P
cen-1
)f Kings, Romances and Legends
Two New Paperbacks Have More To Offer
In the Art on the Covers than in the Contents
HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF
BRITAIN. By Geoffrey of Mon-
mouth. The Sebastian Evans
translation, revised by Charles
W. Dunn. 281 pp. New York:
Dutton Everyman Paperback.
$1.65.
AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE
AND OTHER MEDIAEVAL
ROMANCES AND LEGENDS.
Translated, with an introduc-
Eugene Mason has put together
the collection, translated the se-
lections and written the introduc-
tion that, although brief, helps
to put the romances and legends
in some sort of historical context
for the reader.
The most famous of the stories
is, of"course, "Aucassin and Nico-
lette."Ityneeds little introduction,
especially for beginning- French
students who have read the conte
in something closer to its original'
form. Mason's version, however,,
is pleasant and in its way man-
fages, too, to capture some of that
"flavor" of its own time.
The other stories are much less
known yet are often much better
at capturing the thoughts and
ideas of their time, particularly in
respect to the religious and de-
votional:attitudes of'those who
lived in the thirteenth century.
Simpleness and singleness of
emotion and intent are often the
theme of these romances, each of-
which has,. in its way, a sort 'of
charm. What the collection lacks,
however, is a short paragraph at--
tached. to each of the 16 tales,,
telling what is known, about the
origin of that particular legend-
something thateven nthe"modern
reader" appreciates now and then.
The Most Famous and Influential
of a Series of German Protestant Mystics
tion, by Eugene Mason. 249 pp.
New York: Dutton Everyman
Paperback. $1.15.
By VERNON NAHRGANG
F OM one of the publishing
firms that only recently joined
the circle- of "paperback" pub-
lishers have come two new editions
that will probably sell more copies
to the art-conscious American
public for their well-designed and
.U
.attractive bindings than for their
merits as important and interest-
ing works of mediaeval times.
One of these is the Historia Re-
gum Britanniae of the early
twelfth century, the History of
the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey
of Monmouth, a work that has
served as one of the major source
books for many later English writ-
ers.
This is the first great work in
English about King Arthur; it
contains tales since drawn on by
many famous authors. The book
on Merlin's prophecies is in itself
a fascinating history, as are the
stories of Lear and Cymbeline, of
Brute (the descendant of Aeneas),
and of Uther Pendragon.
In this edition, the History of
the Kings of Britain is prefaced
by an illuminating introduction
by Lucy Allen Paton, which in
turn is updated by the present
editor, Charles W. Dunn.
Dunn has also slightly revised
the translation for modern read-
ers, although, he assures us, it
captures "the spirit of Geoffrey's
style admirably in the appropri-
ately Elizabethan flavor... ." This
edition is also well-indexed.
THE second of these revivals is
a collection: Aucassin and Nico-
lette and Other Mediaeval Ro-
mances and Legends. There are
sixteen of these tales in all, most
of them French and most of them
I U
014.e tr4" Pat
an 1H
I'Your Best Bet
Sunday, May 25, 1958'
Vol. IV, No. 8
Of Kings, Romances and Legends-A Review
By Vernon Nahrgang Page Two
Raids, Rivalries and Riots
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JK'% ,y
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By John Weicher
Page Three
(Continued from Page 14)
not to look for arguments. As
Berdyaev notes, Boehme's method
of exposition is contemplative
rather than discursive. Berdyaev's
remark relates to Boehme's con-
cepts. But a similar point holds
concerning his assertions. In this
connection, perhaps "assertive"
would be a better contrast with
"discursive" than Berdyaev's term
"contemplative."
The point is that the under-
standing which Boehme is seeking
to give the reader is not the sort
which one gets from having a
point supported by. an argument;
Boehme rather attempts to give
understanding simply by a series
of well chosen, well expressed, and
well arrangedassertions. There is
very little argument in the book
at all and what there is is inti-
mately interwoven with the rest
of the exposition and usually re-
lates to comparatively minor
points..
THE DIFFIDENT tone of this
review having been established,
I would like to comment on the
translations. The rendering of the
Boehme work must have been,
of course, extremely difficult in
view of its literary and philoso-
phical character. In order to cope
with neologisms in the German,
Earle was forced to invent words
like "Unground," "to imaginate"
(usually into something), "to in-
qualify with," and a number of
other verbs with the prefix "in-":
"to inbreathe into," "to inspeak,"
and "to incentre in." The trans-
lation appears to be very literal:
some .apparent misplacings of
"only" (pp. 36, 39) are actually
justified by the German (of 1730).
The literalness seems to be carried
too far, however, when we read of
"the right coarse swinish beast"
(das rechte grobe sauische Thier,
p. 107 in the present edition) and
of "the right hell-fire" (das rechte
hollisehe Feuer, p. 109). "Most fre-
quently" on p. 82, line 11 should
I think, be just "frequently" (of-
ters).
Within the unavoidable limits
of paperback publishing, it is of
course impossible to eliminate in-
felicities of this kind: the Earle
text (except for the title-pages)
has not been altered at all. Another
unfortunate result of these limita-
tions is that it would not have
been possible to enter soonotes or
better still to provide an introduc-
ion explaining various obscurities
which might have been eased, if
not removed: e.g., the "turba" of
p. 137 (and extensvely in .the
sequel) and the concern with sul-
fur. These are, I gather, allusions
to or borrowings from Paracelsus.
How To Run a Successful Riot
By David Kessel
7 A.
whatever) is imperfect in places in
the Boehme text, so that occa-
sionally the eye is detained trying
to tell a comma from a period. In
general, the quality and interest of
the Ann Arbor Paperbacks series
is well continued by this renrint.
VETEIIA 1
NO 3-4545 NO 2m4
SERVICE
WILLOW RUN and WAY
TO THE STUD
Wishing You An Enjoyable Va
Page Four
Henry James and H. G. Wells-A Review
By Vernon Nahrgang
Page Six
Twilight of the Minor Leagues
By Dale Cantor
Page Seven
Changing Student Housing Scene
By David Tarr
Defense: Missiles or Guns?
By Ralph Langer
Latest in Mystery-A Review
Page Eight
Page Niner
THE TRANSLATION of the Ber-
dyaev essay reads very smooth-
ly. Berdyaev's rootnotes are omit-
ted. "Apophiatic" and "cataphatic"
are unfamiliar, but can be found
in a sufficiently large dictionary.
They are used in connection with
theology and seem to refer to what
is usually termed "negative the-
ology" and the other sort. But the
reader will have difficulty with
"meontic" (which no doubt has
something to do with Non-Being):
surely we might have had a foot-
note here by the translator.
The book is, as might be ex-
pected from the Press, well made
and attractively produced. The
cover is a photographic reproduc-
tion of an unnamed and not ob-
viously relevant sculpture attrib-
uted to Ossip Zadkine. May I sug-
gest that in future editions this
cover be replaced by a reproduc-
tion of the emblematic title-page
of the German edition of 1730?
Another possibility is Boehme's
portrait from the English edition
of 1764. There are no misprints.
But the type-face ,{or plate or
our D.iscontined Ti
are worth real moi
if sold to Ulrich's WITH your currentl)
YOUR BEST DEAL-FIGUR
Ulrich's sell your discontinued bc
600 college bookstores. This way
highest possible prices for YOU. (
of the books used this year w I be
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-another Ulrich seer
By Vernon Nahrgang
Page Twelve
Jacob Boehme-A Review
By Charles Caton
Page Fourteen
Sell All Your
Books for CASH!
'Anatomy of a Murder'-A Reviewh
By Douglos Vielmetti
Page Sixteen
MAGAZINE EDITOR--Carol Prins
Picture Credits--Cover: photo courtesy U.S. Army; Page Three: Daily
photos; Page Eight: Daily Photo; Page Nine: top photo courtesy U.S.
Army, - Upper Right-photo courtesy U.S. Army, Lower-photoA
courtesy U.S. Navy; Page Ten: photo courtesy U.S Navy; Page
Eleven: Daily photo.
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