Robert Graves turned 81-years-old this year. Now, in the heart of a prolonged critical reaction against his psychoanalytical investigations, his literary commentary and mythmaking, his Collected Poems are being published in America for the first time. The present volume contains all the poetry Graves has authorized for publication in his nearly 60 years of writing. The early Georgian poems are here, humorous, charming, unpretentious; and the amatory nursery rhymes and country sketches, written, Graves has said, to subdue memories of the First World War. Then follow anti-Romantic poems and the ironic, purified, and polished jewels of the years Graves spent with Laura Riding; the more familiar elaborations on the myth of the White Goddess; and a recent, somewhat contradictory preoccupation with the goddess of wisdom. But most of ali, here is a poet who searched valiantly for a breadth of imagery and form to contain his central theme of love; it's only regrettable that a more handsome volume is not in the offing. But this does supply a fine; brief biographical introduction by lames McKinley.
Pub Date: Nov. 5, 1976
ISBN: 0385115075
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1976
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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