strain in classical antiquity itself. The quotation in my caption is from no less a literary figure than Juvenal. What I value Graves's collection for is that it is so handy and readable. It reminds me who was who, and I'm not inclined to assess it as any kind of academic production. Graves is a diligent dilettante, getting his learning mainly at second hand but with his own slant too. For proper academic comment on the individual myths we need to go to proper academic sources, and we should treat a great many of them with reserve too, I say from experience. When it comes to the labyrinthine maze of anthropology, where the experts are themselves at odds, a little learning is an especially dangerous thing, and all we should expect from Graves is rough guidance.

The first volume is inevitably rather disjointed. The second takes us on to more familiar territory, largely devoted to Hercules. It leads on naturally from there to the Argonauts, and unless

by now you just want an embargo
placed upon the good ship Argo

you should find a more fluent narrative, taking us on to the fall of Troy and the wanderings of Odysseus. Graves ends with a coy reference to his coy novel Homer's Daughter, and as both that book and his index here commit him to the traditional but wildly unlikely belief that its heroine's name Nausicaa means `burner of ships' I should advise that in the matter of the meaning of names Graves is out of his depth. So for that matter is Liddell and Scott's lexicon, and so are most classical editions I can remember.

The ancients loved trying to explain names, their attempts are largely shots in the dark, and matters have advanced little since except among specialists, as the subject is thought dull. However the issue is important. Languages develop word-formations, and names derived from words, by processes that are entirely systematic. Sometimes the meaning of names and descriptions is clear and obvious, e.g. Oedipus = swollen-feet and Creon = prince. However in many cases apparent resemblances between words, even very close resemblances, lead us astray. The processes of early word-formation are often disguised by later sound-shifts and/or by spelling, which I shall illustrate by just two examples at * below. Graves has the sense not to believe that `am&zon' means lacking a breast and the sense (or luck) to doubt one traditional derivation of Ariadne. However he swallows uncritically the ancient `derivation' of Virbius as `man twice', which is impossible, and I wonder who told him that medusa, which is just the feminine of `medon' meaning lord, means `cunning'. He does not explicitly endorse the Homeric description of Zeus `terpikeraunos', (which means `hurler of thunderbolts'), as `rejoicing in thunderbolts', but as that is in Liddell and Scott I doubt he doubted it, and it makes for a good clear example. My other example is his own dear Nausicaa, which means `excelling in ships'.

*
It helps to know that the Indo-European languages are pervaded by `vowel-gradation'. This is an alternation of o and e, and familiar in English from, say, foot/feet, loan/lend, steal/stole, know/knew etc. Sometimes different languages show different grades of the same root, e.g. English for-get/German ver-gess. There is also a third grade, the zero grade with no vowel, and in kn-ow/kn-ew not only the suffix (-ow/-ew) is graded, so is the stem, where English has the zero grade kn- and German the e-grade `ken-` in the verb `kennen'.

When Jupiter hurls his thunderbolts (`keraunos' is the Greek) in Latin poetry, the verb used is `torquet' (or its compound `intorquet'). This shows the o-grade of the IE root `torkw-/terkw-`, whereas Homer's Zeus has the e-grade in terkw-i-keraunos. The `-kw-` sound is kept pure in Latin, but changed to p in Greek in a way subject to systematic rules, giving `terpikeraunos'. However the Greek verb for rejoicing is `terpomai', and that has sent many scholars on their way rejoicing in a mistaken derivation.

Now poor Nausicaa. Split the name into its components as follows

(1)Naw-s -(2)i--(3)ka?--(4)a(or -e in Homer)

1 is the word for `ship', with the zero grade (`-s') of the suffix. 2 is the thematic vowel, a linking-sound between syllables, 4 is the feminine termination. What's 3? Graves and others think it is from the verb `to burn'. The IE root of that is `kawy-` or `kayw-`, with two sonants w and y. Most Greek dialects, including the Homeric dialect, drop one or other sonant: none, so far as I recall, drops both, which is what this derivation would require. There is another root `kas-`, however, which we find in the name Epikaste, the Odyssey's version of Jocasta, and that name means `surpassing'. We find it also in the Attic verb `to excel', which is in origin `kas-numai', but disguised by a later sound-shift into `kainumai'. Now take Naw-s--i--kas--a. Greek loses an inherited s between vowels, so that becomes Nawsikaa, and there we have it. (The spelling Nausikaa helps the confusion, because the spelling does not distinguish the vowel u from the sonant w). However it should not need this rigmarole to tell anyone that Sicilian royalty were not going to affront the gods by calling their princess 'burner of ships'. Common sense ought to help.

The handsome Folio Society edition, with helpful maps, was sent to me as an inducement to buy more. I am grateful but not induced, and it is doubtless ungracious of me to say that I am agin editions of this type, which seem intended for people who use books to impress the neighbours. In whatever format, this is a sort of work of reference for me. I can recommend it from that point of view, but remember when you read it that it is not to be read as any kind of oracle. ... Read more

Product Description
THEY HANGED MY SAINTLY BILLY is about William Palmer, a surgeon and racehorse owner, thief and philanderer. But was he a poisoner?

Using interviews with Palmer's friends and enemies, as well as trial transcripts, Graves' novel has all the immediacy and passion of contemporary life. Palmer's salty life and notorious death make compelling reading.

"My novel is full of sex, drink, incest, suicides, dope, horseracing, murder, scandalous legal procedure, cross-examinations, inquests and ends with a good public hanging--attended by 30,000.... Nobody can now call me a specialized writer."--Robert Graves ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Murderer?
The story of William Palmer is at once comic and tragic, for it is the story of a seemingly good man - a country doctor in nineteenth century England - who also just happens to be a forger, philanderer, fixer of horse races and common thief.But the law did not ultimately punish Dr. Palmer for any of these crimes; he is instead condemned by history as one of England's most notorious serial killers, a poisoner suspected in the deaths of his mother-in-law, wife, brother, children and his best friend.I recognized this tale from an adaptation on the PBS series MYSTERY from a few years ago; Palmer was portrayed as a cold-blooded sociopath who used his knowledge of science to serve his own narcissistic ends.So let us then thank Robert Graves for presenting the other side of the story, one supported by the facts and in the same mold as his other great historical fictions "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the God - Graves purports to show what really happened in that small village of Rugeley and the miscarriage of justice that occured at Palmer's trial.The author suggests that Dr. Palmer's most egregious fault was to run afoul of the "combined might of the Police, the insurance companies and the Jockey Club" - especially the latter, whom Graves smirks "would feel a hundred times less aggrieved with a man who garotted a fellow-criminal, an unwanted child, or an ailing relative, than with one who poisoned race-horses."There is little doubt that Palmer stole from friends and family alike or that he attempted to profit from the life insurance policies of those not long for this world; one of the book's most hilarious scenes has Palmer convincing his drunkard brother Walter to insure the remainer of his miserable life: "What about selling your life, Watty?You know it can't be a long one, not above ten years at the rate you're going . . . If you last beyond eight years, I'll be the loser, yet I don't mind taking the risk, if you promise to play fair.What do you say, Watty, old chum?It's easy money, like pledging your skeleton to a hospital."The genius of Graves is that he is able to contrast these moments of high comedy against the overwhelming conclusion that Palmer died a man innocent of the charges against him, namely, the murder of his friend John Parsons Cook.Justice was only a tool here, not the result, it was used to condemn a crook for his notorious life - Palmer was to become an example to all cheaters and deadbeats.I recommend this story to the reader who is able to draw his own conclusions about history - and one who enjoys a good laugh along the way. ... Read more