COMMENDABLESnWistful MemoriesnMark Girouard: The Returnnto Camelot: Chivalry and thenEnglish Gentleman; Yale UniversitynPress; New Haven.nIn 1790, with the “sophisters,neconomists, and calculators”nholding sway in revolutionarynFrance, Edmund Burke lamentednthat “the age of chivalry is gone.”nFor once, Burke’s powers of discernmentnfailed him, for as MarknGirouard notes in The Return tonCamelot, when Burke uttered hisnrequiescat over the grave, chivalrynhad already launched a comenback in England. In this richlynillustrated volume Girouardntraces this revival from its birthnin the late 18th century to itsndestruction in the mud and gorenof the Western Front in 1917.nCamelot came once again to Englandnin the 19th century, andnwhile it lasted upper-class Englishmenninfused the mundanenworld with lofty ideals and a radiantnvision of the romance ofnlife. Dickens’s Bounderbys andnGradgrinds—those offspring ofnthe Utilitarians and Manchesterians—hadntheir hands full withnIn the Mailnthese men devoted to the ethicsnof chivalry.nGirouard might easily havenmade sport with this curiou.snphenomenon, for what could benmore deliciously anachronistiitonour own sophisters and calculatorsnthan the Eglinton Tournamentnof 1839, in which .irmorednknights thundered Aowwnthe course to test their alor.^nBut something deeper lav benneath such ludicrous episoik-s:nat its best, the revival of chi ;ilrninspired Englishmen to srricnfor virtues—courage, hDiior.nduty, sportsmanship—wliiilinwere not automatically vnuilisafednto mortals. For ever)’ Ijignlishman who made a mockerv olnthe chivalric code by stnininj;nabout in a plumed helnu-i.nanother paid tribute to the i-nnnobling effects of the coJr bynaspiring to meet its higlu’sinstandards, thereby injectiiii; ancertain grace into his life. Piobnably only a small number o (.lirouard’snreaders will undersiandnthe difference between thesr iuiisiiingnCo.; Grand Rapids, Michigan. An exploration of hum.innstrengths and weaknesses in a novel about the struggle of an eilniiinand religious minority in America of the 1950’s.nPicaros, Madmen^ Naifs, and Clowns; The Unreliable lir.^l-nPerson Narrator by William Riggan; Oklahoma Univl•^^ilvnPress; Norman, Oklahoma. An examination and definition oi riunfictional autobiographer in American, British, Spanish, German, I .r.mnand Near Eastern literature, including such n^orks as Moll Fla/-.-‘nTristam Shandy, Lolita, The Tin Drum and The Catcher in theR>nIn— 1nSocial RegisternI li’w slioiilil .1 crtMiiin- o (.•Ic.tiiiiifi- of nKiiiii(.T.s ami rt-tiiK-nI11CI11 1)1 liahii.s faiv .i ilili-iiiiiia prcM-‘iiti-il fo him or iuT hynliti-.’ A.s ri-poru-il Ironi a laryr Mitlwf.sifni litv. a ivmilarn(.•iisiiniuT at a kiMiry uoiirnift shop (a anmit-rpart ol’ Manhiitntans Z;iliar. Hc-an <.V Dcliica or Ijalclircci) ran into a noisilynaiiiinatfil laiiiih who uas purilia.>;iiii> (.|iiantiliL-.s of .smokctln.siiir.yfon anil Fi-riuonl pale wiiii fooil .v;iani[is. Our frirnd (anliiK-ral ai hcari. a.s is usual lor clients ol firu’ iclual stcirt-s)nwas at first e.hilar.iit.-il and I’ditii’ii hy tliis ni-w ami iinldrL-.sccnnform of .soi’ial justiiv. ilii’n pi-rpk-.xcclnanil .sonii-how ilq’>ri’ssi’i.ln|i a ilili’mma. .s a cili/.i’ii of anfri’f anil pliiralisiic .soiifty. hifi-ltnstronuly that no one hasnany riahl wlialsocvirioiliitaii.liou’nor on whai pi-oplc s|H’nilnI hi’ir nioni’. lUif -anil IKTI’nhinnal lo.^ic invaili-s ivi-n rlionmost lilnTai mind- ;iri-looilnstamps ri-ally mom-y tlul lii.lonysnto rhi’ rivipii-nrs.” .Arin’rniliiy rather an expression ofn.soiii-iys lolli’ctive fona-rn lornilu- niisiTv. jiiiunv anil impov-n(‘risluni.’iu of ihosi’ amonu usnwho are unal’li’ ro providenhasie miurishmeiii for thi-mnselves.’ .Xndareni iliealimentsnin the /ahar class no! some-nthiiii; different from what we usually eonsider iieeessarynsusienanee.’nOur luiple.ss ol)serer. who has always wiied lor politiciansndedieaied lo reili’ilriliuliM’ivononiiepoliiies. inlormed us th;ilnhe no lonyer knows whom lo suppoil in lliis year’s eleerions.n,r the same time lieileilari’dtliat.as hi-sees ir.asoiiely whielinsineerelv wishes lo ai-hiei’ true lairne.ss anil deieney has nonilioiie other than to naiionali/.e mmrmel siores. lie thus lellninfo a i|uandarv hciwei-n con.science and self inli-rest. thenhallmark ol a iruK heautiful iierson.nStill another possibility must he coniemiilaied. however.nWhat if those free spenders were in fact the heralds of a newnfood-slanip i-hii-.– What if thev actually purchased (hose preciousnloiipoiis from le.ss fortunate hroihiTS anil sisiers justnlor fun. for the sarislaclion ol flaunting; rheni in a gourmetnsiorer’ Why not ask Congress lo revamp the Food Stamp Actnand make it po.ssihle to purchase with them some other commodifies.nsav at I. Maijniii or (.iartier’s.’ Couldn’t the.se mayicncoupons he used lo he really “with it.” ‘”in” and “on the level”.-‘nnnMarch/April 198Sn