Bøger af Michael Collie

"It has been said that idleness is the parent of mischief, which is very true; butmischief itself is merely an attempt to escape from the dreary vacuum of idleness."George BorrowFirst, the subtitle of this completely revised and newly augmented study of GeorgeBorrow, "Misfit" implies not subscribing or submitting to normal, mainstreammiddle-class values and habits. Borrow preferred the company of gypsies,vagabonds, foreigners, horse-dealers and outsiders to the conformist, respectableEnglish person, whom he thought was sometimes incapable of understanding therealities of the human condition, or simply preferred to evade them. In 1984, thiswas the intended meaning of the word "eccentric"; someone with valid, personalpriorities, not in the main stream, away from the centre, free to be critical ofaspects of English life he regarded as false or shallow or unworthy. Borrow did notsubscribe to other people's view of how life should be conducted; his publicationsare the expression of this freedom.George Borrow Eccentric (1984) was guarded in its treatment of biographicalquestions. Collie discusses some key unresolved issues in Borrows life: the questionof paternity (did he and his brother have the same father?); the condition for whichmercury treatment was prescribed (if not syphilis, then what?); the person behindthe name "Isobel Berners" (can she be securely identified?); his Bible Societyaccounts (where was he during the periods unaccounted for?); his sexuality (whydid he marry Mrs Clarke?); his religious convictions (do his writings express faithor cynicism on this score?); and his loneliness (the loneliness of a sharp, perceptiveintellect without intended companionship?). Collie's study calmly, carefully andthoroughly discusses the new research tools and information that bring us evencloser to the man, the works and the issues confronted by anyone who writes hisliterary biography.

A study that deals with Sir Roderick Murchison and the general activity of scientific travels in the mid 19th century. It introduces the reader to the practices of intellectual and cultural exchange in Continental Europe.

The correspondence is self-contained and wholely scientific, concerning the unexpected discovery of reptilian fossils and footprints near Elgin, and relates to a most important aspect of Huxley's career: defining the relationship between geology and palaentology.