Latin Letters of C.S.
Lewis Paperback – April 25, 2016
by C.S.
Lewis (Author), Don
Giovanni Calabria (Author), & 2 more
In September 1947, after
reading C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters in Italian, Fr. (now St.) Giovanni
Calabria was moved to write the author, but he knew no English and assumed
(rightly) that Lewis knew no Italian. So he wrote his letter in Latin, hoping
that, as a classicist, Lewis would know Latin. Therein began a correspondence
that was to outlive Fr. Calabria himself (he died in December 1954, and was
succeeded in correspondence by Fr. Luigi Pedrollo, which continued until
Lewis’s own death in 1963).
Translator/editor Martin Moynihan
calls these letters “limpid, fluent and deeply refreshing. There was a charm
about them, too, and not least in the way they were ‘topped and tailed’ — that
is, in their ever-slightly-varied formalities of address and of farewell.”
More than any other of his published works The Latin Letters shows the
strong devotional side of Lewis, and contains letters ranging from Christian
unity and modern European history to liturgical worship and general ethical
behavior.
This new edition is greatly enhanced by a
new foreword from the eminent Lewis Scholar, Mark A. Noll, from the University
of Notre Dame.
Thomas Aquinas: Selected
Writings (Penguin Classics) Paperback – January 1, 1999
by Thomas
Aquinas (Author), Ralph
McInerny (Editor)
In his reflections on
Christianity, Saint Thomas Aquinas forged a unique synthesis of ancient
philosophy and medieval theology. Preoccupied with the relationship between
faith and reason, he was influenced both by Aristotle's rational world view and
by the powerful belief that wisdom and truth can ultimately only be reached
through divine revelation. Thomas's writings, which contain highly influential
statements of fundamental Christian doctrine, as well as observations on topics
as diverse as political science, anti-Semitism and heresy, demonstrate the
great range of his intellect and place him firmly among the greatest medieval
philosophers.
The Ring of the Nibelung
(Penguin Clothbound Classics) Hardcover – October 9, 2018
by Richard
Wagner (Author), & 2 more
The scale and grandeur of Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung has
no precedent and no successor. It preoccupied Wagner for much of his adult life
and revolutionized the nature of opera, the orchestra, the demands on singers
and on the audience itself. The four operas—The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie,
Siegfried,and Twilight of the Gods—are complete worlds, conjuring
up extraordinary mythological landscapes through sound as much as staging.
Wagner wrote the entire libretto before embarking on the music. Discarding the
grand choruses and bravura duets central to most operas, he used the largest
musical forces in the context often of only a handful of singers on stage. The
words were essential: he was telling a story and making an argument in a way
that required absolute attention to what was said. The libretto for The
Ring lies at the heart of nineteenth century culture. It is in itself
a work of power and grandeur, and it had an incalculable effect on European and
specifically German culture. John Deathridge’s superb new translation, with
notes and a fascinating introduction, is essential for anyone who wishes to
fully engage with one of the great musical experiences.
Personal Recollections of
Joan of Arc (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels) Paperback – November
7, 2002
Regarded by many as the most
luminous example of Mark Twain's work, this fictional biography of Joan of Arc
was purportedly written by Joan's page and secretary — Sieur Louis de Conté.
(Twain's alter ego even shared the author's same initials — S. L. C.) Told from
the viewpoint of this lifelong friend, the historical novel is a panorama of
stirring scenes and marvel of pageantry — from Joan's early childhood in
Domremy and her touching story of the voices, to the fight for Orleans, the
taking of Tourelles and Jargeau, and the splendid march to Rheims.
But above all, the work is an amazing record that disclosed Twain's
unrestrained admiration of the French heroine's nobility of character.
Throughout his life, she remained his favorite historical figure — "the
most innocent, the most lovely, the most adorable child the ages have
produced."
Completed when the author was nearly sixty, the book reveals a splendidly
expressive side of Twain, who wrote, "I like the Joan of Arc best
of all my books; & it is the best; I know it perfectly well. And besides,
it furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others: 12
years of preparation & 2 years of writing. The others needed no
preparation, & got none."
Matchless in its workmanship, this lesser work will charm — and delightfully
surprise — admirers and devotees of the great American author.
Don Quixote (Penguin
Classics) Paperback – February 25, 2003
by Miguel
De Cervantes Saavedra (Author), & 2 more
Don Quixote has become so
entranced reading tales of chivalry that he decides to turn knight errant
himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, these exploits
blossom in all sorts of wonderful ways. While Quixote's fancy often leads him
astray—he tilts at windmills, imagining them to be giants—Sancho acquires
cunning and a certain sagacity. Sane madman and wise fool, they roam the world
together-and together they have haunted readers' imaginations for nearly four
hundred years.
With its experimental form and literary playfulness, Don Quixote has
been generally recognized as the first modern novel. This Penguin Classics
edition, with its beautiful new cover design, includes John Rutherford's
masterly translation, which does full justice to the energy and wit of
Cervantes's prose, as well as a brilliant critical introduction by Roberto
Gonzalez Echevarriá.
The Poem of the Cid: Dual
Language Edition (Penguin Classics) Paperback – January 8, 1985
by Anonymous (Author), Rita
Hamilton (Translator), & 1 more
One of the finest of epic poems, and the only one to have survived from medieval Spain, The Poem of the Cid recounts the adventures of the warlord and nobleman Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar - 'Mio Cid'. A forceful combination of heroic fiction and historical fact, the tale seethes with the restless, adventurous spirit of Castille, telling of the Cid's unjust banishment from the court of King Alfonso, his victorious campaigns in Valencia, and the crowning of his daughters as queens of Aragon and Navarre - the high point of his career as a warmonger. An epic that sings of universal human values, this is one of the greatest of all works of Spanish literature.
The Saga of the Volsungs
(Penguin Classics) Paperback – January 1, 2000
by Jesse
L. Byock (Author, Translator), Anonymous (Author)
Based on Viking Age poems
and composed in thirteenth-century Iceland, The Saga of the Volsungs combines
mythology, legend, and sheer human drama in telling of the heroic deeds of
Sigurd the dragon slayer, who acquires runic knowledge from one of Odin's
Valkyries. Yet the saga is set in a very human world, incorporating oral
memories of the fourth and fifth centuries, when Attila the Hun and other
warriors fought on the northern frontiers of the Roman empire. In his
illuminating Introduction Jesse L. Byock links the historical Huns,
Burgundians, and Goths with the extraordinary events of this Icelandic saga.
With its ill-fated Rhinegold, the sword reforged, and the magic ring of power,
the saga resembles the Nibelungenlied and has been a primary source for such
fantasy writers as J. R. R. Tolkien and for Richard Wagner's Ring cycle.
The Romance of the Rose
(Oxford World's Classics) Paperback – June 15, 2009
This is a new translation
of The Romance of the Rose, an allegorical account of the progress
of a courtly love affair which became the most popular and influential of all
medieval romances. In the hands of Jean de Meun, who continued de Lorris's
work, it assumed vast proportions and embraced almost every aspect of medieval
life from predestination and optics, to the Franciscan controversy and the
right way to deal with premature hair-loss.
The Tain (Penguin
Classics) Paperback – February 24, 2009
by Ciaran
Carson (Translator, Introduction)
The Tain Bo Cualinge,
centrepiece of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales, is Ireland's
great epic, on par with Beowulf and The Aeneid.
The story of the emergence of a hero, a paean to the Irish landscape, and a
bawdy and contentious marital farce, The Tain tells of a great
cattle-raid, the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Medb and Ailill, Queen and
King of Connacht, and their allies, seeking to carry off the great Brown Bull
of Cualige. The hero of the tale is Cuchulainn, the Hound of Ulster, who resists
the invaders single-handed while Ulster's warriors lie sick. In its first
translation in forty years, Ciaran Carson brings this seminal work of Irish
literature fully to life, capturing all of its visceral power in what acclaimed
poets Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon individually called one of the best books
of the year.
It was perhaps inevitable.
It was fueled by my realization that I didn’t have a copy of Don Quixote
anymore. And a mention of Mark Twain’s return to the romance of the Middle Ages
in his book about Joan of Arc. And the thought that I should have a book of
Wagner’s Ring Cycle. And so, my booklust and my smarty-pants urges were
awakened, and I added most of these volumes just today. A further, unreasonable
attraction to Penguin Editions didn’t help either.
Most of these books run from
between $15 - $20, but there are copies available for considerably less (though
bumped up by individual shipping, which cost is wiped out if buying new, and
more than $35, from Amazon itself). I can’t do anything about ordering anything
this close to the end of the month, but I can dream. Perhaps letting things ‘cool
down’ for a bit will make some of these drop off the list or be demoted for a
while.
If I do get them, will I actually read them, or simply own them as satisfactorily possessed objects, or at best a great reserved resource?
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