Herbert J. Storing (Ed.), The Anti-Federalist; Writings by the Opponents of the Constitution, selected by Murray Dry from The Complete Anti-Federalist, University of Chicago Press, 1985, pp. 374, consisting of material originally written 1787-8.
W.S.Gilbert, The Savoy Operas Volume I with an Introduction by David Cecil and Notes on the Operas by Derek Hudson, pp.396 and Volume II with an Introduction by Bridget D’Oyly Carte, also with Notes on the Operas by Derek Hudson, pp. 423, Oxford University Press (World’s Classics), 1962. First produced 1875-96.
John Stuart Mill, Autobiography, in John Stuart Mill, Autobiography and Literary Essays, being Volume I of the Collected Works, edited by John M. Robson and Jack Stillinger, University of Toronto Press and Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981, pp. 1-290 including alternative versions of the text. First published 1873.
Harold D. Lasswell, Psychopathology and Politics, A New Edition with Afterthoughts by the Author, Viking Press, New York, 1960, pp. 319. First published 1930.
Antonio Gramsci, The Modern Prince and other writings, translated by Louis Marks, International Publishers (New York), 1968, pp. 192. (Italian versions in Antonio Gramsci, Gli Intellettuali (pp. 282) and Note sul Machiavelli (pp. 475), both Editori Riuniti (Rome), 1971.
Giovanni Gentile, Origins and Doctrine of Fascism, with selections from other works, translated, edited and annotated by A. James Gregor, Transaction Publishers, fourth printing, 2007.
Thomas More, Utopia, first (Latin) edition Louvain, 1516. First English edition in a translation by Ralph Robinson, London, 1551. Included in Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Henry Neville, Three Early Modern Utopias, edited and introduced by Susan Bruce, Oxford World’s Classics, 1999, pp. 250.
.Niccolo Machiavelli, Il Principe (De Principatibus), edited by Brian Richardson, Manchester University Press, 1979, pp. 153. First published 1532; written around 1513.
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, translated and edited by Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa, Oxford University Press (World’s Classics), 1984, pp. 101.
.Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo, Some Points of Agreement between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics, translated by James Strachey,Routledge, 1960, pp. 172. First published as Totem und Tabu, Hugo Heffer (Vienna, 1913).
William Wordsworth, Guide to the Lakes, Henry Froude, 1906, an “exact replica” with appendices of the 5th edition published by Spottiswoode in 1835, pp.203. First edition 1810.
Niccolo Machiavelli, Il Principe (De Principatibus), edited by Brian Richardson, Manchester University Press, 1979, pp. 153. First published 1532; written around 1513.
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, translated and edited by Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa, Oxford University Press (World’s Classics), 1984, pp. 101.
Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim, Penguin Classics, 2000, pp.251. First published 1954
Grimm or What? Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales, with an Introduction by Padraic Colum, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975, pp. 863.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Selected Tales, Translated with an Introduction and notes by David Luke, Penguin Classics, 1982, pp. 422.
The Grimm Brothers’ Home Page: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm.html
The Boys’ Book of All Knowledge Winwood Reade, The Martyrdom of Man, Watts (Thinkers’ Library), 1932, pp.454. First published, 1872.
What is it about Lizzy? (Retrospective Reviews No. 1: Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813)
April 2005
WSG and the English Satirical Tradition
W.S.Gilbert, The Savoy Operas Volume I with an Introduction by David Cecil and Notes on the Operas by Derek Hudson, pp.396 and Volume II with an Introduction by Bridget D’Oyly Carte, also with Notes on the Operas by Derek Hudson, pp. 423, Oxford University Press (World’s Classics), 1962. First produced 1875-96.
W.S.Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, Operettas Etc. (16 disc set), the Pro Arte Orchestra conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargeant, EMI (EMI Classics), 2001.
In my experience the “operettas” or “comic operas” of Gilbert and Sullivan are much subject to Marmite-cricket syndrome. That is, people either adore them or they either detest them or don’t see the point of them. It is probably a necessary condition of adoration (though not a sufficient one) that you are either English or anglophile and I believe there are very good reasons for this.
For the record, I am an enthusiast, though not an extreme on. If G & S had written only The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, HMS Pinafore and Iolanthe they would have left us awed by their collective genius and longing for more, but there is little in the other ten to add to the achievement of those four. That they wrote fourteen is a tribute to the triumph of the profit motive over other sources of human motivation. They – and Richard D’Oyly Carte, their producer, didn’t like each other, were generally at cross purposes and, especially in Sullivan’s case, really wanted to be doing something else. But they found success together to a degree they never did apart. Sometimes one of them is clearly on better form than the other. The Yeoman of the Guard has some excellent music, but isn’t much fun while Utopia Limited is witty and interesting, but has no memorable music. The level of their achievement follows an escarpment shape with the steep side at the beginning: nobody nowadays would bother to produce Thespis, their first effort or The Grand Duke, their last. Sullivan’s music – at its best, in a couple of dozen songs – can be very beautiful. Songs like Yum Yum’s “The Sun Whose Rays . . . ” in The Mikado constitute music on the level of the best of “grand” opera, though much of the time he is merely providing an unambitious backing to Gilbert’s wit. And over the long haul it’s very samey. And mysteriously English, in the way that Vaughan Williams and Butterworth are English, but Holst and Delius are not, particularly.
