Book Description
"These notes are about the process of design: the process of inventing things which display new physical order, organization, form, in response to function." This book, opening with these words, presents an entirely new theory of the process of design.
In the first part of the book, Mr. Alexander discusses the process by which a form is adapted to the context of human needs and demands that has called it into being. He shows that such an adaptive process will be successful only if it proceeds piecemeal instead of all at once. It is for this reason that forms from traditional unselfconscious cultures, molded not by designers but by the slow pattern of changes within tradition, are so beautifully organized and adapted. When the designer, in our own self-conscious culture, is called on to create a form that is adapted to its context he is unsuccessful, because the preconceived categories out of which he builds his picture of the problem do not correspond to the inherent components of the problem, and therefore lead only to the arbitrariness, willfulness, and lack of understanding which plague the design of modern buildings and modern cities.
In the second part, Mr. Alexander presents a method by which the designer may bring his full creative imagination into play, and yet avoid the traps of irrelevant preconception. He shows that, whenever a problem is stated, it is possible to ignore existing concepts and to create new concepts, out of the structure of the problem itself, which do correspond correctly to what he calls the subsystems of the adaptive process. By treating each of these subsystems as a separate subproblem, the designer can translate the new concepts into form. The form, because of the process, will be well-adapted to its context, non-arbitrary, and correct.
The mathematics underlying this method, based mainly on set theory, is fully developed in a long appendix. Another appendix demonstrates the application of the method to the design of an Indian village.
Customer Reviews:
Art anticipates Science?.......2005-08-30
Alexanders 'Notes' anticipates the paths that major sciences would take decades after its publication.
This is no mean feat for a work of science but here youre dealing with a book on architecture- or better, on what architecture could and ought to be.
readers with scientific interests will notice Alexander inventing- from purely architectural phenomena - such models as
fitness landscapes, adaptation measures according to 'gene' frequency, evolutionarily stable strategies.
The general system of analysis in the book serves as one of the best guides for understanding cellular automata and the startegy of isolating variables anticipates the justly famous work of Dawkins on selfish genes.
Alexander had almost nothing to work with in the early sixties apart from some pioneering formulations in early AI and a very acute insight into the paradoxes of optimisation strategies.
His foresight is best witnessed by reading the footnotes to the book which are in themselves an uncanny selection of what would come to dominate epistemology, evolution and modelling decades later.
People teaching history and philosophy of science should prescribe this book as the pre-eminent case study 'consilience'
On the strength of this one book, Alexander joins C S Pierce, Boole, Babbage and Minsky as one of the greatest pathfinders in the recent history of knowledge-- too bad that architecture as a discipline hardly rose to his challenge and is now drowning in couture (and more credit to the software makers who have kept this unmined treasure in print).
The first book of design for all designers.......2005-08-15
Design is a difficult process that is often associated more with art than science. With principles of style, concerns about how design works.
While many wring their hands about this, Alexander breaks the problem down, organizes it and then provides a framework for design that is relatively design neutral. That is a feat in deed.
By thinking about how one structures a problem space and the bias that creates -- Alexander give the practioner a powerful tool for setting up the design process and scope. He then goes on to discuss the design process and he makes important distinctions between concious and unconcious design.
Notes on Synthesis and Form are the foundation for Alexander's work on design patterns. This is the must read book before spending time on these other works.
For the practioner, this book provides a powerful and applicable framework for addressing problems in multiple disciplines.
A summary.......2001-09-14
(Below is a series of quotes from the book, some of them slightly modified, plus a small number of "glue" sentences I've added to make transitions smoother. My goal was to distill the key ideas in this exceptional book.)
Every design problem begins with an effort to achieve fitness between two entities: the form in question and its context. The form is the solution to the problem; the context defines the problem. We want to put the context and the form into effortless contact or frictionless coexistence, i.e., we want to find a good fit.
For a good fit to occur in practice, one vital condition must be satisfied. It must have time to happen. In slow-changing, traditional, unselfconscious cultures, a form is adjusted soon after each slight misfit occurs. If there was good fit at some stage in the past, no matter how removed, it will have persisted, because there is an active stability at work. Tradition and taboo dampen and control the rate of change in an unselfconscious culture's designs.
It is important to understand that the individual person in an unselfconscious culture needs no creative strength. He does not need to be able to improve the form, only to make some sort of change when he notices a failure. The changes may not always be for the better; but it is not necessary that they should be, since the operation of the process allows only the improvements to persist. Unselfconscious design is a process of slow adaptation and error reduction.
In the unselfconscious process there is no possibility of misconstruing the situation. Nobody makes a picture of the context, so the picture cannot be wrong. But the modern, selfconscious designer works entirely from a picture in his mind - a conceptualization of the forces at work and their interrelationships - and this picture is almost always wrong.
To achieve in a few hours at the drawing board what once took centuries of adaptation and development, to invent a form suddenly which clearly fits its context - the extent of invention necessary is beyond the individual designer. A designer who sets out to achieve an adaptive good fit in a single leap is not unlike the child who shakes his glass-topped puzzle fretfully, expecting at one shake to arrange the bits inside correctly. The designer's attempt is hardly as random as the child's is; but the difficulties are the same. His chances of success are small because the number of factors which must fall simultaneously into place is so enormous.
The process of design, even when it has become selfconscious, remains a process of error-reduction. No complex system will succeed in adapting in a reasonable amount of time or effort unless the adaptation can proceed component by component, each component relatively independent of the others. The search for the right components, and the right way to build the form up from these components, is the greatest challenge faced by the modern, selfconscious designer. The culmination of the modern designer's task is to make every unit of design both a component and a system. As a component it will fit into the hierarchy of larger components that are above it; as a system it will specify the hierarchy of smaller components of which it itself is made.
Abstract enough to cross-over into a generic methodology.......2001-05-15
"Notes" begins the published books of Alexander's task to investigate the methodologies and formulas for extracting and creating patterns that are Beautiful and functional. Although the book is for Architectural design, Alexander's understanding is philosophical enough that his writing can be read from the lens of any human interested in creating programs for form design. This can cross into Software engineering, which Alexander has already made a profound influence with his book, A Pattern Language, web design, graphic design, or anything the requires planning in order to achieve a complex end. He focuses on encapsulating each element of a form into it's own study and then later combining all elements into the Whole Form. This method he stresses will tear away all arbitrariness in form and create structures that are seemlessly beautiful and functional.
More relevant than ever across many disciplines.......2000-11-28
I bought this book at the same time as Stuart Kauffman's recent Investigations (from a local independent) and began reading them in parallel.
While this was intentional, serendipity happened as it is wont to do and I found more parallels than I could follow. These two books come from radically different fields (Architecture and Complexity theory) and were published nearly 40 years apart yet are highly resonant with eachother.
Alexander effectively discusses the synthesis of form in the context of functional goals and/or constraints. He draws from architecture for his examples and ideas but the results are much broader.
He outlines the ideas which will eventually become his Pattern Language and "The Quality Without a Name".
Meanwhile Kauffman is speaking contemporarily of the underpinnings of "life itself" also from what is essentially a structural arguement.
Both are essentially speaking to the same thing: How form emerges from functional constraints in the context of evolving systems. In one case it is the artifacts of living spaces we build while in the other, it is the more intimate artifacts of the phenotype of a species or more generally, evolving complex systems such as our universe in all of it's glory.
Many have criticized Kauffman's work as being unoriginal in the sense that most of what he says has been said before, only separately and differently. In some sense, all works are "derivative".
I believe that the parallels between these two books are more an example of parallel evolution. Alexander was studying the essential qualities of a design discipline as old as man and therefore highly evolved. The topical area of architecture, built spaces for human work and habitation is extremely rich and complex in it's own right. It is not surprising that he would have discovered in this narrow field something as essential and interesting as Kauffman seems to be exposing if not discovering about the mathematical and structural underpinnings of "life itself".
An excellent (pair of) read(s)!
I look forward to Alexander's _Nature of Order_ whose title reminded me of Kauffman's _Origins of Order_ which in turn inspired me to read them together while awaiting Alexander's new books!
Book Description
Capturing the elusive qualities of light is one of the most sought-after goals of artists in every medium, and Painting Light with Colored Pencil helps readers achieve that goal with:
-An overview of the basics of any work of art, such as composition, gathering reference material, value and color -Over 20 step-by-step lessons covering a variety of popular subjects, including fruit, flowers, textures and water -Two extended demonstrations that show readers how to combine the individual lessons to create a refined, detailed painting
Through the techniques explained in this book, readers will learn how to unlock the potential of colored pencils to create realistic, light-filled paintings that glow.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent condition and service.......2007-09-24
This product came exactly how it was presented-quickly and in great condition-couldn't be happier!
Thanks for the quick turn around-very pleased!
Informative.......2007-01-21
I found this book easy to understand. The color theory is very helpful. I would recommend it.
Very inspiring book!.......2006-11-05
Very happy with the purchase, so far it is my best book about colored pencils & techniques, easy-to-follow instructions, helpful tips, brilliant demonstrations to inspire begginers & more experienced artists alike.
Making it real--one artist's technique with colored pencils.......2006-10-11
This book is of somewhat limited use if you have anything other than ultra-realism on your mind. But having said that, Cecile Baird presents a flawless technique with colored pencils that will have your jaw dropping at her gorgeous work. This book is inspiring and there is plenty of eye-candy here to admire.
There are many demonstrations of example paintings, and some are quite stunning; water spilled on a tile counter, a bubbling, spurting fountain, translucent honeydew melon and kiwi, glistening shells, smooth crockery. Each texture is discussed and the technique of blending with a colorless pencil or with solvent is explained.
There is also a section on how to photograph your subjects (assuming you do still life a lot, which this artist favors as her subject matter.) There is a good discussion on how many pencils to buy (hint; start with the largest assortment you can find, 72 or more) --and she lists what colors of one particular brand she chooses for each demonstration. The materials needed such as stumps for blending, solvent, etc are covered well in the text.
The demonstrations are not as complete as a beginner would need, but a good artist can follow her progress from sketch to final work. Likewise, excellent draughtsmanship is required for this technique. If you do naif works, cartoons, abstracts, or other non-realistic, stylized techniques, this book is of limited value.
Therefore, I recommend this to people who want to work from photographs and obtain beautiful realistic results with colored penci.
good information on innovative techniques.......2005-06-12
I did enjoy the book and found it to be informative with good information of her wonderful and innovative techniques. I would have liked more definative instuctions on how "Shades of Green" was done, not just a small section on rendering Kiwi fruit. The beginning 50 or so pages were on information commonly found in any CP book and therefore of little value to me and perhaps to others who have a library of books already. But if you are a beginner with no books it would be of value to you.
Average customer rating:
- "A Wonderful and Little Known Book."
|
Solomon D. Butcher: Photographing the American Dream
John E. Carter
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Photographers, A-Z
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Photo Essays
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0803214049 |
Book Description
For millions of Americans, Solomon D. Butcher’s photographs epitomize the sod-house frontier. His late-nineteenth-century images from western Nebraska constitute the most extensive photographic record in existence of the generation that settled the Great Plains. The faces are unforgettable: jaunty bachelors and earnest husbands, Civil War veterans of both armies, spinster sodbusters and determined mothers, cowhands, farmhands, and former slaves—all in search of land of their own. Originally published in 1985, this first book devoted to Butcher and his photographs presents a unique visual chronicle of Great Plains settlement and established Butcher’s place in frontier photography. Everyone interested in the plains pioneers or historical American photography will prize this splendid book.
Customer Reviews:
"A Wonderful and Little Known Book.".......1999-06-10
A wonderful and little known book, by a wonderful and little known photographer. Butcher photographed small towns and rural prairie life in central Nebraska from the 1880's to the turn of the century. These are documentary photographs that are almost surreal in their intensity. Sod houses, portraits of wide-eyed families, towns slapped down for no particular reason - odd writing on the negatives - as well as birds and trees sketched in to satisfy Butcher's sense of natural history gone awry. A great book.
Average customer rating:
- 'Peep Show' Rocks
- Obscure Subject Matter Done Well
- Not up to Black Lace standards
- Hot little specialty erotica for the voyeur in you ....
- Smart, dangerous and sexy.
|
Peep Show (Black Lace)
Mathilde Madden , and
Black Lace Staff
Manufacturer: Virgin Black Lace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
Adult Fiction
| Erotica
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Erotica
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Romance
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Romance Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Adult Fiction
| Erotica
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Erotica
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Romance
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Eden's Flesh (Black Lace)
-
Passion of Isis (Black Lace)
-
Unnatural Selection (Black Lace)
-
Office Perks (Black Lace)
-
Pagan Heat (Black Lace)
ASIN: 0352339241 |
Book Description
Naughty Imogen likes to watch. When her boyfriend Christian is out at work she spends her evenings spying on the neighbors through binoculars and viewing her secret porn collection. Most of all, though, she likes to go online and pretend to be Christian while she chats up men on a Manchester gay dating site. But when her latest virtual beau and borderline obsession Dark Knight asks for a photograph, her voyeuristic games become complicated. Suddenly Christian is being drawn into her sleazy thrills without his knowledge. Imogen's getting more eye candy than she ever dreamed of, but at what price?
Customer Reviews:
'Peep Show' Rocks.......2007-04-06
I stayed up late, very late, to finish 'Peep Show'. Though I've never considered myself any kind of voyeur this book caught and held me from start to finish. I've been wondering today, as a reader and as a writer, why I found it so irresistible. The answer lies in the voice of the narrator, Imogene, and the love between her and her equally kinky boyfriend, Christian. My my, what that boy won't do for his woman. In fact, it's his willingness to please her that may be their undoing. Now, this is a Black Lace book, so what are the chances that we are left with a broken hearted heroine? Imogene, without Christian, would be devastated forever. Still, I worried right along with her when it looked like she might have lost her beautiful boy to the Dark Knight. Imogene is not your usual Black Lace heroine. She dresses in tracksuits or jeans and wields a mighty strap-on. Other that that we are given no physical description at all. Fitting, since she is a voyeur. I have to laugh at the Amazon reviewer, an American, who had trouble with the English vernacular; the narrator's voice is terrific. The twisty turny plot (as Imogene might say) evolves naturally from Imogene's unnatural desire to watch. Which leads me to the sex. Whether it's male/male or male/female or even male to female/male it's hot. For more, maybe you'd best just buy the book and enjoy the show.
Obscure Subject Matter Done Well.......2005-09-16
I bought this book purely because it's one of the very, very few I've seen that deal with a particular kink of mine, of loving male-male action although I'm a girl. Even in a time where the freakiest S&M stuff is it's own niche market, I have trouble finding something as simple as a little male homoeroticism and bisexuality. MMF threesome themes are definitely hot, and in a pinch, gay erotica hits the spot, but it's gratifying to see a Black Lace title that specifically caters to this interest, since they've done almost everything else. So thanks, Mathilde Madden, for writing on this subject!
That said, I want to give you my honest opinion of the book. When I first started it, I was a little disappointed. Imogene was not a terribly sympathetic character. I couldn't see any deep relationship between her and Christian, her voyeurism wasn't subtle-sexy but downright obsessive (high-powered binoculars?), and her gay male fetish leaned more towards S&M than anything else, which is a turnoff for me.
But as I kept reading, I was hooked. I started to really put myself in Imogene's lucky little shoes. Her character fleshed out and the plot thickened beautifully. I don't want to give the story away, but when she sees the thing she's been fearing most, well, I gasped along right with her. Though it started slow and kind of wobbly, the story was absolutely wondrous.
My complaints are only a few. Imogene is English, so, as an American, I've got to put up with 'knickers' and 'fish and chips' and British spellings (they just love to tuck 'u' into anything, don't they?) but it's not too terrible. There's some grammar problems and misspellings, which bug me, but they really are few and far between. The sex scenes were HOT. Imogene giving Christian the best sex of his life, hearing about how they met, some male-male trysts she spies on, well they're delicious. Unfortunately, a lot of the sexiness is on the page, being talked about, but not engaged, if you know what I mean. Or a couple of fade-to-blacks, or, in Imogene's case, she has to stop spying for a few moments. But overall, the book was very erotic. And the character of Lorne bugged me a little. I wanted something to happen, anything, but in the end, nothing did, and it was quite disappointing. Also, the book was very open-ended. What will happen in the future to the four characters, after all they've been through? The book doesn't give a hint, which is quite frustrating. It almost ended a tad abruptly, for me.
But don't let these complaints fool you. That's just the editor in me. The book was fabulous and definitely worth buying.
Not up to Black Lace standards.......2005-08-02
While the quality of this book's writing is the usual Black Lace breezy and fun standard, the overall descriptions of the most erotic scenes are either too brief, too boring or are by the numbers at best. Most Black Lace novels are sually filled with torrid sex, this one has that, but just not in abundance or originality. An okay read, but Black Lace has better to offer.
Hot little specialty erotica for the voyeur in you .... .......2005-07-08
Very aptly named .... we follow a young Imogen in her daily routine as she strives to spice up her kink sex life of peeping in on men and their 'supposedly' most private self pleasuring moments and, of course those moments when they are 'entertaining' boyfriends ...
She certainly does love the male action and never has her binoculars far from reach... the fact that she had a boyfriend with very very non-hterosexual wants and desires .... makes this a perfect couple for the kink they enjoy ... and yes there's nothing wrong with that ...
OK so I gave this baby a five star thumbs up but it certainly is not the kind of book that I would normally buy or read .... course eroticism is in the eye of the beholder ... and ... if you are into it this book sure is great ....
Smart, dangerous and sexy........2005-06-01
With its instantly likeable heroine and many delicious supporting characters, I found "Peep Show" smart, dangerous and sexy. There's a layering of voyeurism that made me squirm a bit - in a very good way, mind you - and Mathilde Madden always manages to make even the most guilty-pleasure, squirm-inducing setup turn hot. In the past, I've read some (a lot) of erotica purely for the smut and have learned ignore things like bad writing, weak plot, etc, but I was *very* happy to discover I didn't have to do that with "Peep Show" -- Madden kept me turning the page with a strong, engaging voice, and a constantly exciting plot.
Highly recommended, especially if one, like Imogen, likes nothing more than watching sexy guys (and the odd gal - especially a hot drag king like Lorne) get into sexy situations.
Average customer rating:
|
Peep Show
Manufacturer: Dewi Lewis Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Photo Essays
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1899235248 |
Book Description
Peep Show was photographed in the red light districts of Paris. This is a world of shadows-of life on the margins-revealed through glimpses that are both provocative and symbolic. Voluptuously curtained neon-lit doorways, with their strategic gaps and seductive folds, become symbolic of the sex act. Footprints, shadows, and patches of light provide further visual clues as even the clientele become half-seen, anonymous markers of this voyeuristic process.
One of London's sought-after style photographers, Vicky Wetherill's work features widely in magazines. Peep Show was exhibited in London during summer 2002 before touring the U.K. and Europe.
Average customer rating:
|
Peepshows: A Visual History
Richard Balzer
Manufacturer: Harry N Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
History
| Subjects
| Books
| Africa
| Americas
| Ancient
| Arctic & Antarctica
| Asia
| Australia & Oceania
| Books on CD
| Books on Cassette
| Europe
| Gay & Lesbian
| Historical Study
| Large Print
| Middle East
| Military
| Military Science
| Russia
| United States
| World
History & Criticism
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
| Criticism
| General
| Regional
| Themes
| Women in Art
Printmaking
| Graphic Design
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Crafts & Hobbies
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
French
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Arts & Photography
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Entertainment
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
History
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All French Books
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0810963493 |
Customer Reviews:
Nice but inadequate.......2007-03-27
If you are looking to view the authors' collection of 230 Mutoscope Pin-Up cards, nicely reproduced, this is the book for you. If you want more information, look elsewhere.
There is a cursory history of Mutoscope cards and brief biographies of 4 artists represented, but that's it. No information on how many were made (386); over what period of time (1940-1954); how they were grouped (10 sets of 32 or 64 cards with 2 extras). It would have been nice to have a complete checklist and information on how to identify the various sets. Instead of being ordered by year or set, the authors put them alphabetically according to the cute quotes on the cards: from "A Clothes Call" to "You're The Top". There are Internet references, but you could have done that anyway, right? I am waiting for the complete reference guide. Anyone step up?
Average customer rating:
|
From Peep Show to Palace
David Robinson
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
History & Criticism
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Industry
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0231103387 |
Book Description
Film critic David Robinson chronicles the early use of film as vaudeville sideshow; as sheer spectacle of moving images precluding any notion of plot development or drama; and as a fledgling dramatic effort, ranging from prizefights to Passion plays. He also takes readers to the nickelodeon theaters, and replete with more than 150 drawings and photographs, shows how the earliest devices of cinematic prehistory--machines with colorful names like the Phantascope and the Wheel of Life--led to the technology of filmmaking we know today.
Average customer rating:
|
PEEP-SHOW MAN
Padraic Colum
Manufacturer: Macmillan Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GP7E62 |
Average customer rating:
- A Pin to See the Peepshow
- A gifted author misuses her talents to further an agenda.
- One of my favourite novels
|
A Pin to See the Peep Show
F. Tennyson Jesse
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
| Authors, A-Z
| Books on CD
| Books on Cassette
| General
| Large Print
| Mystery
| Police Procedurals
| Thrillers
| Writing
Historical
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Mystery & Thriller Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0312611803 |
Customer Reviews:
A Pin to See the Peepshow.......2004-04-30
The novel may soften the representation of the murder in the Thompson-Bywaters case it was based on but otherwise closely tracks Young's Notable British Trials account. Young too thought Mrs. Thompson innocent. What the novel most brilliantly does is show how its protagonist is executed not for murder but adultery and not so much even for adultery as for being a middle class adulteress, upper class adultery being quietly fashionable, and lower class unnoticed. Tennyson shows her character as a human sacrifice to the hypocrisies of the class system.
A gifted author misuses her talents to further an agenda........1998-03-23
It is always a pity when an accomplished artist prostitutes a great talent in the furtherance of a dubious cause.
Miss Jesse was a well-known and gifted writer. She was also an opponent of the death penalty. Her novel is based upon the murder, in London in 1922, of Percy Thompson, for which his wife Edith Thompson and her lover Freddie Bywaters were hanged. The case aroused immense controversy at the time, and has continued to do so ever since. Death Penalty opponents have maintained that Edith Thompson was wrongfully executed - her conviction was based in large part on her letters, which appeared to be inciting Bywaters to murder Thompson.
It is not this reviewer's purpose to discuss the propriety of Capital Punishment, or Edith Thompson's guilt. Miss Jesse and all those who oppose hanging, and who believe her letters were nothing but a silly fantasy, are perfectly entitled to hold their views and to argue them as passionately as they wish.
But what a reputable author ought not to do is to falsify facts to further an agenda. The reader is told explicitly that A Pin To See The Peepshow is based on the Thompson-Bywaters murder. What the reader is not told, and will not know unless he or she is familiar with the case, is that while 'Leonard Carr' hits the husband on the head, in a moment of drunken fury, with a wrench he happens to have in his coat pocket, and the unfortunate man falls and strikes his head fatally on a kerbstone, the real-life Bywaters lay in wait for his victim and killed him with two savage stab wounds, inflicted with a dagger that he later attempted to dispose of. Thus not only is the tragic 'Julia' hanged for a crime she never intended, but the crime itself is hardly more than an accident. Bywaters leapt out of the shadows and struck down his victim in silence - 'Leonard' kills his man after a stand-up argument.
By blurring the fact of premeditation and thus raising questions of criminal intent that in reality never existed, Miss Jesse enlists the reader's sympathy dishonestly. If this is how the courts function, we are invited to infer, then we should not entrust them with the power of life and death!
Needless to say, there is more to the issue of Capital Punishment than the rightness or otherwise of one single verdict. But readers should be aware that in this particular instance they are being hoodwinked.
One of my favourite novels.......1998-01-10
This book is based on a celebrated scandal in England -- the Thompson-Bywaters murder. It is one of my favourite novels. Jesse creates early on a mood of brooding sexual danger without any overt sexual references at all. How this leads Julia to destroy her life makes a gripping and sad book.
Average customer rating:
- Unparalled memoirs of Victorian and Edwardian England
|
As We Were : A Victorian Peep-Show
E. F.; T.J. Binyon (introduction) Benson
Manufacturer: Hogarth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
19th Century
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0701205881 |
Customer Reviews:
Unparalled memoirs of Victorian and Edwardian England.......2002-01-22
The author of Mapp and Lucia roves back to the days of pincushions and paperweights, of Floral Lotto and soulful renditions of "The Lost Chord". He starts with a picture of Queen Victoria and then unfolds the oddities of his own family and their social circle. Gladstone packs a sponge bag, Tennyson talks of braces, Whistler challenges Moore to a duel, and so on. E. F. Benson (1867-1940) was one of six eccentric children of the Archbishop of Canterbury and wrote almost 100 books. The book includes an introduction by T.J. Binyon.
Books:
- Outdoor Rooms: Designs for Porches, Terraces, Decks, Gazebos
- Private Tuscany
- Professional Practice for Interior Designers, 3rd Edition
- Refabricating Architecture: How Manufacturing Methodologies are Poised to Transform Building Construction
- Residential Lighting: A Practical Guide
- Rustic Revisited: Innovative Design for Cabin, Camp, and Lodge
- S M L XL: Second Edition
- Shigeru Ban
- Sister Wendy's Story of Painting (Enhanced and Expanded Edition)
- Small Houses of the Twenties: The Sears, Roebuck 1926 House Catalog (Dover Pictorial Archives)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- History: Fiction or Science
- Between Friends
- Synagogues of Europe: Architecture, History, Meaning
- The Mediterranean Heart Diet: How It Works and How to Reap the Health Benefits, with Recipes to Get
- Time-Saver Standards for Landscape Architecture
- Bullying and Emotional Abuse in the Workplace: International Perspectives in Research and Practice
- A Dime a Dozen
- Althorp: The Story of an English House
- The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus
- Hawaiian Coastal Plants
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Center for Environmental Structure Series)
The Timeless Way of Building
The Phenomenon of Life: The Nature of Order, Book 1 An Essay of the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe (The Nature of Order, Book 1)
The Sciences of the Artificial - 3rd Edition
The Process of Creating Life: The Nature of Order, Book 2 An Essay of the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe (The Nature of Order, Book 2)
