A concise, readable introduction to a literary archetype.
An exploration of the figure of the Wandering Jew in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s first and last mature poetic works.
Tinker, in her debut, traces the Wandering Jew character from his origins to his role in Shelley’s Romantic poetry. The character comes up throughout medieval Christian folklore as a man who taunted Jesus and was then made to wander the world until Christ’s return. The book’s first section focuses in part on the character’s specific incarnation as a man named Ahasuerus, who first emerged in a 1602 German work called Kurtze Beschreibung. Tinker carefully traces the lines of Ahasuerus’ influence, from a religious parable to the work of later writers, such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Christian Schubart. From these influences, Tinker proceeds directly to Shelley’s use of Ahasuerus, first in the 1813 poem “Queen Mab” and later in his 1822 verse drama Hellas. This structure allows her to follow Ahasuerus’ evolution very closely—from his portrayal as a Lutheran convert to his depiction as a heretic and healer. In her conclusion, she writes that “Ahasuerus is not a real man. He is a fiction, and not one, but many, recreated by many authors....Ahasuerus is merely a name, a form in whose shelter writers have reared virtual men who find salvation through knowledge and experience.” Tinker’s analysis will appeal strongly to readers interested in the intersections among religion, folklore and literature, and between European Christianity and Judaism from the medieval to the Romantic age. The author makes no revelatory assertions but writes clearly and competently and delivers a valuable introduction to her subject. She also provides an extensive bibliography for readers who wish to undertake further research.
A concise, readable introduction to a literary archetype.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2009
ISBN: 978-1439269534
Page Count: 174
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 11, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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