About this title: Written at the estate of the Countess of Pembroke, this work has been called "the most original work of English prose fiction produced before the 18th century" (William Ringler). "Arcadia" presents country life according to the Greek ideal, a world of shepherds and nymphs and an idyllic landscape. A melodrama about mistaken identity and love ...
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Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN-13:9780192839565ISBN:019283956X
Description: Good. 019283956X Quality used book! Clean inside with some cover wear. Ships quickly with free tracking! Questions or concerns? Contact me or check my feedback! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780192816900ISBN:019281690X
Description: Good. EX-LIBRARY WITH USUAL LIBRARY MARKINGS. USUAL SIGNS OF A WELL READ BOOK BUT GOOD OVERALL CONDITION SECURE DAILY POSTING FROM UK. 30 DAY GUARANTEE. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr
Date Published: 2008-10-15
ISBN-13:9780199549849ISBN:0199549842
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780199549849. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780199549849ISBN:0199549842
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 196x129 mm. (432) philip sidney was in his early twenties when he wrote his `old' arcadia for the amusement of his younger sister, the countess of pembroke. the book, which he called `a trifle, and that triflingly handled', reflects their youthful vitality. the `old' arcadia tells a romantic story in a manner comparable to that of shakespeare's early comedies. it is divided into five `acts', and abounds in lively speeches, dialogues, and quasi-dramatic tableaux. as a ... read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN-13:9780192816900ISBN:019281690X
Description: Fair. Ready to read. Book has moderate wear with some use to cover and binding. No missing pages but may have some markings. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780192816900ISBN:019281690X
Description: Acceptable. Unless specifically noted to the contrary, item may contain library markings; 100% of this purchase will support literacy programs through a nonprofit organization! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
Date Published: 21/02/1985
ISBN-13:9780192816900ISBN:019281690X
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780192816900ISBN:019281690X
Description: Good. Our aim is to create value for our customers through the provision of low cost, affordable products and an overall satisfying buying experience. read more
"This book is supposed to mark the beginings of the novel. It's also the first time the name Pamela is used in literature.(Not that I'd have any reason to care about that :).)
I read selections from it and liked it, so I got the book from the library. It's about 800 pages long and not an easy read, but I'm enjoying it. I just finished book 1 of the five books comprising the story, and I'm going to keep going.
I finished!!!!
The story begins with Musidorus being washed up on the shore of Arcadia. As soon as he's conscious enough to realize he's alive, he also realizes his best friend (and cousin) Pyrocles is not with him. He convinces a couple of shepherds to row him out to where their boat was when it caught fire and sunk.
The good news is that Pyrocles is alive. The bad news is that before Musidorus gets to him, the shepherds rowing him there are frightened away by pirates. He's taken back to Arcadia to a local nobleman, Kalandar, who cares for him while he recovers from his near drowning. While there he learns that the local prince took his family into seclusion after an oracle told him his older daughter would be kidnapped by a prince, his younger daughter would marry someone he'd consider an unnatural affection for her (but later he'd accept this marriage), and his kingdom would fall into chaos.
Musidorus finds the story interesting, and he shares it with Pyrocles who's been miraculously (there are several occurances throughout the book that could be termed this way) reunited with him. After several unrelated stories are shared and the guys all go out hunting, Pyrocles first with Musidorus following leave Kalandar's house.
Pyrocles left because he's fallen in love with the younger daughter of Basilius, Philoclea. He disguises himself as an Amazon woman and, as such, has been introduced to and accepted by Basilius. Not long after Musidorus catches up with Pyrocles, he sees Basilius' daughters and falls for the older daughter, Pamela.
Their are a lot of twists and turns, but the rest of the story is basically trying to get the two couples together. There are also a number of battles and unrelated Ecologues in between.
Some amusing conflicts arise when Basilus, his wife, and Philoclea are all in love with Pyrocles. This love triangle (or square) brought in some of the funniest parts of the story as the different characters played each other to get what they wanted.
The story has love, adventure, chivalry, kidnapping, honor, intrigue, knights, and villians. I think it would make a great modern-day story as long as the author kept it clean. It really has a compelling plot, you just have to wade through a lot to get it."
"Okay, I'm not going to sit here and pretend I read all of this. I'm not even going to claim that heretofore allegedly there may or may not have been a point the duration of which is uncertain that a person, namely myself, might have concurrently been disposed to a proportionate reading of the aforementioned text which may or may not have resulted in the phrase, "I read most of it."
What I will say is, I read enough of it, and the enough I read was also enough to question whether or not the Renaissance ever actually happened, because a text this foul could only have come out of the Dark Ages. This was an excruciating book, the kind of small font, paragraph free, ye olden prose nightmare that I used to ponder as a kid leafing through my dad's med school textbooks. Aside from a few interesting poems (I have no use for poetry), the story was akin to something Shakespeare might have done with one notable exception. It wasn't Shakespeare.
Retreat from this novel like the Persians from Greece after Platea. Philip Sidney invented boredom in the late 1500s. This is the result. Abandon hope all ye who enter here."
"This is the "New" Arcadia, which is "new" in the sense that it is Sidney's late, unfinished revision of his earlier novel, but it is "old" in the sense that this is the one people read for over two hundred years before the "old" version, which had only circulated privately and then been forgotten, was rediscovered.
Don't worry about all that. This is the Arcadia you want to read, and this is the perfect edition to read it in (the one edited by Maurice Evans and published by Penguin). It is clearly superior to the "old" version, with much more flair and a more modern feel."
"UPDATE: The "New" Arcadia is superior to the "Old" one; take my word for it. It's the one you want to read, because it's the one that was read for more than two hundred years. And Sidney's craft had clearly matured. Get the Maurice Evans edition in the Penguin Classical Library.
I read this after being dazzled by Sidney's Astrophel and Stella, and though I think it an admirable achievement, I don't think it compares. It's youthful and exuberant, very technically accomplished, and sometimes insightful, in short a panoply of Elizabethan diversions, but I don't think that it compares favorably with Shakespeare's pastorals, which seem more modern, and it lacks the forcefulness of Astrophel and Stella or the depth of Spenser's Faerie Queene.
The eclogues are the most tiresome part; I was really dragging myself along through them at times, which made me lose the thread of the main story. If I had been listening to them, on the other hand, especially set to music, they would probably have set the main story off very nicely (some of them are beautiful), and so perhaps this is one way in which we simply don't encounter this text properly.
Despite all this, for a book Sidney characterized as "a trifle triflingly handled," Arcadia is awfully impressive."
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