Customer Reviews

The Making of Sir Philip Sidney

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Berry made some good points in his book on Sidney's self-representation, but it needs to be read with great caution. It can be dangerous for an amateur, such as a 12-year-old who uses it as a source of knowledge. Even though his central argument stands unimpaired, Berry's treatment of the Arcadia is a mess. He made so many unbelievable errors about the very basics of the Arcadia as a fiction--character names and plot--that one cannot help wondering if he had read the book twice or even once before he tried to write two lengthy chapters on it. In addition to Berry, University of Toronto Press is not free from blame. Many of the errors Berry made can be detected by someone who has never read the Arcadia before, and the Press apparently failed to see them. For instance, Berry assigns a speech to different characters at different places (only pages apart in his book). Confusing the protagonist's pseudonym and his mistress's name, Berry also has the young man consummate his love with himself. In the labyrinth of Berry's discussion of the plot and characters, one can see something comparable to Hamlet's love affair with Juliet or Macbeth's exile in the Forest of Arden. Certainly the Arcadia is a difficult book and Berry is not alone in making mistakes about the numerous characters and complicated plot. Still, Berry's book is an amazing oddity with its outstanding number of mistakes and his consistency in making them. It is a book useful not for an amateur but for a scholar. It teaches an important lesson: never attempt to write a book on something you know very little.

This was a great book for researching purposes. Not a joy reading book. If you are doing a report on Sir Philip Sidney for school, this is the best book avaliable. It talks about his life and how he became famous, as well as lots of his poetry. I did a report on the poet and used this book. I got an A on it, and so will you. The book was a big help, it is very easy to understand.