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Nineteenth Century – literary timeline – part 1

September 29, 2009 by Roy Johnson

a chronicle of events, literature, and politics

1789. French Revolution

1790. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

1791. Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man

1792. Denmark is first country to abolish slavery. September
massacres in France; royal family imprisoned. Coal gas used for lighting. Mary Wollstencraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

1793. Louis XVI beheaded. France becomes a republic and the National
Anthem La Marseillaise is composed. The Napoleonic Wars begin. Godwin, Political Justice.

1794. First slave revolution led by Toussaint L’Ouverture in Haiti. Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho; William Godwin, Caleb Williams; Robert Burns writes Auld Lang Syne; Blake, Songs of Experience.

1795. First horse-drawn railroad appeared in England. Revolt in Ireland.

1796. British doctor Edmund Jenner performs the first vaccination against smallpox. Fanny Burney, Camilla, Mathew Lewis, The Monk.

1798. Wordsworth and Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads. First draft of Northanger Abbey written. T.R. Malthus, Essay on Population

1800. Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland.

1801. Walter Scott, Ballads.

1802. Formation of the Society for the Suppression of Vice in response to concern over obscene literature and pictures – it conducts several prosecutions under the Obscene Libel Law. Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads.

1803. Insurrection in Ireland. Britain at war with France. General Enclosures Act permits enclosure of common land. Thomas Chatterton, Works (posthumous).

1804. Napoleon declares himself Emperor. Spain declares war against Great Britain. Blake, Milton and Jerusalem.

1805. Battle of Trafalgar – Nelson’s victory and death. Walter Scott, Lay of the Last Minstrel.

1807. Slave trade abolished in British Empire. Occupation of Portugal by the French.

1808. Occupation of Spain by the French. Goethe, Faust – Part I.

1809. London exhibition of paintings by William Blake.

1810. Scott, The Lady of the Lake.

1811. George III is declared insane and The Prince of Wales becomes regent. ‘Luddite’ disturbances in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. Jane Austen publishes first novel, Sense and Sensibility.

1812. Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow.

1813. Austen, Pride and Prejudice. Shelly, Queen Mab.

1814. Stephenson’s steam locomotive. Copyright Act extended the period of copyright to 28 years from date of first publication or the length of the author’s life. Scott’s Waverley begins his career as Europe’s most celebrated novelist [largely unread today]. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

1815. Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon is defeated. Corn Law passed setting price of corn at 80s per quarter.

1816. Jane Austen, Emma; Coleridge, Kubla Khan; Scott, The Antiquary.

1817. Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine founded; Coleridge, Biographia Literaria. Keats, Poems.

1818. Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey; Persuasion (published posthumously); Mary Shelly, Frankenstein; Scott, Rob Roy. Keats, Endymion.

1819. Peterloo massacre. Seditious Publications Act (copy tax on periodicals containing news). Savannah is the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; Byron, Don Juan.

1820. George IV becomes king. Shelley, Prometheus Unbound.

1821. Mechanics Institutes formed in Glasgow and London. Death of John Keats. Shelley, Defence of Poetry, Thomas DeQuincey, Confessions of an Opium Eater.

1822. Famine in Ireland. Shelly drowns in Italy. Charles Lamb, Essays of Elia.

1823. Charles Macintosh develops a new fabric for making raincoats. William Webb Ellis, a boy at Rugby school, unwittingly starts the development of the game that was to become known as ‘rugby’.

1824. The National Gallery is opened; G. Combe, Elements of Frenology. Death of Byron.

1825. Stockton-Darlington railway opened; Trade Unions are legalized.

1827. University College London founded. Constable paints The Cornfield.

1828. The Duke of Wellington becomes Prime Minister.

1829. The Governesses’ Mutual Society is founded in response to public concern over the situation of unemployed governesses. Catholic Emancipation Bill sponsored by Sir Robert Peel is passed – Roman Catholics in the UK are relieved of the oppressive regulations, some of which had been in force since the time of Henry VIII. Catholics now able to sit as Members of Parliament. Invention of the first steam locomotive. Founding of the Metropolitan Police Force. Thomas Carlyle, Signs of the Times.

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Nineteenth Century – literary timeline – part 2

September 29, 2009 by Roy Johnson

a chronicle of events, literature, and politics

1830. Death of George IV; William IV becomes King. Petitions to both Houses of Parliament on the abolition of slavery. William Huskisson, a former cabinet minister, is killed at the opening of the Liverpool – Manchester railway. Tennyson, Poems Chiefly Lyrical.

1831. Unsuccessful introduction of the Reform Bills. Darwin’s voyage on The Beagle.

1832. The First Reform Act extends the franchise to those owning property rated at 10 a year or more.

1833. Shaftesbury’s Factory Act limits hours of children’s employment. Slavery abolished in the British Empire. Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus.

1834. First colony established in South Australia. Tolpuddle martyrs exiled there. Emancipation of British West Indian slaves declared – though it takes four years for this declaration to be fulfilled. New Poor Law Commission establishes workhouses. Fire breaks out in the Palace of Westminster – much of the Houses of Parliament destroyed.

1835. Municipal Corporation Act gives votes for local government to men only.

1836. Balzac begins La Comedie Humaine novel cycle. Pickwick Papers launches Dickens’s career. London University is formed. Newspaper tax reduced.

1837. Fox Talbot experiments with photographic prints. Queen Victoria ascends the throne. Dickens, Oliver Twist. Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution.

1838. Chartist petitions published. Full emancipation of British West Indian slaves. The London to Birmingham railway is opened.

1839. Custody of Infants Act. (For the first time a woman living apart from her husband was able to apply for custody of children under seven.) Chartist riots. Daguerre patents photographic technique. Shelley, Poetical Works (posthumous)

1840. Beginning of a decade of considerable social and economic turbulence in England. Marriage of Victoria and Albert. Penny post established in UK. Start of a decade which saw a rise in so-called ‘condition of England novels’. Opium War – Chinese ports are besieged to force free passage of English narcotics. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby.

1841. Governesses’ Benevolent Institute founded (see also 1829). Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop. Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes and Hero-Worship.

1842. Mines Act forbids use of children and women in mines. New Chartist riots. Copyright Act extends the life of copyright to 42 years from publication or 7 years after the author’s death. Mudie establishes the circulating library. Browning, Dramatic Lyrics; Tennyson, Poems.

1843. Colonization of Africa includes Gambia, Natal, Basutoland. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit. Sara Ellis, The Wives of England: Their relative duties, domestic influence and social obligations. Ruskin, Modern Painters; Dickens, A Christmas Carol. Wordsworth appointed Poet
Laureate.

1844. Factory Act restricts working hours for women and children. First telegraph line, between Paddington and Slough. Engels, Condition of the Working Class in England. Royal Commission of Health in Towns. Co-Operative movement begun in Rochdale.

1845. Potato famine in Ireland. Boom in railway building speculation. Bronte sisters invest. Disraeli, Sybil, E.A. Poe, Tales of Mystery and Imagination. Franklin’s expedition to the Arctic to find ‘north west passage’.

1846. Repeal of the Corn Laws (legislation designed to protect the price of domestic grain from foreign imports). Famine in Ireland. Introduction of the ‘Marriage with a Deceased Wife’s Sister Bill’ (this is finally passed in 1907). C. Bronte, The Professor; George Eliot translates Strauss’s Life of Jesus; Ruskin, Modern Painters II.

1847. The first use of chloroform as an anaesthetic. Ten Hours Factory Act. Bronte sisters publish Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Grey in same year. Tennyson, The Princess. Thackery, Vanity Fair.

1848. Revolutions throughout Europe. Queen’s College for Women founded in London. Discovery of nuggets in California starts ‘The Gold Rush’. Introduction of a Public Health Act to try to tackle cholera. A. Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall; Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton; Dickens, Dombey and Son; Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto; Kingsley, Yeast. Dante Gabrielle Rosetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais form the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

1849. Bedford College for Women founded. Dickens, David Copperfield; C. Bronte, Shirley

1850. Pope Pius IX restores the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the UK – for the first time since the 16th century Catholics have a full hierarchy consistent with Catholic countries. The Public Libraries Act – first of a series of acts enabling local councils to provide free public libraries. Parliament imposes a sixty hour week. Death of Wordsworth. Tennyson becomes Poet Laureate; In Memoriam. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese, Wordsworth, The Prelude, Dickens begins publishing Household Words. Thackeray, Pendennis.

1851. Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. Religious Census. Mrs Gaskell, Cranford, Harriet Taylor Mill, The Enfranchisement of Women. Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach. Ruskin, The Stones of Venice. Mayhew London Labour and the London Poor

1852. Dickens, Bleak House. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Florence Nightingale, Cassandra. New Houses of Parliament open. First free public library opens in Manchester.

1853. Trollope, The Warden. C. Bronte, Villette

1854. Britain and France declare war against Russia to begin Crimean war. Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava. The British Medical Association is founded. Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception promulgated. Dickens, Hard Times, Gaskell, North and South. Coventry Patmore begins The Angel in the House (sequence of poems about female domestic responsibility).

1855. Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit. Repeal of stamp duty on newspapers; death of Charlotte Bronte. Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South; Robert Browning, Men and Women; Tennyson, Maud and Other Poems. Livingstone ‘discovers’ the Victoria Falls.

1856. Ruskin, On the Pathetic Fallacy; William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine.

1857. Indian ‘Mutiny’. Matrimonial Causes Act facilitates divorce for those who can afford it. The Obscene Publications Act is passed. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh. Gaskell, The Life of Charlotte Bronte; Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays; Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers; Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary.

1858. ‘Big Ben’ is installed in the Houses of Parliament clock tower. India ‘transferred’ to the British Crown. Abolition of property qualification for MPs, enabling working-class men to stand.

1859. Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species; Eliot, Adam Bede; Samuel Smiles, Self-Help; J. S. Mill, On Liberty; George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel; Tennyson, Idylls of the King. Samuel Smiles Self-Help. Mrs Beeton Book of Household Management

1860. Lenoir invents the first practical internal combustion engine.
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations; George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss; Wilkie Collins, The Woman In White; Ruskin, Unto this Last

1861. American civil war begins with eleven states breaking away to form southern confederacy. Emancipation of serfs in Russia. Italy united under King Victor Emmanuel. In England, daily weather forecasts begin. First horse-drawn trams are used in London. George Eliot, Silas Marner; Mrs Beeton, The Book of Household Management; Hans Christian Andersen, Fairytales

1862. George Eliot, Romola; George Meredith, Modern Love; Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

1863. Polish rising against Russian occupation. American Civil War – to 1865. Opening of the first underground railway in London. George Elder Hicks’ triptych of paintings entitled Women’s Mission are exhibited at the Royal Academy. Charles Kingsley The Water Babies

1864. Contagious Diseases Act. Formation in London of the International Working Men’s Movement (influenced by Marx); Matthew Arnold, ‘The Function of Criticism at the Present Time’

1865. Slavery abolished in United States. Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Lister develops antiseptic surgery. Cholera epidemic kills over 14,000. Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace; Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies. Lewis Carrol Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

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Nineteenth Century – literary timeline – part 3

September 29, 2009 by Roy Johnson

a chronicle of events, literature, and politics

1866. George Eliot, Felix Holt the Radical; Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters; Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Fyodor Dostoyeski, Crime and Punishment; A.C. Swinburne, Poems and Ballads

1867. Russia sells Alaska to America for $7 million. The Second Reform Bill – votes extended to most middle-class men. Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach.

1868. Benjamin Disraeli becomes Prime Minister. Trades Union Congress formed. Robert Browning, The Ring and the Book. Wilkie Collins The Moonstone.

1869. Suez canal opened. J.S. Mill, The Subjection of Women (written in 1860). Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy. Margarine is developed. Hungarian Emanuel Herman invents the picture postcard. Anthony Trollope, Phineas Finn. Girton College (for women) opened in Cambridge

1870. Papal infallibility announced. French declare war against Prussia – and are heavily defeated. Paris occupied. Married Women’s Property Act. Forster’s Education Act (compulsory full-time schooling for under tens).

1871. Paris commune declared – then crushed (by the French). Limited voting introduced in Britain. Emile Zola begins Le Rougon Maquart cycle of novels. George Eliot Middlemarch. Religious entry tests abolished at Oxford and Cambridge.

1872. Thomas Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree. Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market.

1873. Walter Pater, The Renaissance, John Stuart Mill, Autobiography (posthumous)

1874. Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd ; Parliament reduces the working week to 56.5 hours. Tolstoy, Anna Karenina. First Impressionist exhibition in Paris.

1875. Disraeli buys Suez Canal shares, gaining a controlling interest for Britain. Anthony Trollope, The Way We Live Now

1876. Queen Victoria declared Empress of India. Bell invents the telephone. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda ; Thomas Hardy, The Hand of Ethelberta; Henry James, Roderick Hudson.

1877. Henry James, The American; Zola, L’Assommoir. Phonograph invented by Edison.

1878. Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, Henry James, The Europeans. University of London admits women to degrees. Electric street lighting in London.

1879. Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House, George Meredith, The Egoist; Henry James, Daisy Miller.

1880. First Anglo-Boer war in South Africa. Education Act makes schooling compulsory up to the age of ten.

1881. The Natural History Museum is opened. President Garfield of the USA and Tsar Alexander II of Russia are assassinated. Henry James, Washington Square, The Portrait of a Lady. D.G. Rossetti, Ballads and Sonnets; Henrik Ibsen, Ghosts. Gilbert and Sullivan write Patience, a comic opera that pokes fun at the aesthetic movement.

1883. Robert Louis Stephenson, Treasure Island. Olive Schreiner The Story of an African Farm

1884. The franchise is extended by the Third Reform Bill. Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn; F. Engels, The Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State; Walter Besant gives a lecture entitled ‘The Art of Fiction’ and Henry James responds with an essay of the same title. First Oxford English Dictionary

1885. Radio waves discovered. Internal combustion engine invented. Death of General Gordon at Khartoum. Zola, Germinal. Rider Haggard King Solomon’s Mines

1886. Daimler produces first motor car. Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Henry James, The Bostonians.

1887. Thomas Hardy, The Woodlanders. Conan Doyle A Study in Scarlet (first Sherlock Holmes story)

1888. English Football League founded. George Eastman develops the Kodak camera. English vet John Dunlop patents the pneumatic tyre. Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills; Henry James, The Aspern Papers. Jack the Ripper murders in Whitechapel, London

1889. Eiffel Tower built for the Paris Centennial Exposition. Coca-Cola developed in Atlanta. 10,000 dockers strike in London. Rudyard Kipling, Barrack-Room Ballads; Henrik Ibsen, Hedda Gabler

1891. Work starts on the Trans-Siberian railway. The Prince of Wales appears in a libel case about cheating at cards. Anglo-American copyright agreement. Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Gissing, New Grub Street, Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray ; Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

1892. James Dewar invents the vacuum flask. First edition of Vogue appears in New York. Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker. Thomas Hardy, The Well Beloved. Keir Hardy first Labour MP.

1893. First motor cars built by Karl Benz in Germany and Henry Ford in the USA. Alexander Graham Bell makes the first long-distance telephone call. Whitcome Judson patents the zip fastener. Independent Labour Party founded.

1894. Manchester ship canal opens. Dreyfus affair fanned by anti-Semitism in France. Rudyard Kipling, Jungle Books.

1895. X-rays discovered. Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest. First radio broadcast by Marconi. First moving images displayed by French cinematographer.

1896. Wireless telegraphy invented. Abyssinians defeat occupying Italian forces – first defeat of colonising power by natives. Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure; Anton Chekhov, The Seagull. Daily Mail founded.

1897. Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Henry James, The Spoils of Poynton, What Masie Knew; Bram Stoker, Dracula.

1898. Second Anglo-Boer War begins. Henry James, The Turn of the Screw ; Thomas Hardy, Wessex Poems; George Bernard Shaw, Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant

1899. British military disasters in South-Africa. Henry James, The Awkward Age; Kate Chopin, The Awakening; Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya

1900. Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams, Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim

1901. Queen Victoria dies — Edwardian period begins. Rudyard Kipling, Kim

1902. Henry James, The Wings of the Dove; Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

1903. First flight in heavier-than-air machine by Wright brothers in USA. James, The Ambassadors

1904. Henry James, The Golden Bowl; Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard

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Oxford A-Z of Spelling

July 14, 2009 by Roy Johnson

beginner’s guide to the basics of good spelling

Did you know that yogurt can also be spelled yoghurt or even yoghourt? All three are correct. English spelling is notoriously irregular and can be downright difficult. It’s because our huge vocabulary (the world’s biggest) is made up of words from so many other languages. Don’t feel bad if you need to look up inoculate, haemorrhage and the rule-breaking weird. But if you want to improve your spelling skills, you’ll be well served by the short guide Oxford A-Z of Spelling in the new series from OUP.

It explains all the basics without going into a lot of off-putting technicalities and jargon. In one sense it is rather like a Dictionary of Difficult Words: it includes 2,000 commonly misspelled (or mis-spelled or mis-spelt) words and hundreds of spelling tips to help you understand the basic rules – and why there are so many exceptions to them. It starts off with guidance notes on how to form plurals, how prefixes and suffixes work, and how to recognise all the irregular cases and exceptions. Then there’s that nagging bugbear of the insecure, the apostrophe – as in Dickens’s novels and men’s clothing

The main entries of the book are an alphabetical listing of common but difficult words, ranging from abattoir to zoos, with a note on what to look out for, and words of a foreign origin signaled to explain unusual spellings.

advise verbUnlike most verbs ending in -ise advise cannot be spelled with an -ize ending. See centre pages for other verbs that always end in -ise.
! Do not confuse advise with advice. Advise is a verb meaning ‘suggest that someone should do something’ (I advised him to leave) whereas advice is a noun that means ‘suggestions about what someone should do’ (Your doctor can give you advice on diet).

These main entries are punctuated by an explanation of beginnings and endings: for- or fore-? -able or -ible? -ance or -ence?. There’s an explanation of grammatical terms, notes on American spelling, and how hyphens are used to form compounds, as in black-haired girl and pick-me-up.

Because the words have been chosen for their irregular or difficult spelling, the book makes a surprisingly interesting read. And I suddenly realised whilst surfing the entries that it also doubles up nicely for use as a spelling quiz. Firmly recommended – especially for beginners.

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Catherine Soanes and Sheila Ferguson, Oxford A—Z of Spelling, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 160, ISBN: 0199233470

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Oxford Companion to Wine

July 16, 2009 by Roy Johnson

encyclopedia covering every aspect of the world’s wines

Jancis Robinson was one of the first writers to take a lot of the snobbery out of commenting on wine, and the TV series which made her famous was successful because it combined serious and wide-ranging knowledge with a lightness of touch. This modestly titled Oxford Companion to Wine (which is effectively an encyclopedia) does the same thing. It covers every conceivable aspect of growing grapes, making wine, and drinking the finished product that you can imagine.

The whole of the world’s wine regions are described; there are over 600 entries on wine grape varieties; she discusses the how and why of viticulture and wine-making; the history of famous vintages, and even peripheral matters such as label designs, the names of glasses and decanters, and the changes in fashion in the wine trade.

Entries run from abboccato (Italian, medium sweet) to Zweigelt (an Austrian grape variety) and you would be amazed at some of the places which produce wine. Even England gets a two-page entry. Of course France is still the home of serious viticulture, and this is reflected in the depth of information on the grand chateaux, the grape varieties, and the classifications. There’s coverage of some famous vineyards whose terroir is not much more than a couple of fields.

She also deals with the politics and the commerce of the wine trade – describing phenomena such as the ‘flying wine makers’ from the New World areas such as Australia who have been imported back into France in regions such as the Langeudoc and helped to bring the quality of their wines back up again after recent declines.

Another attractive feature of the book is that the entries are cross-referenced – so you start from a wine, go to a grape, then a producer, on to a growing method, then to who has consumed most in recent years. Here’s a typical entry describing a small area on the Cote d’Or where I used to stop off regularly on my way south:

Auxey-Duresses, a village in Burgundy producing medium-priced red and white wines not dissimilar to neighbouring VOLNAY and MEURSAULT respectively, although more austere in style. The vineyards, which include those of the hamlets of Petit Auey and Melin, are located on either side of a valley subject to cooler winds than the main Cote de BEAUNE, PINOT NOIR vineyards, including such PREMIER CRUS as Les Duresses and Le Climat de Val, are grown on the south east slope of the Montagne du Bourdon. White wines, made from CHARDONNAY, account for just above a quarter of the production, covering the slopes adjacent to Meursault. Some vines, atypically for Burgundy, are trained high.

In the past wines from Auxey-Duresses were likely to have been sold under the names of grander neighbours. Many are now labelled as Cote de Beaunes Villages, although the village appellation is becoming more popular. See COTE D’OR and BURGUNDY map.

There are appendices listing a guide to the best vintages and the appellation controlles and their permitted grape varieties, and you can marvel at the ‘aroma wheel’, invented in an attempt to give some sort of scientific rigour to the way tastes and aromas are described.

This new edition of Jancis Robinson’s award-winning magnum opus is a major revision of her earlier work with over 500 new entries and the remainder completely revised to present the latest developments in the fast-moving and increasingly popular wine scene.

It’s beautifully designed and has been completely reset in a larger, more manageable format with new illustrations. The term ‘Companion’ doesn’t really do justice to the encyclopedic nature of this work. I was given a copy as a birthday present by friends, and have used it regularly ever since.

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Jancis Robinson, The Oxford Companion to Wine, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 2006, pp.840, ISBN: 0198609906

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Oxford Dictionary of Allusions

July 14, 2009 by Roy Johnson

guide to popular cultural references – old and new

Allusions are a sort of cultural shorthand. If someone is ‘as rich as Croesus’, a comparison is being made with the sixth century BC King of Lydia, who was fabled for his wealth (and it’s pronounced Kree-Sus, by the way). The problem for most of us who haven’t had a classical education, is that many of these references might be lost on us. This completely new reference guide, the Oxford Dictionary of Allusions explains the meaning of allusions used in modern English – from Abaddon to Zorro.

See what I mean? You probably knew about the masked crusader, but like me, you would have to look up Abaddon to discover that it is ‘the angel of the bottomless pit’ from the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Topics are listed thematically – dancing, danger, darkness – and all entries are cross referenced in an index. The compilers have put a lot of emphasis on contemporary relevance – so although you get Adam and Eve plus Jason and the Argonauts, there are also entries on Cinderella, James Bond, Mary Poppins, and Al Capone. As with most books of this type, one of its chief pleasures is the opportunity to browse idly and come across unexpected gems. There’s everything here – from Barbara Cartland to Dido and Aeneas or from Morgan le Fay to Bridget Jones’s Diary.

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The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd edition 2005, pp.480, ISBN: 0198609191

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Oxford Modern English Grammar

April 19, 2011 by Roy Johnson

an anatomy of contemporary English language usage

Oxford Modern English Grammar is the Oxford University Press brand new and definitive guide to English grammar. It’s a book written by a leading expert in the field that covers both British and American English. and it makes use of authentic spoken and written examples. Arranged in four clear parts for ease of use, its comprehensive coverage ranges from the very basic to the most complex aspects of grammar, all of which are explained clearly yet authoritatively. As a source of reference it’s invaluable for those with an interest in the English language, undergraduate and postgraduate students, and it will be useful to anyone else who would like a clear guide to English grammar and how it is used.

The author Bas Aarts warns that the book is descriptive, not proscriptive in approach.

Readers hoping to find confirmation that the so-called split infinitive is an odious manifestation of the decline of the English language – to give but one example of a common usage shibboleth – will be disappointed.

So – if it doesn’t provide a list of rules of what is and what’s not permissible – what does it have to offer? The answer is – an explanation of the basic principles and structures of English language as it is currently used. Arts begins by clearing the decks to establish the terms in which grammar can be discussed. And this means items as fundamental as what can be said about a single word and how it can be used – which immediately involves issues such as word classes, tense, mood, and the place in a sentence where the word is used.

Next comes the system of inflection which can modify words – which is mercifully (for non-Native learners) minimal in English language, making it easier to learn in its earlier stages at least. He also looks at the way in which new words can be formed or changed – by conversion, back-formation, clipping, and blending (he bagged the goods – recycling – flu – smog).

I was heartened to see that despite his descriptive approach, a firm emphasis was put on the necessity for a subject in a clear English statement, preferably at the start of the sentence or utterance. Statements such as deleted it manually do not begin to make any sense until they are preceded by I, she, or they.

There are entire chapters on tense and mood, which can be quite complex because of the way temporality and mood are constructed in English from strings of verbs – as in examples such as I will have been living here for five years – You might be about to realise that ….

This is a reference work, and just because it doesn’t offer proscriptive rules doesn’t mean that there are no mistakes or unacceptable uses in English. To say the painting was executed brilliant, with also vividly colours is just wrong, and no two ways about it.

There are appendices of irregular verbs (abide/abode/abided – lie/lay/lain) detailed references to sources, and suggestions for further reading on all topics. All the examples he chooses are taken from the database of the International Corpus of English held at University College London – a compilation of spoken and written English taken from living contemporary sources.

It has to be said that the coverage is thorough and rigorous, but very dry. It’s a series of internal principles which have been extracted and documented from contemporary usage. For advice on how to speak and write properly you would have to go elsewhere (such as here for instance). It’s a reference for the college library or the shelf of a linguist or a grammarian – if there are any of those around any more.

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Bas Aarts, Oxford Modern English Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp.410, ISBN: 0199533199

Oxford Reference Grammar

August 2, 2009 by Roy Johnson

up-to-date guide to modern English grammar

This Oxford Reference Grammar guide is based on the most important chapters in Stanley Greenbaum’s authoritative work, The Oxford English Grammar. It is arranged thematically, starting from a description of the history of English language and grammar, then taking the major topics in turn – from words, phrases, and syntax, up to the point at which grammarians customarily stop – the sentence.

The explanations topics are broken up into small, easy-to-follow sections, and there is a full complement of bibliography, glossary, and comprehensive index. There is also a fussily detailed but ultimately useful numerical reference system. These are described as ‘links’ – a clear indication the influence hypertext and its language. It provides guidance on all word classes and word structures, including phrases, clauses, and sentences.

In line with contemporary attitudes to language studies, it takes a descriptive rather than a prescriptive attitude to grammar. That is, it describes how language is being used, rather than how somebody thinks it ought to be used. Each point is illustrated by quotations drawn from authentic spoken and written data. So a typical entry reads:

8.2.2 Adjectives that are predicative only

[17] Caroline is afraid Nellie’s attempts to get her to join in the nude dancing and runs off. [Jennifer Breen In Her Own Write]
[18] I was getting quite fond of him.
[19] Her office personality is a positive one; but she is not aware of this, any more than she is conscious of her breakfast-time vagueness. [W]

Many these predicative adjectives resemble verbs in their meanings: afraid ‘fear’, fond ‘like’, aware that ‘know that’.

It deals with all the standard difficulties in English, such as the issues who/whom, should/ought, that/which, and different from/to. Be warned however. Even though this is in handy paperback format, it’s not for beginners. You have to be prepared for sections labeled ‘Extraposition the postmodifier other than in the subject’, ‘Restrictive and non-restrictive modification’ and ‘Segregatory and combinatory coordination’.

It offers a compilation linguistic definitions and reference in a compact format which will be most useful for teachers language studies, students English language and linguistics, and lay readers who wish to understand some the niceties English grammar. It’s also worth saying that by covering the written and spoken language in both the UK and America, it is intended for English-speakers anywhere in the world.

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The Oxford Reference Grammar, (ed Edmund Weiner), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp.410, ISBN: 0198600445

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Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary

August 2, 2009 by Roy Johnson

dictionary + grammar + culture + communication

Don’t be misled by the title of this book. The Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary is not simply a Spanish dictionary. It’s a full English-Spanish and Spanish-English dual-language dictionary, aimed at intermediate students and the everyday user. In fact it’s even more than that, because the two big lexicons are surrounded by lots of other support materials. There is enough supplementary material in this book to provide a substantial insight into Spanish culture and society.

There are guides to pronunciation; a list of traditions, festivals, and holidays; an A to Z gazette of life and culture; guidance notes on writing letters; and even notes on grammar plus verb tables. These are presented in both languages in all cases. The only thing that struck me as very odd is the fact that pronunciation is given for English words, but not for Spanish. Since this book is aimed at English buyers, this ought to be the other way round, at least.

It covers over 90,000 words and phrases and 120,000 translations of contemporary Spanish and English, and the technical supplement provides full information on all the key points of Spanish and English grammar,

In addition to a new 32 page grammar supplement for this edition, there are example letters, emails, postcards, and CVs.

Language is now studied in the context of its culture, so the existing culture section has been revised and expanded to offer lively and useful information on life in the Spanish-speaking world – everything from political institutions to how weddings are celebrated.

So – the presentation of a typical entry goes as follows – for the verb perder – to lose.

perder
[E8] vt 1. (en general) to lose; perdi el pasaporte I lost my passport; quiere ~ peso he wants to lose weight; con conguntar no se pierde nada we’ve/you’ve nothing to lose by asking; ~ la vida to lose one’s life, to perish; • CABEZA 1E, VISTA 3; yo no pierdo las esperanzas I’m not giving up hope; ~ la práctica to get out of practice; ~ el equilibrio to lose one’s balance; ~ el conocimiento to lose consciousness, to pass out; ~ el ritmo (Mús) to lose the beat; (en trabajo) to get out of the rhythm

2. (a) (autobús/tren/avión) to miss (b) (occasión o opportunidad) to miss; sin ~ la detalle without missing any detail (c) (tiempo) to waste; no me hagas ~ (el) tiempo! don’t waste my time!; no hay tiempo que ~ there’s no time to lose

3. (a) (guerra/plaito/partido) to lose (b) (curso/año) to fail; (examen) (Ur) to fail

4. (agua/aciete/aire) to lose

One thing is for certain however. Unless you are wearing an oversized hunting jacket, this book will definitely not fit in your pocket. But it’s an excellent dictionary and a good source of reference about everyday communication in Spanish.

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Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edition, 2009, pp.1088, ISBN: 0199560773

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Port Out, Starboard Home

July 15, 2009 by Roy Johnson

folk etymologies and false word histories explained

This is a book of folk-etymologies, false-etymologies, pseudo-etymologies – call them what you will. As Michael Quinion explains, once a colourful explanation for the origin of a term is offered, it’s hard to shift, no matter how flawed it might be. His book title Port Out, Starboard Home is taken from one of the most famous – the assumption that the word ‘posh’ is an acronym from reservations made with the old steamship companies servicing the British Empire. The story seems plausible, and it’s attractive – but it’s not true.

He covers lots of others such as honeymoon (nothing to do with honey) Elephant and Castle (which actually has connections with one of my local towns, Bolton) and Jerusalem Artichoke, which is not an artichoke and isn’t from Jerusalem. En route he takes you through some interesting byways – such as the reasonably well known example of British servicemen in the First World War converting ca ne fait rien into san fairy ann.

Entries run from akimbo to Zzxjoanw, which was passed off for years as a Maori name for a drum – despite the fact that there is no Z, X, or J in the Maori alphabet.

He gives detailed and plausible explanations for difficult cases such as the Big Apple (New York) and you would hardly believe how much can be written about the origins of apparently simple words such as aluminium and jazz.

So in a typical example, such as Ballyhoo for instance, he lists all the supposed explanations for the word’s origins – then quietly explodes them as myths, and substitutes either a reasonable explanation, or an admission that we simply don’t know. The same is true for expressions such as break a leg, for which he gives several possible explanations, before coming up with the the most plausible.

Michael Quinion is a scholar, and as a researcher for the Oxford English Dictionary he knows his stuff. He cites his sources and he knows the etymological history of language back to the early Renaiassance. But I don’t agree with him that the negative should be removed from all mouth and no trousers.

And he also keep a very good web site at www.worldwidewords.org – from which many of these examples are drawn. I visit regularly when I get stuck, and I’m rarely disappointed. The site also has a weekly newsletter which gives updates on issues to do with problems, difficult words, and complications in English Language. But like most people, I like having something between hard covers.

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Michael Quinion, Port Out, Starboard Home and other language myths, London: Penguin, new edition 2005, pp.304, ISBN: 0141012234

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