Patterns of Growth and Development in the Genus Homo (Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology)

Book Description

Assuming that the earliest human ancestors grew more like apes than current-day humans, when, how and why did our modern growth pattern evolve? Covering growth patterns within available Plio-Pleistocene Hominids, including juvenile fossil specimens, and individuals assigned to the newest species, Homo antecessor, this book provides a rich data source for anthropologists and evolutionary biologists exploring these questions.

Download Description

It is generally accepted that the earliest human ancestors grew more like apes than like humans today. If they did so, and we are now different, when, how and why did our modern growth patterns evolve? This book focuses on species within the genus Homo to investigate the evolutionary origins of characteristic human patterns and rates of craniofacial and postcranial growth and development, and to explore unique ontogenetic patterns within each fossil species. Experts examine growth patterns found within available Plio-Pleistocene hominid samples, and analyse variation in ontogenetic patterns and rates of development in recent modern humans in order to provide a comparative context for fossil hominid studies. Presenting studies of some of the newest juvenile fossil specimens and information on Homo antecessor, the newest species assigned to the genus, this book will provide a rich data source with which anthropologists and evolutionary biologists can address the questions posed above.

Patterns of Growth and Development in the Genus Homo.(Book Review) : An article from: Human Biology

Average customer rating:

Patterns of Growth and Development in the Genus Homo.(Book Review) : An article from: Human Biology
Janet M. Monge
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Science & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Human Biology, published by Thomson Gale on August 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1645 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Patterns of Growth and Development in the Genus Homo.(Book Review)
Author: Janet M. Monge
Publication: Human Biology (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 77 Issue: 4 Page: 528(5)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

The tragedy of Troilus and Criseyde is one of the greatest narrative poems in English literature. Set during the siege of Troy, it tells how the young knight Troilus, son of King Priam, falls in love with Criseyde, a beautiful widow. Brought together by Criseyde's uncle, Pandarus, the lovers are then forced apart by the events of war, which test their oaths of fidelity and trust to the limits. Described by editor Barry Windeatt as Chaucer's “most ambitious single achievement, his masterpiece,” Troilus and Criseyde is the first work in English to depict human passion with such sympathy and understanding.

Customer Reviews:

This is NOT the Shoaf Edition of Troilus and Criseyde, it is a collection of essays!.......2007-09-11

Please be careful! Everything on this page gives you the impression that this is a hardcover version of Shoaf's edition of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. IT IS NOT - IT DOES NOT EVEN CONTAIN THE POEM. This is a collection of essays about the poem that is really only suited to Chaucer scholars. Don't make the same mistake I made. It should be subtitled - ESSAYS - or have some other clear description of the nature of the book. I can not evaluate the essays, because I haven't yet read the poem because of this mis-identification of these Essays with the Superior Shoaf edition of Troilus and Criseyde by Chaucer.

misleading information.......2007-04-07

Your web-page is misleading. It quotes, and the image displays, the Middle English original of the poem. The inside pages shown are from the Middle English edition. However, (and the modernized title should be a giveaway, but it wasn't) the edition on this page is in modern English -- a translation, not Chaucer's poem. You need to clean up this page, take away the Middle English quotations, state that it's a modern translation, and refer the prospective buyer to the actual, modernized edition -- which the buyer may or may not want (in my case I did not), with assistance in finding the actual Middle English masterpiece.

Lovely, if hard........2007-02-25

This is a great edition for the masochist literature lover who wants to attempt middle english text. The footnotes are well researched and the supplementary papers are great additions.

As to the actual story, it is a wonderful, if not a little too realistic, love story taking place during the Trojan war. It mixes Greek customs and period with Chaucer's life in the middle ages. The story confuses itself with middle age customs with ancient greek traditions, with some parts completely unable to be understood (as the footnotes can atest with the same difficulties).

A good edition for English majors, bad for the faint of heart.

Excellent treatment of one of Chaucer's endearing poems.......2006-06-17

I am very pleased that Norton offers a side-by-side comparison with Chaucer's main source, Boccaccio's Filostrato, as this inclusion allows for the true artistic voice of Chaucer to stand out. One of Chaucer's strongest attributes, much like Shakespeare, is his ability to place existing stories in a moral framework, in addition to adding some of his famous humorous touches. This volume is quickly becoming one of my favorite Norton Critical Editions, a series of which I am already a huge fan. The accompanying selection of criticism contains some of the biggies in Chaucerian scholarship. Perhaps none of these selections is better than Lewis' "What Chaucer Actually did to Il Filostrato," made even more appropriate and comprehensive by Norton's brilliant move in including Boccaccio's text. All in all, one of Norton's most complete critical editions. In passing, I would also like to commend the series on their increased interest in Chaucer and medieval literature, as they have produced a number of critical volumes dealing with these subjects in the past year.

THE GO-BETWEEN.......2004-08-20

There surely can't be many tragic love stories more affecting and involving than this. Nor, it seems to me, can there be many that are more original, despite the conspicuous play the author makes of depending on ancient sources. The tale of Troilus and Cressida (Criseyde) derives ultimately from the Iliad through a multiplicity of mediaeval variations, cited in detail by the editor. It is original in the way Hamlet is original, in its depiction of characters and thought-processes, and it does not suffer from the comparison. There are four protagonists, and two are straightforward, contrasted with a wince-making clarity. Troilus himself, son of King Priam of Troy, is a mighty warrior but tongue-tied and shy when it comes to dealing with women, derisive to begin with at the agonies of those who fall in love and then falling hopelessly, suddenly and finally into the same trap himself. How often have we all seen just that happen within our own acquaintance? Diomede, sent to escort Cressida from Troy to the Greek camp as part of a prisoner-exchange, is uninhibited in that respect to the point of outright crassness, with an eye for an opportunity and an easy `nothing venture nothing gain' attitude that I would again guess most of us will recognise without much difficulty.

The other two are anything but simple. Chaucer stays deliberately vague regarding Cressida's relationship with Diomede (characteristically hiding behind his sources - he was anything but straightforward himself), and what if anything remains of her love of Troilus. However it seems to me that there was a calculating bit in her decision to give herself to Troilus in the first place. She could make herself fall in love, and her fascinating speeches with the twists and turns of their thinking say to me that she was no innocent, quite unlike her infatuated wooer. That leaves Pandarus, a creation to rival Iago in a different way. Again, it's left to us to decide what prompted such extraordinary vicarious commitment to bringing the pair together. There may or may not be hints that his motivation was not altruistic, but hints are the most they can be. It is not just a matter of his strange motivation but also of his extraordinary mental agility and speed of reaction. He plots the lovers' tryst in fantastic detail, when the fateful prisoner-exchange is decreed he tries to steer Troilus into a different outlook that in effect abandons the romance he has taken such incredible trouble to arrange, and to the very end he is still trying to manipulate the emotions of the devastated Troilus.

It is all told in an easy and relaxed verse, typical Chaucer in being at the same time deadly serious and tongue-in-cheek. This verse is not as 'poetic' as, say, The Ancient Mariner. It stands in much the relationship to that, poetry-wise, as Hamlet does to Macbeth or Othello. This is a psychological drama, not an opportunity to display the special `tone of voice' and `way of saying things' that Housman thought the essence of poetry. Obviously it is in mediaeval English, and this edition uses the authentic original spellings. This will slow most of us down a bit, but that can actually be a good thing. I found that it not only forced me to read with the close attention this drama needs, it kept me fascinated with the wonderful English language itself, and I had to notice how popular speech and even slang have kept alive ancient meanings of words (guess, deal, gear, right, sweetheart) that have been lost in more formal discourse. Where this edition is particularly helpful is in its footnotes reminding us of the meanings of certain words (and reminding us repeatedly, for which I bless the editor) and translating occasional phrases and lines where we might go wrong. I think I only had to refer some half-dozen times to the glossary at the back throughout a poem that is half as long as Paradise Lost.

The editor is no less a person than the Professor of English at Cambridge, so his introduction has the thoroughly thorough and also thoroughly stifling profundity that I associate with university literature courses. There are also notes at the back, very helpful in the main but obsessed with quoting parallels for the sake of quoting parallels. At V/1176 there is the line `Ye, fare wel al the snow of ferne year', and I thought immediately of Villon's `Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan?' On turning to the back I found that the editor just quoted this obvious parallel without further comment on what the connection might be, and for a moment I nearly hurled the book across the room. Again I wondered whether the proem to book III might have influenced Milton's great invocation of light at the start of the same book of Paradise Lost, but no light was shed. In general, though, this is a very helpful edition. When reading the Iliad I found that after I had read the first 23 books the 24th was comparatively simple. You may find here that once you have got through the first four books you are quite fluent with the fifth.

Troilus and Cressida (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series)

Average customer rating:

A Bit Long, But Still Good.
The most unsung, but perhaps the most modern, of Shakespeare
A Tragedy, and a good one
tastes great, if you have the stomach
Not Great, But a Valiant Effort.

Troilus and Cressida (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series)
William Shakespeare
Manufacturer: Arden
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1903436699

Book Description

This volume offers the most comprehensive and critically up-to-date edition of Troilus and Cressida available today. Bevington's learned and engaging introduction discusses the ambivalent status and genre of the play, variously presented in its early printing as a comedy, a history and a tragedy. He examines and assimilates the wide variety of critical responses the play has elicited, and argues its importance in today's culture as an experimental and open-ended work. He also, however, suggests that this experimentalism may have contributed to its lack of immediate stage success, and goes on to place the work in its late Elizabethan context of political instability and theatrical rivalry. A thorough performance history focuses chiefly on recent productions. The complex text situation is re-examined and the differing textual readings carefully explicated. 'Bevington's edition is so clearly the best now available that it will no doubt quickly become standard practice for all study of this remarkable play to begin with this remarkable edition.' Eric Rasmussen, University of Nevada at Reno, Shakespeare Survey

Customer Reviews:

A Bit Long, But Still Good. .......2006-07-15

The first thing you will probably notice about this play is that it seems longer than his other plays. But if we are willing to look past this, it is a rather good play that explores the theme that personal dissension is the root of chaos and the unreliability of romantic love. This play deals with the last stage of the Trogan War. It begins with Trojan Troilus expressing his love for Cressida to her uncle Pandarus. Pandarus (who for now is Cressida's guardian) consents to Troilus's quest. In the next scene, Cressida will not admit to her uncle Pandarus that she likes Troilus, but she later reveals to us she does. (Some nice comedy.) 1.3 is a rather well drawn scene where the Greek King Agamemnon is frustrated because Greece has not been able to defeat Troy after all this time. Part of the reason may be civil dissension in Greece. The Greek warrior Achilles is more after his own glory than performing his duties. Because of this, when an invitation to fight Hector to decide the outcome comes, Agamemnon chooses the less able, but more modest Ajax. Onto Act 2. Act 2 Scene 2 emphasizes the theme of this play yet again. Priam and Hector honestly feel that the Trojans should just give back Helen to the Greeks and end all this. It makes sense does it not? But Troilus (like Romeo) is a romantic and not a rationalist, and he persuades Priam and Hector to hold onto Helen. (By the way, we can forget about any valuable input from Helen. She shows herself to be an airhead. Or as the great Isaac Asimov puts it: "She appears as a vain, silly woman with an empty head unaware (or uncaring about) what she has caused, and incapable, apparently, of making an intelligent remark." Onto Act 3. Troilus and Cressida confess their love for each other, and for now they are happy. (Along with Cressida's uncle Pandarus.) But this is not to last. Cressida's father (of Greece) wants his daughter Cressida back and Agamemnon is willing to give Troy back their Anteor in return. Agamemnon continues to show contempt for Achilles and his swollen ego, and there is a comical scene where everyone ignores Achilles. The less effective but more modest Ajax continues to win praise. Onto Act 4. 4.2 has the sad scene where Troilus and Cressida realize that they must part, but with a gleam of hope, Troilus plans to see Cressida behind enemy lines. The parting in 4.4 is well drawn. Onto the battle between Hector and Ajax. It takes place, and the battle ends with the 2 praising each other with respect. Perhaps things can even come to a peaceful conclusion, but Achilles and Hector express their contempt for each other, and peace looks less likely. Onto Act 5. Troilus sneaks behind enemy lines to see Cressida, but to make a long story short, he sees that she no longer feels anything for him. Troilus leaves in a bitter rage. (Such is a short romance.) Act 5.3 is a memorable scene where Hector's wife tries to convince Hector to stay home, but like Calpurnia, she can not convince Caesar to stay home. (Even when Hector's father and sister try to help.) And now, the fire flies. War breaks out. The balance of power swings back and forth. Hector kills Achilles's friend Patroclus and when Hector's vanity leaves him vulnerable, Achilles kills Hector in a less than honorable fashion. Troilus survives, but he fears with the loss of Hector, Troy will fall. If you like this story, you may wish to read Marlowe's "Dido Queen of Carthage." That play focuses on Aeneas and the surviving Trojans as they plot their next move.

The most unsung, but perhaps the most modern, of Shakespeare.......2002-03-11

One of his lesser known works, Shakespeare's Trojan play is also one of his most intriguing. Not quite a burlesque, 'Troilus and Cressida''s lurches in tone, from farce to historical drama to romance to tragedy, and its blurring of these modes, explains why generations of critics and audiences have found it so unsatisfying, and why today it can seem so modern. Its disenchanted tone, its interest in the baser human instincts underlying (classical) heroism look forward to such 20th century works as Giraudoux's 'The Trojan War Will Not Take Place' or Terry Jones' 'Chaucer's Knight'; the aristocratic ideals of Love and War, inextricably linked in this play, are debased by the merchant-class language of exchange, trade, food, possesion - the passionate affair at its centre is organised by the man who gave his name to pimps, Pandarus, and is more concerned with immediate sexual gratification than anything transcendental. The Siege of Troy sequences are full of the elaborately formal rhetoric we expect from Shakespeare's history plays, but well-wrought diplomacy masks ignoble trickery; the great heroes Ajax and Achilles are petulant egotists, the latter preferring the company of his catamite to combat; the actual war sequences, when they finally come, are a breathless farce of exits and entrances. There are a lot of words in this play, but very few deeds.

Paris, Prince of Troy, has abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Led by the latter's brother Agamemnon, and his Machiavellian advisors Ulysses and Nestor, the Greeks besiege Troy, demanding the return of Helen. However, Achilles' dissatisfaction at the generals' endless politicking has spread discontent in the ranks. Within Troy, war takes a distinct second place to matters of the heart. While Paris wallows in luxury with his prize, his youngest brother Troilus uses Pandarus as a go-between to arrange a night of love with his niece, Cressida. When one of the Trojan leaders is taken prisoner by the Greeks, the ransom price is Cressida.

There is only one character in 'Troilus' who can be said to be at all noble and not self-interested, the eldest Trojan prince Hector, who, despite his odd interpreation of the quality 'honour', detests a meaningless war, and tries to spare as many of his enemies' lives as he can. He is clearly an anachronism, however, and his ignoble slaughter at the hands of a brutal gang suggests what price chivalry. Perhaps the most recognisable character is Thirsitis, the most savagely cynical of his great Fools. Imagine Falstaff without the redeeming lovability - he divests heroes and events of their false values, satirises motivations, abuses his dim-witted 'betters' and tries to preserve his life at any cost. Written in between 'Hamlet' and 'All's Well That Ends Well', 'Troilus' bears all the marks of Shakespeare's mid-period: the contrapuntal structure, the dense figures, the audacious neologisms, and the intitially deferred, accelerated action. If some of the diplomacy scenes are too efective in their parodic pastiche of classical rhetoric, and slow things down, Act 5 is an amazing dramatic rush, crowning the play's disenchantment with love (with an extraordinarily creepy three-way spaying of an infidelity) and war.

The New Penguin Shakespeare is the most accessible and user-friendly edition for students and the general reader (although it does need updating). Unlike the Oxford or Arden series, which offer unwieldy introductions (yawning with irrelevant conjecture about dates and sources) and unusable notes (clotted with tedious pedantry more concerned with fighting previous commentators than elucidating Shakespeare), the Penguin's format offers a clear Introduction dealing with the play and its contexts, an appendix 'An Account of the Text', and functional endnotes that gloss unfamiliar words and difficult passages. The Introduction is untainted by fashions in Critical Theory, but is particularly good at explaining the role of Time ('When time is old and hath forgot itself...And blind oblivion swallowed cities up'), the shifting structure, the multiple viewpoints in presenting characters, and Shakespeare's use of different literary and linguistic registers.

A Tragedy, and a good one.......2001-12-23

Troilus and Cressida is one of Shakespear`s many romances, and, like most of his romances, is a tragedy. Since time immemorial, Shakespears` works have been used as plays, literature and (least often) just casual reading. While Troilus and Cressida is one of the less known plays, it is no less a good one. It is based in Troy(as the name might imply)during the much renowned Trojan War. The valiant Troilus, son of the Trojan king is enamoured of Cressida, also of Troy. Meanwhile, the Greek hosts have laid siege to the city, and the warrior Achilles refuses to fight, encouraging further interaction between the two sides. Cressida, however, is the daughter of a Greek sympathizer(if that is the correct word)and may not be able to honour her commitment to the Trojan prince...

tastes great, if you have the stomach.......2001-11-29

I think this is one os Shakespeare's most underrated plays, probably because of all the uncouth characters. Based on Chaucer's rendition of the story, T and C are Trojan lovers, and she is then traded to the Greeks in exchange for captive soldiers. Aside from this, the women of Troy are wanton and lustful, and the men are prowess driven. If you can deal with this, you will really enjoy Shakespeare's ability to wrap this into all kinds of twists and turns. It delivers a mixture of satire, comedy, romance, tragedy, and a semi-historical (in that people at the time probably believed the Trojan War really happened). Interestingly, this mixture of laughs and tragedy is reminiscent of war novels I have read about Vietnam. The romantic dimensions give this play its edge, and somehow WS manages to make it plausible in spite of all the killing and deceit going on at the same time.

Not Great, But a Valiant Effort........2000-03-26

I once read that Shakespeare wrote this play not so much for profit, but to reflect the conflict of different theatres. This would certainly explain why the play lacks his usual orginization and focus. Perhaps he was inspired by Christopher Marlowe's "Dido Queen of Carthage" to combine the timeless Greek Mythology and his mastery of the language. But despite the lesser impact, orginization, and focus of Marlowe's attempt at this, the play is worth reading. Shakespeare offers a valid theme. (Personal interest is often the root of civil chaos.) There is some well placed comedy. Classic characters of Greece such as Agamemnon have some striking passages. When total war breaks out, the images are quite memorable. After the Trojans are defeated, Troilus' final speech of revenge is a satisfying conclusion. If you like this play, you may wish to read Marlowe's "Dido Queen of Carthage" afterwards. The events in Marlowe's play would follow the events in this play.

Chaucer and the Poets: An Essay on Troilus and Criseyde

Average customer rating:

Chaucer and the Poets: An Essay on Troilus and Criseyde
Winthrop Wetherbee
Manufacturer: Cornell Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0801416841

Average customer rating:

Troilus and Cressida (Signet Classics)
William Shakespeare , and Daniel Seltzer
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Shakespeare's Entrails: Belief, Scepticism and the Interior of the Body (Palgrave Shakespeare Studies)

Average customer rating:

Shakespeare's Entrails: Belief, Scepticism and the Interior of the Body (Palgrave Shakespeare Studies)
D. C.A. Hillman
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1403942676
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Book Description

David Hillman's new book focuses on Early Modern notions of embodiment and selfhood, exploring the body's interior spaces in several of Shakespeare's plays, focusing on the ways characters imagine being within the body of the other, or having their own bodies inhabited or possessed by another.

Great Books of the Western World (Vol. 22) Troilus and Cressida and The Canterbury Tales

Average customer rating:

Great Books of the Western World (Vol. 22) Troilus and Cressida and The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer
Manufacturer: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Gender and Performance in Shakespeare's Problem Comedies (Drama and Performance Studies)

Average customer rating:

Gender and Performance in Shakespeare's Problem Comedies (Drama and Performance Studies)
David Foley McCandless
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

History | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0253333067

Shakespeare's Problem Plays: All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida (New Casebooks)

Average customer rating:

Shakespeare's Problem Plays: All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida (New Casebooks)
Simon Barker
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

This New Casebook offers a selection of contemporary readings of Shakespeare's "problem plays," All's Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure, and Troilus and Cressida, reflecting the diversity of late twentieth-century theory and the controversy that continues to be generated by these plays. Issues discussed include the meaning of the term "problem play," their historical context, political and cultural significance, and issues of staging and theatre history.

Shakespeare's Troilus And Cressida: A Study

Average customer rating:

Shakespeare's Troilus And Cressida: A Study
Albert S. G. Canning
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

THIS 24 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Shakespeare Studied in Eight Plays, by Albert S. G. Canning. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1417910127.

Shakespeare: Three Problem Plays (Analysing Texts)

Average customer rating:

Shakespeare: Three Problem Plays (Analysing Texts)
Nicholas Marsh
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0333973682

Book Description

Focussing on All's Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure and Troilus and Cressida, Nicholas Marsh uses close analysis of extracts from the plays to build the reader's confidence when approaching Shakespeare's Problem Plays and exploring the unresolved competing discourses they dramatize. In the first part of the text, chapters on Openings, Young Men, Women, Politics, and Society, Fools and fools, and Drama highlight the multiple interpretations these plays provoke. In the second part, discussion of where the Problem Plays stand in relation to Shakespeare's life and works, a chapter about the historical and cultural context, and a comparison of five critical views, with suggestions for further reading, provide a bridge towards further study.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books