Brief Lives, by John Aubrey.
I had been hearing about this work and wanting to read it for
years before I found a copy. “Brief Lives is a collection of short biographies written by John Aubrey (1626–1697) in the last decades
of the 17th century. Aubrey initially began collecting biographical material to
assist the Oxford scholar Anthony Wood,
who was working on his own collection of biographies. With time, Aubrey's
biographical researches went beyond mere assistance to Wood and became a
project in its own right. Aubrey was careful, wherever possible, to seek out
and talk with those who had been acquainted with his subjects. His sociable
nature and his wide circle of friends helped him in this pursuit. At his death,
Aubrey left his biographical writings in a state of chaos. It has been the task
of later editors to organize the manuscripts (held at the Bodleian Library) into readable form. Aubrey's Brief
Lives has been loved for generations for its colorful gossipy tone and for the glimpses it
provides of the unofficial sides of its subjects. Aubrey's use of informants
and his eye for the unusual provides much more vivid pictures than a biography
based on documents could. He is frank but never malicious. The Brief
Lives includes biographies of such figures as Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Thomas Browne, John Dee, Sir
Walter Raleigh, Edmund Halley, Ben Jonson, Thomas Hobbes, William Petty and William
Shakespeare. There
have been many modern editions.” – Wikipedia. A Penguin Classic.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Biography. Anecdotes. Softcover.
The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius. Translated by V.
E. Watts.
“The Consolation of Philosophy (Latin: De consolatione
philosophiae) is
a philosophical work by the Roman
statesman Boethius, written around the year 524. It has
been described as the single most important and influential work in the West
on Medieval and early Renaissance Christianity, as well as the last great Western
work of the Classical Period … It was written in AD 523 during a one-year
imprisonment Boethius served while awaiting trial—and eventual execution–for
the alleged crime of treason under the Ostrogothic King Theodoric
the Great. Boethius
was at the very heights of power in Rome, holding the prestigious office
of magister
officiorum, and
was brought down by treachery. This experience inspired the text, which
reflects on how evil can exist in a world governed by God (the problem of theodicy), and how happiness is still
attainable amidst fickle fortune, while also considering the nature of
happiness and God.” – Wikipedia. King Alfred, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Queen
Elizabeth I all produced translations, and its influence on Western culture was
and is great. This copy (the only I have found so far) has considerable
interior markings. Penguin Book.
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: Philosophy. Classic. Softcover.
The Song of Roland, Translated by Dorothy L. Sayers.
“On 15 August 778, Charlemagne’s army was returning from a
successful expedition against Saracen Spain when its rearguard was ambushed in
a remote Pyrenean pass. Out of this skirmish arose a stirring tale of war,
which was recorded in the oldest extant epic poem in French. The Song
of Roland, written by an unknown poet, tells of Charlemagne’s warrior
nephew, Lord of the Breton Marches, who valiantly leads his men into battle
against the Saracens, but dies in the massacre, defiant to the end. In majestic
verses, the battle becomes a symbolic struggle between Christianity and
paganism, while Roland’s last stand is the ultimate expression of honour and
feudal values of twelfth-century France.” – Amazon. I used to have another
translation but sold it after getting this Penguin Classics Sayers edition.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Epic Poem. Softcover.
The Divine Comedy I: Hell; The Divine Comedy II: Purgatory;
The Divine Comedy III: Paradise, by Dante Alighieri, Translated and with Notes
by Dorothy L. Sayers (and Barbara Reynolds).
Penguin Classics (the ‘Hell’ is an older printing, so the
cover is a different design). The renowned epic poem of a journey through Hell
and into Heaven, in Sayers’s clear, poetic translation. When she died her
friend and colleague Reynolds finished the work on ‘Paradise’. “Sayers herself
considered her translation of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ to be her best
work … Sayers's translation includes extensive notes at the end of each
canto, explaining the theological meaning of what she calls
"a great Christian allegory." Her translation has remained
popular: in spite of publishing new translations, as of 2009 Penguin Books was still publishing the
Sayers edition.” – Wikipedia. ‘The Comedy’ is one of the pillars of the Western
Canon.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Epic Poem. Translation. Softcovers.
Selected Poems and Prose, by Thomas Traherne.
A Penguin Classic. “Thomas Traherne was an English
divine who wrote both before and after the Restoration, which puts him squarely
in the strong religious tradition of the time. Although he had published in his
lifetime, it was mainly rather dry stuff on Church history and law; it was not
until the late 19th Century that the main body of his works for which he
is famous today were discovered and made known to the public. Some scholars
consider him a forerunner of the Romantic Movement and its ideas, although he
was about 130 years earlier and unknown to people like Blake and Wordsworth;
this seems to be another part of the trend of scholars to lump what they like
together and denying that traditions they dislike could have anyone of worth;
for instance considering Dante as "Renaissance" rather than
"Medieval", and here Traherne "Romantic" rather
than "Puritan". When I read these two paragraphs, I immediately
thought to myself "Yes. This is how childhood was!"
Somehow, I had forgotten, but Traherne had called me back to
remembrance, like a distant bell ringing in a dim wood that tells you that,
wait, home is over this way.” – Power of Babel. How did I come to discover
Traherne? Was it in my 17th Century Verse and Prose class? Was it a
quote from Lewis, or L’Engle, or some other ‘mutual friend’? Don’t know now,
can’t say, and can only speculate.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Poetry. Prosody. Selections. Softcover.
Revelations of Divine Love, by Julian of Norwich (Translated
by Elizabeth Spearing), and The Book of Margery Kempe, by Margery Kempe
(Translated by B. A. Windeatt).
I’m writing about these books together because they are
paired in my mind and have much in common. “Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich
may have been illiterate, but these two medieval Christian mystics
are a strikingly early example of literary female friendship. With the help of
scribes, both women wrote books which play crucial parts in literary history.
Julian of Norwich’s Revelations
of Divine Love is the earliest surviving book by a
woman written in English, and Margery Kempe’s untitled manuscript (known today
simply as The Book of
Margery Kempe)
is considered the first English autobiography. Fascinatingly, Kempe chronicles
a meeting between the two – she stopped by in Norwich to see ‘Dame Jelyan’, and
they spent ‘many days’ together in conversation. Kempe and Julian shared some
basic characteristics: both were female English writers; both Christian mystics
who believed that they received visions directly from God; both from roughly
the same late medieval epoch – they even both came to their spiritual
awakenings following periods of serious illness. They were, however, quite
different. Kempe was a wife and woman about town, mother to at
least fourteen children before convincing her husband to become
celibate, and decidedly public in her devotional brand, making long pilgrimages
around England and all the way to Jerusalem; Julian was an anchoress – a type
of religious hermit, living a reclusive spiritual life, walled-up with her cat
in a cell attached to a church, with only a small window through which to
receive food and speak to visitors. Julian’s renown was posthumous, her book
unlikely to have been circulated during her life; Kempe was a medieval
celebrity, drawing crowds and attention (sometimes negative – she was tried for
heresy several times). Julian has always been known to scholars; Kempe’s
autobiography is a recent discovery, contained in a single manuscript
discovered in the cupboard of a Derbyshire mansion and identified in 1934 by
American scholar of medieval history, Hope Emily Allen. Julian’s Revelations records
the visions she received from Christ following an illness in 1373, and is a
highly regarded work of Christian mysticism, notable for its feminine
perspective and delicate, evocative analogies, particularly the image of Christ
as mother. Kempe’s Book is an account of her life and
conversations with Christ.” – Cecily Fasham. Kempe’s famous weeping makes me
think of her as a sort of Medieval Tammy Faye Bakker. Dame Julian recounts her
famous vision: “And in this he [Jesus] showed me a little thing, the quantity
of a hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round
as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought,
‘What may this be?’ And it was answered generally thus, ‘It is all that is
made.’ I marveled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have
fallen to nothing for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It
lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning
by the love of God. In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is
that God made it. The second that God loves it. And the third, that God keeps
it.” Penguin Classics.
Ranking: Keepers.
File Code: Religion. Biography. Softcovers.
The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton.
“On its surface, the book is presented as a medical textbook in which Burton
applies his vast and varied learning, in the scholastic manner, to the subject of melancholia (which includes, although it is
not limited to, what is now termed clinical depression). Although presented as a medical text, The Anatomy of
Melancholy is as much a sui generis work of literature as it is a
scientific or philosophical text, and Burton addresses far more than his stated
subject. In fact, the Anatomy uses melancholy as the lens
through which all human emotion and thought may be scrutinized, and virtually
the entire contents of a 17th-century library are marshalled into service of
this goal. It is encyclopedic in its range and reference. In his satirical
preface to the reader, Burton's persona and pseudonym "Democritus Junior"
explains, "I write of melancholy by being busy to avoid melancholy."
This is characteristic of the author's style, which often supersedes the book's
strengths as a medical text or historical document as its main source of appeal
to admirers. Both satirical and serious in tone, the Anatomy is
"vitalized by (Burton's) pervading humour", and Burton's
digressive and inclusive style, often verging on a stream of consciousness, consistently informs and animates the text. In
addition to the author's techniques, the Anatomy's vast
breadth – addressing topics such as digestion, goblins, the geography of
America, and others – make it a valuable contribution to multiple research
disciplines.” – Wikipedia. It has had fans such as Samuel Johnson, Charles
Lamb, John Keats, Jorge Luis Borges, and Dorothy L. Sayers. Another big thick
brick of a book, not very handy for reading, and alas, unread by me as yet.
Ranking: Culturally Essential.
File Code: Medical/Literary/Philosophical. Softcover.
Sir Thomas Browne: Selected Writings, Edited by Sir Geoffrey
Keynes.
His best works, like Religio Medici, Urn-Burial, and Vulgar
Errors, with others, are all sampled here. This 17th Century author
had a huge influence on many other writers even into our time (from Johnson to
Borges and beyond). This secondhand book is well scribbled in; I remember
choosing it to read while waiting in the hospital in San Antonio during Mom’s
last visit.
Ranking: Culturally Essential.
File Code: 17th Century. Omnium Gatherum. Softcover.
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