Passion S Prize

FICTION-ROMANCE/GOTHIC

Set against the anarchy of the Civil War, this novel tells the story of the raven-haired beauty Lynora Hollingsworth, daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, an aspiring young artist who spends one wild, enchanting evening in the arms of a stranger, but plans to spend the rest of her life in a marriage that has the approval of her family. However, when her fianc rapes her, she decides to strike out on her own rather than subject herself or the child she has discovered she is carrying to this mans cruelty. Rene Michael DuClaire, gambler and notorious rake, to whom she flees for asylum, is also the handsome stranger to whom she has given her heart. When he surmises her condition and realizes he is the father, he marries her against her will. It is a stormy relationship exacerbated by the onslaught of the Civil War, a conflict over which all characters must make some tough decisions regarding their own comfort and their consciences. There are various subplots in the story. One of them deals with the rejected suitors espionage for the Union army, and reveals his sinister nature in his desire for revenge. Another has to do with an Underground Railroad system in Louisiana, and a third deals with the drama of the Civil War itself on the people it touched in the swampy city of New Orleans and surrounding area. The scenes that relate to the war have been researched and are essentially factual, including the shipyard strike, all battle scenes, and even the explosion of the powder plant in Gretna. The captains, majors, and generals were all real people involved in the war at the places described. Only the lieutenants and privates are fictional.

In this book, a distinguished historian of medicine surveys the basic elements that have constituted psychological healing over the centuries. Dr. Stanley W. Jackson shows that healing practices, whether they come from the worlds of medicine, religion, or philosophy, share certain elements that transcend space and time.Drawing on medical writings from classical Greece and Rome to the present, as well as on philosophical and religious writings, Dr. Jackson shows that the basic ingredients of psychological healing-which have survived changes of name, the fall of their theoretical contexts, and the waning of social support in different historical eras-are essential factors in our modern psychotherapies and in healing contexts in general.

"Baillie's eminently readable dramas stand at the crossroads of the Scottish Enlightenment and early Romanticism, and compellingly engage with questions of women's rights. Her exploration of the passions, first published in 1798, is here reissued with a wealth of contextual materials including "The Introductory Discourse," Baillie's own brand of feminist literary criticism. The three plays included here are "Count Basil : A Tragedy" and "The Tryal : A Comedy," which show love from opposing perspectives; and "De Monfort : A Tragedy," which explores the drama of hate. Among the appendices are materials on the contemporary philosophical understanding of the passions, and contemporary reviews."--Résumé de l'éditeur

Baillie’s eminently readable dramas stand at the crossroads of the Scottish Enlightenment and early Romanticism, and compellingly engage with questions of women’s rights. Her exploration of the passions, first published in 1798, is here reissued with a wealth of contextual materials including “The Introductory Discourse,” Baillie’s own brand of feminist literary criticism. The three plays included here are “Count Basil: A Tragedy,” and “The Tryal: A Comedy,” which show love from opposing perspectives; and “De Monfort: A Tragedy,” which explores the drama of hate. Among other appendices, the Broadview edition includes materials on the contemporary philosophical understanding of the passions, and contemporary reviews. Baillie’s work is enjoying a revival of interest. She lived a long life, (1762-1851), and had a wide circle of literary friends including Maria Edgeworth and Sir Walter Scott (who termed her a “female Shakespeare”). Scottish born, she moved to England in her twenties where she then resided. Her Plays on the Passions, alternatively known as A Series of Plays in which it is Attempted to Delineate the Stronger Passions of the Mind—Each Passion being the Subject of a Tragedy and Comedy was produced in three volumes between 1798 and 1812. The first volume created quite a stir amongst the literary circles of London and Edinburgh when introduced anonymously. The speculation into the authorship concluded two years later when Baillie came forward as the writer of the collection, thereby causing a subsequent sensation since no one had considered the shy spinster a candidate in the mystery.