Reviews for The alien in their midst

The average rating for The alien in their midst based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-03-30 00:00:00 MIKE MEADOWS I was reading this for a class, since there was an excerpt I was interested in during one of the classes, and then I came up against this line, in reference to David and Jonathan: "It seems absurd to attribute such masculine friendships to homosexuality in any ordinary understanding of the word as perverted sexuality, unless any friendship between persons of the same sex is to be called homosexual." Absurd. Perverted sexuality. I -- Yeah, I'm not going to continue reading this. I thought this theories overly contrived and over-simplified anyway. I read on a little bit, in hope that Brewer would put this in the context of society, rather than own those views as his own, but he does not. He includes it matter of factly, as though it is beyond question. For him, it might be beyond question, but for me it's beyond question to continue reading something from a mind so poisonous.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-03-04 00:00:00 Ralph Vassallo I came across John Cowper Powys in Will Durant's 'Adventures in Genius.' Powys has written critical essays on Montaigne,Pascal,Voltaire,Rousseau, Balzac, Victor Hugo, Guy de Maupassant, Anatole France, Paul Verlaine, Remy De Gourmont, William Blake, Byron, Emily Bronte, Joseph Conrad, Henry James to Oscar Wild, criticizing and reviewing their works. I read his essays with great pleasure,though I could not follow, the poems and quotes from the works of Paul Verlaine and Anatole France, which were in French. However it seems that those literary figures has been only an excuse for Powys to pour in all his philosophy. Each essay reveals, the artist, his works, and the politics and philosophy of the author himself. He believes the individual should cultivate his own mind and soul by self approach to the literary classic books, in order to absorb them and avoid the pretentious intellectualism. Sometimes he repeats himself, sometimes goes too far and speaks more about his philosophy rather than the literary figures he is supposed to criticize and judge. But after all the title of his book is 'Suspended Judgments' so we accept them as they are..What is more his style of writing is so beautiful, rich and superb; excellent essays written with sincerity and in simple and straightforward language. He argues that:“Art and Literature are-the last refuge and sanctuary,in a world ruled by machinery and sentiment.......If books were taken from us— the high, calm, beautiful, ironical books of classic tradition—how in this age, could the more sensitive among us endure to live at all?..…..It is only when we suspend our judgments and leave arguing and criticizing, that the quiet gods of the moonlit shores of the world murmur their secrets in our ears.....when one has thus freed oneself from the tyranny of literary catchwords and the dead weight of cultivated public opinion...It is wonderful what thrilling pleasures there are in store for us in literature..and... one comes back to the world of books with an added zest."