Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays)

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Arthur Miller's 1949 Death of a Salesman has sold 11 million copies, and Willy Loman didn't make all those sales on a smile and a shoeshine. This play is the genuine article--it's got the goods on the human condition, all packed into a day in the life of one self-deluded, self-promoting, self-defeating soul. It's a sturdy bridge between kitchen-sink realism and spectral abstraction, the facts of particular hard times and universal themes. As Christopher Bigsby's mildly interesting afterword in this 50th-anniversary edition points out (as does Miller in his memoir, Timebends), Willy is closely based on the playwright's sad, absurd salesman uncle, Manny. But of course Miller made Manny into Everyman, and gave him the name of the crime commissioner Lohmann in Fritz Lang's angst-ridden 1932 Nazi parable, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.

The tragedy of Loman the all-American dreamer and loser works eternally, on the page as on the stage. A lot of plays made history around 1949, but none have stepped out of history into the classic canon as Salesman has. Great as it was, Tennessee Williams's work can't be revived as vividly as this play still is, all over the world. (This edition has edifying pictures of Lee J. Cobb's 1949 and Brian Dennehy's 1999 performances.) It connects Aristotle, The Great Gatsby, On the Waterfront, David Mamet, and the archetypal American movie antihero. It even transcends its author's tragic flaw of pious preachiness (which undoes his snoozy The Crucible, unfortunately his most-produced play).

No doubt you've seen Willy Loman's story at least once. It's still worth reading. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

Arthur Miller seemed to capture the sometimes tragic plight of the common man with his Death of a Salesman. Bloom suggests the strength of the play is puzzling but beyond dispute, lying more in its presentation on stage than its written form. The play's continued vitality is unquestioned.

The title, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, part of Chelsea House Publishers' Modern Critical Interpretations series, presents the most important 20th-century criticism on Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman through extracts of critical essays by well-known literary critics. This collection of criticism also features a short biography on Arthur Miller, a chronology of the author's life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

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Miller's most famous play, it is the story of the American Dream gone awry when a small man is destroyed by society's false values.

Death of a Salesman won the Pulitzer Prize in 1949 and continues to shine on stages throughout the world even today.

This concise supplement to Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman helps students understand the overall structure of the play, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author.

Customer Reviews:

A Modern Tragedy.......2007-09-20

"Death of a Salesman" is a modern American tragedy. Yet, it can apply equally to any society where individuals become self-obsessed, lose touch with the bigger picture and allow themselves to be deluded by dreams of riches whilst ignoring the beauty of the day to day world.

Poor Willy Loman is a very sad figure. He wallows in the past. He has grandiose dreams about himself and his two adult sons, Happy and Biff. But these dreams are not rooted in any reality. Quite simply, Willy is lost and lonely.

Arthur Miller's play is a masterpiece. Few other 20th century playwrights have been able to surgically dissect society so well. Miller's work is not for those seeking a happy ending where everything is resolved and the characters happily fade away. No, this work is brutal in comparison. Willy Loman is an anti-hero. He is hard to like. He is, however, worthy of our pity. His life, at least through his own eyes, is one of failure. But, in reality, Willy is no failure. He is simply deluded. He has swallowed the American dream to the point where its goals merely impoverish him. The dream, any dream, is what you make of it and should not be imposed upon the individual. Willy allows the dream to ruin his life. Willy is the ultimate tragic.

Many deem "Death of a Salesman" to be a critique of American society. This is unfair. Miller's work is the précis of a tragic life. Willy is that tragedy. To dream is magnificent. To allow a dream to dominate your very existence is a disaster.

Take a Second Look.......2007-09-19

I wasn't terribly impressed with "Death of a Salesman" while I read it. The play simply didn't live up to its acclaim, its noble status in American literature. I've heard Salesman referenced countless times over my life, all 22 years of it. Salesman was written in 1949, a post-war era that supported the belief that starting anew was possible and wishes do come true. My first impression of the play was that it attempted to shatter the ubiquitous belief of an American dream, making it merely a quixotic fantasy. But after rereading certain passages and thinking about it for this review, I saw how very human its message is and how it is actually an incredibly despairing masterpiece that throws a new light at the idea behind the American dream. Through the utterly destroyed and distraught protagonist, Willy Loman, Miller represents the demise of the American dream and suggests the need to reassess such a unrealistic dream.

Loman is a revised, twentieth-century version of the classic tragic character. He does not display the typical chivalrous characteristics that many literary tragic characters do, such as Beowulf and Oedipus Rex. Loman, in fact, is pathetic and repugnant. As an older aged, crazy, and impoverished character, Loman isn't close to the traditional heroic figure. He cheats on his wife; builds up impratical hopes for his two sons; and makes imprudent business and life decisions. Such characteristics are sinful and generally not seen in the traditional tragic literary figure. But these traits are also very real and humanistic. Miller deftly jumps from the present to the past and back again, slowly "peeling the onion" (as Grass would call it) of the true Loman. This peeling process reveals what went wrong and what should've been avoided to prevent this most tragic ending. It appears that Miller is suggesting that seemingly innocuous decisions can--and do--destroy the American dream.

Such a bleak perspective on the American dream shouldn't come as a surprise to the reader/viewer. The late 1940s was a period of transition: America was forced to adjust from the war-driven, ration crazed society to a very corporate-driven, forced-fed consumer culture. Post-war America was full of tenuous hopes to climb the corporate ladder and to acclimate to a life of plenty, i.e. family members and money. For an ordinary, hard-working American, like Loman, this proved to be too much. Despite the play having a backdrop in the 1920s and '30s, it takes place in the late '40s, in the very much consumer focused society. It is fitting that the land of plenty left Loman and his family with nothing.

The play is very much alive today as it was nearly sixty years ago. Do read it. I'm going to try to see the play the next time it comes to town.

Questions for life's inventory.......2007-07-30

Poor Willie; he's just as much a victim of capitalism as the people he's screwed in business all those years. Long before American business became the global conspiracy of recent years (Enron, Haliburton,), business rested on the efforts of the little guy who thought big. Willy Loman is just such a man: in fact, he's the poster boy for the dark side of the corporate psyche in America, from 1949 (when the play had its first production) right up to today. Loathed by his colleagues, avoided by his family (Biff and Happy, his sons, leave him hallucinating in a public toilet), and haunted by his life (which is portrayed in flashback episodes generated within his own troubled mind)--
willy finds himself asking, "Why?" Trying to answer this question leads him through psychosis to eventual suicide . Only Linda, his long-suffering wife, pays him homage: "Willy Loman was a Good Man...," she says over his grave near the end of the play. I can only imagine that universities across the country began developing classes in business ethics soon after this play hit Broadway. ( Ken Lay and Dennis Kozlowsi, for, example, must have missed the play altogether, and it's obvious they cut their ethics class). But, you DO get the feeling that Willy started out as Linda sees him, a good and honorable man. His slide through capitalism has left him critically wounded. When I first saw this play performed on television, Lee J. Cobb played Willy like a wounded bear; he reminded me of some of the business people I knew, both friends and family; so, when I read the play later, I was blown away by it again, amazed that Miller could get it so right. This play should be required reading in all ethics classes. Anyone who reads the play will never feel the same about American business again. It begs the big question: When it comes time to take our own life's inventory, as Willy has, will we look back with pride and a sense of accomplishment? Or will we find ourselves sidestepped and alone, lost to despair? Arthur Miller poses some of life's key questions in this wrenchingly powerful play. It's up to each of us to answer them for ourselves.

I read this play last year for my high school ap english II class........2007-06-25

It was a very well written play. It's major theme is the American dream. The main character Willy Loman is a very depressed man with a wife and two sons.
Loman doesn't like how his life has turned out which is what makes him depressed. When reading a play in class it is best to go and get a chance to see the play live or see the movie of it. The movie with Dustin Hoffman as Willy really does justice to the play. Plays aren't intended to be read like a book. They are intended to be performed and watched by everyone.

thank you for your time,
Loran

Death of a Salesman.......2007-06-12

Death of a Salesman slaps me back to reality, as it includes realistic suppositions about a family's and society's expectations. As the father won't settle for anything else but success, his family falls apart, reminding me of the potential result of any family.
Attempting to effect change in the new American society, brainwashed in an even newer American Dream, Arthur Miller hopes to vanquish the false illusion of that fact that everyone and anyone can succeed in America with wealth and fame. Miller argues that American society puts so much emphasis on financial success that it actually drives people the other way, into insanity. Because everyone thinks he or she can succeed, people begin to unrealistically face an overly ambitious approach towards making a fortune. In the end, when only a few can actually succeed, the rest fail in misery. In order to battle this false notion in American society, Arthur Miller writes of this fact and warn people not to submit to the American Dream and create one, in which everyone can succeed without monetary domination.
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman argues that even if an individual is determined enough to chase a dream to the ends of the earth by any means necessary, his social status would remain the unchanged and perhaps even diminished. Left with no choice, Willy Loman is forced to dream big in order to gain monetary success. Because of societal pressures, he is coerced to think of a way to succeed, and the best way is gain a financial fortune to gain respect. However, the fact that he thinks of himself as a self-important individual really causes him to feed on his ego. His confidence grows increasingly grander, until it becomes overwhelming for both his family and himself. As he becomes more greedier, his dreams become more grandiose. This false illusion he creates of his world actually set himself up for a disastrous collapse. Eventually, he admits that he has never achieved anything at all in his life. Consequently, he notices he has nothing left to do but to give up, when he has actually wasted his whole life chasing after an unrealistic goal. Ultimately, he ends up in a suicide. Because of this tragic ending, Arthur Miller argues that a society with this kind of emphasis on materialistic success sets people up for a catastrophic downfall. Subsequently, Miller contends that America should rebuild society's foundation, and create a country, in which wealth does not entail success.
Because the book does appeal to me, I recommend this book only if you're into themes about the pressures from society - applauding those who succeed materialistic.

Death and the Maiden: Tie-In Edition (Plays, Penguin)

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This is a masterpiece
Is justice ever really served?
The Secrets in Death
Empowerment in different forms
DEATH AND THE MAIDEN finds excitement in ideals.

Death and the Maiden: Tie-In Edition (Plays, Penguin)
Ariel Dorfman
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140246843

Customer Reviews:

This is a masterpiece.......2005-12-19

Having studied and befriended Professor Dorfman while studying under him at Duke University, I came to know his tale, Death and the Maiden, very intimately. It is a universal story that will likely serve as his masterwork, and as a result, will serve as one of the theatre's most important and most original hallmarks of the 20th Century.

As other reviews have noted, the brief play very deeply and very engagingly touches on myriad issues related to war, to dissent, to love, to loyalty, to trust, to men and women; to memory; to torture; to government; and so on and so forth. It is brilliantly done, and is punctuated with an amount of restraint that renders this play unforgettable.

Is justice ever really served?.......2004-04-08

Ariel Dorfman was a Chilean exile who feared that he might "disappear" if he attempted to live and work under the Pinochet dictatorship. "Death and the Maiden" is a sort of autobiography for Dorfman. The play centers around the character of Paulina, a woman who ultimately kidnaps the man she suspects of holding her prisoner and presiding over her torture and rape many years ago. It's a suspenseful play that tackles the issues of justice and retribution, but it also has elements of suspense and mystery: is Dr. Miranda really the person that Paulina thinks he is? This is an excellent play that's fairly well-known, yet it's hardly ever staged for some reason, which is a shame. (Note: Never, EVER subject yourself to the Sigourney Weaver/Ben Kingsley movie version. It is so awful.)

The Secrets in Death.......2004-02-11

Death and the Maiden is a biographical work by Ariel Dorfman. At the time it was written Chile was in the middle of a dictatorship and the people suffered from constant fear. Was the person lurking outside their house someone coming to capture them? The people of Chile were constantly kidnapped and tortured, which is portrayed through Pauline. She represents the Chilean people who were victimized and the rights which were 'raped'. Pauline finally meets up with the doctor she believes did this to her, and whether or not he did, she creates her retribution around him. Until the people could attack Chile and gain a confession from the ones who were supposed to protect them (the police) they could never live in comfort or be satisfied. As is Pauline who demands a confession from the doctor in order to have a face to blame. In the end it is a mystery to whether or not she killed the doctor, but when she sees his face in the end, while listening to the song he played while raping her, she can merely stare and look away. No longer is their hatred because she has finally been able to accept the past and move on, which was the message Dorfman was trying to portray. The fear of living was in the past and the people, though they would always remember the past injustices, should allow themselves to forgive and move on.

Empowerment in different forms.......2000-07-27

although i have only read this novel once so far,i found it to be extremely compelling. questions of: deceit,betrayal,revenge,desire and power tirade throughout the play. for who is really honest?- certainly not gerardo(a recarnation of robespierre); nor paulina (your frustated, dillusional, prototypical housewife);nor ricardo (the sly,oil slicked stranger accused). these characters undeniable flaws (it could be argued that dorfman has potrayed every piitful and pathetic trait ever known to man)seem to cause their downfalls,but also growth within themselves and their relations with others. surely the final setting will influence the reader to think so.

DEATH AND THE MAIDEN finds excitement in ideals........1997-03-29

Thousands of Chilean citizens are said to have "disappeared" during the regime of General Augusto Pinochet, who reigned from 1973-1990. Though not specifically set in Chile, DEATH AND THE MAIDEN is about learning to live again in the aftermath of such an era.

Gerardo Escobar has just been named to a commission that will investigate human rights cases against the old government that ended in death (or the presumption of death). His wife, Paulina, was victimized herself fifteen years earlier, and still has not recovered from the trauma. Now she believes Roberto Miranda, the good Samaritan who came to Gerardo's aid on the road when he had a flat tire, is the same doctor who oversaw her torture years ago, and since there is no hope of gaining justice from the courts, she decides to put Dr. Miranda "on trial" herself.

Playwright Ariel Dorfman pits his characters' heads against their hearts, and the result is a play that is as exciting intellectually as it is emotionally. They are forced to try to answer the kinds of questions with which human beings prefer never to be faced.

How can we be sure of our own ideals? How can we escape our demons when they surround us every day? How can there be justice if the criminal is never punished?

Book Description

Our hero confronts a large and varied cast, including Wackford Squeers, the fantastic ogre of a schoolmaster, and Vincent Crummles, the grandiloquent ham actor, on his comic and satirical adventures up and down the country. Punishing wickedness, befriending the helpless, strutting the stage, and falling in love, Nicholas shares some of his creator's energy and earnestness as he faces the pressing issues of early Victorian society.

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Around the central story of Nicholas Nickleby and the misfortunes of his family Dickens created some of his most wonderful characters: the muddle-headed Mrs. Nickleby, the gloriously theatrical Crummles, their protegee Miss Petowker, the pretentious Mantalinis, and the mindlessly cruel Squeers and his wife. Nicholas Nickleby's loose, haphazard progress harks back to the picaresque novels of the eighteenth century -- particularly those of Smollett and Fielding -- yet the novel's exuberant atmosphere of romance, adventure, and freedom is leavend by Dickens' awareness of social ills and financial and class insecurity.

Customer Reviews:

A Very Funny Dickens Novel.......2007-07-30

This is a very funny novel in some sections. Imagine an older Oliver Twist, about 19 or 20 or so, but handsome, and with a temper, and with a strong outgoing personality, and one who can act and do all kinds of things. He has lots of self confidence and a beautiful sister, and throw in an obnoxious and rich uncle and a dotty mother. Yes, it is very, very entertaining.

I bought the Wordsworth Classic version but would recommend the Penguin Classic version, and recommend that purchase highly. This is among Dickens's somewhat forgotten novel but still among his best. It is another masterpiece that brings together all of Dickens's writing skills with a great story. I would rate it slightly behind David Copperfield but it remains one of the most original and interesting of Dickens's novels somewhat on par with Oliver Twist.

As background information, I am in the process of reading most of Dickens's 22 novels and longer short stories, and set up a Listmania list. As a suggestion, avoid the Penguin Popular Classics with the plain green covers (I bought two). They fall apart and do not stand up to a read, especially books over 500 pages in length. The Regular Penguin Classics with the photo or painting on the front are excellent and some have maps and illustrations (drawings). The Wordsworth Classics are not as good, and some are illustrated.

A young Dickens at the age of 12 had the unenviable job of attaching labels 10 hours a day at the Warren's boot blacking factory. That experience shaped much of his writing career. Still in his teens he became a law clerk, then later in his twenties a journalist. The last job as a reporter led to the serialized writing of his novels. His works were social commentaries with larger than life characters, or colorful caricatures, living in the slums of London. He was a critic of poverty, social injustice, and the slow moving court system.

All of Dickens's experiences come together in his novels. The Pickwick Papers, his first novel, is mostly humorous. But the next one, Oliver Twist, is a dark novel set in the crime plagued streets of early 19th century London. Next in novel number three, he changes back to a more humorous novel which is the present work. This is a big novel, about 750 pages or so - but the pages fly by. The protagonists are Nicholas, who is almost 20, his sister Kate, a few years younger, and his uncle Ralph Nickleby. Their father has died and Nicholas and Kate come to London with their mother to seek aid from the wealthy uncle. The uncle finds them minimum paying jobs, and that creates a good story. It is a novel with many common features that we expect from Dickens with things such as a school where the children are beaten, but it has many funny parts and it is complicated by the uncle's financial dealings.

Having read many of Dickens's novels I still rate David Copperfield as best as a work of literature and rate Oliver Twist as close behind and a must read. The latter book was read by Queen Victoria and Karl Marx, and both enjoyed the read. The novel had a far reaching social impact. Nicholas Nickleby is another gem and well worth the read, but lacks the social bite of Oliver Twist, and lacks the enthusiasm of David Copperfield, but it is hilarious.

Dickens! Dickens!.......2006-12-29

Charles Dickens is my favorite author and this is another excellent story! I have all his books, and they are all well-written, entertaining and intellectual. I love how people are his subject and he is a master of words. Every person ought to read Dickens if only for the understanding of grammar you will receive.

Nicholas Nickleby: A Raucous Romp through Merrye Olde England!.......2006-10-02

Nicholas Nickleby was written in 1838-39 by Charles Dickens riding the crest of his monumental success from writing Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist. The lengthy novel is filled with memorble characters, an exciting plot and the incredible genius of England's greatest novelists.
The story concerns the adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (the least interesting character in the book!, his sister Kate and his fatuous and longwinded mother the widow Mrs. Nickleby.
Nicholas works for a time in the infamous Dotheboys Hall for boys in Yorkshire. The schoolmaster is the evil Wackford Squeers, his odious wife and his ugly daughter Fanny who becomes infatuated with Nicholas. it is here that we meet the pathetic mentally challenged lad Smike who is assisted by Nicholas and along with him leaves the horrid school.
One of the most hilarious parts of the book deals with the time NN spent with the Vincent Crummles theatrical company. Dickens loved the theatre and loved to act in amateur theatricals.
Katle Nickleby is employed at the Madame Mantalini milliery shop and becomes a companion to a wealthy and ridiculous woman. She is pursued romantically by the scoundrel Sir Mulberry Hawk.
Dickens draws a vivid portrait of corrupt evil in the wicked uncle Ralph Nickleby a usurer whose wiles and schemes for fortune pull the many threads of the plot into a well woven plot that has a crackerjack ending as secrets are revealed and all ends well for the Nickleby family.
This is still in many ways an work of growth for the budding novelists.
It resembles a picaresque novel of the eighteenth century in following Nicholas and Kate through many scenes and situations. The genius of the novel lies in Dickens peerless ability to draw memorable characters that will live in the reader's mind long after the complicated plot machinations are forgotten.
The Penguin Edition is excellently edited with copious notes and a learned introduction. The original illustrations by Hablot K. Browne
are also included (Phiz). This is a pageturner which will entertain you for hours. It is a good novel to begin with if you have not read Dickens.
The Dickens world is filled with all those marvelous characters which shall live as long as literature. Great.

Nicholas Nickleby.......2006-01-28

This book is best, out of all the Dickens books. If you should just read one of Dicken's, it should be this one.This captures all of the suspense that he creates in any of his books. I reccomend this boook to anyone who is looking for a long and satisfying read.

The moral and the immoral, guess who wins? .......2005-09-14

Money versus virture, poverty set against wealth, hero against the ills of society, plus the combined forces of the duty to family and bond between sister and brother. Any Dickens novel will bring you the perfection of character, the ordinary individual through thought and deed becomes the extraordinary

Throw in a sarcasm still alive today, mainly through the use of superlatives which over emphasize the importance of "Lord somebody" and deftly turn these titled aristocrats from dieties of fortune into over inflated balloons. Dickens, in a time of Victorian sensibility, turned to an arsenal of adjectives for dealing with the long engrained antediluvian British nobility. Exquisite descriptions allowing the reader to visit each character as if you were in the literal sense, sitting in their living rooms observing their lives right down to the tea kettle whistle.

All Dickens novels are loaded with the stuff of glory, but never too far fetched that he can't drive home the plight of the impoverished, the cycles of poverty and the deep suffering he witnesses daily in the streets of London. What better way to emphasize injustice than to contrast sick and orphaned children with rich old misers?

Comparing his observations on injustice, you will find it relevant today, in a different guise perhaps, from Lord Somebody and his buffoons in parliament to our corporate welfare state and over saturated market economy.

How does one survive a world as cruel as one directed by a corrupt guardian uncle in the money lending business? Only Nicholas Nickelby can answer that. With nothing but youth on his side and a good upbringing in the country, Nicholas learns his values will need to be tested at the risk of his own safety and reputation. As he defends his character and the honor of his family, not to mention saving a few lives of those much worse off than he, he gains enough good karma to last several lifetimes as he follows his heart to the wealth that awaits him like a holy grail. Like any hero, he sets off a chain reaction of good luck for his family and aquaintances, until the book exhausts itself in becoming one riotous, joyous celebration of life. As one last task,Nicholas with all his honor, attracts the only one thing he is missing, an equally flawless damsel to be rescued from a cruel, self centered father.

Unlike his later works, this one is brimming with sweet hyperbolic idealism and exageration, like youthful optimism, it does not carry the same intimate character intropsection he develops later.

It is worth it to settle into this novel to witness the sharp black and white juxtapose of the good character versus corrupt.
Whereas Dickens balanced this with gray areas between rich and poor in other novels, this work is direct, simple and explicit in it's quest for moral ground. Wealth matches wealth of spirit and Dickens can make it infectious with his keen observations of human behavior and his absolute dedication to matching his words to his heart.

Sickness unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition of Edification & Awakening by Anti-Cli (Penguin Classics)

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Or, one could write diary of a suffering theologian,perhaps?
Profound insight into the nature of sin
Woody Allen Gave the Best Review Ever of This Book...
Accepting Despair

Sickness unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition of Edification & Awakening by Anti-Cli (Penguin Classics)
Soren Kierkegaard
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140445331

Customer Reviews:

Or, one could write diary of a suffering theologian,perhaps?.......2002-04-29

Herein lies many of Kierkegaard's most vehement attacks on his utter disgust as what he sees as the shallow and hypocritical Christians of his time. In fact, the rantings rank up there with Nietzsche's tirades against what he liked to call the "rabble."

As you may have guessed by the title, this is not to be an uplifting book. Kierkegaard will never be mistaken for Robert Schuller - that much is for certain. In it, the Danish philosopher (generally considered the father of existentialism) grapples with guilt. Not just anyone's guilt, either, but Soren Kierkegaard's guilt. In page after page he discerns how man's sinful nature is corruptive to his relationship to God. What is worse, no matter how hard he tries, he can't stop sinning any more than he can consciously stop breathing.

Kierkegaard then looks up from his desk and wonders why all those so-called Christians out there aren't doing the same thing that he is. The Dane is introspective, to say the least, and the nucleus of his thought emanates from Socrates' words at his trial, as recorded in Plato's APOLOGY:

...I say again that the greatest good of man is daily to converse about virtue, and all that concerning which you hear me examining myself and others, and that the life which is unexamined is not worth living
- Plato, APOLOGY, Trans: B Jowett

Here is a great man's attempt to follow the dictum of Socrates, and examine his own life. In this sense, THE SICKNESS UNTO DEATH is comparable to St. Augustine's CONFESSIONS, albeit a bit on the morbid side.

One of the Dane's favorite metaphors was of driver falling asleep at the reigns of his wagon. So too did K believe that that is how most of us live our lives. With this in mind, it is not surprising that he anoints this work as an "awakening" for his readers.

Profound insight into the nature of sin.......2001-12-05

I am not a philosopher or even a literary person by any stretch, but I found this book surprisingly accessible. I believe it is essential reading for anyone dealing with despair (depression) in their lives- especially Christians.

The jewel that I was able garner from this book is that faith, fundamentally, is forgoing our common senses and putting our hope in God even when all our senses and previous experiences tell us otherwise. Because with God, everything is possible.

Woody Allen Gave the Best Review Ever of This Book..........2001-01-09

which, in response to Kierkegaard's brilliance Allen succintly noted, "and I have trouble writing two sentences on My Trip to the Zoo."

Accepting Despair.......2000-12-15

In perhaps his most relentless probing of the human condition, Kierkegaard's "The Sickness Unto Death" rediscovers the very notion of "sin." Having been tossed around by anyone and everyone in the Danish Christendom of his day, the word "sin" has lost much of it's original meaning; hence he chooses the term "despair." By doing this, Kierekgaard rediscovers "original sin," or that notion of sin which has been lost through misuse. For Kierkegaard, "despair" or "sin" is not simply an individual act, but it is a state of existence. Only when an individual acknowledges the inherent human situation, one that is "in despair," can one then "actively despair" and move out of the aesthetic mire of common existence. It should be noted that it is an ill advised version of Christianity which is "in despair," such a Christian wanting a simple solution without having to face the terrifying problem of our being. Kierkegaard not only documents the different levels of "despair" (no one type is exclusive of others), but he looks into why it is that we often refuse to accept our condition, such denial forcing us to remain "in despair." As he himself makes clear, "The very nature of despair is that it is unaware of being despair." There are endless implications from such an important work, not least of which is the idea that words can hold as well as lose their meaning, depending on how they are used and who is using them. But over and above a theory of semiotics is Kierkegaard's belief that authentic Christianity can only arise for the one who faces his/her desperate situation; and upon doing so, sees no other way out than total submission to "the Power that posited it."

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Fun and (don't wince) cute!!
Calmly Absurd
Surprising
Satire charged with air of menace.
A new Russian literary hero

Death and the Penguin (Panther)
Andreaei Kurkov
Manufacturer: Harvill Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1860469450
Release Date: 2003-05-29

Book Description

A devastating satire - of the worlds of mafia and media, of politics and penguins - in the tradition of the master of 20th century satire, Mikhail Bulgakov.

Victor is depressed: his lover has dumped him, his short stories are too short and the light has gone off in his dingy apartment. His only companion is Misha, the penguin he rescued from Kiev's Zoo, when it couldn't feed the animals anymore. Misha is the silent witness to Victor's despair. Misha joins in his celebration - fish and vodka - when Victor's luck seems to turn: He is commissioned to write obituaries under the pen-name "A Group of Friends". The weird thing is that the editor wants him to select subjects who are still alive, the movers and the shakers of the new, post-Communist society. Pleased with Victor's work the editor sends him his friend, also called Misha, and from then onwards known as Misha non-penguin, who commissions Victor to write an obituary about one of his shady associates. After a job-well-done Misha non-penguin and Victor get drunk on vodka and Victor confesses that he is frustrated as an obituary writer: his subjects refuse to die. The next morning his most prominent one, a corrupt politician with Mafia ties and a mistress, is dead. The tide has turned.

Customer Reviews:

Fun and (don't wince) cute!!.......2007-07-18

I was assigned this book for a college course. I have to say that I've never enjoyed an assignment quite so much. I loved how quirky and human-like Misha the penguin behaved, his endearing relationship with the humans around him, and the delightful way Misha and his humans met with a brave face and not a look back the seemingly endless stream of troubles that came their way. I also absolutely adore the way Kurkov writes and the tone he uses. I read this book in a single weekend, and next weekend I plan to make equally quick work of the sequel!! A delight, I definitely recommend!!

Calmly Absurd.......2006-09-27

This is one of my favorite books. The story follows Viktor, a struggling, unambitious Ukranian writer as his life forms around him. No matter how surreal the events that take place (the adoption of a sickly pet penguin, getting involved in political murders) Viktor remains calm and detached until the very end of the novel, when he is finally shaken out of his apathetic state. This book is a hilarious satire that does an excellent job of describing the depressing monotony of everyday life, even when it is anything but.

Surprising.......2005-08-02

I literally just finished reading the book. The ending took me by surprise which is unusual these days. I thought I knew what was going to happen. A very easy read and an enjoyable story. Highly recommended.

Satire charged with air of menace........2004-01-18

A black comedy delivered in an emotionless, deadpan manner, "Death and the Penguin" is a sinister satirical take on life in post-Soviet, modern-day Ukraine. Things take a turn for the better for Viktor, a struggling writer of short stories living alone with only a king penguin for company, when he is taken on by Capital News editor Igor Lvovich to compose obituaries of the various big shots and political big-wigs pulling the strings in post-Soviet Kiev society, these to be kept on file for future use as and when the subjects die. Victor is instructed to incorporate into his compositions, certain loaded material, underlined in the file notes provided him, designed to undermine reputations through insidious innuendo.

Shortly after expressing his frustration to a visitor, Misha-non-penguin, (a Mafia-linked figure who wishes Viktor to write an obituary) that none of his work ever appears in print because none of his selected subjects to-date has died, Viktor is shocked to find that in no time at all, the subject of his best obituary is - lo and behold! - suddenly dead. Thereafter, deaths of Viktor's subjects proliferate with such alarming rapidity that Victor fears his penning of an obituary is tantamount to passing a death sentence, his obituaries of the still living having become in effect, requisitions for future death, each obituary providing per se more than sufficient cause for the snuffing out of a life.

The unwitting dupe of State Security conspiracy, at least initially, Victor has become enmeshed in the violent underworld of Mafia dealings and political machinations where his own life may end being written up in an obituary. Around Victor, the very air seems charged with menace, an air of menace that pervades the novel. Viktor is at the mercy of dark and dangerous forces swirling around him that he can't exactly get a fix on but knows are there, lurking ominously in the background. Entertaining and original!

A new Russian literary hero.......2004-01-04

Could it be that a new Russian literary hero is on the horizon? If Andrey Kurkov's modern masterpiece is anything to go by, one could be forgiven for thinking that contemporary Russian literature is dragging itself out of the void. We're not talking about a new Tolstoy or Dostoievsky here, but the black comedy employed by Kurkov is more than a remote testament to political satirist Mikhail Bulgakov. Kurkov's masterstroke is the creation of Penguin Misha, an almost sublime representation of impending death. Despite being a timid and retiring creature, his background appearances personify the approaching danger for his owner Victor who is bizarrely embroiled in a Mafia scam. Curiously, one can't help feeling slightly "in the dark" as to the plot of this novel. The longer it goes on, the more one begins to question the reason and significance of events that have already occurred. It's at this stage that the perplexing, and apparently directionless nature of Kafka's "The Castle" springs to mind. However, fear not: Victor, whose life is continually interfered with from all directions, also appears to be something of a by stander in this novel. The workings of the shady Kiev underworld are as baffling to us, as to our central character. As a result, an endearing empathy is woven between Victor and the reader and here is where the novel really shines.
Kurkov's delivery is sharp, witty and from time to time, laugh-out-loud funny. Yet he still manages to preserve an urgent and menacing quality throughout. Misha and Victor are an understated yet unique double act seldom equalled in other novels of similar genres. Victor is a character powerless within his own domain, a spectator of suicide (his own suicide at that), unable to make sense of anything. The actions of others determine his direction, but as an individual he still has the right to take a way out. Consequently, we are presented with a book of refreshing originality, a direct, almost comical style of the quality one would come to expect from a Russian (well, a Ukrainian anyway!)
(from Brasov Visitor, no. 4/2003 - www.brasov-visitor.ro)

Death's Men: Soldiers of the Great War (Penguin History)

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Death's Men
Basic
Excellent
British Soldiers
British soldiers on the Western Front in World War I.

Death's Men: Soldiers of the Great War (Penguin History)
Denis Winter
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Strategy | Military | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0140168222

Customer Reviews:

Death's Men.......2006-03-26

This book gives a great overview of WWI. The only other thing that I have read on WWI was Taylor's History of Britain 1914-1945 which is really dry and doesn't really analyze the condition of the troops in the trenches. It is a good read with info than it seems. Winter really knows how to present data in a way not to overwhelm the reader.

Basic.......2005-09-25

There are not a lot of good books on World War One. This is not one of them.

It is about as informative and interesting as a high school history text.

Excellent .......2005-06-17

I have read many books on the subject of WWI and found this to be something special, a must read. Denis Winter's elegant and poetic use of the English language brilliantly described the conditions endured by the common British soldier in the trenches. Pick this one up you won't be disappointed.

British Soldiers.......2004-09-21

I purchashed this book at the Imperial War Museum after viewing a display on the Great War. If one is courious about the life of the enlisted soldier on the Western Front, his equipment, food, traing and medical attention then this book is for you. The author uses first hand accounts and statictics through out the book. It's the personal experiences of the combat soldiers from their letters and remininces that I found particually interesting.

British soldiers on the Western Front in World War I........2003-10-28

A scholarly analysis of how British soldiers lived on the Western Front. Winter explains all the aspects of the soldier's lives such as the class background, officers, education, weapons, life in the trench and back area, and the aftermath for these soldiers. The reader is meant to ponder what this war meant, but it was hell.
Winter limited his perspective to the British soldier, so one wonders how the German, Austrian, French, and Russian soldiers lived in comparison with the British. It would have been a nice chapter for a comparison. However Winter does a good job explaining all aspects of the British soldier's life.
A good read of a tragic war. Winter gives both a soldier's perspective along with a scholarly analysis of the British soldier. This book will give the reader something to think about.

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Jude.....
WHY I LOVE THIS BOOK
Still holds up today
One for the ages
A book to commit suicide with....

Jude the Obscure (Penguin Classics)
Thomas Hardy , and Dennis Taylor
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140435387

Book Description

The first truly critical edition of Hardy's most controversial novel, presenting a "clean" text in which Hardy's own light punctuation is restored.

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Hardy's last work of fiction, Jude the Obscure is also one of his most gloomily fatalistic, depicting the lives of individuals who are trapped by forces beyond their control. Jude Fawley, a poor villager, wants to enter the divinity school at Christminster. Sidetracked by Arabella Donn, an earthy country girl who pretends to be pregnant by him, Jude marries her and is then deserted. He earns a living as a stonemason at Christminster; there he falls in love with his independent-minded cousin, Sue Bridehead. Out of a sense of obligation, Sue marries the schoolmaster Phillotson, who has helped her. Unable to bear living with Phillotson, she returns to live with Jude and eventually bears his children out of wedlock. Their poverty and the weight of society's disapproval begin to take a toll on Sue and Jude; the climax occurs when Jude's son by Arabella hangs Sue and Jude's children and himself. In penance, Sue returns to Phillotson and the church. Jude returns to Arabella and eventually dies miserably. The novel's sexual frankness shocked the public, as did Hardy's criticisms of marriage, the university system, and the church. Hardy was so distressed by its reception that he wrote no more fiction, concentrating solely on his poetry. Please Note: This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.

Customer Reviews:

Jude............2007-09-17

Thomas Hardy... I wonder what his life must have been like in order for him to write such a tragic book. For those considering it, this book is a romantic tragedy of the highest degree. If your looking for a happily ever after, look elsewhere. But if your looking to run the gamut of human experience in books, this is one you will want to take up, I've never read a book that has taken such a sentimental turn for the worse than this. I hope this helps.

WHY I LOVE THIS BOOK.......2007-07-25

I love this book because it finally drove Thomas Hardy out of the novel writing business.

I don't know if Hardy was a sadist or a masochist or just chronically depressed and loved to spread the mood around, but either way he had no sense of humor.

However, after exposing myself to TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES and introducing myself to THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE and finding them both miserable company, I thought I'd give Thomas Hardy one more try with the story of a stonemason who has pretentions to learning.

JUDE THE OBSCURE, set in class-structured nineteenth century England, seems to be the model for modern American liberals. They don't seem to think people are capable of rising above "their station" or leaving "their class" the way Jude is thwarted in seeking advancement through learning.

There is one element in the book that rings true. After more than a quarter-century of association with a major American university -- as a student, and a graduate student, and an employee -- I can confirm that the attitudes of the professors of "Christminster" (a thinly-disguised Oxford) have remained constant. Their "class-consciousness" consists of political and intellectual high mindedness but they still think they're better than ordinary people.

The story: Jude wants to become an educated reverend gentleman but since he's self-educated he can't get his foot in the door of the University. He seems religious but it's only skin deep; the first woman who tries to seduce him succeeds without much effort. After faking a pregnancy she forces him to marry her. But Jude, adopting the attitude of his profs, always thinks he's better than she is (and he may be right) and the marriage isn't particularly successful. After they have a disagreement over the proper way to slaughter a pig Jude leaves her and his home town he makes his way to Christminster, where he works as a stonemason, drinks to excess, and meets up with his cousin Sue. Sue is a total nutcase. Her behavior is inexplicable. Though she keeps trying to present herself as liberated and modern, she really has severe sexual hangups. Like his first wife, Arabella, Sue toys with Jude. She keeps him dangling on the end of a chain, and jerking him to her when she needs to talk to someone. She has practically promised herself to another man, but she has some sort of breakdown when Jude finally tells her he married someone else a while back . . . so she rushes into a marriage that she doesn't like, then chucks it (apparently because it has to be consummated) and shacks up with Jude and their burgeoning family, and things really go downhill from there. I won't give away the ending. It's not worth it. But when you read it if you take it seriously you'll just want to go hang yourself up on a meathook.

All I can say is that Hardy strikes me as a shallow man with little understanding of the history and theology he disdains. His understanding of the Middle Ages -- or at least the understanding he puts in the mouths of his characters -- shows an amazing lack of erudition, even for his time. All he seems to have is "common knowledge" (which in this circumstance ranks with "old wives' tales")

SPOILER ALERT

Earlier, I said Hardy didn't have a sense of humor. I was wrong in a way, because, after being appalled by the horrors of TESS and almost sickened by THE MAYOR, I found myself giggling in JUDE every time things took a turn for the worse (here's a hint: in Hardy things never take a turn for the better). By the time I reached the suicidal child and his garrotted siblings, I was positively howling with laughter. Hardy, that stolid Victorian writer, needs finally to go the way of Grand Guignol and Victorian melodrama of the "you must pay the rent" variety. When something so achingly sad makes you laugh until the tears stand in your eyes you know it's a thing that's had its day.

Maybe that's why the thing (I'll forever think of this book as "the thing") garnered bad reviews -- it was simply too absurdly sad even then. Anyway, when people didn't fawn all over his new book Hardy got all hurty and took his ball and went home and devoted himself to plays and poetry. He never wrote another novel and for that we may be truly thankful.

I do some writing myself and thought of doing a satire of Hardy books, a la COLD COMFORT FARM, but I won't. A satire is no good unless someone knows its object, and no one gives a ding-dong for Hardy any more, and why should they? Oh, except for Hardy fans; and considering they actually eat this rubbish with a spoon, they must be dour, prim, humorless persons who wouldn't get a joke if it bit them on the shin.

All I can add is: Hey, Jude, take a sad song and make it better.

Still holds up today.......2007-06-04

This book is a classic about the effect on people's lives when they choose to engage in behavior that is totally against society's norms.

Story: The story itself consists of a number of vignettes. Each vignette is compelling and shows how the characters mature (or don't) well. The pacing dragged out a bit, but that is to be expected in a character driven story such as this one.

Characters: This is where I am most conflicted. Hardy does a masterful job with the characters of Jude and Sue. Despite having many faults and maddening defects, I was able to feel sympathy for each character as the story progressed. Hardy's secondary characters are less impressive. Arabella is a stock villain, tempting and trapping Jude with no remorse. Phillotson is a stereotypical martyr character. If Phillotson and Arabella would have had some of the same complexities as Jude and Sue, I would have enjoyed this book a great deal more.

This is a very depressing book. Jude's outlook is bleak at the beginning, and it never really improves. Still, it is a commentary on society and living in sin that is still applicable to today's world.

One for the ages.......2007-04-15

If nothing else, it makes one's own life seem not so tragic!

A book to commit suicide with...........2007-03-17

I watched the movie "JUDE" when I was a kid and ever since was stranged by it. I recently read the novel and to be honest, was very depressed from it. And I am and have always been a tomboy, someone who is hardly ever emotional... This book was one emotional trip due to many of its themes, as so many other reviewers here interminably wrote about and so I won't go into the many tradegies of Jude's life. I very much felt, and sympathized for both Jude and Sue and related to their harsh society they had lived in and that we delude ourselves to have changed since 1895. Because I did see the movie (and I must say that, even though it deviated from the book, it was nevertheless suitably done), I wasn't so much surprised by the chain of events. Many here criticized the bleak, grim tale of Hardy's "Jude the Obscure" on several specific events, but for me, I found the very ending of the book to be the saddest, austerest part of it(spoilers). Jude's death, I felt, was the Hardy's most horrendous, picturesque description of the ill guy I came to love and admire, lying in a couch, coughing and wishing his death. Regretting ever being born, Jude is alone (sueless) on his deathbed, feeling the warm wind of summer as it drifts in the room bringing with it musical notes from a graduation ceremony he himself never had the option to attend. The one thing I am not closed on, is the title for the book, which to my understanding was the third and final. But as my sister asked me: "why the obscure?" I answered I thought it was Hardy's mockery of society by naming its absurdity. This is because as one very fast realizes when reading this book, it is not Jude that is obscure, but rather society is, for forcing people unto structures, institutions and ways of life that from their foundations were never executable. I recommend this book to people who are emotionally stable.

The Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism (Penguin Business)

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The Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism (Penguin Business)
Philip Augar
Manufacturer: Penguin Global
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

The first book to look at how and why the British banking industry sold out

A revolution took place in the City in the 80s and 90s. The cosy club of British merchant banking collapsed in a series of sell-outs, closures and scandals. This left the City dominated by US and European giants. Was this the inevitable result of globalization, or did mismanagement play a part? This is the first book to look at how and why the British merchant banks and brokers sold out, and where that leaves us. Augar tells this fascinating story with pace and drama, taking us through the Thatcher years, the crash of 1987, Big Bang, and the aggressive invasion of the American banks. He looks at why the British banks failed to keep pace with the Americans, what this says about the way they were run, and what this means for the future.

The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories (Penguin Classics)

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Amazing Meditation on Death
"Gentlemen!" he exclaimed, "Ivan Ilyich is dead!"
Sad
Timeless
Um....

The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories (Penguin Classics)
Leo Tolstoy
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Russian | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0140445080

Book Description

Murder, greed, lust, vanity, love-four of Tolstoy's most famous and essential stories in one volume.

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Hailed as one of the world's supreme masterpieces on the subject of death and dying, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a worldly careerist, a high court judge who has never given the inevitability of his death so much as a passing thought. But one day death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise he is brought face to face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth?

This short novel was the artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina during which he wrote not a word of fiction. A thoroughly absorbing and, at times, terrifying glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation.

Translated by Lynn Solotaroff

Customer Reviews:

Amazing Meditation on Death.......2007-08-26

I really enjoyed The Death of Ivan Ilyich...well, I don't know if "enjoyed" is the write word, but it is a remarkable novella. There's a wonderful intro written by Ronald Blythe. In the intro Blythe writes about Tolstoy's great fear of death that eventually turned into an obsession with death that lead to the creation of The Death of Ivan Ilyich, his meditation on the subject.

The book opens immediately after the death of Ivan Ilyich. Ivan was a judge and when his co-workers find out about his death, the first thing they begin to talk about is who will take his place. This scenes is followed by his funeral where we meet his wife who is in mourning. The book then goes on to introduce us to Ivan and his wife in the early days of their marriage and paints a picture of a marriage that was all bright colors on the outside, but rather dark behind closed doors. Ivan soon finds out that he has a "floating kidney" and his health slowly deteriorates over the next few months eventually leading to his death.

The beauty of this book is that the plot is given away in the title. Ivan dies...you know the book ends with his death. Tolstoy's masterpiece lies not so much in the actual storyline, but in the thought process, the philosophy, and the atmosphere behind it. The only way I can describe the feel of this book is claustrophobic. From the minute that Ivan learns and recognizes that he is dying, the feel of the story is one of collapsing, closing in. It becomes a story of seeing the world fly by so fast that you can't grasp on to anything to stay in it. It's quite sad actually, but so wonderfully told by Tolstoy and becomes one of the most haunting stories I've ever read in it's final pages.

I'm glad that I've finally gotten around to this one and look forward to revisiting Tolstoy in the future, most probably with Anna Karenina.

"Gentlemen!" he exclaimed, "Ivan Ilyich is dead!".......2007-07-03

Navigating through all the cultural debris coming at us in the year 2007 is no easy task. New hot novelists, must-see flicks, terrific new musical groups, new new new. Yet, here is a story that's over 120 years old, but it speaks right now to the core of our humanity. What does it mean to be alive? What is death? What is pain? What does it mean to be good? What is love? And what is God? This short novel asks these questions again and again, but not as a didactic, philosophical exercise. Instead, Tolstoy weaves these eternal questions into the fabric of a human life, a life that is so plausible and simple that it could easily be yours or mine.

Ivan Ilych is a seemingly good man who makes reasonable choices. He follows the rules. He has faults. He has responsibilities. His marriage begins with promise and slowly slips into unromantic routine. He has a childhood which he remembers well. He is a father. He has friends. He finds meaning in his work. Then he gets sick, not all at once, but slowly. We watch him slowly dissolve as the pain bears down on him relentlessly. The doctors are useless. His wife is a nuisance. His children are irrelevant. No one understands. He becomes isolated and lonely except for one simple servant who selflessly cares for him. What is this death, Ivan asks again and again. Why me, he asks. Has my life been a lie? Have I led a bad life? How can I be free of all this misery? Perhaps none of this is really happening to me.

So Tolstoy, the great, mighty Tolstoy, examines every angle of the dying man's psyche, until finally Tolstoy reaches into the spiritual depths of the man. Is there redemption? Is there release?

One must read this masterpiece from this great artistic genius to fully appreciate Tolstoy's mortal and spiritual depths, and in doing so, perhaps we will better appreciate our own.

Sad.......2007-06-13

Having never faced death, I would not know for sure, but it strikes me that anyone in that situation would ask themselves some vital questions. If you knew it was coming you would want to know what it was all for, whether you did everything you wanted and most of all whether you could look back ad say to yourself: no regrets, I'm satisfied my life was what it should have been. Just after reading this book, I had an experience which sharply contrasted with Ivan Ilych's experience. The daughter of a lady I know well, died, aged 37. When speaking to her, one of the first feelings she expressed was how her daughter had lived a life without regret, how they could all look back on happy memories and good times in their family.
First and foremost I found this story incredibly sad, but it is probably also incredibly commonplace in terms of how many people live their lives. People need to read these types of stories to make them think and realise important issues about the way they live their lives, not merely for themselves but also for others.

Timeless.......2007-05-27

I had never read any of Tolstoy's works before this book. Admittedly, when I opened the pages of this book I expected the experience of reading this story to be mostly academic, never imaging the story of the death of a 19th century Russian lawyer written by an author from 19th century czarist Russia could have much relevance to life in a 21st century western civilization. I figured Tolstoy's perspectives would likely have reflected the beliefs, thoughts and cultural norms of his day and his country. I couldn't have been more wrong.

The story begins with the friends of Ivan Ilyich visiting his family and paying him his final respects after his painful and slow death. As they expressed their sorrow outwardly and demonstrated the appropriate display of grief, Tolstoy describes how inwardly they were thinking that such pain and death could never happen to them and how it is relatively inconvenient to have to deal with such an event, wondering if they'd be able to make the obligatory evening card game after the funeral. The story then steps back in time and relates how Ivan Ilyich's life was cruising along just as he had hoped it would, comfortably and without too much personal upheaval, other than learning to cope with the inconveniences of a less-than-comfortable marriage and trying to overcome debt acquired by living above his means. His idea of success in life came primarily through professional accomplishments and feeding his ego by garnering the approval of 'high society'.

Then the story turns to his illness and the process of dying a painful and slow death. Tolstoy writes of the thoughts of a man who begins to re-evaluate his life as he lies on his death bed, realizing his end is imminent and not too far off. Ivan Ilyich attempts to reconcile with his soul the decisions he's made in his life, where he's placed his priorities, how he's treated his family and whether he's accomplished anything of lasting significance. It is in these writings that Tolstoy bridges the gaps of time and culture. Whether from old Russia or modern day western civilization, each and every individual in this world might potentially find themselves querying their soul with the same questions and introspection as Tolstoy presents through the death bed of Ivan Ilyich. The theme of his writings as he presents them in this story are not bound by culture, beliefs, geography or time.

I also think this story is the type of story that is read and related to with very different perspectives by each reader according to the individual reader's experiences in life (as are so many other great stories). What this story says or means to one person will be much different from what another person will take from it. Speaking personally, I read this book after having just experienced the death of an infant relative, the 2 month old daughter of a brother. Such an experience in and of itself causes great personal reflection and definitely influenced how I related to the words of Tolstoy and the Death of Ivan Ilyich.

It's a short and relatively easy read. I recommend it.

Um...........2007-04-22

I chose to read this novella for a school project. I chose it because it seemed to have a good plot, etc. When I started reading it, I thought to myself that it was just "a slow beginning" which many wonderful books sometimes have. Unfortunately, most if not all of this books contents were dull and uninteresting. This is MY personal opinion of this book. Also, DON'T choose this book for a school project if you're trying to get a glimpse of the Russian culture, because there is really nothing here. Just a rich lawyer dying very slowly. That's basically it.

The Death of King Arthur (Penguin Classics)

Average customer rating:

Beautifully Tragic
Moving Close to the Tale

The Death of King Arthur (Penguin Classics)
Anonymous
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140442553

Customer Reviews:

Beautifully Tragic.......2007-08-23

I could not put this book down once I began to read. The story begins after the Grail Quest, when the King recounts all those who were lost. The loyalty King Arthur feels towards his knights, living or dead, is moving in comparison to today's vacuum of leadership. The complicated love affair between Lancelot and Queen Guinevere is unsettling because as one reads, the unraveling of Camelot is slowly exasperated by their innocent yet treacherous passion for each other--including the King. King Arthur's self denial of the love affair is touching and stretches faith to its limits. But one can't help take both sides because the story is so well rounded from all points of view. Compared to other translations such as Keith Baines, of Signet Classics, this James Cable translation by Penguin is superior because it keeps the arcane language used in the period, thus capturing the flavor of the times, whereas Baines seems to water it down.

Moving Close to the Tale.......2005-03-09

While "The Death of King Arthur" is the shortest romance in the entire Lancelot-Grail cycle (formerly known as the "Vulgate Cycle" and a principal source of Sir Thomas Malory) it is also one of the best suited to modern tastes. Unlike the earlier segments of the cycle (the Lancelot or the Quest of the Holy Grail particularly) it does not underline its themes through endless variant repetitions that irritate the modern reader. Instead, the plot is remarkably linear and focuses on the love of Lancelot and Guinevere, and the disastrous consequences that their affair wreaks on King Arthur and his entire kingdom.

Because it was originally written as a sequel to the Lancelot and Grail portions of the cycle, certain knowledge is assumed for the reader. The reader is assumed to know that Arthur is the King, that Lancelot is his boldest knight, and that the Round Table is recovering slowly from a long and very destructive Grail Quest. Without the lengthy process of interlacing adventures between Lancelot and Gawain or Bors and Gareth, it can be difficult for the true weight of the story to come across to the uninitiated.

Cable's translation is workmanlike and readable, and serves as a worthy introduction to this classic tale until such time as the recent English translation of the entire cycle (Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, edited by Norris J. Lacy) is available in an affordable paperback series. (I bought the hardback at an exorbitant price per volume myself.)

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