Book Description
Fairy tales, folk tales, stories from the oral tradition, are all of them the most vital connection we have with the imaginations of the ordinary men and women whose labour created our world."
-- From the Introduction
There was a time when fairy tales weren't meant just for children -- they were part of an oral folklore tradition passed down through generations. This volume of sixty enchanting and enduring tales, collected by master storyteller Angela Carter, revives the industry, eccentricity, spirit, and worldly wisdom of women in preindustrial times. Drawn from narrative traditions all around the world -- from ancient Swahili legends to Appalachian tall tales to European spirit stories and more -- these tales together comprise a unique feminine mythology.
Angela Carter (1940-1992) was widely known for her novels, short stories, and journalism. Her many books include The Magic Toy Shop, The Sadeian Woman, Nights at the Circus, Fireworks, and Saints and Strangers.
Book Description
The Old Wives' Tale (1908) celebrates the romance of even the most ordinary lives as it tells the story of the two Baines sisters, placid stay-at-home Constance and rebellious Sophia, from their girlhood to their last days. They move from the family drapery shop in provincial Bursley during
the repressive mid-Victorian period to old age in the modern era of mass marketing and the internal combustion engine. The setting ranges from the Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Bursley to a Paris brothel, the action from the controlled domestic routine of the Baines household to wife murder and the
Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1.
This edition of The Old Wives' Tale gives fascinating critical insights into Bennett's most wide-ranging novel, considered by many to be his masterpiece.
Download Description
First published in 1908, The Old Wives' Tale affirms the integrity of ordinary lives as it tells the story of the Baines sisters--shy, retiring Constance and defiant, romantic Sophia--over the course of nearly half a century. Bennett traces the sisters' lives from childhood in their father's drapery shop in provincial Bursley, England, during the mid-Victorian era, through their married lives, to the modern industrial age, when they are reunited as old women. The setting moves from the Five Towns of Staffordshire to exotic and cosmopolitan Paris, while the action moves from the subdued domestic routine of the Baines household to the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
Customer Reviews:
Overrated and sprawling-- women observed, not inhabited.......2007-03-03
It's very true that Bennett's prose is full of wonderful, vivid and often ironic commentary. This book gives you a great sense of place to the "five towns" (based on the six towns that would become Stoke-on-Trent) from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth. Detail is exactly right for time and place. That makes it a rather interesting read.
However, there's next to no forward motion to this book. Two sisters lead divergent lives-- the beautiful one runs off with a hapless commercial traveler to Paris. The dutiful one stays home, manages the shop, and marries the clerk. But that's about it for drama. Both sisters grow older, have some not very interesting stuff happen to them, then meet up again after a long time and end their lives together. OK, Sophia, the beautiful one, does survive the siege of Paris, and become a manager/proprietress of a well-run pension. But somehow even this lacks drama.
Bennett is often praised for how well he wrote his women characters. I disagree. They are well observed it's true, and some of his projections about what they might feel-- when Constance, the dutiful one, faces "empty nest syndrome" so mournfull, for example-- are accurate. But he imagines no real complexity for them. Both women are extraordinarily passive in most ways. The men in the book occupy far less time but manage to seem more human. Compare and contrast JANE EYRE: on the surface a rather prim, direct governess-- but as Bronte writes her, she has a passionate, vibrant beating heart.
In Bennett's world, women don't particularly long for sex nor care about it, nor think much about attachment at all. I think it's very telling that Bennett was inspired by the sight of an older woman in a restaurant. It was not a woman he knew, but a woman he saw. He imagined everything else about her.
If the time and place is enough to draw you in, then this book certainly does have that, as the 600-something pages sprawl about 50 years. But if you like a good narrative, apart from "people get older," look elsewhere. The writing is very good, but although Bennett's often compared to Balzac and Zola, he lacks their punch-- and I also think, essentially lacks their heart.
Parallel Lives.......2006-08-26
This is the story of two sisters, Constance and Sophia Baines, who live in a provincial English town. Sophia is the more rebellious of the two, and falls in love with the flashy Gerald Scales. She leaves home with him, ending up in Paris. Bennett then recounts the fate of each sister in turn as their lives run on parallel, disconnected paths. Can either of them find fulfilment, in "normal" provincial England or in the more exotic French capital?
"The Old Wives' Tale" is a skillfully woven novel, well-controlled and well-paced. Ostensibly, it was an attempt to bring the French "realistic" manner of writing into the English novel. On the whole, Bennett does a good job, and the story is certainly entertaining, but I was still left with the overall feeling that it lacked the bite or harshness of say Zola's best works. It was as if, try has he might, Victorian/Edwardian restraints still clung to Bennett. This is despite the fact that at the beginning of the novel, Bennett's prose is certainly harsh, even misogynist. This is ameliorated (but not totally lost) as the characters are developed more deeply.
The novel is very female-oriented. The male characters are mostly "extras", scarcely developed beyond the needs of the plot. I cannot tell if Bennett got his characterisations of the females right, but it felt convincing.
The overall message of the book is a moral one - misdemeanours are paid for (eventually) in often unexpected ways. Meaningful friendships and relationships are more valuable than material wealth (although the importance of being able to look after yourself and of not being poor are never dismissed). Lives are characterised by disappointed dreams and unfulfilled aspirations - ultimately beyond the immediacy of existence, life has little meaning.
G Rodgers
The Truth As Fiction.......2006-07-21
No sensitive, thinking person can read "The Old Wives' Tale" without
being immensely touched and moved by it. Bennet's story of two
sisters who pursue vastly different lives is tough-minded, wise
without being cold, emotional without being sentimental (some-
thing that even Dickens was scarcely capable of). The story grips
one like a thriller, but the book is far more than that. The last section
"What Life Is" reminds us that truth is just as often felt in the the
heart as perceived in the mind. And the only response one is left
with is, "yes, now I see." A VERY great book.
The Character of the Baines.......2005-07-18
I was so happy to see so many positive reviews of this wonderful novel. When the Modern Library published it's list of the 100 Best Books of the Century, I decided I should attempt to read them all. In the end, I am about a quarter of a way through the list and I am continually glad that I took on the challenge since it has led to me wonderful, but more obscure, novels from the last century, this being one of the best examples.
When I picked up the Old Wives Tale I had a similar thought to a previous reviewer: there was no way I was going to finish this book. But after reading Bennett's introduction and starting the first few pages, I found myself intrigued by this family. They are so normal that you find yourself relating to them, whether good or bad. They lived through such changing times, but for the sisters, whether they were in Bursley or Paris, life went on as usual. That is probably the most remarkable thing about this book. No matter what people live through, they generally are unaffected by the larger world around them. It's the private lives, the inner workings of a household or the change in ownership of their homes, which really troubles or changes them. In the end though, Bennett's old wives are what compels you to finish the story since you want to see how their lives end and how their relationship to each other changes through the years. Bennett stays true to human nature throughout the work, there are no death bed confessions or wild changes of character. In the end there is just one woman left standing, trying to keep time from pushing on and changing her world.
Bennett is a master storyteller and he combines just enough detail with dialogue to get the point across and get the reader through the book. His prose is very precise and I found myself surprised from time to time that this book was published in 1908. There is much in this book that can relate even to our lives today.
The most remarkable book I've read in ages...........2003-01-18
I'm certainly not the only person in the world who thinks of this book as a masterpiece. The fact that H.G. Wells, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf all praise this book as being so is one of the reasons I picked it up. In spite of that, I really read it without set expectations.
Briefly, to say what has already been said before, The Old Wives Tale is exactly that - a tale of three women who marry in very different circumstances. Mrs. Baines, the mother, is a life who is only briefly touched upon. However, the seperate lives of the two sisters, Sophia and Constance, are the crux of the book. Each life takes its' turn. We are first told about Constance, then about Sophia, and finally, about their reunion. Constance, whose name is not a coincidence, lives a simple provincial life, and Sophia, whose name also matches her persona, chooses romance and adventure. There is only one villain, and yet, he is perhaps the most powerful and chilling of all villains, Time. His grasping, clutching, suffocating presence is ever felt throughout the book, and looms even larger once that final page is turned. In the end, Sophia and Constance each pay the price for their choices, and the true cost of those choices is left for the reader to decide. As unique as we are, we will each believe something different about Sophia and Constance in the end, and that is precisely the point.
To sum up the experience of The Old Wives Tale, a tale of three women living their lives, and their lives changing them (or perhaps not changing them, is that it is the most honest approach to human psychology I have ever read. The lives we read about, Mrs. Baines, Sophia, Constance, and even those who surround them, could be anyone's. In fact, most of us can find someone in this book we could point to and say "that's me". No character, no matter how brief their exit or entrance into this story, is insignificant. Each person gives us a fresh perspective on the human response to events and to, of course, other humans. The three main characters are presented with sheer, unsympathetic, yet respectful honesty. We are not introduced to inhuman, perfect, idealistic souls in this book. Nor are we looking through the eyes of the wicked. Instead, we are searching the souls of ordinary people and in the end, are left with a question about our own existence.
In fact, it should be a large clue to readers when they see that the title of the fourth section is, What Life Is. It is here that something occurred which I totally unexpected, and it left me quite shaken - in fact, desperate. I found that I had been brought from the comfortable vantage point of observing these fictional lives, which are at times inexplicably amusing and heroic, to a sudden uncomfortable sensation that the characters were real and had turned toward me - the reader - begging the question "What of your life? What have you done with it? What have you accomplished?"
That subtle change of vantage point was shocking, and ingenious. Without criticizing his own creation, the author was able to communicate the importance of living our lives to the fullest without telling us how. This fact alone shows great wisdom. Sophia and Constance experience remarkable things, no more remarkable than most people, but remarkable just the same. Each reacts differently because they are different, and each has a different idea about how to find happiness and how to deal with life's disappointments. Both are frequently of the opinion that they could improve someone else's life, yet have not found real satisfaction in their own. Each makes mistakes, and each perform the heroic. The author will on the same page be blunt about their faults and tender with their plight. He tells their story without judgement, and yet in the end, you feel you have read a very wise judgement on the nature of the human race. Here, reader, you will find no prescription for life, but a question that begs a diagnosis. The author makes it starkly clear that the remedy, or whether a remedy is even required, is up to you.
The Old Wives Tale is not a dark story. It is not a comedy. It is not high adventure or mystery. In fact, it is many of these things put together to create something REAL. And it has shaken me to the core.
Average customer rating:
- Rational, unbiased reports
- Historical Medical Evolution
- Poorly researched. A sounding box for personnal beliefs.
- Shaky science
- Cool study of nexus 'tween folk remedies and science
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Honey, Mud, Maggots, and Other Medical Marvels: The Science Behind Folk Remedies and Old Wives' Tales
Robert S. Root-Bernstein , and
Michele M. Root-Bernstein
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
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Eating clay, drinking urine, applying honey to deep wounds and mere plaster to crushed bones: these are all folk remedies for ailments, passed on through the generations and thoroughly discounted by modern science. It is too bad, write scientist-historian couple Robert and Michèle Root-Bernstein, who deplore the loss of proven methods developed without the blessing of the academy, noting that "formal academic systems are only one of many ways in which knowledge is discovered, accumulated, and transmitted." Many scientists are now coming to agree with this view, they write in this fascinating collection of case studies. Researchers have showed that black tea, for instance, has powerful antibiotic properties and that maggots do an extraordinary job of cleaning wounds--as traditional healers have known all along.
Book Description
This book covers remedies from ancient Egypt to the rain forests of contemporary Latin America, and challenges the myth that modern clinical practice is the only effective form of medicine. The authors find that modern research often reveals a rational basis for supposedly outdated ideas. Most important, an increasing number of physicians, pharmaceutical researchers, and scientists are beginning to recognize the wealth of knowledge that can be retrieved from abandoned practices of earlier eras in Western medicine and from outside the boundaries of Western ideas entirely.
Customer Reviews:
Rational, unbiased reports.......2004-05-07
The author has made an extensive research on the remedies written about in his book. At the end of the book, he has also advised on how we should accept or not accept old remedies or even modern or popular medical habits - he does not rule out modern medicines. I think a very rational view and discussion was presented.
Like all views given, of course there will definitely be some people who would strongly disagree and deny the book's integrity outright. However to benefit more from intelligence of this book is to have an open mind. Even at the end of the book, I can't bring myself to agree on the urine remedy - but I accept the clear explanations given.
I don't normally buy books and initially I borrowed it from the library, but I'm buying it because I think it's a good book to have for reference at home.
Historical Medical Evolution.......2003-02-28
Whether or not you buy the conclusions of the authors in regards to the treatments in this book, their discussion and analysis of these treatments in historical context and why the treatments were effective, is extremely important in understanding the evolution of medicine. And if you are someone who is interested in researching folk medicine or discovery of medical treatments, this book is an excellent resource. It certainly presents a lot of information not ordinarily available to the layperson.
Poorly researched. A sounding box for personnal beliefs........2002-01-11
This could have been a good book. The topic is great. Unfortunately, the author allows his personal beliefs to color virtually every aspect of the content thereby allowing the inclusion of many factual errors. No where is this more evident than in the chapter on circumcision. Contrary to the claims in this book, routine circumcision has NO medical benefit. Because it has no medical benefit, NO medical organization in the world recommends it. For example, circumcision does not prevent urinary track infection (urinary track infections are lower in Europe where circumcision is virtually unheard of) and many studies have shown circumcision to increase the rate of HIV infection and the rate of transmitting HIV/AIDS to the female partner (UNAIDS calls using circumcision to prevent AIDS playing Russian Roulette).
Circumcision is not a folk remedy or an old wive's tale. Circumcision was started as a "cure" for masturbation. Since then it has been a procedure in search of a disease. To little attention is paid to the life long harm done to the child. For example, circumcision is now believed to be a contributing factor in male sexual dysfunction since the procedure removes highly sensitive sexual tissue and the unprotected glans becomes desensitized through a hardening of the skin in a process called keritinization.
There are many other sections of this book that are also based on errors or misinformation. See some of the other reviews.
Highly unrecommended.
Shaky science.......2001-05-21
Well, I have to give the authors credit for *some* hard work at least--there are an impressive number of studies reviewed in this book, from what I can tell. I've only had it for a few hours, though, and I've already noticed one huge and glaring factual inaccuracy: in the chapter on contraceptives, the Root-Bernsteins write, "The only exception to this is RU 486, the 'morning-after pill,' which seems to work very much like the menstrual regulators of old." How on earth can an error like that slip into a chapter *about contraception* in a so-called scientific book? RU-486 is NOT the morning-after pill, as any mildly educated person--or woman knowledgable about her contraceptive options--could tell you; it is the abortion pill, which, taken orally, causes the abortion of a fetus. The morning-after pill is a different thing entirely; it must be taken within 48 hours of unprotected intercourse, and rather than killing an already-growing fetus, it prevents the implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterine lining. I am not a scientist. I am not a health worker. I am not a science writer authoring a chapter on contraception, and yet I know this and they apparently do not. What gives?
This is really a minor detail, but its inaccuracy leads me to doubt the accuracy or thoroughness of any other "facts" cited in the rest of the book. It doesn't mean that the book is not entertaining and interesting; I would just take the Root-Bernsteins' science with a grain of salt, and read this book more as entertainment than as a learning experience.
Cool study of nexus 'tween folk remedies and science.......1999-05-01
Although not being a medical or scientific type, I found this a fascinating book. Some of the behaviors described -- drinking urine or applying it to wounds, placing maggots on festering skin to draw out the dead and dying cells -- possess a horrid fascination for the lay reader, but the authors describe quite dispassionately the possible scientifically valid reasons behind them. Very interesting stuff.
Customer Reviews:
An intriguing and varied book of short stories.......1997-06-15
The stories in 'Old Wives Tales' are notable for their depth, attention to detail, and variety. Dodd's characters are real and her writing is rich and difficult to put down. One of the best collections of short stories I've read
Book Description
Thomas Craughwell has spent a large portion of his life in the thrall of folklore and apocrypha. Taking a natural step from his urban legend expertise, he examines the "common wisdom" that moms everywhere pass along as truth to see if it is valid or if it should be ignored. Citing legitimate studies and scientific research, Craughwell identifies the useful and helpful, and offers enlightening theories on why these myths emerged in the first place–and where they went right or wrong. In many cases, you'll find the old wives were right on the money, even if their reasoning was half-baked.
Whimsically illustrated throughout, this entertaining and educational guide allows you to make informed decisions, whether it is slurping chicken soup to help a cold (it works), waiting for an hour after eating before swimming (not necessary), believing that a dog's tongue is cleaner than a human's (not true, yuck), or walking under a ladder (dangerous).
Mom always said...
1. Big feet—big "down below."
2. A woman carrying her baby high will have a girl.
3. Chicken soup helps you get over a cold.
Craughwell's verdict...
1. False. Guys with double-digit shoe sizes should stop bragging.
2. False. Knit a pair of blue booties, too, just in case....
3. True. Jewish grandmothers were right all along.
Customer Reviews:
Proving We've Been Lied to All These Years.......2006-03-31
This is an excellent little reference book on high quality paper, excellently laid out that proves a substantial number of old wives tales are pure fiction. It also verifies a significantly smaller number although you would obviously have worked most of these true ones out as they are just common sense such as It's Unhealthy to Hold Back a Sneeze and Listening to Loud Music Causes Deafness.
Again a lot of the wives tales proven to be false and this you would have already worked out through common sense but there are a few proven false that are surprising such as Reading in Dim Light Will Dim Your Eyes, Wet Hair Will Increase Your Chance of a Catching a Cold. As again is the case with tales proven true such as baby snakes are more poisonous than adults.
This book is also good for proving to those, and everyone comes across these people, work colleagues, friends or relatives who insist something is fact which common sense says is not true. With this book you can prove as the book proves through its own evidence that the ridiculous old wives tale is not true, such as Water Goes Down the Drain in Difference Directions Depending on Which Hemisphere Your In (probably because Lisa on the Simpsons said it was so, so therefore to them it has to be) and Swimmers Should Wait an Hour After Eating Before Going Into the Water.
Old Wives Tales is an excellent little book to have on hand to educate yourself and others.
Book Description
A collection of hundreds of superstitions and old wives tales from every corner of the world related to every aspect of pregnancy, birth and babycare. This covers every aspect of baby folklore; from beliefs on determining baby's sex at conception, to beliefs on easing baby's teething pains.
Download Description
A collection of hundreds of superstitions and old wives tales from every corner of the world related to every aspect of pregnancy, birth and babycare. There's tribal beliefs from Aborigine to Romany Gypsy to Inuit (Eskimo) and superstitions from countries as diverse as Canada and China.There's beliefs on everything from influencing a baby's sex at conception to easing baby's teething pains.
Customer Reviews:
:).......2005-04-02
I loved this book, it's brilliant! As an (immanent) mom to be, I was feeling down cos of my ever-expanding belly and thighs and this brought joy to my day.
great for all moms & midwives.......2005-03-23
This is a wonderful book that will guarantee hours of fun for all moms or midwives. It had all the nursing colleagues at my hospital in stitches! It would make a fanastic baby shower gift for any expectant or new mom.
This is packed full of superstitions that I have never ever heard before, so its thoroughly original as well as well as being very well-researched.
What I most liked about it was that it was very easy to read, full of just the beliefs and superstitions rather than lots of boring academic text.
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Black Cats and April Fools: Origins of Old Wives Tales and Superstitions in Our Daily Lives
Harry Oliver
Manufacturer: John Blake
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1843581620 |
Book Description
An intriguing look at the origins of some of our most popular superstitions and old wives tales. We've all touched wood to ward off misfortune, or seen a bride throw a bouquet over her head at a wedding, but how often do we stop to consider where such customs originate, or why they endure? Behind many of our daily rituals and beliefs lies a fascinating history of weird and wonderful notions, some rational, others fanciful. In this diverting volume, Harry Oliver delves into the stories behind our rich traditions to explain them with characteristic wit and flair. So before you search for any more four-leaf clovers or worry about the next Friday the 13th, dip into this little book to find out why.
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Old Wives' Tales: The History of Remedies, Charms and Spells
Mary Chamberlain
Manufacturer: Tempus
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 075243991X |
Book Description
Old Wives' Tales: Are they really words of wisdom or just plain nonsense?Does cracking your knuckles cause arthritis?Can microwave ovens make men sterile/Is it true that swallowed chewing gum never digests?These are the words we heard at Grandma's knee-the raw horse sense we've counted on to guide us through life. But are these words to live by or just dangerous outdated myths? Readers will be surprised to learn that many of these tales are actually good sound advice-a leaf of cabbage, for instance, really will work to reduce swelling. And it's also true that an oatmeal bath can help cure poison ivy. But other old wives' tales are not only false ("Lemon juice will get rid of freckles") but often downright dangerous ("Press a half-dollar to a wound to stop the bleeding").From the profound to the preposterous, Sneezing After Sex Prevents Pregnancy is a funny and informative look at the words of dear old Grandma.
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FRENCH FOLKTALES (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library (Paperback))
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