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Susan J. Wolfson

Autor(a) de Northanger Abbey: An Annotated Edition

13+ Works 208 Membros 6 Reviews

About the Author

Susan J. Wolfson is a professor of English at Princeton University and author of many essays on and editions of Romantic-era writers. Her books include The Questioning Presence; Formal Charges: The Shaping of Poetry in British Romanticism; and, most recently, Borderlines: The Shiftings of Gender in mostrar mais British Romanticism. mostrar menos

Includes the name: editor Susan J. Wolfson

Obras de Susan J. Wolfson

Associated Works

Pride and Prejudice (1813) — Editor, algumas edições80,207 cópias
Don Juan (1826) — Introdução, algumas edições1,623 cópias
Shelley's Poetry and Prose [Norton Critical Edition, 2nd ed.] (2002) — Contribuinte — 474 cópias
Frankenstein (Longman Cultural Editions) (2002) — Editor — 157 cópias
Byron's Poetry and Prose [Norton Critical Edition] (2009) — Contribuinte — 94 cópias

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Data de nascimento
1948-05-16
Sexo
female
Nacionalidade
USA

Membros

Resenhas

On Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, by Susan J Wolfson, offers the reader both a historically contextualized view of Wollstonecraft and her work as well as a way to bring it into the present.

As I noticed in the other two books I've read in the Core Knowledge series, emphasis is on making the work relevant to contemporary readers as well as understanding the world within which it was created. This is no doubt due in large part to being drawn from an actual course yet also shows an interest and desire in helping us to, as they say, learn from the past. While the arguments are certainly part of what we can learn, I think understanding how Wollstonecraft responded to issues in her time can help us respond to the issues in ours. This short volume goes a long way toward encouraging just such engagement with A Vindication.

It had been years, okay, a couple decades, since I had read Wollstonecraft and this not only encouraged me to do so again but gave me new, and more nuanced, ways into the text. I think this can be a valuable read for both someone about to read her work and those of us who are revisiting it. For that reason, I would recommend it to anyone with an interest.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
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pomo58 | Jan 18, 2023 |
I mainly picked this up somewhere b/c it had something by Mary Shelley that I hadn't read yet, b/c it was cheap enuf, b/c I'm interested in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (wch I've probably already read), b/c I hadn't read anything by Conrad yet (despite his being one of those authors that I've intended to read eventually), & b/c it's a critical edition - in other words, for plenty of reasons - all of them satisfied.

The perqs of a critical edition being things like editorial commentary, reviews of the stories both contemporaneous w/ original publication & later, & other relevant writings - in this case by Darwin & Nordau. All of this was satisfactorily presented here & I may find myself consulting this edition from time-to-time for things like chronologies. There was much to learn from this.

The over-all theme of "Three Tales of Doubles" is of substantial interest to me & is addressed adequately here - albeit somewhat in the reserved spirit of the older writing presented as its main thrust. The few bits of critical writing re the Stevenson, eg, that attempt to update perceptions of it fall flat for me by being too academic. Take, eg, William Veeder's claim that "At stake in Jekyll and Hyde is nothing less than patriarchy itself" - I don't buy it. But, no matter, the critical reactions that follow the tale itself are from a plethora of varied writers & were interesting to read.

The more I read Mary Shelley, well, the more I think she was a very important writer - even when I don't always like the style.

This bk stimulated my interest in "George Eliot" who I've heard from people who've read her bks is "boring" &, yet, she's described here as "the first legitimate fruit of our modern atheistic passions" by critic W. H. Mallock in 1879! Now I HAVE to read her! & this bk, in general, has restimulated my interest in late 19th/early 20th century British writers - after I reached a sortof "been there, done that" peak many decades ago.

It was fascinating to read re Stevenson that "To the Samoans [who he lived w/:], he was "Tusitala" ("teller of tales"); in gratitude for his defense of them against exploitation by European and American colonists, they built a road to his estate, Vailima: "The Road of Loving Hearts"."

&, then, THE FOOTNOTES: Lardy, 100 yrs ago I reckon many literate people had studied Greek & Latin & cd read in the original. 50 yrs later that wd be almost completely gone. NOW (this bk's from 2009), literate things that I take for granted as obvious are explained in footnotes as if they're totally obscure - reminding me of how much things have changed in my lifetime.

Take, eg, this phrase: "cast the die for any for any tempted and trembling sinner" has this footnote re "die": "singular of dice; metaphorically, played a chance or hazard". That needed to be explained?! According to my college professor in Creative Writing friend: YES!!

&, then, in criticism of Stevenson's poem "My Shadow" it's written that the shadow is "more than a little anarchic" - always a word choice that catches my eye. We get to "anarchy" again in the writing of Max Simon Nordau whose ideas on "degeneracy" conclude that "it can scarcely be doubted that the writings of revolutionists and anarchists are also attributable to degeneracy." This latter was published in 1892.

One has to wonder what Nordau, as a "Jewish German-Hungarian doctor, journalist, and opponent of modern aesthetics" wd've thought of how neatly the nazis applied similar ideas to the suppression & genocide of Jewish German-Hungarian culture! Wd Nordau have developed a new appreciation for the "revolutionists and anarchists" who wd've probably tried to save his arrogant ass from the concentration camps?! Or for the artists whose work the nazis condemned in critical language almost identical to his own?
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tENTATIVELY | 1 outra resenha | Apr 3, 2022 |
Jane Austen at her best - so much better than the humorless MANSFIELD PARK, whose annotated edition I read earlier this year. Jane as narrator is just a barrel of laughs in this one. I bookmarked a few of my favorite quotes.

"Mrs. Allen immediately recognized the features of a former schoolfellow and intimate, whom she had seen only once since their respective marriages, and that many years ago. Their joy on this meeting was very great, as well it might, since they had been contented to know nothing of each other for the last fifteen years."

"It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire; how little it is biased by the texture of their muslin, and how unsusceptible of peculiar tenderness towards the spotted, the sprigged, the mull or the jackonet."

"The expectations of his friend Morland, from the first over-rated, had ever since his introduction to Isabella, been gradually increasing; and by merely adding twice as much for the grandeur of the moment, by doubling what he chose to think the amount of Mr. Morland's preferment, trebling his private fortune, bestowing a rich aunt, and sinking half the children, he was able to represent the whole family to the General in a most respectable light."

The annotations are mostly excellent. Quibble, after a while it felt like they became downright harping on the lack of feminine power in Austen's society, constantly conjecturing whether in this passage or that she was commenting on it, insinuating on it, etc.
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Tytania | outras 2 resenhas | Apr 10, 2020 |
The annotations on the critical discussions on Northanger Abbey at the back are great. The annotations of the text are less fascinating - although I had no idea of the important differences between gigs and curricles, phaetons and carriages. The main thing I learned is that you have to read a 'gothic novel' - such as the interminable Udolpho (but any other would do) - to get a lot of the jokes and satire. I had not read this book for years, but found it so much more impressive after reading the aweful Udolpho.… (mais)
 
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mnicol | outras 2 resenhas | Aug 28, 2016 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
13
Also by
5
Membros
208
Popularidade
#106,482
Avaliação
½ 4.4
Resenhas
6
ISBNs
34

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