Reviews for Life of Robert Browning

The average rating for Life of Robert Browning based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-08-16 00:00:00 Mona Varner I'm writing this review as I go; some general comments to start, then a more detailed chapter-by-chapter review. As I was starting my research on The Book of Margery Kempe, a few scholars' names came up repeatedly - Clarissa Atkinson (and Mystic and Pilgrim: The Book and World of Margery Kempe) foremost among them. I decided to start my research on The Book of Margery Kempe - after reading the actual Book a couple of times - with this foundational work by Atkinson. (As a side note, my preferred edition of The Book of Margery Kempe is that edited by Lynn Staley, the Norton Critical Edition published in 2001, which contains an excerpt from Mystic and Pilgrim as part of the critical section after the text of the Book.) Atkinson's arguments are thoughtful and well-supported by quotations from the text and other scholarly work, and her writing style is clear and accessible. I urge anyone reading Mystic and Pilgrim to keep in mind that Atkinson is writing prior to some of the other "big names" either in Margery Kempe research or religion & gender studies; some of what she says may seem obvious when reading this book in 2013, but Atkinson (and Mystic and Pilgrim) must be considered one of the pioneers of scholarly interest about Margery and Margery's Book since the Book resurfaced in the 1930s. One minor critique I have is easily applied to many scholars, but since Atkinson makes a point in the Preface of saying that she wants this book to be accessible to scholars and non-scholars alike, I feel it's especially important to note: at times, Atkinson provides quotations from period sources, whether it's The Book of Margery Kempe or another work, without providing an English translation. It's possible in some cases to get the gist of the quotes from the Book ; however, not providing translations for quotations in Latin, German, etc. detracts from the overall utility of Mystic and Pilgrim. Even though I've studied Latin and French, and have read the Book in it's original late-Middle English/early-modern English, I still would have found translations helpful. What makes these un-translated passages stand out even more is that they are the exception, the majority of quotations and longer passages are translated. Perhaps this is an editorial oversight, rather than the fault of the author? Chapter 1: The first chapter provides an overview of The Book of Margery Kempe. Atkinson discusses the provenance of the manuscript discovered by William Butler-Bowdon - Atkinson uses his translation/transcription of the Book - as well as a summary of the people and events of the Book. Atkinson also considers the classification of the Book as an autobiography; I found this discussion excellent. It was concise and informative, and I appreciated her discussion of how the Book is not an autobiography in the 20th/21st C usage of the term, but how it applies in the context of the 14th and 15th Centuries. She also touches on how it compares to the biographies (hagiographies) of other female mystics in the Middle Ages. Atkinson's segment on the scribes who recorded Margery's narrative is also excellent. All in all, this chapter provides a clear, concise, and thoughtful introduction to The Book of Margery Kempe. Chapter 2: In the second chapter, Atkinson examines in more detail the person of Margery Kempe, specifically Margery's dual occupation as a mystic and a pilgrim. Atkinson begins with an examination of the concepts of mysticism and mystics, interspersing this with specifics of Margery's recorded experiences. Atkinson's reasons for identifying Margery as a mystic are well thought out and logical. I must acknowledge, though, that I'm somewhat biased in this regard - my introduction to the Book was while preparing an assignment on the term hysteric (in the context of female mystics of the Middle Ages) and I found the scholarly works dismissing Margery as nothing more than an hysterical woman irritating. While I don't believe that Atkinson is directly (or indirectly) responding to the Margery-as-hysteric idea, I was pleased to see her reasoning for Margery-the-mystic nonetheless. I appreciate Atkinson's discussion of pilgrimage and pilgrims in the Middle Ages for two reason: first, it helps contextualise Margery's experiences traveling to various countries in Europe and Jerusalem, particularly why Margery and her companions are so dependent on each other. Second, pilgrimage in the Middle Ages isn't a topic I know much about and Atkinson provides some necessary broad strokes that a contemporary reader of the Book would know. Atkinson concludes the chapter by looking at one of the most unique aspects of Margery's "vocation" - her weeping/tears. Atkinson places this in the context of Margery as both mystic and pilgrim, as well as looking at the ways in which Margery's weeping changes over the course of the Book. Chapter 3: The title of this chapter is a quote from The Book of Margery Kempe, "She was come of worthy kindred": The Burnham Family of King's Lynn. While the chapter does cover what information is known about Margery Kempe's family, mainly regarding Margery's father John Burnham, the chapter also gives some very useful context about the area of England in which Margery lived. Atkinson provides an overview of settlements in the area around what will eventually become King's Lynn, and how those who lived in the fen area made a living. Atkinson highlights how important trade was to the local economy - trade both within England and with the Continent, and how that trade fueled the rise of the merchant class, of which Margery Kempe's family was a prominent part. As a source of historical context for interpreting The Book of Margery Kempe, this chapter is invaluable. Atkinson also relates the social and theological contexts in which Margery would have grown up; she indicates that Margery's illiteracy may have been unusual, while noting that it's also possible that Margery was offered the opportunity to learn to read and write, and refused. This leads Atkinson to the final topic of the chapter: how religious education was managed in a primarily illiterate society. So little is known about Margery Kempe and her family that it's hard not to want more after reading this chapter; this is no fault of Atkinson's, she pieces together what information is available and constantly weaves those pieces in around elements from The Book of Margery Kempe. Chapter 4: In this chapter, Atkinson examines two key points in understanding The Book of Margery Kempe: the issue of heresy (specifically Lollardy) in 15th C England, and Margery's relationship to the Church and clergy. Atkinson's explanation and contextualization of Lollardy is wonderful; I especially appreciated her summary of how Lollardy shifted from writings by an educated, academic man (presumably for equally educated men) to something the illiterate middle and lower classes took up to criticize a set of issues surrounding the Church. Atkinson goes through each of the main Lollard points in relation to Margery, and it is clear that while Margery was accused of Lollardy, her beliefs were in many way antithetical to the Lollard position. The second part of the chapter deals with Margery's relationship to the Church and clergy. I had hoped Atkinson would provide a short explanation of the various types of clergy Margery encounters (i.e. the difference between friars, monks, clerks, and priests); unfortunately she doesn't. Aside from that, most of her discussion is focused on the support Margery receives from various Church officials, and presents the two men most outspoken against Margery (a priest who is one of Margery's traveling companions to Jerusalem, and a preaching friar in Lynn) as exceptions to the otherwise cordial relationship between Margery and the clergy. Chapter 5: Atkinson begins Chapter 5 (titled "In the Likeness of a Man": The Tradition of Affective Piety) by remarking "Although the piety of Margery Kempe has seemed eccentric or 'hysterical' to certain readers of her book, what bothered her contemporaries was not her devotional style but her behavior." (129) In Chapter 5, Atkinson traces the lineage of Margery's practice of "affective piety," starting with Anselm of Canterbury in the late 11th C. Atkinson uses "affective piety" to describe Margery's practice in that its "aim was not so much to teach doctrine or offer formal worship as to move the heart of the believer. Generally this was accomplished through a personal, passionate attachment to the human Jesus, and particularly to the aspects of Christ's life which belong to the universal experience: birth and death, Nativity and Passion." (129-130) The tradition to which Margery's practice belongs, according to Atkinson, includes Anselm, Ailread of Rievaulx (12th C English Cistercian), Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Francis and the Franciscans, Richard Rolle (14th C English mystic), and the Carthusian order. Atkinson's arguments are persuasive; she quotes key passages from the writings of these men/orders and then quotes a passage from The Book of Margery Kempe, which more than adequately demonstrate the similarities in idea, if not expression. However, I finished the chapter wondering how to interpret this information. Should the Book be viewed as one woman's rather exceptional attempt to put into practice what she'd gleaned from various sermons? Or was the scribe consciously (or unconsciously) framing what he was told in a way that would make Margery's experiences most acceptable or comprehensible to potential readers? Two statements by Atkinson on page 155 may answer these questions: first, she begins her summary by writing "Margery Kempe incorporated the major elements of affective piety into her own devotional life, transforming the tradition to the uses of her singular vocation and personality." And second, "Against this background, the religious life of Margery Kempe seems neither aberrant nor even very unusual, but rather a complex personal response to a tradition established by some of the great medieval saints and theologians." Chapter 6: This is, in my opinion, the penultimate chapter in Mystic and Pilgrim. Following up on the previous chapter about "affective piety," in Chapter 6 Atkinson considers "Female sanctity in the Late Middle Ages." Atkinson presents multiple examples of how women, in England and on the Continent, from the 13th Century through Margery Kempe's era, practiced their faith. Atkinson takes the reader on a tour through the various forms of "female sanctity" - nun-mystics such as Hildegard of Bingen; beguines such as Mechthild of Magdeburg; Angela of Foligno, also a wife and mother turned mystic; Catherine of Siena is provided as a contrast and Birgitta of Sweden is presented as somewhere in between Angela and Catherine. Atkinson spends a fair amount of time discussing Birgitta and the Birgittine order, especially as it is established in England, and the influence the Birgittines had on English devotional life. The last third of the chapter examines a couple of key English texts relating to living as a nun or religious recluse. Atkinson conveys an impressive amount of information in this chapter while maintaining a connection to The Book of Margery Kempe as well as an engaging writing style. Chapter 7: The final chapter can be seen as an extension of Chapter 1 - Atkinson provides information about the scholarly responses to The Book of Margery Kempe and a consideration of the various scholarly approaches (literary, socio/anthropological, psychological) that have been applied to the Book. I found Atkinson's discussion of possible interpretations of Margery and the Book from a psychological standpoint fascinating; equally interesting was the discussion of the theories of social anthropologist I.M. Lewis, who wrote about female shaman. I was expecting the final chapter to be nothing more than an extended summary of the previous chapters, but Atkinson surprised me. The information she includes about scholarly reception to the Book, including the impressions formed by the owner of the manuscript, Colonel Butler-Bowdon, and the first scholar to really study the Book, Hope Emily Allen.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-04-16 00:00:00 Laury Swanson This book is not a book about travel. It is a book about people, or rather how Maugham viewed people, the people he saw and met as he traveled along the Yangtze River in 1919, right after the First World War. The people he met are predominantly expats, European diplomats and missionaries. This can scarcely be classified as a book about the Chinese or China. Neither is it about the effects of the war. Maugham had a knack for really looking at people, observing what people say, what they mean by the words they say, and how they behave. He had also a talent for putting what he observed into words. The two together is what makes him a good writer. He was also extremely well read, and he learned from the authors he read. The book reads as a collection of mini-mini-stories, observations of and comments about people, as explained above, expats residing in China in 1919. His opinions are not openly stated; his views are implied. Ironical humor is a common ingredient. The second chapter entitled The Lady's Parlour forewarns what will follow. A woman, an expat residing in China, is redecorating her parlor. In doing so, she attempts to avoid all things Chinese; she is attempting to replicate an English parlor. We are told "she had to buy a Chinese screen", there was absolutely nothing else available that would have fit the spot, but this was not the end of the world because even in England they were frequently used. You must appreciate the humor here! This common theme, the expats' disdain for all things Chinese, is exemplified over and over again in the stories. We are told that it is nonsensical to learn Chinese since "you could hire an interpreter for twenty-five dollars a month". We intuit Maugham's distaste of the expats and their life style. He is critical of the expats' inability to appreciate what China offers--in beauty, history, knowledge and wisdom. He doesn't shove his views down your throat though; he speaks through humor; you can take or leave his views as you wish. Occasionally Maugham peppers with descriptions of landscapes and places. In just a few words he captures the atmosphere of a marketplace, an alley, mist over paddy fields, the stiff and ridged resplendence of a diplomat's reception or an opium den for example. I do wish he had told of his route and given us the names of the places he visited. The names of the people are not given either. The lack of names and places transform the observations into mini-stories. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Richard Mitchley. His performance I have given four stars. He reads clearly and at a perfect speed. I liked this book. It was interesting, but the diverse, very short "stories" could have held together better. We are given a bunch of well depicted observations that reflect Maugham's personal views. My ratings of Maugham's books : *Then and Now 5 stars *Mrs Craddock 4 stars *Cakes and Ale 4 stars *The Painted Veil 4 stars *The Verger 4 stars *Liza of Lambeth 3 stars *The Razor's Edge 3 stars *The Summing Up 3 stars *The Gentleman in the Parlour: A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong 3 stars *The Magician 3 stars *Up at the Villa 3 stars *Christmas Holiday 3 stars *Catalina 3 stars *On A Chinese Screen 3 stars *Theatre 2 stars *The Moon and Sixpence 2 stars *Of Human Bondage 2 stars *The Merry-Go-Round 1 star