HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: [UPI] Report: Book censorship, challenges in schools at 10-year high
Date: 11 Sep 92 21:04:44 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA

In article <1992Sep10.021211.22564@morrow.stanford.edu>, francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir) writes:
> Erik Timmerman writes:
# 	There is a new book on this topic: What Johnny Shouldn't Read
# 	by Joan DelFattore.  Reviewed within the last month in the
# 	NY Times Book Review.
# 
# This book appears to be a hoot. It is concerned with the influence
# that loonies from the Left and Right control content in school texts
# -- particularly loonies from Texas and California which States are
# influential because of their population. It is, of course, the publishers
# who are made to look bad, since their interest is frighteningly
# unsavoury. Example. Texas would not allow the New Deal to be mentioned
# in their books, since it sounded Commie and not Free Enterprise. Result.
# There is a gap -- literally, a gap -- between Hoover and Pearl Harbor
# where clearly something had been there. In Texas? Yes, no sweat. But also
# in Connecticut! In other words, the Goddam publishers were so cheap
# that they could not allow the change just to be made for Texas' benefit.
# I admire lunatic political debate -- its one of the hallmarks of America,
# but the sleaze associated with the education system is not a pleasant
# thing to witness.
# 
# 							Fido

More likely, it was the sort of gross inaccuracies that characterize
history textbooks that were the problem.  The Gablers, doubtless
what you consider "loonie Right," are a major pain in the side of
the Texas Bored of Education (yes, that's not a typo).  The Wall
Street Journal carried an article last year about what happened
when the Gablers hired a history professor to go over the texts.

There were gross, absurd, non-ideological errors of fact.  "The
Korean War was ended by atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" is 
one of my favorite examples.

Every single publisher that was attempting to get a book accepted
had these sort of gross errors in their American history texts.
Hundreds of these sort of errors per book.  Many of the books were
already in use in Texas schools, among others.

-- 
Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer  My opinions, all mine!
Alcohol prohibition didn't work; drug prohibition doesn't work; gun
prohibition won't work.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: kalagher@mwunix.mitre.org (Dick Kalagher)
Subject: The Constant Nymph
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 13:37:47 GMT

In Mitchner's book "The Novel" two of the characters recommend a book 
called "The Contant Nymph".  I have looked in "Books in Print" and can't 
find it.  Does anyone know about it or who the author is?

By the way, "The Novel" is an interesting book, much unlike his other 
books.



Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: djmurphy@wam.umd.edu (Dave Murphy)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: elusive allusion
Date: 7 Sep 92 20:12:27 GMT
Organization: Binford Tools

In article <92pnvt+.ekman@netcom.com> ekman@netcom.com (Crossly the Glad-Eyed Bear) writes:
>In article <6SEP199214375230@zeus.tamu.edu>, spb0457@zeus.tamu.edu (SubGenius) writes:
>> 
>> the term "bloviating" was coined by a past President of the United Snakes
>> (Theo Roooooseyvelt, I believe) to describe politicians that talk a great
>> 
>
>Warren Gamaliel Harding.

Yep, the same man who brought us "normalcy."


Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to school &c.,
---dave
-- 
It has been said that though God cannot alter the past, historians
can; it is perhaps because they can be useful to Him in this respect
that He tolerates their existence. --Samuel Butler
  dave murphy djmurphy@wam.umd.edu uunet!haven!wam.umd.edu!djmurphy
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: twain@milton.u.washington.edu (Barbara Hlavin)
Subject: Re: The Constant Nymph
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 15:30:26 GMT

In article <1992Sep10.133747.22526@linus.mitre.org> kalagher@mwunix.mitre.org (Dick Kalagher) writes:
>In Mitchner's book "The Novel" two of the characters recommend a book 
>called "The Contant Nymph".  I have looked in "Books in Print" and can't 
>find it.  Does anyone know about it or who the author is?


_The Constant Nymph_ was written by Margaret Kennedy, and has been 
recently republished as a Virago Modern Classic with a forward by 
Anita Brookner. 

Margaret Kennedy also wrote a book that I've loved since I was a child, 
_The Feast_, which is one of those really satisfying novels with dozens 
of outrageously eccentric characters, all of whom get exactly what they 
deserve in the end (please note spoiler alert) 
 


when an entire cliff in Cornwall falls on them. 

--Barbara 




Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: dragel@sqhilton.pc.cs.cmu.edu (Cheryl Dragel)
Subject: Re: Donna Tartt
Originator: dragel@sqhilton.pc.cs.cmu.edu
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 19:54:06 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.160702.8864@infonode.ingr.com> james@brock.b17b.ingr.com  
(James Brock) writes:
> Any reports on this new book by Donna Tartt? She was a friend of that
> literary giant Bret Easton-Ellis (at Bennington) and was given an advance
> of $500,000 for her novel (the title has left my mind). 

_The Secret History_.  There was an article on her and the Wonderbook
in a recent "Vanity Fair."  She was shown posing with her bulldog
or pug, to which she bore an amazing resemblance!

> Anyone read it?

Not yet.  Maybe when it comes out in PB.

--cheryl
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jon@leland.Stanford.EDU (Jon Corelis)
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Organization: Jon's Cafe Americain
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 16:12:09 GMT

   "A tasteful and sensitive exploration of ..."

   "One [man's|woman's] story of ..."

   "If you read only one book this season..."

   "A bold ..."

   "An inspiring..."

   Also, avoid any dramatic performance the title of which consists of a
single word followed by an exclamation point.

   [Bonus comment:  I recently tried to think up what would be the most
marketable book title of all time.  My entry is:  "The Astrological
Guide to Weight Loss During Sex for Women Who Fall in Love With One Shit
After Another"]   
-- 


Jon Corelis               jon@lindy.stanford.edu
Stanford University       BITNET:  BR.JGC@RLG.STANFORD.EDU
From: wojdylo@maths.uwa.oz.au (INFIDEL)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Damned lit yokels
Date: 15 Sep 1992 07:20:58 GMT
Organization: The University of Westrn Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: madvax.maths.uwa.oz.au

Andrew Clayton writes:


>Game Over.

>Insert another quarter to play again.

>Dac
>--

>David "I'm not a pheasant plucker ..."  Clayton.        
>Canberra, Australia           


It was reported in a major Melbourne daily yesterday that the French
ambassador to Australia was asked at a party what it was like to live in
a place like Canberra after having spent the better part of his life in
cantankerous Paris. He replied: "Well, Canberra eez not really a place, it
eez more like ... a space."


Infidel.



Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: wwhitman@nevada.edu (MICHAEL WISE)
Subject: Re: Where to buy the Encyclopaedia Britannica?
Organization: University of Nevada System Computing Services
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 09:53:40 GMT

In article <1992Sep7.234426.2352@fy.chalmers.se> f86ma@fy.chalmers.se (Mats ]kerblom) writes:
>Does anybody know where/how it is possible to order the Encyclopaedia
>Britannica?  A FAX-number would be fine.
> 
>And if anybody knows the price in e.g. the USA or England and if there are
>any student's discounts it would be nice.  I'm trying to find out if it is
>cheaper to import it myself rather than bying it here in Sweden. 
>The freight might cost a bit though ...

Why? It's not a great encyclopedia as far as they go. Better off with a 
one-volume Columbia or an encyclopedic dictionary. They provide essential
facts without the patronizing attitude.

Michael Wise
alias O Captain! My Captain!
UNLV English Department




Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: spb0457@zeus.tamu.edu (SubGenius)
Subject: Re: RABfest '92: the fourth day.
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 16:06:00 GMT

Francis Muir writes...
> A Welsh rarebit.
>						Semper Fido

+----------------------------------------SubG-------------------------------+
On chaps who call Welsh rabbits Welsh rarebits:

	Sam Johnson:		"Humourless fools."
	Ambrose Bierce:		"Witless."
	Daniel Webster:		"Uninformd."








Presented without
editorial comment by
Yours etc.,



SubGenius
From: kishore@simius.as.nps.navy.mil (Kishore Sengupta)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: A Pleasant Afternoon's Reading
Date: 14 Sep 92 18:34:28 GMT
Organization: Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA

In article <1992Sep14.171636.22774@morrow.stanford.edu>, francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir) writes:
      Lauren L. Crawford writes:
 
        	Maciek Blasikiewicz writes:
 
		One recent afternoon I chanced upon a novel by a 
		relatively unknown Sierra Leone author Arnold Dunga 
		and found it a thoroughly enjoyable read. The prose 
		evoked for me images bathed in the light of the
		setting sun, hues beveiled by crisp spring rays, blue 
		sky, water lapping onto a beach, a yacht listing over 
		wavelets whipped up by the rising afternoon breeze...

       	Well, he can't have been writing about Sierra Leone, then.  
	Lepers, yes; yachts, no.  Lots of nice beaches, though.  What's 
	the name of the book?
 
      One more statement like those two and you strike out. Hansen's Disease
      may have more victims in Louisiana than it does in Sierra leone. As to
      the yachts, Sierra Leone has one of the finest harbours on the West Coast 
                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
      of Africa in Freetown.
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^     
Having found refuge once from a fierce storm, I couldn't agree more about the harbor
in Freetown. By the way, Lauren, I've been to Sierra Leone twice, and haven't seen
a single leper anywhere.

Kishore Sengupta
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, California.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: Lord Byron
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1992 03:37:35 GMT

Frank Jenkins writes:

	I am looking for a good, available biography of Lord Byron. 
	Any suggestions?

For something quite different read Doris Langley Moore's *Lord Byron
Accounts Rendered* (John Murray (of course, who else?), 1970). Consider
this beginning to Miss Moore's Introduction & Acknowledgments.

	To explain the nature of this book I must tell how it came 
	to be written. About 1960, in one of my Byronic conversations 
	with Mr John Murray ['King John VI'] at Albermarle Street,
	we were enumerating the many aspects of Byron's life which
	have had seperate works devoted to them.... 'No one', said
	Mr Murray, 'has yet written about the finances of Byron. We
	have a good deal of material here.'

That was the start. There then follows 400 pages, an Epilogue, 10
Appendices, a Bibliography and an Index of truly remarkably researched
stuff concerning the Bills of Lord Byron. No one can hide from his
tradesmen. Remember that John Murray ('King John I'] was something more 
than Byron's publisher, and that the firm holds a tremendous amount
of Byrony stuff down to the present day.

						Fido
From: shafer@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer OFA)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Identification of author of a quotation
Summary: Identification
Date: 15 Sep 92 02:27:09 GMT
Organization: NASA Ames Res. Ctr. Mtn Vw CA 94035

Can anyone tell me who said/wrote "Millions long for immortality who
don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon"?

I'm pretty sure it was someone British.  Male, I think, and perhaps
a scientist.  Help!

(Why ask on rec.arts.books?  Well, I'm pretty sure I read it in
a book!  Besides, this is about the only group that I think is
broadly literate.)

--
Mary Shafer  DoD #0362  NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
         shafer@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov
                     Of course I don't speak for NASA
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: fi@grebyn.com (Fiona Webster)
Subject: Re: King in Yellow, publication date?
Organization: Grebyn Timesharing
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 17:24:11 GMT

Robin Boswell writes:
>   Can anyone tell me when William Chambers' "The King in Yellow" was
>first published?

Oh, goody!  I've always fantasized about being the sort of person who
could answer trivia questions in the area of horror literature.  Now,
finally, in my late 30's, I'm there.  (Or here.  Wherever.)

The date is 1895.  Other interesting info about Chambers available on
request.  <gloat, gloat>

					         --Fiona Webster
From: ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Encyclopedia Brit. (sure it is heh heh)
Date: 16 Sep 92 04:23:15 GMT
Organization: AT&T

We got an edition from the 1930's (not exactly sure the year and it's
inaccessible right now) at a used book store near us for $35.  A 1940's
edition was $40, and some more recent editions were in the $55-$75 range.

Evelyn C. Leeper  |  +1 908 957 2070  |  att!mtgzy!ecl or  ecl@mtgzy.att.com
--
"IQ describes how big your gas tank is, but it doesn't tell if you're
running on empty." -- Harvey Newstrom (hnewstro@x102c.ess.harris.com)
From: sfleming@cs.hw.ac.uk (Stewart T Fleming)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Looking for old Calculus book
Date: 12 Sep 92 08:52:16 GMT
Reply-To: sfleming@cs.hw.ac.uk
Organization: Dept. Of Computing and Electrical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh


If the book is _Calculus with Analytical Geometry_ by Thomas [ and Finney ?],
then it should be readily available in its 6th edition.
I think the publisher is Addison-Wesley.

[I have a 1st edition from 1953.  It's helped get two generations
of my family through Calculus 101.]

STF
--
sfleming@cs.hw.ac.uk                        ...uknet!cs.hw.ac.uk!sfleming
"Eat what you catch or put it back.  And don't go wasting
   a lot of words when a simple 'yup' will do"  -mid-west fishing ethic
From: egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk (JHenderson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Date: 10 Sep 92 12:53:20 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University


".....now a major motion picture....."



-- 
=======Jeremy Henderson========egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk===============
Q: How many user support people does it take to change a light bulb?
A: We have an exact copy of the light bulb here and it seems to be
   working fine.  Can you tell me what kind of system you have?  
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: fi@grebyn.com (Fiona Webster)
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Organization: Grebyn Timesharing
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 05:33:21 GMT

Mike Godwin writes:
>I doubt Dr. Webster would insist on the distinction between her persona
>and her "self," whatever that is, to the extent that Fido/Francis Muir
>does. But the Fido persona exists in many contexts, and is consistent
>and even predictable. The Courtesy persona seems to have been invented
>for a single posting.

This is getting surreal.  I think I like it.  But we better refer to a
book pretty soon, or someone's gonna squawk.  I know: Max Frisch's _I'm_
_Not_Stiller_.  That's what this conversation reminds me of.

Why, you ask, is that what this conversation reminds me of?  Because I'm
not Dr. Webster.  I don't know WHO Dr. Webster is.  Probably some
historical figure--a famous rhetorician, perhaps.  I'm not a whiz on
the moldy oldies, I'll be the first to admit it.

Uh oh.  I just realized I don't remember the Frisch novel well enough to
make a clever allusion to it.  Shoot.  I remember _Montauk_--does that
count?  I like the part in the beginning where he's walking on a trail
behind a woman with pretty red hair in a ponytail.

Wait a minute, though.  Didn't we *already* have a big conversation about
net-personas and their feelings and whether or not they're congruent,
confluent, or whatever-it-was with our "real" selves?  Jeepers!  I
can't remember what position I took.  Someone (quick!) remind me, so if
Godwin presses me on this distinction thing, I can be consistent with
what I already said.  I know I'm behind on points, y'all, but I'm
treadin' water as fast as I can.

Apropos of nothing, ya wanna learn a word in Hawaiian?  The word for
"quick" is "wikiwiki"--pronounced "weeky-weeky."

						--Fiona
						   (or Ms. Webster, if
						    you insist)
From: wojdylo@maths.uwa.oz.au (INFIDEL)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: The White Man's Burden of Proof
Date: 14 Sep 1992 05:44:57 GMT
Organization: The University of Westrn Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: madvax.maths.uwa.oz.au

matthew@.cs.mu.oz (Maciek Blasikiewicz) writes:

Johnno McCarthy writes:


>>I promise to take a literature
>>course next year if someone will assure me that after taking it I
>>will understand what Mark Taranto meant.

>The benefits you gain from a literature course are your own responsibility. Are you so dependent on your mother's teat that you require another's
>assurance of your success before stepping out into the big wide world?


>Endek.

Here here. 

Infidel.
From: crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Date: 10 Sep 92 13:53:23 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

From article <9484@emory.mathcs.emory.edu>, by mworley@mathcs.emory.edu (Meg Worley):
>> I long ago learnt to steer clear of books that were described 

"You'll laugh!  You'll cry!  You'll This!  You'll That!"

"A bawdy, lusty romp ..."

"A young man's sexual awakening ..."

"A young woman's sexual awakening ..." (written by a man)

"The sensitive story of ..."

"The (panoramic) (epic) (sweeping) tale of ..."

"It is the year 3067 on planet Xzzhijmmkop ..."




-- 
Lauren Crawford  //  crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu

I believe we are on the irreversible trend toward more freedom and
democracy -- but that could change.   -- J. Danforth Quayle
From: sstover@sumax.seattleu.edu (Maven o'Mirth)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Date: 10 Sep 92 03:27:50 GMT
Organization: Seattle University, Seattle WA

In article <9SEP199219382042@zeus.tamu.edu> spb0457@zeus.tamu.edu (SubGenius) writes:
[my own post deleted]
>
>+----------------------------------------------SubG---------------------------+
[Lots of SubGenius opinon about Ginsberg/Kerouac et al deleted]
>Demento, actually).  The same can be said for the other Beat artists (Jackson
>Pollack becoming one with his paintings and all that rot).

I certainly would hope you would not be so rash as to assume that because
I enjoy Kerouac, I therefore enjoy Pollack (whom I do not) and Ginsberg
(whom I do not).  Your assertion that "all the other Beat artists" can be
lumped into a category of typical writing or art is quite as exclusive and
poorly thought out as the "literary canon debate."  You may not like any
of the Beat writers/artists; my suggestion is that you may have as much of
a difficulty with the thought behind the genre as with the style of the
genre.  Otherwise, you might recognize the tremendous variety within it. 
I *never, never* looked at a Pollack painting and got the same feeling
that I get when I read "It was a warm night, a wine-drinking night, a
night to hug your girl and talk and spit and be heavengoing..."

>
>As for being told that you "_had_" to read any given volume or give up any
>hopes of being a "scholar of literature," I'll refer you to the literary
>canon debate.

Thank you so much, but I noticed it already.  And thought I had made it clear
that while I have read much of the literary canon that is standard in
Universities, I do not allow my life to be run by it.  Am in fact a bit
put off by it.

[trademark white space deleted]
>Yours etc.,
>SubGenius
Sorry to be a lurker for so long, and show up only to get into an argument
with SubG here...let us keep this intellectual, if we may.

--
Sheryl Stover				|  How passing fair is youth,
*>sstover@sumax.seattleu.edu<*		|  Forever fleeting away;
and Hemingway, feline philosopher	|  Who happy would be, let him be;
Watch this .sig for news of the		|  Of tomorrow, who can say?
upcoming album from Seattle's 		|	-Lorenzo de'Medici
premier band, the Medici!		|
From: danoc@earlybird.Eng.Sun.COM (Dan O'Connell [CONTRACTOR])
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: utopias and distopias
Date: 9 Sep 1992 20:33:02 GMT
Organization: Subvert the Dominant Paradigm, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: earlybird

 Mark nevins writes:
 
 	I'm toying with the idea of working on a description of utopias 
 	and distopias in literature, ...  I am familiar with utopic 
 	elements in some medieval travel literature (e.g. Mandeville), and 
 	naturally I've noted More's _Utopia_, Butler's _Erewhon_, Johnson's 
 	_Rasselas_.
 
You might also want to look at actual utopias in the U.S.
in the mid-late 19th century to compare/contrast with
the fictional dys/u topias.

Dano

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mls@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (mike.siemon)
Subject: Re: Chautauqua ? (Zen & the Art...)
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 02:42:28 GMT
Summary: believing 6 terrible things before breakfast ...

In article <1992Sep14.135603.7590@ms.uky.edu>, fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis)
writes:

I wrote:

> >It's about 100 miles northeast of Cleveland, and
> >that is perhaps the best localization of its ethos.
 
> Is this a slur on Cleveland? I don't understand. Cleveland has a
> rather undeserved reputation for unsavoriness, but it is -- in fact --
> the most culturally diverse city in the country. Very European.

Hmmm.  What may I say? "Honi soit qui mal y pense?"  I did not think
that I was delivering a slur on Cleveland.  (I derive, after all, from
Kansas City and Omaha, areas so far west as to have barely benefited
from the gentle airs of culture that Chatauqua wafted as far west as
the Missouri River ...).  Cleveland has had, and has, a fine orchestra,
for example, which has often seemed to me a cut above the one in my
own city of residence (NYC -- pay no attention to the organization
behind the curtain.)

Perhaps I am geographically naive, having come here a mere decade ago,
but to me "upstate New York" conveys an irresistible sense of "northwards
from here" -- and Chatauqua is, geographically and in its 19th century
significance, distinctly (mid)WESTERN.  That is the point I was trying
to convey.

> Almost Balkan. Charmingly located on Lake Erie, bracing in the winter,
> mild in the summer, quite pretty in the fall. We (I expand) have
> also abandoned last place in the American League East division.

I recognize the phrase "bracing in the winter" -- I live in Chicago.
I'll pass on that, thank you, for something moderated by an ocean.
And I doubt that I would find the summers "mild."

As to whether it is "the most culturally diverse city in the country,"
I pray you not to take amiss my skeptical reservations.  I promise
not to pronounce on the issue until such time (the which may God spare
me) as I find myself in a position to judge.

> The tendency to believe terrible things unquestioningly is one of the
> curses of the modern age.

I believe as little as I may, and that is surrounded by question marks.
-- 
Michael L. Siemon		   "Oh, stand, stand at the window,
					As the tears scald and start;
mls@usl.com			   You shall love your crooked neighbor
standard disclaimer			With your crooked heart."
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books