San Antonio College Library

A cross-cultural discussion of "ring composition," which places the meaning of texts in the middle, arguing that a modern linear interpretation is incorrect, focusing on antique texts from Egypt, China, Indonesia, Greece, and Russia, such as Homer's "Iliad," the Bible's book of Numbers, and Sterne's "Tristram Shandy."

"This book is a study of the attitude of the leading novelists of the eighteen century to the contemporary class system and to current trends in philosophy and education"--Preface

This informative social history chronicles the rise and fall of an intriguing social phenomenon--the ideal of a gentleman--tracing its history from Chaucer's "gentle knight," through the Victorian era, to the present day