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"Passionate and revealing love letters from the iconic lesbian novelist . . . Radclyffe Hall is getting a fresh look. . . . Glasgow has chosen these letters well and provides helpful context."
--Kirkus Review

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Battle between love and devotion
This book gave much insight into the life of Radclyffe Hall, and how her mind worked. A battle between her love forSouline, a nurse, and her love for her partner of many years, Una, is very apparent in Radclyffe's letters to Souline. She refused to leave Una, who had been faithful and supportive of her for years, but loved Souline and wanted to spend more time with her. She loved Souline dearly, but was very controlling in doing so, controlling Souline financially and emotionally, sending the two on an emotional roller-coaster that in the end left them both separated.

A wonderful book, with very useful footnotes and background information.

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A collection of new essays establishes women's voices as a powerful presence in US nature writing. ... Read more

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This book ispart of a 3-volume anthology of women's writing in Latin from antiquity to the early modern era. Each volume provides texts, contexts, and translations of a wide variety of works produced by women, including dramatic, poetic, and devotional writing.Volume Three covers women's writing in Latin during the early modern period (1400-1700). ... Read more

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This book ispart of a 3-volume anthology of women's writing in Latin from antiquity to the early modern era. Each volume provides texts, contexts, and translations of a wide variety of works produced by women, including dramatic, poetic, and devotional writing.Volume Two covers women's writing in Latin in the Middle Ages. ... Read more

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"... a most welcome addition to the body of scholarship on the Sokoto Jihad and Caliphate." -- Religious Studies Review

The fascinating life and times of Nana Asma'u (1793 - 1864), a West African woman who was a Muslim scholar and poet. As the daughter of the spiritual and political leader of the Sokoto community, Asma'u was a role model and teacher for other Muslim women as well as a scholar of Islam and a key advisor to her father as he waged a jihad to bring Islam to the population of what is now northwestern Nigeria.

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An important book in Islamic scholarship
This is a realy important book and it is a shame that it is so overlooked. Nana Asma'u was the daughter of Sheikh Usuman dan Fodio, scholar and warrior and sister of the Caliph Muhammad Bello. This book not only describes the Islamic community that thrived in West Africa under Muhammad Bello but also the importance given to education especially the education of women.

In this Nana Asma'u played an especially important role she not only being sister to the Caliph but an important Islamic scholar in her own right. This book details the methodolay used by the Muslim community of West Africa in education and how Islam was spread by educated Muslim women such as Nana Asmau.

This book is a valuable read and one I would recomend to anyone who had an interest in either Islam/Sufism or African history.

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This essential teaching guide focuses on US Latina writers. It will assist non-specialist educators in syllabus revision, new course design, and classroom presentation. The introduction outlines the major historical experiences that inform the literature; the important genres, periods, movements and authors in its evolution; the traditions and influences that shape the works; and key critical issues of which teachers should be aware. The collection seeks to provide readers with a variety of Latina texts that will guarantee its long-term usefulness to teachers and students of pan-American literature.
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Sappho sang her poetry to the accompaniment of the lyre on the Greek island of Lesbos over 2500 years ago. Throughout the Greek world, her contemporaries composed lyric poetry full of passion, and in the centuries that followed the golden age of archaic lyric, new forms of poetry emerged. In this unique anthology, today's reader can enjoy the works of seventeen poets, including a selection of archaic lyric and the complete surviving works of the ancient Greek women poetsthe latter appearing together in one volume for the first time.Sappho's Lyre is a combination of diligent research and poetic artistry. The translations are based on the most recent discoveries of papyri (including "new" Archilochos and Stesichoros) and the latest editions and scholarship. The introduction and notes provide historical and literary contexts that make this ancient poetry more accessible to modern readers.Although this book is primarily aimed at the reader who does not know Greek, it would be a splendid supplement to a Greek language course. It will also have wide appeal for readers of' ancient literature, women's studies, mythology, and lovers of poetry. ... Read more

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A Summary of Sappho's Lyre
"Sappho's Lyre", written by Diane J. Rayor, is sensationally crafted in chronological order to afford today's modern audience the ability to understand and appreciate the lyrics of ancient Greek poetry.This volume is significant as it includes the works of all the ancient women poets together in one book for the first time ever.Along with the works of the seventeen poets who composed various genres of lyric poetry over 2500 years ago, "Sappho's Lyre" includes an introduction and notes section to explain the characters as well as the history of events taking place during the time each of the poets' lyrics are composed.These poets use their lyrics and musical instruments as a way of communicating the events and feelings of the individuals and their communities during the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods.Diane Rayor does an extraordinary job of explaining in modern day language the growth and development of ancient poetry. ... Read more

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She felt rather inclined just for a moment to stand still after all that chatter, and pick out one particular thing; the thing that mattered . . .
—Virginia Woolf, To The Lighthouse

An illuminating exploration of how seven of the greatest English novels of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and Between the Acts—portray the essential experiences of life.

Edward Mendelson—a professor of English at Columbia University—illustrates how each novel is a living portrait of the human condition while expressing its author’s complex individuality and intentions and emerging from the author’s life and times. He explores Frankenstein as a searing representation of child neglect and abandonment and Mrs. Dalloway as a portrait of an ideal but almost impossible adult love, and leads us to a fresh and fascinating new understanding of each of the seven novels, reminding us—in the most captivating way—why they matter. ... Read more

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Too much Virginia Woolf
I had great hopes for this book but finished somewhat disappointed. I'd have preferred that the seven classic novels be by seven separate writers. Instead, Mendelson chose three by Virginia Woolf. Woolf is a very fine writer but her over-representation skews the book. Rather than have Woolf represent "Parenthood," why not Austen's Pride and Prejudice, with a fresh reading on Mrs. Bennett's mania for her daughters' marriages?

Meaning in novels
"This book is about life as it is interpreted by books."

So begins the introduction of Edward Mendelson's The Things That Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life. As a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, Mendelson has read and discussed many novels. What interests me more than his being well-read, though, is his approach to reading novels.

Novels, of course, present a world full of life and characters of their own and should be read to understand that world and those characters. Mendelson takes a view like my own, however: that novels are not meant to be read in vacuo. "A reader who identifies with the characters in a novel is not reacting in a naïve way that ought to be outgrown or transcended, but is performing one of the central acts of literary understanding."

When I began to read novels in earnest I was a bit late to the game; most of my unassigned reading while I was growing up was taken from the topics of the sciences and computers. Before I had entered my twenties I had achieved unusual proficiency in those areas, even for a specialist, but I was embarrassed by my ignorance of literature. Of course I had read the usual works covered in the public school system but no one had managed to impress upon me the value of novels. Consequently, it would be more correct to say that I skimmed the usual novels and I could regurgitate various facts about The Scarlet Letter, Lord of the Flies, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but they didn't mean much to me at the time. So instead I read The C Programming Language, TCP/IP Illustrated, and UNIX Programmers Reference. Even much of the history that I managed to read was for a rather specific topic, as was the case with The Codebreakers.

Rather than attempt to go through life hiding my ignorance of literature and constantly fearing its exposure, I decided to solve the real problem by actually reading novels and attempting to understand them. I started with some that I remembered enjoying in high school, such as Alas, Babylon. I then returned to The Scarlet Letter and branched out to things that I should have read but had managed to avoid and in the process discovered the likes of Jane Austen. Though my love of books was always present, it was in returning to the novel that my love of reading grew.

In The Things That Matter, Mendelson takes us on a tour of the stages of life, discussing each in turn as it is considered in one of the seven novels featured.

Birth
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1818)
Childhood
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (1847)
Growth
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (1847)
Marriage
Middlemarch, George Eliot (1871-72)
Love
Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf (1925)
Parenthood
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf (1927)
The Future
Between the Acts, Virginia Woolf (1941)

In Mendelson's capable hands, each of these novels is able to take on particular meaning. Not only are the events of the author and the historical context considered, as might be true in any literary criticism, but each is tied back to the stage of life that is the focus and what it means. In discussing meaning, Mendelson does not arrogantly push a pet theory on the reader. "Theories belong to science," he writes, "which relies on repeatable results that can be tested by experiment or refuted by fact..." Reading a novel is a personal experience and writing about novels is from an individual perspective.

Readers are invited explicitly to join in the dialogue, judging what is written for themselves, and considering meaning for themselves. Disagreement with the writer is the reader's prerogative. I love how Mendelson treats the situation. "I hope our disagreements, when they occur, can provide the comforts of both heat and light."

I enjoyed The Things That Matter thoroughly, as I'm sure will any reader who thinks of novels as worthy of reflection and consideration beyond what they mean to the author.

Such an interesting read
"This book is about life as it is interpreted by books. Each of the chapters has a double subject: on the one hand, an English novel written in the nineteenth or twentieth century, and on the other, one of the great experiences or stages that occur, or can occur, in more or less everyone's life." These opening lines of Edward Mendelson's work of literary criticism - The Things That Matter - encapsulate his intent. A study of seven classical novels by Mary Shelley, Emily and Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf, Mendelson's essays present his thesis that novels provide insight into specific stages of life and, these novels, when viewed collectively present a "history of the emotional and moral life of the past two centuries."

Mendelson has aimed his work at readers of any age, the only prerequisite being knowledge of the seven novels. He writes in a conversational manner, as if lecturing directly to the reader. Theories and supporting arguments are presented within the text, footnotes included only when critical. Woven throughout is information about the prevailing theories and literary themes of the period.

In the section on Wuthering Height_s Mendelson explores Brontë's idea of romantic childhood, tracing its roots to the romanticism of Wordsworth and Freud. His _Wuthering Heights is a very different one than the one commonly studied in high school. Heathcliff and Catherine are desperate to recapture the total unity experienced as children, to merge two selves into one. Whereas the commonly held perception is of a novel of thwarted passion and cruelty, Mendelson believes Brontë deliberately led readers to this conclusion and away from her true meaning. "She disguised Wuthering Heights as a story of doomed sexual passion perhaps because she regarded her potential readers with something close to contempt...they could not understand what this book tells them."

Each of the authors is examined with the same focus, each essay meriting its own review. Mendelson states that he "could easily imagine a similar book to this one made up of entirely different examples."

I'll keep my fingers crossed that inspiration strikes and Mendelson shares more of his thoughts on life and literature.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

A Tribute to a Collection of Great Writers, Who Are Women
In case you ever thought less of women writers than their male counterparts look no farther than Mendelson's review of seven classics all written by women who wrote what matters in life with vivid, vibrant language.

Starting with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that is the result of an inspirational motto by Mary Wollstonecraft: "A great proportion of the misery that wanders, in hideous forms, around the world, is allowed to rise from the negligence of parents," to early attachments in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, to early disattachment by Charlotte Bronte, to the humdrum beats of ordinary life in Middlemarch by George Eliot, to the realization of life's illusions in Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, to a rebellion in To the Lighthouse, also by Virginia Woolf, and finally to the disillusionment met in Between the Acts, yet again by Woolf.

Great books as can only be understood best by this book.

Brilliant!
I echo Tom Casey's review below.I read some of these novels thirty years ago, and started re-reading them two years ago.What perfect timing, then, for Edward Mendelson's very interesting approach on these novels.On the surface this book does not appear to be the typical academic work it is, but each chapter on its own could have been a doctoral thesis.To tie these seven novels into passages of life is quite remarkable.In addition, footnotes, though infrequent, shed light on very important issues of the times that are easily overlooked.To enjoy this book one should have a fairly good knowledge of the novels.But you can read the essays in any order that you want; each essay stands alone.Highly, highly recommended. ... Read more

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Our homes, our selves
I started reading this book just as my next-door neighbors began to pack up and move; he had lived there for 11 years, his wife for 3, but now the owner has put the building up for sale. So I was already thinking of moving when I picked up the book to discover I've already moved more times in my lifetime than average -- 14 moves, across countries and continents, back and forth, since the age of 8 months.

For DeSalvo, whose personal experience of uprooting herself after decades in the same house prompts the thoughts that led to this book, moving involves changing a house; her physical surroundings -- it also has come to symbolize life changes, as she marries, has children and becomes an empty-nester. I couldn't always relate to that, as for me, moving has usually meant leaving behind not only a house but also a city, a community, a circle of friends and, most often a country as well. (Indeed, in enumerating my own moves, I'm not even counting moves from one house to another in the same city...) But this book managed to transcend these differences in experience, as she draws on an array of fascinating examples of moving by very diverse literary figures, from Shelley in the early 18th century, to Virgina Woolf, D.H. Lawrence and Sigmund Freud in the 20th century. Some of them had very definite roots and connections to places, like Woolf and Freud; others, like Lawrence and Shelley, were essentially drifters, defined by their constant movements more than by the places they stayed. DeSalvo makes fascinating links between creativity and moving, pointing out that having her own "room of her own" unleashed Woolf's creativity, while Lawrence drew on the wildly varied landscapes through which he traveled as settings for his novels and stories.

This is a thought-provoking book about what it means to be at home, and how moving jars one's sense of self and sense of place -- sometimes destructively, sometimes actually opening up the new possibilities that we all dream and assume will be part of any and every move. Sometimes her analysis becomes obvious and repetitive, as when she points out several different ways that when we move, we may change our environment, but we carry ourselves with us -- a more banal observation than I had expected from this writer.

Still, it's an intriguing book, and one that I can see dipping into over and over again throughout the years to come; one that will accompany on my own moves. Recommended to anyone interested in the creative characters who people this book (who also include Marguerite Duras, Elizabeth Bishop, Pierre Bonnard, Eugene O'Neill and Henry Miller.) Still, it will be of interest to anyone intrigued by ideas involving identity, a sense of place or even what makes a place a 'home'.

Insightful
Louise DeSalvo never disappoints.This book is not only about her own moves, but also about the moves of some literary and intellectual giants, Viginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence,Henry Miller, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung--

Soon I'll be moving and this book has offered interesting insights, and even a bit of comfort.

Many thanks to the author.

On Moving
Louise DeSalvo is a meticulous and impassioned writer. ON MOVING
shares intimate feelings as well as detailed scholarly research.
This reader finds Louise DeSalvo's personal reflections entirely engrossing, especially
frequent references to her father and hopes future works will engage us more in the life
of this interesting man.

The Spirit of Place
With a voice that is both elegantly literary and deeply personal, Louise DeSalvo explains how well she understands the spirit of place.We all have places that remain in memory no matter how many years have passed, but more than that, we also have places that call to us invery mysterious ways.Professor DeSalvo understands how we are both shaped and altered by place.She saves most of her personal experience until the last chapter, but by then, we are highly receptive to her insights because she has elucidated the place experiences of Virginia Woolf, Henry Miller, D.H lawrence, Mark Doty, Elizabeth Bishop and others in a way that recognizes the impact of place on the human spirit.An important book for anyone who wonders where they are. ... Read more

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From 1880 to 1940, Hopkins, Fauset, and Bonner shaped an African American female response to national and global issues as they fought to rid the world of racism, restrictive gender roles, and oppression.Between 1880 and 1916, using traditional 19th-century literary genres spliced with modern techniques, Hopkins roused her peers to resist segregation and to end reconstruction and the objectification of black women. Serving as the editor for The Colored American Magazine from 1900 to 1904 and writing novels, plays, short stories, anthropological pieces, and historical tributes, Hopkins evoked the fiery spirit of abolitionism, claiming that the battle had not yet been completed. From 1912 through 1932, Fauset wrote in a variety of genres, including the novel, children's literature, travelogs, poetry, and editorials. While working as literary editor for The Crisis, she wrote about her own special concern: the machinations of middle class black communities and the manner in which popular racist and sexist images bombarded and destroyed the integrity of the black self. Bonner composed 25 pieces between 1925 and 1949, examining the urban environment and exposed the triple threat of segregation, sexism, and ghettoization.
(Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University, 1997; revised with new introduction, afterword) ... Read more

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Although American women have written many of our most memorable songs, their contributions have received little recognition. The first biographical dictionary devoted to American women songwriters, this work profiles 181 well-known and little-known women who have written popular and motion picture songs, musicals, country, blues, jazz, folk, gospel, hymns, and nineteenth-century songs. Many African-American and contemporary songwriter/performers such as Madonna, Janet Jackson, and Mariah Carey are included. This volume provides hard-to-find biographical and career information across the broad spectrum of indigenous American music. Each profile contains an up-to-date biographical essay with career highlights, a list of most famous songs, and sources of further information. Entries are cross-referenced. Lyrics from a number of the best-known songs by women songwriters are included. ... Read more

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The plays collected in Sisters of Gore span the development of Gothic melodrama from the 1790s to the 1840s. ... Read more

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