Mullan, Plumly, Ramadan, Almeida, Weber

John Mullan's Anonymity makes a really good read. It is about the reasons why and examples of authors publishing books anonymously or under pseudonyms. Some pseudonyms remain, like George Eliot, and some do not, like Currer Bell (Charlotte Bronte). People used anonymity for marketing reasons, or for fear of the law. I also read William Weber's Great Transformation of Musical Taste, which is about concert programs and types for a 150-year period. It was interesting to see how late the church-like atmosphere and sacredness of text came into the culture. The author mentions, but I had also noticed, that the same is true in literature, particularly mangling Shakespeare, and it happened at about the same time. I did not find much that was new in Tariq Ramadan's Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, since I had read some liberal Muslim theology before. I found that there was similarities with Christianity in terms of the ethics of living, but I had noticed that before. I regret to say that Manuel Almeida's Memoirs of a Militia Sergeant, yet another picaresque novel, made next to no impression on me. Stanley Plumly's Posthumous Keats was excellently written, and it was an intriguing premise to look at how Keats' legend grew up in the 2 or 3 decades after his death. After that I spent quite a lot of time reading Reve du pavillon rouge. I'm going to have to read up on it, because it started getting more interesting than endless bickering among women in classical China past page 1500 or so. Yes, it's a 3000 pager, and I'm about 3/4 of the way through. I am finding it much more psychologically interesting. After that, I have the first 3 volumes of Voltaire's complete works to read.