Anglo-Saxon Attitudes - Couverture rigide

Wilson, Angus

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0670126357 ISBN 13 : 9780670126354

Editeur : Viking, 1956

Synopsis

This is not a book about the Anglo-Saxons, but a book about books about Anglo-Saxons. It describes the academic discipline of Anglo-Saxonism; the methods of study used; the underlying assumptions; and the uses to which it has been put. Methods and motives have changed over time but right from the start there have been the constant themes of Anglo-Saxon democracy and the rights of the freeborn Englishman. They have given rise to ideas and perceptions, which have greatly influenced the development of English society and political history - for example the Peasants Revolt and the English Civil War. The idea of an early Anglo-Saxon democracy inspired the Levellers and is at the core of the English radical tradition and modern English nationalism.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Gerald Middleton is a sixty-year-old self-proclaimed failure. Worse than that, he’s "a failure with a conscience." As a young man, he was involved in an archaeological dig that turned up an obscene idol in the coffin of a seventh-century bishop and scandalized a generation. The discovery was in fact the most outrageous archaeological hoax of the century, and Gerald has long known who was responsible and why. But to reveal the truth is to risk destroying the world of cozy compromises that, personally as well as professionally, he has long made his own.

One of England's first openly gay novelists, Angus Wilson was a dirty realist who relished the sleaze and scuffle of daily life. Slashingly satirical, virtuosically plotted, and displaying Dickensian humor and nerve, Anglo-Saxon Attitudes features a vivid cast of characters that includes scheming academics and fading actresses, big businessmen toggling between mistresses and wives, media celebrities, hustlers, transvestites, blackmailers, toadies, and even one holy fool. Everyone, it seems, is either in cahoots or in the dark, even as comically intrepid Gerald Middleton struggles to maintain some dignity while digging up a history of lies.

Revue de presse

"After Evelyn Waugh, what? The answer is Angus Wilson, a master of mimicry, diction, intention and wit." —Edmund Wilson 

"One of the five greatest novels of the century." —Anthony Burgess

"...brilliant and ambitious...In every generation one or two novelists revise the conventional picture of English character. Mr. Wilson does this." —V.S. Pritchett, New Statesman and Nation

"It’s Dickens for the smart set, or Edmund Wilson with a dash of savage silliness." —Susan Salter Reynolds, The Los Angeles Times

"So read this splendid novel and you will find yourself not only entertained and at times vastly amused, but actually wiser about human nature. You will not only experience vicariously some interesting slices of postwar English life, but you will be conducted into a world of fine moral and ethical distinctions, which are this novelist’s particular forte. Much wisdom and humanity are to be found in the pages ofAnglo-Saxon Attitudes." —Martin Rubin, The Washington Times

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Viking
• Date d'édition: 1956
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0670126357
• ISBN 13: 9780670126354
• Reliure: Relié
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible