Reference Archives - Page 7 of 8

Roget’s Thesaurus

July 16, 2009 by Roy Johnson

best-selling reference for word alternatives and opposites

Roget’s Thesaurus is a classic and much-loved compilation of synonyms and antonyms. It was first published in the middle of the nineteenth century, and although the arrangement of its entries has been modified from time to time, it has remained in print ever since. When do you need a thesaurus? Basically, most people use them to find alternatives for words which they wish to avoid repeating. And they are very popular with fans of crossword puzzles.

If you’ve already shown off by using the word ‘benevolence’, you look up the term and discover ‘philanthropy’, ‘generosity’, ‘benignity’, ‘charity’, and ‘unselfishness’ as synonyms (same or near-same meaning). The headword is also explored in its form as a noun, verb, adverb, and adjective. Thesauri (that’s the plural) also include antonyms (opposite meaning) and Roget has always given examples of expressions in common usage.

So in this case, it includes ‘good Samaritan’ and clichés such as ‘heart in the right place’ and ‘milk of human kindness’. Roget’s is a thesaurus which you dip into for some nugget of information, and stay there tasting and sampling for much longer than you had intended.

The book has always been a big favourite with crossword puzzle fans, because the entries throw up alternative word possibilities of the kind which are often locked in their clues.

It’s a treasure trove of verbal information (sorry – another cliché) which is why the original compiler’s name has always been retained in the title as a guarantee of value. Make sure you get the latest edition, because lots of quotations have been added.

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Roget’s Thesaurus, London: Penguin, 2004, pp.848, ISBN: 0140515038

More on language
More on literary studies
More on writing skills
More on creative writing
More on grammar

Schott’s Almanac

November 22, 2009 by Roy Johnson

entertaining collection of trivia and unusual facts

I was given an earlier version of Schott’s Almanac as a Xmas present, and it kept me smiling all through the holiday. It’s printed to look like an old encyclopedia, but in fact it’s a new compilation of the most amazing – and amusing – trivialities. It starts off with things such as a list of all the diseases doctors are legally obliged to report, the road directions for driving from Land’s End to John O’Groats, and key details of all the James Bond films. It also lists quotable quotes from Samuel Johnson and – just in case you need it – a list of blood group compatibilities, and who has won the Boat Race since 1829. My favourite for the dinner table quiz was how to pronounce toff British surnames such as Auchinlech, Bohun, and Colquhoun.

It’s the sort of book which literary people might keep in the lavatory – but personally I found it difficult to put down once I started reading it. There’s serious stuff too – such as legal and medical terminology [my old favourite ‘borborygmous’ makes an appearance – it means ‘rumbling of the stomach’] heraldic colour symbolism, and how to wrap a sari. But it’s the oddity of the juxtapositions items which gives the book its character. A list of bed sizes sits next to compound plurals [adjutants-general and filets mignons] and the rules for a game of Tug-of-War.

If you want a list of the Beatles’ UK number one singles, illustrated definitions of cloud types, or the names of suppliers to the Queen, including her Christmas crackers – it’s all in here.

This year’s edition is separated into thirteen sections (Chronicle, The World, Society & Health, Media & Celebrities, Music & Cinema, Books & Arts, Sci, Tech, Net, Travel & Leisure, Money, Parliament & Politics, Establishment & Faith, Sport, and Ephemera). As it says on the cover “Schott’s Alamanac presents the modern year with an archiac twist.”

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Ben Schott, Schott’s Almanac 2010, London: Bloomsbury, 2010, pp.352, ISBN: 0747598428

More on language
More on literary studies
More on writing skills
More on creative writing
More on grammar

Shakespeare’s Bawdy

July 14, 2009 by Roy Johnson

all the Bard’s smut, indecency, and suggestiveness

Eric Partridge was a maverick, self-taught Australian lexicographer. In addition to scholarly work on grammar and linguistics, he specialised in slang, swearing, and the colourful language of everyday life. In this classic work from 1941 he combines a study of ‘rude language’ with a scholarly reading of Shakespeare. The result in Shakespeare’s Bawdy is a marvellous compilation of Shakespeare’s linguistic inventiveness and an in-depth study of imagery, allusion, innuendo, and metaphor. Structurally, the book is composed in its first part of introductory essays on sexual, homosexual, and general bawdy; and then in its second part a major glossary of terms, with quoted examples from the plays and poetry.

Partridge assumes that all the opinion, references, and allusions represent Shakespeare’s own personal opinion, rather than that of the characters who express them. This is an approach which many today would take to be critically naive. But I don’t think this matters too much. Most people reading the book will be delighted with Partridge’s learned swashbuckling style, grateful for his scholarship, and amused by the plethora of examples he explores. Here’s a typical example which illustrates both the scholarly detail and the amazing density of the sexual reference he uncovers:

boat hath a leak, her. To Edgar’s Come o’er the bourne, Bessy, to me’, the Fool adds, ‘Her boat hath a leak And she must not speak Why she doth not come over to thee’ (Lear, III vi 25-28). Perhaps, ‘she is having her period’, but probably ‘she is suffering from gonorrhoea’. (Cf. leaky.)
The boat may be the female body (cf. carrack), a rich prize that a man is ready to board; or it may, by a shape-allusion, be the female pudend.

This is a linguistic register in which innocent words such as ‘neck’ and ‘nose’ are used to imply sexual body parts, and even the pronunciation of the single letter ‘n’ may be used suggestively. What the majority of these entries reveal however is not simply the sauciness and ribaldry of Shakespeare’s language, but his amazing power of coining metaphors and the spectacular profundity of his imagination.

This is one of the first volumes in Routledge’s re-issue of books which have established themselves as classics. They are now available for those who missed them first time round, and for a younger generation for whom the authors are just frequently-cited names in bibliographies.

Because they have now acquired the status of ‘set texts’, the current editions have been given introductions, prefaces, and notes which place them in historical context and offer a scholarly apparatus which make them even more valuable than their original editions.

All Partridge’s books are a joy to read, and this is no exception. This is a handsomely produced book – well designed and printed, and very good value at the price. It’s a series which deserves to prosper.

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Eric Partridge, Shakespeare’s Bawdy, London: Routledge Classics, 2001, pp.291, ISBN: 0415254000

Specialist Dictionaries

November 5, 2009 by Roy Johnson

Specialist dictionaries have two distinct advantages over conventional reference books. First, they can include far more specialist terms, technical jargon, and explanations of meanings than a normal (average-sized) dictionary. And second, they will help cut down the amount of time you are likely to spend searching for terms. Many of them also include mini-essays on complex topics.

The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions is a guide to and an explanation of cultural references commonly found in writing and arts of all kinds. It covers major issues from the classical period to contemporary mass media – including cinema and television. Topics are listed thematically – dancing, danger, darkness – and all entries are cross referenced in an index. This is an attractive new publication.

The Oxford Dictionary of Catchphrases is a compendium of famous sayings and expressions from the world of film, radio, television, and the music hall on both sides of the Atlantic. The sort of thing you might recognise in – Can I do you now, sir?, Shut that door!, Who loves ya, baby?, Bono Estente!, and Eat my shorts!. It offers the original sources for the sayings, as well as fascinating background details about the context and sometimes the history of the performer.

The Oxford Dictionary of Euphemisms is much more than a collection of polite expressions. It’s also a detailed inventory of slang, sexual code terms, metaphors, evasiveness, underworld argot, and indecent language. Topics that invoke euphemism are sex, lavatories, drinking, drugs, crime, and death. The not-so-obvious are commerce, politics, warfare, illness, and ideological belief. Written in a scholarly yet very witty style. Packed with goodies.

The Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore is a compendium of folklore, beliefs, customs, myths, and superstitions. It covers activities such as cheese rolling, Morris dancing, and well dressing; mythical characters such as Robin Hood, Merlin, Beowulf, and father Christmas; what people believe about parts of the body or days of the week; and beliefs associated with simple items such as plants and hedgehogs.

The Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Terms lists 8,000 terms, drawn from over forty countries around the world, that have found their way into the English language. From ab origine to mystagogue and zucchetto. What is the plural of fez? How should we pronounce millefeuille? And where would you see a strabismus?

The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms explains the meanings of proverbs, traditional sayings, and metaphorical expressions – such as raining cats and dogs and over the moon. It contains American and Australian as well as UK examples. A date of origin is often given and many entries are supported by illustrative quotations. This will certainly be useful for anybody learning English, as well as for people interested in the oddities of the language.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Internet explains the thousands of new technical terms which have come into use via the Net. Includes newsgroup abbreviations, the language of e-commerce, software technology, security, and the arcane language of hackers, whitehats, and alpha geeks. It gains its strength from concentrating in depth on the Internet and its infrastructure, rather than on general computing terms. Comes with CD-ROM.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Literary Terms explains the difference between an epic poem and a tragedy, between classical and romantic, between naturalism and realism. The entries range from definitions of the absurd to zeugma, and it is in fact a guide to a mixture of old-fashioned grammatical terms, traditional drama, literary history, and criticism. It contains over 1000 of the most troublesome literary terms you are likely to encounter.

Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is an old classic which lists the meanings and origins of common phrases, sayings, and fables. It also covers both real and mythological people and places. Its unique charm – which has kept it a best-seller for more than a hundred years – is that it is based on a solid foundation of the Greek and Roman classics. Much loved by crossword puzzle fans. Once you start reading, it’s a difficult book to put down.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations is a compendium of memorable sayings by the witty and famous – from Mae West’s Is that a pistol in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me? to Lytton Strachey’s pithy last words, If this is dying, I don’t think much of it.. Fully cross-referenced. Can serve as a straight work of reference if you are stuck for the source of a famous quotation.

Roget’s Thesaurus is a classic and much-loved reference book. It’s a compilation of synonyms and antonyms – words which mean the same or the opposite of a word you choose. Most people use it to find alternatives for words which they wish to avoid repeating. It can save you hours of head-scratching. So popular that it never goes out of print. A great reassurance for anyone who might feel insecure about language matters.

And now, as Monty Python used to say, for something completely different …

Roger’s Profanisaurus is a compendium of all the slang words, smut, double entendres, and sex and toilet talk you will ever need – plus a lot more you might not actually want to know. It’s compiled from the pages of VIZ – the very politically UN-correct comic monthly, and it’s hysterically funny. This is DEFINITELY not for the faint-hearted, but if you understand even half the terms, you’ll get full marks for street cred.

Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang is a guide to ‘unconventional English’ – as slang and swearing is often called. It contains over 60,000 entries covering slang from all parts of the English-speaking world, including Britain, North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, from Elizabethan times to the present. It gives definitions for the jargon used by criminals in Victorian London to the drugs culture of the modern world.

Dictionary for Writers & Editors is a specialist dictionary for writers, journalists, and text-editors. It offers rulings on words and spellings which are commonly problematic (Muslim or Moselm, gypsy or gipsy?); the names of people and places; foreign words and phrases we commonly use (petit-bourgeois); abbreviations; capitalization and punctuation. Covers the difference between hyphens and dashes and acts as a potted encyclopedia for historical names.

The Spelling Dictionary from Oxford University Press is a dictionary in which the meanings of words are not included. What you have instead is an account of how the word is spelled (or spelt) any variant spellings it might have, and how it is used in different parts of speech. Each entry also shows where the major and minor words breaks should occur in the case of its being hyphenated.

The Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion is a comprehensive A to Z reference to the classical world. In addition to Greek myths and Roman festivals, it covers Greek and Roman religious places, monuments, religious personnel, divination, astrology and magic, and contains many entries on Judaism and Christianity in Greek and Roman times. Some of the entries are the length of mini-essays.

More on dictionaries
More on language
More on literary studies
More on writing skills

Textual Bibliography – selected reading

October 27, 2009 by Roy Johnson

recommended fundamental studies in textual scholarship

This is a short but highly selective list of studies in textual bibliography. That is, the classic theories and approaches related to the establishment of authoritative texts. These theories take into account multiple versions and editions of a single work; the ‘intentions’ of the author; printed variants in the text; and the issues arising from authorial revisions.

Jaques Barzun, On Writing, Editing and Publishing, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.

George Bornstein (ed), Representing Modernist Texts: Editing as Interpretation, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1991.

Fredson Bowers, Textual and Literary Criticism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959.

Fredson Bowers, Bibliography and Textual Criticism, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964.

Fredson Bowers, Essays in Bibliography, Text, and Editing, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1975.

Peter Davison, The Book Encompased: Studies in Twentieth Century Bibliography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Philip Gaskell, From Writer to Reader: Studies in Editorial Method, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978.

Ronald Gottesman and Scott Bennett, Art and Error: Modern textual editing, London: Methuen, 1970.

D.C. Greetham, Textual Scholarship: An Introduction, New York: Garland, 1994.

John Lennard, But I Digress: The Exploitation of Parentheses in English Printed Verse, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.

G. Thomas Tanselle, A Rationale of Textual Criticism, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989.

G. Thomas Tanselle, Textual Criticism since Greg: A Chronicle, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987.

[NB! Greetham’s excellent book Textual Scholarship contains a 106 page bibliography covering all aspects of the subject.]

More on language
More on literary studies
More on writing skills
More on creative writing
More on grammar

The Bloomsbury Group – 1886-1919

August 6, 2009 by Roy Johnson

art, literature, philosophy, design, modernism

1832. Leslie Stephen born in Kensington Gore, London into a family of evangelical Christian reformers. Educated at Eton College.

1851. Enters Trinity Hall, Cambridge and is elected to the Apostles (a quasi-secret elite debating group). Graduates in 1854, and in 1857 becomes a fellow and tutor at Trinity.

1865. Renounces his religious beliefs, even though he was a clergyman.

1866. Roger Fry born in Highgate, London. George Eliot, Felix Holt the Radical. Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

1869. Leslie Stephen marries Harriet Thackeray, the daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray, who died in 1875. He subsequently married Julia Prinsep Jackson, the widow of the publisher Herbert Duckworth.

1872. Birth of Bertrand Russell.

1873. Birth of Ottoline Violet Anne Cavendish Bentinck (later Ottoline Morrell).

1875 Leslie Stephen marries Julia Prinsep Jackson and settles at Hyde Park Gate in Kensington, London.

1877. Desmond MacCarthy born. Victoria declared Empress of India. Henry James, The American;

1879. E.M. Forster born in London. Vanessa Stephen (later Vanessa Bell) born at Hyde Park Gate. George Meredith, The Egoist. Henry James, Daisy Miller

1880. Lytton Strachey born at Clapham Common and raised at Lancaster Gate. Thoby Stephen born. Saxon Sydney-Turner born. Leonard Woolf born. First Anglo-Boer war in South Africa.

1881. Clive Bell born. Henry James, Washington Square and The Portrait of a Lady.

1882. Virginia Stephen (later Virginia Woolf) born at Hyde Park Gate.

1883. John Maynard Keynes born in Cambridge. Adrian Stephen born.

Bloomsbury Recalled is written by Quentin Bell, one of the last surviving members of the Bloomsbury circle. He offers a disarmingly candid portraits of his father, Clive Bell, who married the author’s mother, Vanessa Stephen (Virginia Woolf’s sister). He pursued love affairs while Vanessa, after a clandestine affair with art critic Roger Fry, lived openly with bisexual painter Duncan Grant, with whom she had a daughter, Angelica. Clive, Duncan and Vanessa were reunited under one roof in 1939, and the author conveys a sense of the emotional strain of growing up in ‘a multi-parent family.’ Acclaimed biographer of his aunt, Virginia Woolf, Bell here defends her as a feminist and pacifist. Along with chapters on John Maynard Keynes, Ottoline Morrell and art historian-spy Anthony Blunt, there are glimpses of Lytton Strachey, novelist David Garnett (Angelica’s husband) and Dame Ethel Smyth, the pipe-smoking lesbian composer, who fell in love with Virginia Woolf.
Buy the book from Amazon UK
Buy the book from Amazon US

1885. Duncan Grant born in Inverness, Scotland. Roger Fry enters King’s College Cambridge. Death of General Gordon at Khartoum.

1888. Roger Fry obtains a first class honours in natural sciences, but decides to study painting. Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills. Henry James, The Aspern Papers.

1892. Birth of David Garnett (son of translators Edward and Constant Garnett). Roger Fry studies painting in Paris. First edition of Vogue appears in New York. Birth of Vita Sackville-West. Thomas Hardy, The Well Beloved.

1893. Roger Fry’s first writings on art. Independent Labour Party founded. Birth of Dora Carrington in Hereford.

1894. Roger Fry gives university extension lectures at Cambridge on Italian art. Desmond MacCarthy enters Trinity College Cambridge.

1895. Death of Mrs Leslie Stephen. Virginia Stephen’s first mental breakdown. Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest.

1896. Roger Fry marries Helen Coombe. Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure.

1897. E.M. Forster enters King’s College Cambridge. Desmond MacCarthy leaves Trinity College. Virginia Stephen attends Greek and history classes at King’s College London. Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Henry James, The Spoils of Poynton and What Masie Knew.

1899. Roger Fry Giovanni Bellini. Clive Bell, Thoby Stephen, Lytton Strachey, Saxon Sydney-Turner, and Leonard Woolf all enter Trinity College Cambridge, and establish The Midnight Society – a reading group. Henry James, The Awkward Age.

1900. Roger Fry gives university extension classes on art at Cambridge. Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams, Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim

1901. Vanessa Stephen enters the Royal Academy Schools. Roger Fry becomes art critic of The Atheneum. E.M. Forster leaves Cambridge, travels in Greece and Italy, and begins writing A Room with a View. Death of Queen Victoria. Edwardian period begins.

1902. Duncan Grant attends Westminster Art School. Leonard Woolf, Saxon Sydney-Turner, and Lytton Strachey elected to ‘The Apostles’ – a semi-secret discussion group. All come under the influence of philosopher G.E. Moore. Clive Bell does historical research in London. Adrian Stephen enters Trinity College, Cambridge. John Maynard Keynes enters King’s College, Cambridge. Virginia Stephen starts private Greek lessons. Marriage of Philip and Ottoline Morrell. Henry James, The Wings of the Dove. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

1903. G.E. Moore, Principia Ethica. Roger Fry’s first exhibition of paintings and drawings. Desmond MacCarthy writes criticism for The Speaker. John Maynard Keynes elected to The Apostles. E.M. Forster’s first short stories published in the Independent Review. Henry James, The Ambassadors

The Bloomsbury Group is a short but charming book, published by the National Portrait Gallery. It explores the impact of Bloomsbury personalities on each other, plus how they shaped the development of British modernism. But most of all it’s a delightful collection of portrait paintings and photographs, with biographical notes. It has an introductory essay which outlines the development of Bloomsbury, followed by a series of portraits and the biographical sketches of the major figures.

Buy the book from Amazon UK
Buy the book from Amazon US

1904. Death of Sir Leslie Stephen. Virginia, Vanessa, and bothers move to Gordon Square, Bloomsbury. Clive Bell lives in Paris, doing more research. Lytton Strachey works on a fellowship dissertation on Warren Hastings (unsuccessful). Leonard Woolf leaves Cambridge and joins the civil service as an administrator in Ceylon. Saxon Sydney-Turner leaves Cambridge and becomes a clerk in the Estate Duty Office. Virginia Stephen’s first review published in The Guardian and she has her second mental breakdown. Bertrand Russell goes to teach at Harvard, where T.S. Eliot is one of his students. Henry James, The Golden Bowl.

1905. Publication of Euphrosyne: A Collection of Verse with anonymous contributions by Clive Bell, Saxon Sydney-Turner, Leonard Woolf, and Lytton Strachey. E.M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread. Virginia Stephen teaching at Morley College London, an evening institute for working men and women. Thoby Stephens begins the Thursday evenings at Gordon Square for his friends. Vanessa organises The Friday Club, a discussion group for the arts. Oscar Wilde has theatrical success, but is put on trial and imprisoned.

1906. Roger Fry accepts curatorship of the Department of Painting, Metropolitan Museum of New York. Duncan Grant studies art in Paris. John Maynard Keynes joins the India Office. Thoby Stephen contracts typhoid fever whilst on holiday in Turkey and dies on return to England. Election of Philip Morrell as Liberal MP for Burnley, Lancashire. Labour Party formed.

1907. E.M.Forster, The Longest Journey. Vanessa Stephen marries Clive Bell. Virginia and Adrian Stephen move to 29 Fitzroy Square, where Thursday evenings begin again. Virginia working on her first novel. Desmond MacCarthy edits The New Quarterly. Lytton Strachey begins writing reviews for The Spectator. Play-reading Society started at 46 Gordon Square with the Bells, Adrian and Virginia Stephen, Lytton Strachey, and Saxon Sydney-Turner. Meets intermittently until 1914.

1908. E.M.Forster, A Room with a View. Julian Bell born. John Maynard Keynes leaves the civil service and becomes the lover of Duncan Grant.

1909. Roger Fry, ‘An Essay on Aesthetics’. He becomes editor of The Burlington Magazine. Lytton Strachey proposes to Virginia Stephen. Duncan Grant moves in to 21 Fitzroy Square. John Maynard Keynes elected to a fellowship at King’s College, Cambridge. Saxon Sydney-Turner and Virginia and Adrian Stephen go to the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth. Lady Ottoline Morrell visits the Thursday evening group at Fitzroy Square.

Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900—1930 was written by Virginia Nicholson, Quentin Bell’s daughter and grand-daughter of Vanessa Bell, who was Virginia Woolf’s sister. Bloomsbury lies at the heart of the book in its portraits of Ralph Partridge, Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant, Lytton Strachey, Dora Carrington, and Katherine Mansfield, plus peripheral figures such as Arthur Ransome, Rupert Brooke, Augustus John, Nina Hamnett, and Dylan and Caitlin Thomas. Very amusing, well written, and every page dense with top class gossip and anecdotes. She looks at their tangled love lives naturally, but also their radical ideas on money (and poverty) food, dress, and even child-raising. Highly recommended.
Buy the book from Amazon UK
Buy the book from Amazon US

1910. E.M.Forster’s Howards End is his first major success. The Dreadnought hoax takes place. Roger Fry meets Duncan Grant and the Bells, talks to the Friday Club, and is dismissed from the Metropolitan Museum by J.P. Morgan. Fry’s wife Helen confined to mental institution as incurably insane (where she dies in 1937). Virginia Stephen does voluntary work for women’s suffrage and spends time in a nursing home in Twickenham. Lytton Strachey meets Ottoline Morrell. First Post-Impressionist Exhibition at the Grafton Galleries organised by Roger Fry. Carrington wins scholarship to study at the Slade.

1911. E.M. Forster, The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories. Virginia Stephen leases a house at Firle, Sussex. Roger Fry starts lecturing at the Slade School. The Bells and the Frys travel together in Turkey. Vanessa Bell starts an affair with Roger Fry. Leonard Woolf returns from Ceylon. John Maynard Keynes becomes a lecturer in economics at Cambridge. Virginia and Adrian Stephen move to Brunswick Square, where they share their house with Leonard Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, and Duncan Grant.

1912. Lytton Strachey, Landmarks in French Literature. E.M. Forster travels in India. John Maynard Keynes becomes editor of The Economic Journal. Leonard Woolf resigns from the colonial service and marries Virginia Woolf: they live in Clifford’s Inn, London and Asham House, Sussex. Second Post-Impressionist exhibition organised by Roger Fry. Sinking of the Titanic.

1913. Leonard Woolf, The Village and the Jungle (novel). Saxon Sydney-Turner joins the Treasury. John Maynard Keynes, Indian Currency and Finance. E.M. Forster returns from India and starts writing A Passage to India and Maurice. Leonard Woolf begins reviewing for the newly established The New Statesman and studies the Co-Operative movement. Omega Workshop founded by Roger Fry and Duncan Grant. Virginia Woolf has another nervous breakdown and attempts suicide. Vanessa Bell starts an affair with Duncan Grant. Vita Sackville-West marries Harold Nicolson. First crossword puzzle published. D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers.

1914. Clive Bell, Art. Leonard Woolf, The Wise Virgins (novel). John Maynard Keynes joins the Treasury. Virginia and Leonard Woolf move to Richmond from Clifford’s Inn. Outbreak of first world war. James Joyce, Dubliners; Marcel Proust begins to publish Remembrance of Things Past.

1915. Clive Bell’s Peace at Once manifesto is ordered to be destroyed by Lord Mayor of London. E.M. Forster working in Alexandria with the Red Cross. Leonard and Virginia Woolf move into Hogarth House, Richmond. Virginia Woolf publishes her first novel, The Voyage Out. T.S. Eliot, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’. Carrington meets Lytton Strachey at Ottoline Morrell’s estate at Garsington Manor, Oxford.

Portrait of a Marriage is a double biography of novelist Vita Sackville-West and her diplomat husband Harold Nicolson, written by their son Nigel. It is based on an autobiographical manuscript found after Vita’s death and describes the apparent success of the marriage, despite the fact that they both had homosexual relationships with other people. It also captures some of the flavour of these complex personal relationships within the Bloomsbury Group which made it famous – and notorious.
Buy the book from Amazon UK
Buy the book from Amazon US

1916. Lytton Strachey’s application for conscientious objection to serving in the war is denied, but he is granted exemption for medical reasons. Leonard Woolf, International Government: Two Reports: he is exempted from conscription for medical reasons. Clive Bell does ‘alternative labour’ working on Morrell’s farm at Garsington. John Maynard Keynes and friends takes over 46 Gordon Square, which then remains Keynes’ London Home. Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, and David Garnett (Duncan Grant’s lover) move to Charleston in Sussex so that Grant and Garnett can do alternative service on a farm. Bell and Grant then live there permanently. Virginia Woolf lectures to Richmond branch of the Women’s Co-Operative Guild, and does reviews for the Times Literary Supplement (which at that time were anonymous). Bertrand Russell dismissed from Trinity College Cambridge for anti-war activities. James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

1917. Leonard and Virginia Woolf buy a printing press as a therapeutic hobby for Virginia, and print Two Stories as the first publication of the Hogarth Press. Leonard edits The Framework for a Lasting Peace and becomes secretary to the Labour Party advisory committee on imperial and international questions. Virginia begins keeping a regular diary. Lytton Strachey and Carrington set up home together at Mill House, Tidmarsh, Berkshire. T.S. Eliot, Prufrock and Other Observations.

1918. Lytton Strachey, Eminent Victorians. Leonard Woolf becomes editor of The International Review and, Co-operation and the Future of Industry. Katherine Mansfield’s The Prelude published by the Hogarth Press. At the suggestion of Roger Fry and Duncan Grant, John Maynard Keynes persuades the Treasury to purchase works of art from the Degas sale in Paris. Angelica Bell born: (her father is actually Duncan Grant).

1919. The Hogarth Press publishes Virginia Woolf’s Kew Gardens and T.S. Eliot’s Poems, but do not publish James Joyce’s Ulysses, which had been offered to them. Virginia Woolf’s second novel Night and Day appears, and she starts brief friendship with Katherine Mansfield. John Maynard Keynes is the principal representative of the Treasury at the Versailles Peace Treaty, from which he resigns in protest at the war reparations imposed on Germany. He writes The Economic Consequences of the Peace. The Bells, the Woolfs, Keynes, Fry, and Grant meet Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes troupe in London, including Picasso, Derain, Stravinsky, Massine, Nijinski, and Lydia Lopokova. Woolfs move to Monk’s House, Rodmell, Sussex. Carrington marries Ralph Partridge (Lytton Strachey’s lover). Vita Sackville-West ‘elopes’ to Paris with Violet Trefusis.

The Bloomsbury Group 1920-1987 – Part Two of this timeline

More on biography
More on the Bloomsbury Group
Twentieth century literature

The Classic Guide to Better Writing

June 19, 2009 by Roy Johnson

guide to writing skills basics – plus grammar and spelling

This is a book with three titles. The Classic Guide to Better Writing was originally The Way to Write, and it has also been issued by Warner books as The New Guide to Better Writing. What does this mean? Well, my guess is that it indicates a compilation of sound advice which has been successfully marketed in various guises. As the blurb claims, “The book that has taught millions the art of writing well”. You also get the benefit of many revisions and new editions in its lifetime.

Flesch and Lass are emphatic planners. They start off with what they claim as the three essential chapters – the need to plan, how to generate ideas, and how to put these ideas into some order. There’s a reassuring tone, and they cover many different kinds of writing. They even discuss the common mistakes and distractions which prevent people from writing well. I think this is what has made this book a best-seller: they keep the needs of their readers in mind.

The first part of the book discusses the construction of paragraphs; linking ideas and statements; audience and tone; clauses, phrases, and sentence construction; brevity, clarity, and avoiding ambiguity. Their advice is academically based, but chapters on making your writing more direct, interesting, and even amusing will appeal to general readers and those with a penchant for creative writing. However, they issue a warning that “This book won’t make you into another Shakespeare…But it will, we hope, teach you to write simply, clearly, correctly”

Part two tackles basic grammatical problems – double negatives; agreement of verb and subject; incomplete sentences; commonly confused words (affect/effect, imply/infer, lie/lay) spelling; quotations; awkward plurals (Mrs, court-martial, zero) and capitalization.

They do take the traditional [and perhaps outdated] view that you need to know the grammatical terminology for effects which most people use instinctively (‘relative pronouns’, ‘object of a preposition’) but fortunately every topic is illustrated with good examples, and anyone with the discipline to work through their exercises would give themselves a thorough grounding in the fundamentals.

Like many other classic guides, you get the advantage of a low price, because the publishers can afford to be generous, having made their money with earlier printings of a best-seller. This is a good-value manual on the principles of clear writing. Make sure you get the latest, 50th anniversary edition.

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Rudolph Flesch and A.H.Lass, A Classic Guide to Better Writing, New York: Harper, 1966, pp.288, ISBN 0062730487

More on writing skills
More on language
More on grammar

The Little Brown Handbook

June 19, 2009 by Roy Johnson

encyclopaedia of writing skills + exercises and examples

Don’t be misled by the title. This book is neither little nor brown. It’s a reference guide to all aspects of academic writing that its authors say will “answer almost any question you have about writing…find out how to get ideas, punctuate quotations, search the Internet, cite sources, or write a resumé”. That’s a bold claim, but in almost one thousand densely packed pages, I think they live up to it. The Little, Brown Handbook has become a classic style guide over its many editions.

Fowler and Aaron start with the standard academic essay and its requirements, then cover grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence construction, vocabulary, and research. However, these simple headings belie the richness of the material they provide. The latest edition takes full account of computers and the Internet for writing and research, advice for users of English as a second language, plus the latest (1998) MLA guidelines.

It actually starts with a chapter on critical thinking and reading, then puts its emphasis on writing as a process of development, drafting, and revising. These sections act as a thorough course in essay-writing techniques, from formulating ideas to revising, editing, and proofreading the final drafts.

It’s full of handy hints. They suggest for instance the use of two-column reading journal – left column for summaries, and an empty right column which will “beckon you to respond” with critical notes. Every point is illustrated with examples, and there are exercises at the end of each chapter [though you have to work out the answers for yourself].

This is a book that could be used for reference [“Where does the comma go?”] as a teaching aid [“Work through exercises 4 and 5”] or as a source of self-instruction [Outliners and how to use them in generating structure]. For students, there are some very useful examples of revised drafts, tips on essay introductions and conclusions, the generation and substantiation of arguments, and recognising fallacies of argument. For tutors, they make suggestions for coursework.

The section on sentence construction is also an introduction to the basics of English Language and grammar. Like many other guides of its kind, it assumes that readers need to know about ‘prepositional phrases’, ‘subordinating conjunctions’, and ‘restrictive apositives’. Every single case and difficulty is listed, to the point of exhaustive completeness. The problem is that it might not be easy for students to locate the case they require from index entries which read ‘Commas – with conjunctive adverbs and transitional expressions’.

After sections on grammatical correctness, it goes on to questions of taste, style, and conventions in language-use. This embraces choosing the appropriate word, being concise, eliminating dross, and extending one’s vocabulary. The vexed issue of spelling is explained with all its common exceptions, and the latter part of the book discusses meta-issues such as planning a research project, using the Internet to good effect, evaluating sources, the traditional skills of taking notes, and the latest MLA conventions on text citation. At the end, there are sections on writing under exam conditions, business writing (with plenty of examples) and appendices on page layout, document design, oral presentations, and writing with a computer. These latter sections will be of interest to more advanced users.

For students, there are some very useful examples of sample research papers and an examination essay – not only the complete text, but a running commentary on the right-hand page explaining points of detail and commenting on structure, format, citation, and the handling of secondary sources. They even include revised drafts and notes made in the composition of the papers. This is an excellent resource, and just about the closest you could get to live tuition in the subtleties of academic writing.

This may be a book that will appeal more to course tutors, instructors, and librarians than to the students it is written for, but for anyone concerned with the development of writing skills Fowler and Aaron cover all (and I mean all) the details. It might be an expensive investment, but if you’re teaching writing skills it’s the most comprehensive resource I’ve ever come across, and if you’re just starting your academic career, it will see you through to post-graduate studies and beyond.

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

H. Ramsey Fowler and Jane E. Aaron, Little, Brown Handbook, (7th edn) New York: Longman, 11th edition 2009, pp.992, ISBN: 0205734960

More on study skills
More on writing skills
More on online learning

The Oxford Dictionary of Music

June 30, 2009 by Roy Johnson

definitions and an encyclopedia of musical matters

Actually this is what should be called (for the want of a better term) a dictionary of classical music, because it does not seek to cover all musical genres. Entries run from the note A to the Polish soprano Teresa Zylis-Gara, and include major (and minor) composers plus their works, famous performers and conductors, characters from operas, musical concepts and genres, musical instruments, and even mini-essays on topics such as ‘Electronic Music’.

It’s as up-to-date as one could expect for a work of reference of this kind. There are 12,500 entries on all aspects of the subject, and topics stretch from music of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to potted biographies of contemporary composers such as Judith Weir and performers such as Cecilia Bartoli. I checked against (for instance) George Benjamin (b. 1960) and Thomas Adès (b. 1970) – and both of them had entries.

Its one nod towards ‘popular’ music is to include mention of song composers such as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. For anyone interested in music, whether as a student, concert-goer, record collector or Radio 3 listener, it is a welcoming book – in which the author shares his enthusiasm for the obvious as well as the obscure. To give a very typical illustrative example, the section on American composer John Adams runs as follows:

Adams, John (Coolidge) (b Worcester, Mass, 1947). Amer. composer, conductor, and clarinetist. Studies Harvard Univ. and comp. with Kirchner, Del Tredici, and Sessions. Head, comp. dept. San Francisco Cons. 1972-82. Comp-in-res., San Francisco SO 1979-85. One of minimalists, he has deliberately forged an eclectic idiom which borrows from most of the major 20th cent. composers and from jazz. Comps.:

OPERAS: * Nixon in China (1984-7) ; The * Death of Klinghoffer (1990-1); I was looking at the ceiling and then I saw the sky, mus. th. (1994-5); Doctor Atomic (2003-5).

ORCH.: Common Tones in Simple Time (1980); Shaker Loops, str. (1983); Harmonielehre (1984-5); Tromba lontana (1986); Short ride in a fast machine (1986); The Chairman Dances (1987); Fearful Symetries (1988); Eros Piano, pf, orch. or chamber orch. (1989); Chamber conc. (1991); El Dorado (1991); vn. conc. (1993).

VOICE(S) & ORCH. OR ENS.: Christian Zeal and Activity, spkr. on tape., ens. (1973); Grounding, 3 solo vv., instr., elec. (1975); Harmonium, ch., orch. (1980); Grand Pianola Music, 2 sop., 2 pf., small orch. (1981-2); The Wound Dresser, bar., orch. or chamber orch. (1988).

CHAMBER MUSIC: Pf. quintet (1970); American Standard, unspecified ens. (1973).

PIANO: Ragamarole, (1973); China Gates, (1977); Phrygian Gates, (1977).

TAPE ONLY: Onyx, (1975); Light Over Water, (1983).

The entire body text is set in Times New Roman, which for works of reference is a little unfashionable these days – but which I felt was sympathetic to the subject of classical music.

This latest revised edition has been supplemented with 1,000 new entries; lists of composers works have been brought up to date; and the entries now also include musical directors, critics, producers, and designers. Whether we call it ‘classical’ music or anything else, everything you might wish to know about it is covered here. [It’s also now available in a slightly abridged paperback edition.]

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Michael Kennedy, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, (revised edition) Oxford: Oxford University Press, sith edition, 2012, pp.976, ISBN: 0199578109

More on music
More on media
More on lifestyle

The Oxford History of English

December 24, 2012 by Roy Johnson

academic essays on the development of English language

This is an updated version of The Oxford History of English which is now available with the claim that it’s ‘a book for everyone interested in the English language, present and past’. A reasonable claim – though one might wish to add the caveat: ‘suitable for everyone embarking on detailed academic research into the history and mechanics of English’. Because it is certainly not for beginners. It offers a detailed and scholarly history of the English language, starting as far back as 1500BC.

And as Lynda Mugglestone’s useful introduction claims, the volume encompasses not only standard forms of English but also varieties stemming from geography, status and culture. The book comprises fourteen chapters, each written by a different linguist and representing a variety of interests, which makes the volume invaluable to students of linguistics up to post graduate level. Time-lines, language maps tables and charts complement the textual information. A phonemic table is also included and this is essential to the understanding of some language development explanations such as the Great Vowel Shift.

Nothing essential to the study of the English language is omitted and this is given zest by frequent examples from literary works or artefacts, and by the implicit enthusiasm shown by the contributors. For example, Marilyn Corrie quotes the original of a Middle English text, along with the translation, showing a homely but avid interest in study skills.

And whoever may wish to write this book out again on another occasion, I ask him that he write it correctly, just as this book teaches him.

This is a neat reminder that books at one time could only be copied by hand, one at a time.

North American English and its formation is dealt with, including citations of additions from Native American terms and usages – such as the native term Skunk. Other examples of English that have acquired semi-detached status are cited and these specifics are used to lead into the universal principles of language change, observable over thousands of years.

Techniques for the analysis of language mechanisms are eloquently explained in the chapter Dialects and Diversity. Reference to rhyme and poetic metre show the development in a quasi graphical manner that is very pleasing to read.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gets appropriate consideration as do various Anglo-Saxon sermons and poems. The advent of Christianity is used to demonstrate the gradual transition from paganism as reflected in poetry. The establishment of a written vernacular is documented with due reference to King Alfred as possibly the first educator in English, via The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

The volume deals in detail with Germanic influences and the French influence that followed it. Issues such as ‘high’ and ‘low’ languages and the imprint left on a society after the departure of conquering nations are all included in a comprehensive and detailed history.

Considering more recent developments, Tom McArthur traces the status of English during the Twentieth Century with a quaint but comprehensive world map showing English language usage.

In his conclusion David Crystal not only charts the observable influences on English of the Internet and its devices, but he also gives his own prospective notions for the future of the language.

Each chapter is given its own lists of suggestions for further reading, and the book finishes with a huge bibliography. Although the level of detail is on a minute scale, the content is easily accessible, navigable and readable, given some prior knowledge on the part of the reader.

I would gladly give The Oxford History of English to anyone embarking on a language-based programme of study, or to any dedicated amateur student of the English language, its history and its prospects.

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Lynda Mugglestone (ed), The Oxford History of English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, pp.600, ISBN: 0199660166

More on dictionaries
More on language
More on literary studies
More on writing skills

best-selling reference for word alternatives and opposites

entertaining collection of trivia and unusual facts

all the Bard’s smut, indecency, and suggestiveness

recommended fundamental studies in textual scholarship

art, literature, philosophy, design, modernism

guide to writing skills basics – plus grammar and spelling

encyclopaedia of writing skills + exercises and examples

definitions and an encyclopedia of musical matters

academic essays on the development of English language

Get in touch