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VENICE REDISCOVERED

Name: VENICE REDISCOVERED
Author: John Pemble
ISBN: 0-19-820501-5

by John Pemble ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1995

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Essays in intellectual and literary history explain how Venice came to be regarded as a living museum of Western culture. Rather than a guidebook, Pemble (History/Univ. of Bristol, England; The Mediterranean Passion, not reviewed) has written an academic but fairly accessible text for students and scholars who wish to learn more about Western intellectual history. Eschewing such abstractions as ``the decline of liberalism,'' the author instead offers learned anecdotes about Venice and links them to broader changes in Western history. Like many good historians, Pemble is a strong storyteller, and his tales convey much of value about such prominent intellectual and literary figures as John Ruskin, Leopold Ranke, John Addington Symonds, and Henry James. He is even better when profiling the less famous but more colorful men and women of the English-speaking expatriate community. The author chronicles the appeal Venice's mold and watery stagnation exerted for the Romantic imagination; its impact on early-19th-century British architects, who returned from the city to construct massive buildings in the Venetian-Gothic style (St. Pancras Station, etc.); and the way in which its extensive, carefully preserved historical archives became the basis for a newly scientific approach to history. A routine stopping-off point on the steamship route to India, Venice was portrayed in 19th-century literature as a half- oriental city, the site of secret vices and home to mysterious recluses. By the 20th century, it was hailed as a monument to Western culture, and Pemble ends with an account of the international conservation effort mounted by scholars, travelers, and expatriates to preserve the city, a campaign which continues today. Not always easy reading, but a nicely anecdotal introduction to Western cultural history as encapsulated in a single, magical city. (Illustrations, not seen)

Pub Date: March 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-19-820501-5

Page Count: 230

Publisher: Oxford Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.