The Seagull Reader: Essays

By Joseph Kelly

Book Overview

In 1859, Samuel Butler, a young Cantabrigian out of joint with his family, with the church, and with the times, left England to hew out his own path in New Zealand. At the end of just five years he returned, with a modest fortune in money and an immense fortune in ideas. For out of this self-imposed exile came Erewhon, one of the world's masterpieces of satire, which contained the germ of Butler's intellectual output for the next twenty years. The Cradle of Erewhon is an examination and interpretation of the special ways in which these few crucial years affected Butler's life and work, particularly Erewhon and Erewhon Revisited. It shows us Butler the sheep farmer, explorer, and mountain climber, as well as Butler the newcomer to "The Colonies," accepting--and accepted by--his intellectual peers in the unpioneerlike little city of Christchurch, sharpening and disciplining his mind through his controversial contributions to the Christchurch Press. But more importantly, the book suggests the depth to which New Zealand penetrated the man and reveals new facets of influence hitherto unnoticed in Erewhon and Erewhon Revisited. The Southern Alps ("Oh, Wonderful! Wonderful! so lonely and so solemn"), the perilous rivers and passes, the character and customs of the Maoris--all these blend to afford new insights into a complex book. Butler was not the first to create an imaginary world as asylum from the harsh realities of this one (Vergil did the same in the Eclogues), nor was he the first, even in his own time, to protest against the machine as the enslaver of man, but his became the clearest and the freshest voice. On the biographical side, The Cradle of Erewhon offers new evidence for reappraising the man who for so long has been a psychological and literary puzzle. Why, for instance, did he repudiate his first-born book, A First Year in Canterbury Settlement? And why, once safely away from the entanglements of London, did he voluntarily return to them? Answers to these and other Butlerian riddles are suggested in the engrossing account of the satirist's sojourn in the Antipodes.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393930920
• ISBN13: 9780393930924
• Release Date: December 2007
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Seagull Reader essays: More economical!

I bought the Seagull Reader essay collection a few months ago for an English class, and so far have been very pleased with it so far. Many of the essays I had already read, in whole or in part, by other anthropologies. However, the Seagull collection is extremely user friendly, concise, and features great introductions before each piece. Overall, I am very pleased that I do not have to lug around a 12 pound book every other day like I had to in high school. Also, the price and cover design is very attractive and reminiscent of "old-school" notebooks. My ONLY real complaint is that the soft-cover can get annoying at times. It seems to bend rather easily, and while it hasn't caused too much of an annoyance, I would have paid a few extra dollars for a hardcover edition (if one such exists).

An Awesome Variety

College freshmen hate reading. They don't read instructions, they don't read their class schedules, and they don't read textbooks. However, if it's short enough to read in a few minutes and controversial enough to cause an argument, they will read. That's the great thing about the Seagull Readers. It offers an enormous variety of topics from authors whose writing spans centuries. It's a great way to introduce non-readers to the idea of analyzing writing. Take a peek - it's entertaining reading just for pleasure too.

Essays

Although somewhat abstract, most of the essays in this book are really fun to read. I ordered this book, and I received a different cover than the picture shows. Don't worry, it is the same book, and works with my English Composition class.