A casual commentary

by Rose Macaulay

A Casual Commentary

Genres: Essays

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Emilie Rose Macaulay, whom Elizabeth Bowen called "one of the few writers of whom it may be said, she adorns our century," was born at Rugby, where her father was an assistant master. Descended on both sides from a long line of clerical ancestors, she felt Anglicanism was in her blood. Much of her childhood was spent in Varazze, near Genoa, and memories of Italy fill the early novels. The family returned to England in 1894 and settled in Oxford. She read history at Somerville, and on coming down lived with her family first in Wales, then near Cambridge, where her father had been appointed a lecturer in English. There she began a writing career which was to span fifty years with the publication of her first novel, Abbots Verney, in 1906. When her sixth novel, The Lee Shore (1912), won a literary prize, a gift from her uncle allowed her to rent a tiny flat in London, and she plunged happily into London literary life.

From BookRags: http://www.bookrags.com/biography/ros...

Reviews

[Geoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and amusing essays commenting on all parts/walks of life:
Choosing a religion, General Elections, Traveling by Train…
“How shall we elect to spend the brief span of our days on the upper surface of this planet?”
Bernard Shaw, "it is a mistake to get married, but a much bigger mistake not to"
“Truly the human race finds it's pleasures in odd ways, and one of the oddest is the absorption of ideas from black marks imprinted on white paper.”

[Graychin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light and mostly comic essays on topics such as how to choose a religion, on methods of propaganda, and on the troubles besetting readers, doctors, and married persons, among others. Less commonly stumbled upon and perhaps not quite as good as Macaulay’s other collection of essays, Personal Pleasures, any fan of Macaulay’s work will enjoy this.