Briefer Mention

Book Reviews Volume 32:3, 1989 In 1973 I published the Guide to Coole Park, which has received considerable acclaim: Tom's advice made that book what it was, improving a phrase here and there, and suggesting appropriate quotations. After Tom's death, I published his Last Essays (renamed from its original title, The Weasel's Tooth, a quotation from Yeats) and a double volume containing his autobiography, Seven Arches, with his collected poetry Philoctetes, and Other Poems. These were my small tributes to the memory of a remarkable man, the doyen of Anglo-Irish literary criticism of his time. Colin Smythe Buckinghamshire, England • Briefer Mention · Bloom, Harold, ed. D. H. Lawrence's 'Sons and Lovers' and D. H. Lawrence's 'The Rainbow'. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. Each $19.95 Two additions to Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations Series: the Sons and Lovers volume reprints 9 articles (or chapters from books) by Dorothy Van Ghent, H. M. Daleski, and Daniel R. Schwarz, among others. Bloom offers a four-page introduction. Bloom's introduction to The Rainbow collection is more detailed; it prefaces six essays which are reprints of earlier critical works. Owen, Wilfred. Selected Poetry and Prose. Jennifer Breen, ed. New York and London: Routledge [English Texts Series], 1988. Paper $12.95 £5.95 Breen gives us a useful introduction which sketches Owens's life, his experience in the war, and incapsulates his reception by poets and critics. Poetry and letters are given roughly equal space in this 268page volume. Breen prints complete poems in chronological order by first date of composition and complete letters, the latter selected for their "literary merit and the interest of their content." Ressler, Steve. Joseph Conrad: Consciousness and Integrity. New York: New York University Press, 1988. $35.00 The book's thesis arises from what Ressler sees as a "coherent and unified thematic development in Conrad's fiction centered on his abiding concern with integrity." This concern evolves in "Heart of Darkness," Lord Jim, Nostromo, "The Secret Sharer," and Under 396 Book Reviews Volume 32:3, 1989 Western Eyes. Defining "integrity" as "the struggle to affirm self in the face of devastating experience and tragic reality," Ressler argues for the "self-affirming possibUities of action" and the need to "test the moral substance of his characters." The conflict focuses on the character's struggle between romantic claims and moral accountability as seen in the five works. Ressler finds that Conrad's "romantic" current arises from his beliefs in the "self-affirming possibUities of action" and that Conrad's tragic current derives from his "stronger inclination" toward pessimism, skepticism, and nihilism. Of all the protagonists in these works, only Razumov attains the ultimate integrity, which is the result of Conrad's having successfully excluded and repudiated his romantic current. For the first time Conrad dramatized "explicitly the wülful betrayal of the double who appears directly for trust." The study provides a circumspect examination of the thesis and tries rather carefully to document its line of reasoning. The culmination of Conrad's work comes with Under Western Eyes because this novel provides a definitive treatment of Conrad's oeuvre of betrayal and guilt. AU in all, however, the book does not add a great deal to a better understanding of Conrad. Earl E. Stevens Rhode Island College Schlueter, Paul and June, eds. An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers. New York and London: Garland, 1988. $75.00 This encyclopedia is a thorough and much-needed reference work. It gives biographical, critical, and bibliographical information on writers ranging from Julian of Norwich to Ruth Rendell. The authors have made an admirable effort to include essayists as well as novelists, the less familiar and the well-known. ELTs readers will find information on Lady Gregory, Charlotte Mew, Alice Meynell, Edith Nesbit, Violet Paget, Dorothy Richardson, Vita Sackville-West, Olive Schreiner, and Somerville and Ross. The cost makes it impractical for individuals to purchase, but libraries have this volume on their shelves. Senick, Gerard J., ed. Children's Literature Review: Excerpts from Reviews, Criticism, and Commentary on Books for Children and Young People. Vol. 16. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. $84.00 Each author entry presents excerpts from books...