New Height Books

Produced by Quent Cordair Fine Art, Maurice Maeterlinck’s tour de force Monna Vanna is coming live to Los Angeles. From the Monna Vanna website:

Written in 1902, Monna Vanna was Maeterlinck’s first brilliant success. It was played on every important stage in Europe, except in England, where it was forbidden by censor. In 1911, Maeterlinck was honored with the Nobel Prize for literary achievement.

“It is the late fifteenth century, and the battered city of Pisa faces imminent vanquishment by the superior army of Florence. As the city’s commander prepares for the inevitable end, he receives from the enemy an astonishing offer of rescue. The attack will be called off, the siege will be lifted, the starving city will be resupplied — on one condition. The commander’s wife, a woman revered as the epitome of honor and virtue, must surrender her body for a night to the hated leader of the Florentine army.

“Thus begins Monna Vanna — and thus is unleashed a torrent of conflicts and sub-conflicts, masterfully orchestrated by the playwright, concerning the meaning of honor and the pursuit of values.

“You will find a noble, distinctively elevated spirit in this 1902 drama. All the characters, even minor ones, are loyally committed to some moral principle and act only out of profound conviction. There are no shallow men or petty motives here — only heroic figures, sublime choices and epic decisions.” Second Renaissance, Inc., Publisher

For those of you able, I would definitely recommend going to see the live production, which is playing November 29 thru December 16, 2007 at the Stella Adler Theatre. It will definitely be a treat. For those of you who can’t make it, be sure to check out the Monna Vanna Blog where you can listen to regular podcasts from the director and cast about their roles and experiences with this play.

For more information visit the Monna Vanna website. And don’t forget to read the play!

New Submissions

This week five new works have been submitted and approved.

• Books
  • July 5 by Joseph M. McHugh
  • Revolutions by Stefan Molyneux
• Movies
  • Dangerous Beauty
  • Queen Christina
  • Bicentennial Man

Recent Reviews

argounova posted a short but spirited review of Edmond Rostand’s excellent play, Cyrano de Bergerac:

“F*cking fantastic. If you want a great piece of poetically rich Romanticism, Cyrano is your man.”

And I posted a brief review of The Mysterious Valley by Maurice Champagne.

Movie Previews from Unbox

Using Amazon’s Unbox, you can now watch previews of the movies listed on NHB available for download from Amazon. It’s a new service, so only a handful are available, but hopefully this will improve over time. You can view the available previews here.

I was first introduced to Terry Goodkind’s novels in high school by a good friend. Rather than start me at the beginning of the Sword of Truth series, my friend took me directly to book six, Faith of the Fallen. He insisted then, and I still agree, that it is by far the best of Goodkind’s works. In it Goodkind, like most fantasy author’s, had created an entirely new world. But unlike others, Goodkind created characters of depth, a relevant story, and a truly moral hero. And as for magic, Goodkind does not use it as a deus ex machina to suddenly and inexplicably save the day, but rather as simply an enhancement to the world he has created, which is bound by physical laws and limitations. What magic does do, and what it doesn’t do, is a big part of the theme throughout the Sword of Truth series.

After completing Faith of the Fallen I started over from the beginning and made my way through Goodkind’s incredible books. I had learned at some point that Terry Goodkind is an Objectivist, and its presence was an explicit, driving force in his novels. As such we watch the philosophical growth of the hero, Richard Rahl, over the course of time. Becoming more strict in his standards, more sure of his judgement, and more confident in his abilities. Especially in the later novels Richard makes decisions that even his closest friends cannot understand, but throughout we see that Richard is guided by reason, and is unfailing in his commitment to seeking the truth.

The series follows Richard as he comes to grips with both his powers and his heritage as a king as the entire world is threatened by the Imperial Order, an army beyond measuring that preaches common good and brotherly love while wiping out cities by the handful. A truly selfish individualist, Richard fights for his own values of freedom from tyranny and brute force, matched only by his love for his wife, Kahlan. The books are fast-paced and mysterious, with a good amount of action thrown in. But as the story has progressed the battles become far more moral and psychological, and Goodkind uses every opportunity to point out the dichotomies between freedom and collectivism, obedience and choice, love and fear.

Tomorrow, November 13th, the eleventh and final book in the Sword of Truth series, Confessor, is released. I pre-ordered my copy weeks ago, and I can’t wait for it to arrive later this week. The hardcover is available from Amazon for $17.97. Visit Amazon to reserve your copy, or see all books we list by Terry Goodkind.