Mary Delany was seventy-two years old when she noticed a petal drop from a geranium. In a flash of inspiration; she picked up her scissors and cut out a paper replica of the petal; inventing the art of collage. It was the summer of 1772; in England. During the next ten years she completed nearly a thousand cut-paper botanicals (which she called mosaicks) so accurate that botanists still refer to them. Poet-biographer Molly Peacock uses close-ups of these brilliant collages in The Paper Garden to track the extraordinary life of Delany; friend of Swift; Handel; Hogarth; and even Queen Charlotte and King George III.How did this remarkable role model for late blooming manage it? After a disastrous teenage marriage to a drunken sixty-one-year-old squire; she took control of her own life; pursuing creative projects; spurning suitors; and gaining friends. At forty-three; she married Jonathan Swifts friend Dr. Patrick Delany; and lived in Ireland in a true expression of midlife love. But after twenty-five years and a terrible lawsuit; her husband died. Sent into a netherland of mourning; Mrs. Delany was rescued by her friend; the fabulously wealthy Duchess of Portland. The Duchess introduced Delany to the botanical adventurers of the day and a bonanza of exotic plants from Captain Cooks voyage; which became the inspiration for her art. Peacock herself first saw Mrs. Delanys work more than twenty years before she wrote The Paper Garden; but "like a book you know is too old for you;" she put the thought of the old woman away. She went on to marry and cherish the happiness of her own midlife; in a parallel to Mrs. Delany; and by chance rediscovered the mosaicks decades later. This encounter confronted the poet with her own aging and gave her-and her readers-a blueprint for late-life flexibility; creativity; and change.
#110924 in eBooks 1998-09-15 1998-09-15File Name: B004PYDBZ8
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. the sleep of reasonBy horse with no name"The Bacchae." along with Sophocles "Oedipus at Colonus." marks the end of the great age of Greek tragedy. The conventional wisdom about this play--at least since Friedrich Nietzsche--is that here Euripides repented his earlier rationalist debunking of the Olympian pantheon and returned to the simple faith of his ancestors. I have my doubts. "The Bacchae" resembles nothing so much as a cautionary tale of the 1960s counterculture. While Pentheus. with his mental rigidity and fear of change. bears a striking resemblance to the hero of Chinua Achebes "Things Fall Apart." Dionysus brings to mind such charismatic--and deadly--cult leaders as Charles Manson. David Koresh. and Jim Jones. Interestingly Dionysus entourage. like the Manson family. is almost exclusively female. The disgusting savagery of Dionysian ritual illustrates the dangers of abandoning reason. logic. and human decency to follow our dark primitive instincts. A modern treatment of the same theme is Thomas Tryons "Harvest Home." Paul Woodruff provided the highly informative introduction (although I disagree thoroughly with his conclusions) and his translation into vigorous. straightforward contemporary English gives us a glimpse of what a shattering impact "The Bacchae" must have had on its first audience. "The Bacchae" may well be one of the most disturbing creations in the western literary canon.10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Ripping good translationBy Mcbruce56The play of a king who defied and ridiculed a God. and was torn apart by women as punishment. This translation is supple. clear. poetic. The notes are instructive. The introduction does get a little tedious in reviewing every possible interpretation of the play. but if youre reading this for school. you might be grateful for it. A very fine job. He even (sort of) explains th ed cover of Elvis. whom he equates to the young God. Now that would be a staged version to see: Elvis as Bacchus!4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. 2500+ Years Later. Still Astonishingly MovingBy JudithEven though the circumstances arent current - citizens running off to the countryside to worship Bacchae - and the drama is not what moderns expect - most of the action takes place offstage. there is something in this play that is moving and still speaks to the human experience - at least it did to me. Perhaps its simply that the characters are thoroughly invested in what they believe to be right and true - and they are also deluded - and pay heavily. the heaviest possible price. Impossible not to be moved by that fundamental human experience even if circumstances are completely different now.I am not competent to judge the translation. other than it was easy to read. The notes were comprehensive. the opening introduction was very helpful.
