From the Prologue of the book: Francis Jeffrey’s indictment of William Wordsworth’s The Excursion (1814) as “mystical verbiage of the Methodist pulpit”—“This will never do!”—will itself never do (Jeffrey 463, 465). Charles Lamb’s praise of The Excursion as “natural methodism” provides a fuller, more positive clue to the historical, interdisciplinary resonance of Romanticism (Lamb 2:149). Lamb’s two-word mouthful offers versatile insight, bears interpretive weight. This phrase signals how the rival traditions of empiricism and evangelicalism come together to embroider not just Wordsworth’s art, but Romantic literature throughout the English-speaking world. A lower-case but not entirely secularized swerve to evangelicalism spins volumes about how 19th-century poetic faith willingly suspends disbelief: the free-wheeling swing of Romantic-era creativity proclaims interconnection. The combination of “natural” and “methodism” opens a critic’s pathway. British empiricism and transatlantic revivalism strike sparks off the literary imagination of a bi-national Romantic Movement. On United Kingdom/United States shores, faith in experience and experiential Faith rise inexorably to converge at the crossroads of an inspired transatlantic artistry, a prime location—and locator—of creative authority. Lamb’s label pinpoints a cache of Anglo-American Romantic power. This natural methodism counts as a bi-nationally indigenous, religious as well as philosophical equivalent to M. H. Abrams’s magisterially philosophical emphasis on how Continental European Natural Supernaturalism applies to British Romanticism (Abrams, 1971). This arc from the late 17th to the middle 19th century encompasses John Locke (1632-1704), John Wesley (1703-91), Jonathan Edwards (1703-58), and the method of Anglo-American Romanticism. This one curve of that great timeline gives meaning perhaps even to such a spontaneous overflow recollected in tranquility as the signature middle-century question asked by Emily Dickinson (1830-86) as late as 1862: “Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?” (Poem 365, 1). For the remainder of this segment to draw out the implication of Jeffrey’s negative assessment and Lamb’s favorable judgment of Wordsworth’s poetry is to announce that wielding natural methodism along that arc from high-to-late Romanticism of the Anglo-American world is the procedure and the concept of this essay. [...] Browsers among these essays and reviews may wish to consider whether or not British empiricism and the empirical evangelicalism of the Anglo-American world can each in its own right prove as worthy to be read for its manner as for its thoughts. Readers might also stay alert to how the confluence of empirical philosophy and evangelical faith in the neoclassic-to-Romantic imagination helps explain 19th-century authors as aficionados of the realistic and of the preternatural at one and the same time. From their varying but corresponding points of view, these thirty-eight reissues do not just examine, but dwell in the possibility of, intellectual, emotional, and imaginative re-integration.

Transatlantic Trio: Empiricism, Evangelicalism, Romanticism: Essays and Reviews, 1974-2017

Literature & Fiction

Brantley, Richard E.

History & Criticism

Culicidae Press

A witty, haunting tale of family and friendship, regret and redemption, set on a remote Wyoming cattle ranch in the dead of winter. The White Creek Ranch has been in Hap Cobb’s family for over a century and a half, but Hap is now eighty-two, and the last surviving member of his family. Tart-tongued, moody, and all too often “a miserable old fart” (in the words of his long-suffering ranch hand and closest friend, Aaron Littlefield), Hap has no rival as a home cook, owns the best-stocked private library in the state, and prides himself on his “God-given ability” to exasperate everyone he meets. The enormous ranch house he inherited long ago from his grandfather stands mostly empty these days, save for Hap and Aaron, and while their life together is both busy and comfortable, Hap often loses himself in his past, knowing he has little future left. When a sudden blizzard hits one January evening, however, and Aaron opens the door to a young woman and a teenaged boy seeking shelter from the storm, everything Hap thought he knew about the world begins to shift. With these two unlooked-for houseguests, the White Creek Ranch soon becomes a wellspring of mystery and possibility, and will never be the same again. A story of magical realism in the tradition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and John Crowley.

White Creek: A Fable

polytekton

Yates, Bart

I Remembered chronicles my experience—at age forty-nine—when I recalled the sexual abuse by my father as a young girl. Through my journal entries, represented here verbatim, I share my journey to heal from the aftermath of this profound awakening. My story is one of survival. It follows the course of the first year of healing—from my psychotic break and diagnosis of PTSD and paranoia, through the flashbacks and memories, my disclosure to family, working through the grief process, and finally to acceptance and forgiveness. My story is one of survival and hope—one that will interest fellow survivors of sexual abuse, loved ones who want to help them, the recovery community, and those with a general interest in this subject. Silence and shame are hallmarks of sexual abuse and my story lends a personal voice to what survivors experience in their struggle to heal. I read several books on the subject of healing from sexual abuse, and I could not find one like this which shares what it is like to work through this overwhelming process. My story is raw and unflinching, and my purpose in sharing it is to lend hope and help to other survivors.

I Remembered: Recovering from Childhood Sexual Abuse

Parenting & Relationships

Friday, Kristene E.

Family Relationships

The book is the story of a young American girl living in South Africa during the early years of apartheid (1948-1960). One of six children of a Swedenborgian minister who was sent to South Africa to establish a theological school for Africans, the author reaches back into this unique time and place in an effort to rediscover the culture that influenced her own adult attitudes. Rather than following a strictly chronological format, the story is laid out in a series of verbal snapshots, supported by photographs. Family life, experienced through the eyes of a child living in a complex environment, contrasts with the lives of those who were impacted by the institutionalized racism of apartheid. Examples of the Acts of apartheid at the end of each chapter include news articles, interviews, and commentary. Deep childhood fears of some unnamed threat are represented by home invasions, wildfires, and the cry of a hyena in the mountains. The mountains are dangerous, they present a great barrier, but they can be conquered. After returning permanently to America as a teenager—through a confusing and sometimes painful process of discussion and observation—the author uncovers those artifacts of the past that inform her place in the world today. Review of "In the Shadow of the Dragon's Back" Apartheid was the “Dragon’s Shadow,” a dragon dedicated to devouring the people in its path to establish and maintain its power. No matter how carefully parents tried to shield their children from the shadowy tentacles, they could not completely hide the effects of the growing series of draconian laws underpinning the policies of white supremacy. Nor could they protect them from the results among the increasingly oppressed people around them, from the disparity between the white beneficiaries of the laws, and the black victims hidden in the dragon’s shadow. [...] Every dragon needs a St. George to slay it, a voice for the voiceless. It is a great relief, in reading descriptions of the various Apartheid laws—the shadow itself—to see flickers of light of those who stand opposed to Apartheid: the light of Nelson Mandela and his colleagues, the Black Sash, the English press, those who were banned for speaking out. [...] “In the Shadow of the Dragon’s Back” deftly places these two realities side by side: the innocence of childhood and the creeping force of Apartheid, forces inimical to each other, existing in the same place at the same time. [...] Andrew M.T. Dibb, M.Div., D.Th. Dean, Bryn Athyn College of the New Church Theological School Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania ...a complex and engaging work that places the reader squarely inside both worlds with neither judgment nor regret. Naomi Benaron, author of Running the Rift and winner of the Bellwether Prize for Fiction [Longstaff’s] memories and musings show that the light of social justice burns brightest in the tall shadows of oppression. Professor Archie Dick, Ph.D., Head of Department of Information Science University of Pretoria, South Africa

In the Shadow of the Dragon's Back: A Young American Girl in South Africa During the Early Years of Apartheid

Biographies & Memoirs

Longstaff, Rachel Odhner

Community & Culture

This witty developmental novel depicts the friendships and love experiences of a girl, Gorda, from childhood through high school. Initially we are confronted with the gloomy environment of post-war Germany, in which the fulfillment of duty is more important than child-centered creativity; a nightmare for young Gorda. She escapes to California as an exchange student. That’s where she learns to kiss and speak American English...Returning back to Germany allows Gorda to see her own world, family, and friends with completely new eyes. With The German Exchange Student, Geertje Suhr has written a novel that will delight adults and young people alike.

The German Exchange Student: A Love Story (The Adventures of Gorda or How To Love in the Face of Adversity)

Suhr, Geertje

Genre Fiction

Tell Them What You Want

'Tell Them What You Want' is an inspirational coming of age story of an African-American girl (Bernie) growing up amidst the immense local and national social turmoil of the 1950s to mid 1980s. Her journey begins in an abusive stepfather's 'devil house' and ends in personal and professional triumphs that seemed destined to be out of reach. Sent as a 'State kid' to a South-west Ohio college town, Bernie confronts both personal and institutional obstacles with youthful naivety and determination. A teen-age mother intent on protecting self and son, Bernie encounters many interesting and provocative people, some who put financial, educational, physical and social obstacles in her way. Others mentor her through the racism, sexism, and politics of the time. A combination of drama and humor, 'Tell Them What You Want' is a story of losing and finding family, of relationships good and bad, acts of heroism large and small, and finally of an adult woman's commitment to a future of protecting the little girl inside her who simply won't let go.

Merritt-Gordon, Laverne

Grosscup, Dr. Beau

Tell Them What You Want is an inspirational coming-of-age story of an African-American girl (Bernie) growing up amidst the immense local and national social turmoil of the 1950s to mid 1980s. Her journey begins in an abusive stepfather’s ‘devil house’ and ends in personal and professional triumphs that seemed destined to be out of reach. Sent as a ‘State kid’ to a South-west Ohio college town, Bernie confronts both personal and institutional obstacles with youthful naivety and determination. A teen-age mother intent on protecting self and son, Bernie encounters many interesting and provocative people, some who put financial, educational, physical, and social obstacles in her way. Others mentor her through the racism, sexism, and politics of the time. A combination of drama and humor, Tell Them What You Want is a story of losing and finding family, of relationships good and bad, acts of heroism large and small, and finally of an adult woman’s commitment to a future of protecting the little girl inside her who simply won’t let go.

We All Fall Down: staying vertical in a hazardous world

Osterberg, Arvid

Reference

'We Are the Sum of Tiny Spaces', Diana Brantley's second book of poetry, offers fifty new poems written in her forthright, engaging voice. She returns to her favorite subjects: nature ("Earliest Spring in Zirconia"), history ("Postcard"), family lore ("Land of Cush"), friendship ("Barbara"), and the vagaries of human knowledge ("Wein"). She also celebrates collaboration. Meditating on fiction, music, pictures, and poetry, she channels fellow artists-Fowles, Keats, Klimt, Mozart-and converses with her husband, daughters, and grandsons. Illustrations for this volume, both Diana's photographs and David Fulton's watercolor, as well as Justine Brantley's print, deepen the resonance of the poems they accompany. Gabriel Fulton's setting of one of the poems to music adds art song to this surprisingly eclectic mix.

We Are The Sum of Tiny Spaces

Brantley, Diana

Poetry

'We All Fall Down' is a user's guide to help us reduce our chances of falling and being injured during falls. Through case studies and analysis, the book provides practical advice on how to observe hazards in parking lots, on sidewalks, at doorways, on stairways, and at other locations we all encounter in our day-to-day lives. From Chapter 1Think of all the ways we use the word fall and all the meanings it has. Probably the first thing that comes to mind is falling in love when we seem to have almost no control over what happens. We get carried away with the current and have little power to slow it down or get off. Later some people fall out of favor with the ones they love. When we are told a joke and are led up to the punch line, or when someone plays a prank on us, we fall for it. We fall victim to scams and schemes to get our money. At work and in our relationships with others, we fall in line, but we also fall behind, and sometimes we fall all over ourselves. People fall out with each other. Our faces can communicate a lot when they fall after disappointment. Often the responsibility of a situation falls on us or falls within our duty. We also fall ill as we pass viruses from one to another. Stock prices, housing prices, even the price of meat, all rise and fall, and we are often advised to take a fallback position regarding our investments. There are also waterfalls and the season of fall when we have fall colors and fall weather. And at night darkness falls over the land.Regardless of the many meanings of the word fall, 'We All Fall Down' focuses on people actually falling from a walking, standing, or seated position due to the force of gravity.The book gives advice on how to prevent falls by showing many examples from the author's experience as an expert witness at lawsuits, but also as a practicing architect and academic with +40 years of experience.

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Culicidae Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Culicidae Press

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Culicidae Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Transatlantic Trio: Empiricism, Evangelicalism, Romanticism: Essays and Reviews, 1974-2017

White Creek: A Fable

I Remembered: Recovering from Childhood Sexual Abuse

In the Shadow of the Dragon's Back: A Young American Girl in South Africa During the Early Years of Apartheid

The German Exchange Student: A Love Story (The Adventures of Gorda or How To Love in the Face of Adversity)

Tell Them What You Want

Tell Them What You Want

We All Fall Down: staying vertical in a hazardous world

We Are The Sum of Tiny Spaces

We All Fall Down: staying vertical in a hazardous world