“The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself”, edited with an introduction by Robert J. Allison

222 pages, Bedford Books, ISBN-13: 978-0312111274

Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 in Eboe, in what is now Nigeria. When he was about 11-years-old he was kidnapped and sold to slave traders headed to the West Indies. Though he spent a brief period in the state of Virginia, much of Equiano’s time in slavery was spent serving the captains of slave ships and British navy vessels. One of his masters, Henry Pascal, the captain of a British trading vessel, gave Equiano the name Gustavas Vassa, which he used throughout his life, though he published his autobiography under his African name. In service to Captain Pascal and subsequent merchant masters, Equiano traveled extensively, visiting England, Holland, Scotland, Gibraltar, Nova Scotia, the Caribbean, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and South Carolina. He was purchased in 1763 by Robert King, a Quaker merchant from Philadelphia, for whom he served as a clerk and in King’s trading sloops. Equiano, who was allowed to engage in his own minor trade exchanges, was able to save enough money to purchase his freedom in 1766. He settled in England in 1767, attending school and working as an assistant to scientist Dr. Charles Irving. Equiano continued to travel, making several voyages aboard trading vessels to Turkey, Portugal, Italy, Jamaica, Grenada, and North America. In 1773 he accompanied Irving on a polar expedition in search of a northeast passage from Europe to Asia. Equiano published his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African, in 1789 as a two-volume work. It went through one American and eight British editions during his lifetime. Following the publication of his Narrative, Equiano traveled throughout Great Britain as an abolitionist and author. He married Susanna Cullen in 1792, with whom he had two daughters. Equiano died in London in 1797.

Olaudah Equiano did invaluable service to cultural historians the world over when created a record of the 18^th Century slave trade through his first-hand knowledge and experiences and the writing of this book. A slave, by definition, is chattel and not a full person in his or her own right and, thus, is permitted no identity other than as a slave. Olaudah Equiano, however, was an exception and managed to create an identity beyond the life of an African slave while preserving his sense of humanity, despite his many arduous ordeals. Equiano’s genial attitude towards his many masters and strict sense of personal pride distinguished him from other slaves, while his differentiating characteristics allowed him to establish an identity within the sphere of slavery while, concurrently, preserving his humanity. No mean feat, that.

“Degas and the Dance”, by Jill DeVonyar & Richard Kendall

308 pages, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (HNA), ISBN-13: 978-1885444264

Degas and the Dance is the companion book to the exhibition of the same name that was seen at the Detroit Institute of Arts in December of 2002 and the Philadelphia Museum of Art in February of 2003 (this book has a special place in my heart ‘cause this was one of the first exhibitions I worked at the DIA as a volunteer). Among the supreme masterpieces of 19^th Century art are Edgar Degas’s dramatic, incisive, and often brilliantly colored pictures of the ballet, yet despite his enormous popularity as the foremost artist of the dance – with more than half his vast body of paintings, pastels, drawings, and sculptures devoted to the on-and-off-stage activities of ballerinas – this was the first major exhibition and catalogue to illuminate the theme in its historical context. This authoritative book presents much new material about Degas as an artist and his relationship with the ballet of his day. Far more knowledgeable about the training and technique of dancers than has previously been realized, Degas is shown responding to numerous ballet productions at the Paris Opera, to the shadowy life of the wings, and to the daily routines of the classroom.

Degas and the Dance explores the French Impressionist’s lifelong fascination with the dancers and theater of his day. Adding substantially to previous studies, the authors propose new links between some of Degas’s characteristic themes – such as laundresses and horse racing – and the lithe women (and girls) he painted incessantly. Fresh light is also shed on Degas’ fascination with women in their public and private lives. Works by Degas in all media are considered: paintings, pastels, drawings, lithographs, etchings, monotypes, and sculpture, and juxtaposed with the French theater of the day. Comparable human predicaments and parallels in visual language are all part of this wide-ranging analysis, which deepens our understanding of one of the world’s greatest artists. A very good catalogue of what was a illuminating and ground-breaking exhibition on one of the world’s great Impressionists.

“Eisenhorn”, by Dan Abnett

768 pages, The Black Library, ISBN-13: 978-1844161560

The Warhammer 40,000 Universe has intrigued me ever from the 90’s when a friend of my brother’s demonstrated the table-top game at a convention at his school. While I have never had the time, patience or talent to collect, paint, and display these awesome miniatures, the universe as created by Games Workshop intrigued me from the start, and I have been hooked ever since. The Warhammer 40,000 Universe is set in the 41^st Millennium in a time when humanity has colonized countless millions of planets throughout a good portion of the Milky Way. The whole Imperium is ruled by an Emperor of Mankind centered on Holy Terra (Earth to you and me) who exists in a half dead state – he’s ruled for 10,000 years in this state; The Horus Heresy series of books tell the story of how the Imperium came to be – and the whole administration of the Empire is somewhat Feudal and Medieval with gargantuan bureaucracies and religion seems to permeate a significant portion of people's lives. So many technologies have been invented and forgotten that technology has come to be regarded as a kind of techno-magic, and there’s a whole religion associated with technology, The Adeptus Mechanicus. There are the Adeptus Astartes, or Space Marines, the Emperor’s elite, genetically engineered and power-armored augmented fighters, and there’s the Imperial Guard, populated by mere humans.

In this time, faster than light space travel is through The Immaterium, better known as “The Warp”, or Hyperspace – but this Hyperspace is not empty as in so many other fictitious universes; rather, it is teeming with demons and lost souls that are just ready to rip a spaceship that is not protected appropriately. In certain places the Immaterium is very close to real space (the two realities, ours and chaos, are very close to each other and here demons will sometimes spill out into the real universe and invade and corrupt real worlds and people (they become tainted with chaos). The Inquisitor’s job is to seek out and find the taint of Chaos, Mutants, Orks, Xenomorphs, Eldar etc., throughout the Imperium and exterminate them (no United Federation of Planets or interspecies cantina here; the only good alien is a dead alien). Inquisitors are very independent but they each carry the full weight of the Emperor, each has his own way of doing things but they have a hierarchy and they go out throughout the Universe seeking anything evil and once they do (each in their unique way) then they focus the Empire’s legions to destroy it. They’re like the white blood cells of the imperium by finding evil, tagging it, and then having space marines or imperial legions to come and destroy the evil. What we end up with then is a very Gothic, dark and dystopian future in which hope is small and there is only war.

This is what interests us and Eisenhorn, an omnibus book that gathers together the works by Dan Abnett that concern Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn: the novels Xenos, Malleus, and Hereticus, and the short stories Missing In Action and Backcloth For A Crown Additional. Eisenhorn is already a full-fledged Inquisitor hunting evil and it traces his development as his devotion to Emperor causes him to use ever-more marginal – indeed, almost heretical – approaches to hunt Chaos, and leaves us with an Eisenhorn who, while still devoted to the Emperor (in his fashion) stoops to use Chaos to fight Chaos. Is Eisenhorn, then good or evil? Hard to say at this point, although Eisenhorn himself would insist that he is but doing the Emperor’s will in his own way.

If you’re going to jump into the Warhammer 40K universe – or just dabble about at its fringes like I do – Eisenhorn is probably the best to open the doors and show you just makes the 41^st Millennium tick.  Eisenhorn will show you some of the greatest parts of the Imperium as well as some of the worst evils, and you’ll even be rewarded by Abnett by him giving you glimpses into almost every facet of the Imperium, such as the Space Marines, Chaos Marines, Titans, Chaos Titans, et al. Abnett’s characters evolve and some favorites will die in a dark universe where humanity is fighting for its survival. This is not a book that ends happily ever. Will humanity overcome the Chaos that threatens or will he fall prey to it in the attempt of learning and fighting it?