Reviews for On the Wings of Eros: Nightly Readings for Passion and Romance

The average rating for On the Wings of Eros: Nightly Readings for Passion and Romance based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-07-18 00:00:00 Bruce S Kennedy Required reading for Introduction to Literature. Year 1, Semester 1, Latrobe University. Currently reading/studying - Gothic/horror - Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" (pp. 104-107), Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" (pp. 738-745), Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" (pp. 773-788) and Octavio Paz's "The Blue Bouquet" (pp. 895-897). Attempting a 1800 word essay...Stories of the macabre, the fantastic, the mysterious, the grotesque challenge 'normal' or 'conventional' understandings of human nature. Discuss in relation to at least two of the stories studied this semester. Plot and Narrative II - Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" (pp. 337-355), Eudora Welty's "Why I Live at the P.O." (pp. 711-721), Grace Paley's "The Loudest Voice" (pp. 811-816) and Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" (pp. 1011-1022). Short 450 word exercise...Choose one of these stories and describe the way the author explores the voice of the narrator: What is conveyed? Why do we need to see "beneath" what is said?...I have chosen "Cathedral". Plot and Narrative I - O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" (pp. 436-441), Agatha Christie's "The Case of the Perfect Maid" (pp. 545-554), W. Somerset Maugham's "The Letter" (pp. 555-579) and Margaret Atwood's "Happy Endings" (pp. 1059-1061). Modernist Story - James Joyce's "Araby" (pp. 445-450), Virginia Woolf's "Kew Gardens" (pp. 493-499) and Katherine Mansfield's " The Daughters of the Late Colonel" (pp. 499-514). Short 450 word exercise...choose two sentences from one story and relate it to the theme of the story...I have chosen "Araby". Fairy Tales - Charles Perrault's "The Blue Beard" (pp.15-19), Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" (pp.840-853), Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" (pp.967-995), and Margaret Atwood's "Bluebeard's Egg"( pp.1039-1059). I studied The Blue Beard and Bluebeard's Egg last semester. Attempting a 1200 word essay using "Bluebeard" and "The Bloody Chamber" for my argument that traditional myths and fairy tales endorse patriarchal values. Classic Short Story II - Anton Chekhov's "The Lady With The Dog" (pp. 364-376). I really enjoyed this love story. It was so easy to relate to. We were required to write 450 words about the conclusion and to relate the last paragraph back to the main story...not easy to do. Classic Short Story I - Herman Melville's "Bartley, the Scrivener" (pp. 191-217). A bit too long winded in his descriptions for my taste...not too sure what the author was trying to convey...our lecturer suggests that it is about originals and copies; of life, people, views, documents...

Review # 2 was written on 2007-12-20 00:00:00 Christian Mack Pretty fucking good anthology of short fiction that presents most of the greats, with an occasional odd choice like Joyce's 'Araby' instead of anything else in Dubliners. Also presents a semi-decent overview of the evolution of the form to boot.