Our Family Affairs 1867 1896 Esprios Classics

'Our Family Affairs, 1867-1896' is a memoir by E.F. Benson about his extraordinary family, including his father Edward White Benson, who once served as the Archbishop of Canterbury. The book also covers his brothers, Robert Hugh Benson, a prolific writer of fiction and a Catholic priest, and Arthur Christopher Benson, a respected essayist and poet, and his sister Margaret Benson, an Egyptologist. Through their individual stories, the book paints a vivid portrait of a remarkable family and their contributions to literature, religion, and scholarship during a pivotal era in history.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Edward Frederic Benson (24 July 1867 - 29 February 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer. Benson's first book published was Sketches From Marlborough. He started his novel writing career with the (then) fashionably controversial Dodo (1893), which was an instant success, and followed it with a variety of satire and romantic and supernatural melodrama. He repeated the success of Dodo, which featured a scathing description of composer and militant suffragette Ethel Smyth (which she "gleefully acknowledged", according to actress Prunella Scales), with the same cast of characters a generation later: Dodo the Second (1914), "a unique chronicle of the pre-1914 Bright Young Things" and Dodo Wonders (1921), "a first-hand social history of the Great War in Mayfair and the Shires".

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Not every family shows its characteristics so easily. Not every family has so acute an interpreter, indeed. But if the philosophy of the Benson family is not obvious, it is not for want of self-revelation on the part of its members; other family members have already given us glimpses into their family affairs, and now E. F. Benson contributes his impressions, in a large, pleasant volume, adorned with eight photographs.The impression left by his description of Dr. Benson is that of a forbidding, absorbed disciplinarian. "As I got to know him, I, like the rest of us, also got to fear him. For many years we were none of us at our ease with him, as we always were with my mother, and it is tragic that it was so, for I know that he regarded us all with the tenderest love. He had no idea how blighting his displeasure was to small children, and for fear of incurring it we went delicately like Agag, attending so strictly to our behavior that all spontaneity withered. Nothing would have pleased him more, had we taken him into our confidence, but we feared his disapproval more than we were drawn into intimacy with him." It is an illustration of Herbert Spencer's remark that the average child regards his parents as "friend-enemies," either friendly or hostile, and for no obvious reason in either case. Whether such criticisms of one's father should be published is another matter. But the frankness with which Dr. Benson's character is analysed by his son makes these pages certainly a human document.His wife, on the other hand, is most attractive. The charm and force of her character are evident on every page. She was her children's friend, played their games, managed their affairs, and even smoked in private, although her husband sternly discouraged tobacco. Her smoking was very occasional, but it is one of the human traits which endeared her to her boys, under fear of their father. She contrived to be loyal to him, and at the same time to indulge the children wisely. Altogether, a winning figure. And the old nurse of the family deserves a place beside R. L. Stevenson's nurse. The letters written to her by Mrs. Benson, after the death of Martin Benson, are only one of many proofs that Elizabeth Cooper was a treasure. "She mingles in almost every memory that I have of those days, a loved and protecting presence." E. F. Benson's own career is outlined rapidly and candidly. He was not a clever boy; he failed more than once to win a scholarship at Eton, but when he went from Marlborough to Cambridge he specialized in archaeology, and went to Greece in connection with the British School of Archaeology. Duly, fiction was to claim him. He had written for his own amusement a draft of "Dodo," and had actually sent it to Henry James for a critical verdict! Later on, it was sent to "Lucas Malet," and finally published. Archaeology failing to provide a vocation, he applied for a post in the Education Office. "But those in whose hands the appointment rested thought that the author of 'Dodo' would be a very indifferent educator, in spite of" testimonials from tutors. So into fiction E. F. Benson went.

John Cage seeks to explore the early part of the composer's life and career, concentrating on the pre-chance period between 1933 and 1950 that is crucial to understanding his later work. The essays consider Cage's influences, his evolving aesthetic, and his movement toward ideology that would later shape his work.

Traces how Canada’s colonial and national development contributed to modern environmental problems such as urban sprawl, the collapse of fisheries, and climate change Includes over 200 photographs, maps, figures, and sidebar discussions on key figures, concepts, and cases Offers concise definitions of environmental concepts Ties Canadian history to issues relevant to contemporary society Introduces students to a new, dynamic approach to the past Throughout history most people have associated northern North America with wilderness – with abundant fish and game, snow-capped mountains, and endless forest and prairie. Canada’s contemporary picture gallery, however, contains more disturbing images – deforested mountains, empty fisheries, and melting ice caps. Adopting both a chronological and thematic approach, Laurel MacDowell examines human interactions with the land, and the origins of our current environmental crisis, from first peoples to the Kyoto Protocol. This richly illustrated exploration of the past from an environmental perspective will change the way Canadians and others around the world think about – and look at – Canada.