Conservative Book Talk

Plot: Won by the Sword is set in the 17th century. The French at that time were in the midst of what would turn out to be a thirty years war.
We meet our hero, Hector Campbell, in 1639, the war has already been raging for twenty-some-odd years by that time. Found by General Turrene practicing play-war against a city, Hector talks some time with him before finding that the gentlemen he is speaking with is General Turrene himself. Turrene takes a liking to Hector and soon has him on as his personal messenger.

The thirty years war began mostly due to the different nobles of France warring for more power, and a stronger hold on the French throne. At that time the Italian bishop, Richelieu, held great power over the throne, mostly due to his friendship with the king. A man of intelligence and power, Richelieu did his best to unite France during his life time with the king.

Not far into our story Richelieu, and the king, die of illness. The king’s young son is then crowned king, but the throne is in control of his mother until he comes of age. Succeeding Richelieu is Mazerin, another Italian bishop who is also in great power, though he was not greatly admired by the king, he learned well from Richelieu and is held in favor by the queen.

General Enghien is also under Frances’s service at this time, and is equal in brilliance in strategy to Turrene, though Turrene is more cautious while Enghien is less concerned with how many men are lost. Both are equally brave, and both take a liking to Hector, who serves under the two.
Battles are won on either side, the French and Austrian, (both countries have other countries aiding them) but nothing happens that truly sways the victory rod in either direction.

This Henty book contains much of the history of France, yet is combined with Hector’s own adventures, which are many. We see the war through Hector’s eyes, and are very happy for it, as it’s a fun nose-in-the-pages book.

Negative: The war chapters do not go into great detail of how men die and are very mild. Other than a duel, an alley fight and a brush with robbers in an inn, there is little negative content.

Overall: This was a very good Henty book, not his most exciting, but it was not dry and dull. I do recommend this book, as it is chock full of good history, and is rather a fun read. (And, as usual, our hero is ever brave and honorable.)

Tags: fiction, G. A. Henty, Hannasus, History, youth

Full Text

This is one of those times when I fall in love with the internet all over again. I wandered onto this great website, and found a typed version of this 12th century “dialogue.” It should be a must-read for all history majors at college. I learned a lot about chivalry and the 12th century in general; most of the following I learned by reading this 19-page work.

STORY: A recounting of an evening spent in the hospitality of the Duke Finnvarr de Taahe. This being the 12th century, the Duke and his fellow peers are peers by virtue of personal merit/selection by a committee of other peers and the king (not, as most people now understand it, by ancestry). These educated elite gather in one another’s homes and at tournaments to have fun and take pleasure in educating themselves. The evening, as recorded by a scribe of de Taahe’s entourage, is unusual in that the peers spent all night talking about the problems of their society and ways to fix them. Most of their concerns are about the knights and peers who are supposed to set the example for society; pride, trying to appear all-knowing instead of knowledgeable, arrogance, over-competitiveness, and putting appearances over substance. Most of which sound like modern social problems.

BAD: Well, being a typed version, there are a few adjustments of translation. I don’t know if this was originally in Olde English or Latin or even French, but the transliterator mixes a few modern colloquialisms, so certain points of accuracy could be in question. Otherwise, nothing else objectionable. However, some parts may be confusing for the un-medieval-Europe-literate; especially since no background information is given for the characters or even the placement of their story into a particular era or country. I figured it out from reading other works (“The Troubador’s Song”, and especially “Henry II”). If anyone has more specific research on this work, please enlighten me, but my estimation is that these are Irish people (or possibly Britons, from Brittany aka France), 12th century, and they’re talking when King Henry the Younger (III) is reigning (possibly his brother Richard aka the Lionheart: it’s hard to tell as their reigns were intertwined).

GOOD: What I loved about this “book” was how closely related the “modern” problems of today and the “modern” problems of the 12th century are. Its easy to forget, when reading history, that at any given point in time, what was happening was “modern” to the people living through it. It seemed like the high point in history, and the low point in culture, for just about every generation. Considering how this election went, it’s a comforting thought that humanity has survived poor leadership before, and will continue to do so for a while yet. This “book” is extremely quotable, with dozens of good stories and examples of proper “gentle” behavior, bad form in manners, and ways that people can recover from the latter and regain honor lost in the heat of the moment. Despite my delight in the similarities of modernity, I must note that the discretion of wording is impressive. No ad hominem (personal) attacks, only examples of poor behavior with the names omitted. No curse words or discussions of lust, torture, or other disgusting things, even when their occurrence is implied. And the ladies are not kept out of the discussion, but they don’t dominate it either (ironicly, for a discussion on chivalry, it was the example of true compatability by the females that most impressed me).

OVERALL: highly recommended. If you enjoy reading history, this will give you a fresh perspective (I recommend reading through W. L. Warren’s “Henry II”, which is about the previous century, for background information on where all these chivalric ideals fit into the big picture).

Tags: History, Sincerelyornot

Part 2 of 6: Most Poorly Executed

I’m not big on short stories, mysteries excepted. Unfortunately, this anthology includes a selection of “mystery” stories that are more like horror, or fairy-tales gone amok; so I can’t recommend the whole batch of 50. That said, there are too many stories for one review: this is review 2 of 6, the nine short stories with the most plot holes /poorest writing.
• Ransom, by Pearl S. Buck A little boy is kidnapped, and we spend a lot of time looking for him but its not clues that solve this mystery, its luck. Unluckily, it comes too late into the story for us to care about the boy, much less his parents (who we have to endure for most of the story); all are stock figures of bored brat and panicked adults, respectively.
• The Treasure Hunt, by Mary Roberts Rinehart, Tish This story has a great set-up: a charity fund-raiser, a night-time treasure hunt, lots of racing cars, and a townful of odd Joes and Janes. Too bad the writing is so poor we never get beyond names for any of the characters except Tish (our lady detective whose key characteristics are vandalism, stealing, and beating up her fellow charity-gala-attendees in life-threatening ways. Charmed, I’m sure).
• The Owl At The Window, by G.D.H. and M. I. Cole, Superintendent Wilson, 1923. A man is found dead, in his own home, the only suspect having just arrived and left late the night before while the man was clearly still alive. An original murder method, if you can endure the meandering and red herrings of ten too many pages.
• The Pink Edge, by Frank Forest and George Dilnot, Inspector Barraclough, 1915. A missing millionare’s daughter, a forgery trial, and randsom notes with pink edges. Excellent plot development, but most of the connecting plot points are simply missing, leaving the reader to wonder how we got from A to D when not even the end’s expounding mentions B and C.
• The Absent-Minded Coterie, by Robert Barr, Eugene Valmont, 1906. The literary founder of Hercule Poirot, this author has a great idea in the beginning, but the plot holes are so gapingly large that the ending falls through. So, *SPOILERS* the hero just waltzes into the bad guy’s office, is told he’s out of line (not having a warrant or police authority or even retaining a single clue), and stays around arguing long enough for all the evidence to be destroyed. Really annoying, this one. *END SPOILERS*
• The Perfect Crime, by Ben Ray Redman, A detective with a big ego, a keen-eyed scientist, and a long evening of friendly conversation. This isn’t as much a mystery as a recounting of past mysteries, which recreates the atmosphere of the night-time so successfully I was bored to sleep. The title is explained by the end of the story, though its got to be the least reasonable crime (motive and means are equally unexplained) ever, and far from perfect (an investigator “in”hibits the search for evidence).
• The Hands of Mr. Otter-mole, by Thomas Burke, is well written in the technical sense, but the plot leaves much to be desired, deliberately not telling us why the murders happen or how the detective solves it. This might be a philosophical point but it isn’t stated and was really annoying, so I’m including it on grounds of poor plotting.
• The Mystery of the Missing Wash, by Octavus Roy Cohen, Florian Slappey, A washerwoman, recently divorced, is losing her commissioned clothes and will soon lose her clientele if the their isn’t found. This one isn’t so much bad writing as it is laziness. The author writes himself into a corner, then suddenly, whoosh, we’re at the end, mystery solved, and the reader is left scratching her head.
• The Mad Tea Party, by Ellery Queen, Ellery Queen, A crazy architect is murdered, and a whole host of things go missing while our detective, the arcitect’s adulterous wife, and few other random and convenient guests lock themselves in and start to go crazy. If you enjoy mind benders without solutions, you’ll love this.

OVERALL: The mix wasn’t entirely boring to read, but generally by the end it got tiresome and or downright annoying. “Most Poorly Executed” definitely.

Tags: detecives, Ellery Queen, Mystery, Sincerelyornot