Diary of a European Tour, 1900 by Margaret Addison, and: Famous People Who Have Met Me: The Life and Interviews of R.E. Knowles ed. by Jean O'Grady (review)

448 letters in canada 1999 knowledge of the particular. In the first half of the book (see especially the articles by M. Verdicchio, J. D'Amico, T. Willette, and D.A. Trafton), we find a wide range of views on Croce's lifelong attraction and dedication to Neapolitan history and culture. Croce's love for Naples and Neapolitan cultural tradition comes across very well, whether the authors discuss the symbolic figure (and mask) of `Pulcinella' or the writer's historical work in Napoli nobilissima. The other essays focus on the Italian thinker's relations with Vico and with his contemporaries Gentile, Mosca, and Robert Collingwood. The last essay deals with Croce's diaries, confirming the author's discipline and dedication which allowed him to produce a veritable mountain of books. G. Mazzotta's `Croce on Vico' should be of interest to students who would like to pursue both the strong anxieties of influence of Vico on Croce as well as the thinker's criticism of The New Science B especially the pages on poetry, history, philosophy, and language. Also, Jacobitti's `The Impact of Croce's Aesthetics of 1902' and D. Roberts's `History as Thought and Action' provide plenty of material for a better appreciation of the relevance of the Italian thinker to contemporary thought. In these pages we find references to Croce's relationships not just with Vico and Hegel but also with more recent authors concerned with knowledge and cognition such as Nietzsche, Gadamer, Foucault (on episteme), Kuhn (`priority of paradigms'), Habermas, and Hayden White (on metahistory). The Legacy of Benedetto Croce is more than a timely re-evaluation of Croce's contribution to the interdisciplinary fields of philosophy, history, and the arts. The editors have included a most useful chronology and introduction that help with the outlining of their study and of Croce's work. The text should appeal to different levels of readers interested in examining and reassessing the overwhelming encyclopedic mind of one of the most significant thinkers of our time who never ceased to maintain that poetry had primacy over reason and that language was a manifestation of spiritual life. Furthermore, this collection of essays is an excellent testimonial of the fact that Croce's importance extends beyond the familiar cliché of the philosopher's claims on the impossibility to separate intuition (inspiration) from expression (language), and, thus, on his proverbial firm stand on the unity between form and content. (ROCCO CAPOZZI) Margaret Addison. Diary of a European Tour, 1900. Edited by Jean O'Grady McGill-Queen's University Press. xxxviii, 192. $39.95 Jean O'Grady, editor. Famous People Who Have Met Me: The Life and Interviews of R.E. Knowles Colombo. viii, 328. $40.00, $25.00 In two diverse texts, editor Jean O'Grady recuperates colourful and humanities 449 indispensable Canadian literary historical material from the early twentieth century. The first is the diary of Margaret Addison (1868B1940), dean of Annesley Hall, the first women's residence at Victoria College, University of Toronto (established 1903). The second work recovers interviews by author, preacher, and journalist R. E. Knowles (1868B1946), mostly from the 1920s and 1930s. In both works, O'Grady's introductions provide historical context and biographical details about her subjects which enlighten and enliven the reclaimed texts. Diary of a European Tour covers Margaret Addison's trip to Europe from May to December 1900, prior to the founding of Annesley Hall residence. Addison's journey, particularly to Oxford and Cambridge, likely served as the impetus for her contribution towards founding Annesley Hall upon her return to Canada. Addison travelled in part with her sister Charlotte, in part alone, sightseeing, but also seeking out educational facilities to further form her ideas about what was possible in Canada, and keeping track of her observations in a diary. The relevance of Addison's diary is not immediately obvious, as much of it reads like point-form notes about how she spent her days, especially in its opening sections when she travelled with Charlotte. However, Addison's excitement on seeing Queen Victoria at Paddington Station upon arrival in England is evident as she describes her respect for such a display of womanhood: `What...