Peter J. Stanlis's Books

Conversations with Robert Frost

The Bread Loaf Period

By: Peter Stanlis

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Conversations with Robert Frost

The Bread Loaf Period

By: Peter Stanlis

These core conversations between Peter Stanlis and Robert Frost occurred during 1939-1941. They are written in the much larger context of nearly a quarter century of friendship that ended only with the passing of Frost in 1963. These discussions provide a unique window of opportunity to appreciate the sources of Frost's philosophical visions, as well as his poetic interests. The discussions between Stanlis and Frost were held between six consecutive summers (1939-1944), when Stanlis was a student at the Bread Loaf Graduate School of English. These were augmented by additional exchanges at Bread Loaf in 1961-1962. These conversations provide original insights on important subjects common to both men. Frost insisted that it was impossible to make a complete or final unity out of the conflicts between spirit and matter. Ordinary empirical experience and rational discursive reason and logic could not harmonize basic conflicts. He held that the best method to ameliorate apparent contradictions in dualistic conflicts was through the "play" of metaphorical thinking and feeling. Metaphors included parables, allegories, fables, images, symbols, irony, and the forms and techniques of poetry such as rhyme, rhythm, assonance, dissonance, personifications, and connotations. These are the arsenal from which poets draw their insightful metaphors, but such metaphors are also the common property of every normal person. A poem is "a momentary stay against confusion," a form of revelation for "a clarification of life," but not a final, absolute answer to the mysteries and complexities in man's life on Earth. So too - at their best - are science, religion, philosophy, education, politics, and scholarship as a means of ameliorating human problems.

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Page Count

137

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351525824

ISBN 13

9781351525824

Ecstatic Pessimist

Czeslaw Milosz, Poet of Catastrophe and Hope

By: Peter Dale Scott

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Ecstatic Pessimist

Czeslaw Milosz, Poet of Catastrophe and Hope

By: Peter Dale Scott

Ecstatic Pessimist is a timely book about the Central and Eastern European experience of the mid 20th century, as told through the poetry and experiences of Czeslaw Milosz, Nobel Laureate for literature, who wrote on the horrors of war and the human experience. Written by a colleague and friend of the poet, it is part literary criticism and part memoir. This biography/memoir of Czesław Miłosz is a first hand account of the poet’s life and his relationship to the author, beginning in the 1960s. Milosz was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, the Swedish Academy called Miłosz a writer who "voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts". Ecstatic Pessimist expands on Czeslaw Milosz’s commitment to “unpolitical politics” – working for a revolution in culture, and above all poetry, as a necessary preparation for a revolution in politics. This is a familiar notion in Poland, which for two centuries was politically divided, but poets preserved and enhanced a lively Polish consciousness, And, as the book shows, Milosz took steps over two decades to help reunite Poles in the successful Solidarity movement, whose struggle eventually changed the regime and forced the Soviet armies to withdraw. But the book is designed to encouraged a similar development in America. Milosz’s ambition for poetry may at first sound exotic, but as the book says, it is in the spirit of what John Adams wrote late in life to Thomas Jefferson: “The [American] revolution was in the mind of the people, and in the union of the colonies, both of which were accomplished before the hostilities commenced.” Though the book is also designed for those who already know and love Milosz, it is primarily written for those looking for someone whose genius could similarly inspire Americans of both left and right to unite in restoring the badly broken politics of this country. The book argues that Czeslaw Milosz is that genius, as perhaps the only person who has been praised by intellectual leaders like Chris Hedges on the left, and has also spoken at Hillsdale College, the intellectual citadel of the American right.

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377

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

1538172453

ISBN 13

9781538172452

Treason and Rebellion in the British Atlantic, 1685-1800

Legal Responses to Threatening the State

By: Peter Rushton,Gwenda Morgan

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Treason and Rebellion in the British Atlantic, 1685-1800

Legal Responses to Threatening the State

By: Peter Rushton,Gwenda Morgan

This book examines internal political conflicts in the British Empire within the legal framework of treason and sedition. The threat of treason and rebellion pervaded the British Atlantic in the 17th and 18th centuries; Britain's control of its territories was continually threatened by rebellion and war, both at home and in North America. Even after American independence, Britain and its former colony continued to be fearful that opposition and revolution might follow the French example, and both took legal measures to control both speech and political action. This study places these conflicts within a political and legal framework of the laws of treason and sedition as they developed in the British Atlantic. The treason laws originated in the reign of Edward III, and were adapted and modified in the 16th and 17th centuries. They were exported to the colonies, where they underwent both adaptation and elaboration in application in the slave societies as well as those dominated by free settlers. Relationships with natives and European rivals in the Americas affected the definitions of treason in practice, and the divided loyalties of the American revolutionary war added further problems of defining loyalty and treachery. Treason and Rebellion in the British Atlantic, 1685-1800 offers a new study of treason and sedition in the period by placing them in a truly transatlantic perspective, making it a valuable study for those interested in the legal and political of Britain's empire and 18th-century revolutions.

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Page Count

265

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1350005304

ISBN 13

9781350005303

Social Contract and Political Obligation

A Critique and Reappraisal

By: Peter J. McCormick

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Social Contract and Political Obligation

A Critique and Reappraisal

By: Peter J. McCormick

First published in 1987. This study is concerned with the problem of political obligation, the normative question of why one should obey the law, and with social contract thought as an answer to this question. It is entitled a critique, but the critique is not of social contract theory as such, but rather of the "orthodox" treatment of contract that yields so readily to the rough handling and easy rejection that is the normal lot of contractarianism in contemporary treatments. In its place will be suggested a reinterpretation of contract that sees it as making different assumptions and requiring different premises, and that is proof against many of the orthodox refutations of social contract theory; the reinterpretation is thus in the nature of a vindication. First, from an examination of the most commonly cited champions of contractarianism (namely Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau) will be derive a reinterpretation of contract in the form of a new model or syllogism, the features of which will be brought out by contrasting it first with the contemporary ideas of John Rawls and then with the orthodox model itself. Democratic consent theory, as the heir to the remnants of the orthodox model, will be examined, and the ideas of T. H. Green will be considered as embodying an important feature of contractarianism omitted or ignored by the orthodox model (and hence by democratic theory.) Finally, the new model of contract will be suggested as a potentially useful approach to the problem of political obligation in the modern context. This title will be of interest to student of politics and philosophy.

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378

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000706575

ISBN 13

9781000706574

The Union As It Is

Constitutional Unionism and Sectional Compromise, 1787-1861

By: Peter B. Knupfer

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The Union As It Is

Constitutional Unionism and Sectional Compromise, 1787-1861

By: Peter B. Knupfer

The first scholar to trace the meaning and importance of the idea of political compromise from the founding of the Republic to the onset of the Civil War, Knupfer shows how recurring justifications of sectional compromise reflected common ideas about the way governments were supposed to work. Originally published in 1991. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

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Page Count

302

Publisher

Univ of North Carolina Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

080786255X

ISBN 13

9780807862551

Edmund Burke

Essential Works and Speeches

By: Peter Stanlis

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Edmund Burke

Essential Works and Speeches

By: Peter Stanlis

In this unique book, Peter J. Stanlis, the leading Burke scholar in America, has collected all the most important works and speeches of Edmund Burke (1729-1797), British statesman, political philosopher, and founder of modern conservative thought and, with due care to preserve the beauty of Burke's prose, edited them down to their essentials. "The main purpose of these selections," Stanlis explains, "is to present extensive and in the main unbroken samples of Burke's most representative thought in his most characteristic style, on a great variety of subjects." In this major effort you can find--to name only a few topics covered--Burke's defense of ordered liberty, his advocacy of secure property rights, his love of Christianity and Europe's moral tradition, and his impassioned jeremiad against the orgy of destruction that the French Revolution became. Stanlis's general introduction gives important insight into Burke's early life, education, professional training, literary and political career, prose style, political philosophy, and more. In addition, each selection is preceded by a headnote that clarifies the selections in their historical context and includes a brief analytical interpretation. A chronology highlights important dates in Burke's life and career. In its compactness and comprehensiveness, this volume is the quintessential Burke reader. It will be of interest to historians, political scientists, and students of literature and intellectual history.

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Page Count

491

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351312308

ISBN 13

9781351312301

Edmund Burke and the Natural Law

By: Peter Stanlis

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Edmund Burke and the Natural Law

By: Peter Stanlis

Today the idea of natural law as the basic ingredient in moral, legal, and political thought presents a challenge not faced for almost two hundred years. On the surface, there would appear to be little room in the contemporary world for a widespread belief in natural law. The basic philosophies of the opposition--the rationalism of the philosophes, the utilitarianism of Bentham, the materialism of Marx--appear to have made prior philosophies irrelevant. Yet these newer philosophies themselves have been overtaken by disillusionment born of conflicts between "might" and "right." Many thoughtful people who were loyal to secular belief have become dissatisfied with the lack of normative principles and have turned once more to natural law. This first book-length study of Edmund Burke and his philosophy, originally published in 1958, explores this intellectual giant's relationship to, and belief in, the natural law. It has long been thought that Edmund Burke was an enemy of the natural law, and was a proponent of conservative utilitarianism. Peter J. Stanlis shows that, on the contrary, Burke was one of the most eloquent and profound defenders of natural law morality and politics in Western civilization. A philosopher in the classical tradition of Aristotle and Cicero, and in the Scholastic tradition of Aquinas, Burke appealed to natural law in the political problems he encountered in American, Irish, Indian, and British affairs, and in reaction to the French Revolution. This book is as relevant today as it was when it was first published, and will be mandatory reading for students of philosophy, political science, law, and history.

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Page Count

420

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

135131226X

ISBN 13

9781351312264

The Enlightenment

An Interpretation. The science of freedom

By: Peter Gay

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The Enlightenment

An Interpretation. The science of freedom

By: Peter Gay

The Enlightenment/Peter Gay.-v.II

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Page Count

756

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

0393313662

ISBN 13

9780393313666

Conversations with Robert Frost

The Bread Loaf Period

By: Peter J. Stanlis

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Conversations with Robert Frost

The Bread Loaf Period

By: Peter J. Stanlis

These core conversations between Peter Stanlis and Robert Frost occurred during 1939-1941. They are written in the much larger context of nearly a quarter century of friendship that ended only with the passing of Frost in 1963. These discussions provide a unique window of opportunity to appreciate the sources of Frost's philosophical visions, as well as his poetic interests. The discussions between Stanlis and Frost were held between six consecutive summers (1939-1944), when Stanlis was a student at the Bread Loaf Graduate School of English. These were augmented by additional exchanges at Bread Loaf in 1961-1962. These conversations provide original insights on important subjects common to both men. Frost insisted that it was impossible to make a complete or final unity out of the conflicts between spirit and matter. Ordinary empirical experience and rational discursive reason and logic could not harmonize basic conflicts. He held that the best method to ameliorate apparent contradictions in dualistic conflicts was through the "play" of metaphorical thinking and feeling. Metaphors included parables, allegories, fables, images, symbols, irony, and the forms and techniques of poetry such as rhyme, rhythm, assonance, dissonance, personifications, and connotations. These are the arsenal from which poets draw their insightful metaphors, but such metaphors are also the common property of every normal person. A poem is "a momentary stay against confusion," a form of revelation for "a clarification of life," but not a final, absolute answer to the mysteries and complexities in man's life on Earth. So too-at their best-are science, religion, philosophy, education, politics, and scholarship as a means of ameliorating human problems.

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

137

Publisher

Transaction Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

141281524X

ISBN 13

9781412815246

Edmund Burke and the Natural Law

By: Peter Stanlis

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Edmund Burke and the Natural Law

By: Peter Stanlis

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

348

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351312278

ISBN 13

9781351312271

Book's by Peter J. Stanlis

Conversations with Robert Frost

Conversations with Robert Frost

Ecstatic Pessimist

Ecstatic Pessimist

Treason and Rebellion in the British Atlantic, 1685-1800

Treason and Rebellion in the British Atlantic, 1685-1800

Social Contract and Political Obligation

Social Contract and Political Obligation

The Union As It Is

The Union As It Is

Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke and the Natural Law

Edmund Burke and the Natural Law

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment

Conversations with Robert Frost

Conversations with Robert Frost

Edmund Burke and the Natural Law

Edmund Burke and the Natural Law

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