In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

31:3 Book Reviews In her brief conclusion Taylor states clearly what her study has led her to believe—that "Thompson's literary achievement has not previously been adequately assessed." Both his prose and his poetry deserve more careful attention. Contemporary critics of Thompson focused on the extravagance of his style in such works as "The Hound of Heaven," "Ode to the Setting Sun," and "A Corymbus for Autumn," ignoring such simple yet forceful poems on religion, childhood and nature as "Ex Ore Infantium," "The Kingdom of God," and "Desiderium Indesideratum ." Thompson's uterary reputation has fluctuated dramatically. At times perhaps over-rated by Catholic readers, he has been under-rated by others. WhUe his more florid works may lack appeal for some readers, a different Thompson exists in lesser known and heretofore unavailable poems. Here one can find irony, wit, evocative understatement, and quiet diction. AU his work, despite its flaws, shows remarkable use of imagery. Always he is a craftsman. Beverly Taylor believes that publication of Thompson's complete works and more judicious analysis of his familiar poems should revise prevailing critical views of Thompson. She herself is at present working on a complete critical edition of his poetry and on an anthology of his criticism. These, like the present volume, should be welcome additions to Thompson studies. Maureen Walsh, C.S.J. Carlow College DOUGHTY'S ARABIA DESERTA Stephen E. Tabachnick, ed. Explorations in Doughty's 'Arabia Deserta'. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 1987. $35.00 Charles Montagu Doughty's Travels in Arabia Deserta, published in 1888, is a unique and massive book, difficult to read and appreciated by only a few. This collection of essays, edited by Stephen Tabachnick, is in itself unique, in that it is a multifaceted analysis of the work, as both art and science; its contributors are literary critics, historians, sociologists, geographers, and geologists. There has been no previous attempt to assess Doughty's work as a synthesis of Uterary art and science. While the collection is unique, it is far from massive: the two parts, "Arabia Deserta as Art" and "Arabia Deserta as Science" are comprised of five essays each; the whole volume, with introduction , bibliographies, identification of contributors, and index, is 275 pages. (Its price, $35.00, ironically, is exactly twice that of the first American edition, in 1923, of Travels in Arabia Deserta.) It is a book easily handled and, unlike Doughty's work, easily read, even, I hope, by those whose enthusiasm is for Victorian literature in general rather than travel literature in particular. 369 31:3 Book Reviews Readership for Doughty has always been slim. This is a problem addressed by Tabachnick in his introductory essay in the volume. But this essay's task is a comprehensive one, for it must examine the multiple reasons for past and present neglect of what is recognizable as a monumental work, truly a classic. The essay faces this task squarely. It summarises the structure of the book, relates its publishing difficulties, briefly assesses the writings of other Arabian travelers, and raises the question of its neglect. Among the several answers explored in the section entitled "Anatomy of Neglect" is one that gives meaning to this collection, namely that since science and art are united in Doughty's book neither the scientific nor the aesthetic critic feels competent to judge it. Tabachnick feels that the most important reason for neglect by Uterary scholars, the relatively low status of travel literature as a genre, may be reversed as that position has improved in the past ten or fifteen years. In his section entitled "The Elements of Travel Literature" Tabachnick evaluates Arabia Deserta in terms of the four elements he identifies as belonging to the genre and finds in Doughty's book a nice balance of the scientific and the artistic. This leads him to the promise of the collection, that it will assess Doughty's contribution as both scientific observer and artist: "One hundred years after the publication of Arabia Deserta, it continues to loom like Vesuvius over all previous and subsequent travel books. And given the uniqueness, precision, and majesty of its story of Khalil and Arabia, it probably...

pdf

Share