A brilliant collection of twenty-six essays from various academic hands, votive offerings presented to the eminent Boswell scholar, Professor Frederick Pottle. Oddly enough there's nothing at all on Boswell, though there are two studies of Johnson. The underlying theme investigates the changes in England's literary temper during the 18th century and the early years of the 19th, ranging from the urbane didacticism of Pope to the more oracular moods of Wordsworth and the other Romantics. The best pieces are general appreciations: Martin Price on the playfulness and preciosities of the "picturesque" in art, nature, and poetry, and M. H. Abrams' concluding paper on the style and structure of the lyric meditation. Blake's subversive metrics and unorthodox Christianity, the varying modes of self-consciousness in Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats, the diction of Words-worth and Burns, reconsideration of Collins and Gray's Elegy, the development of the dramatic line in Pope and Johnson- these make up the more particularized excursions, each in its way showing how an elegant melancholic sensibility took on certain crises, what's usually termed "dejection" or the loss of a spiritual or personal wonder. A must.
Pub Date: June 15, 1965
ISBN: 0195008022
Page Count: 585
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1965
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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