A powerful reminder that Fuller’s death by shipwreck was a tragic loss not just to her loved ones but to American...
A splendid selection of letters from the pen of our first prominent feminist intellectual (1810–50).
From his comprehensive six-volume Letters of Margaret Fuller (1983–94, not reviewed), Hudspeth (English/Univ. of Redlands) has culled items that illuminate the extraordinary dimensions of Fuller’s restless mind and capacious heart. Friend of Emerson, Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Poe, Fuller established a peerless reputation for literary criticism in a male-dominated world. Her literary gifts emerged early. At eight she wrote to her father, “If you have spies they will certainly inform you that we are not very dissipated.” There are formal letters (to Alcott, applying for a teaching job), playful ones (to friends), newsy missives (to her parents), encouraging and admonitory letters (to her siblings—“I hope that you will not forget your resolves about study . . .”), and lyrical passages describing sunsets, waterfalls, and works of art (although she was unimpressed by Niagara: “I got quite tired at last of seeing so much water in all ways and forms”). When Emerson hired her (at no salary) to edit the Dial, she revealed her ability as a working professional, fully confident and willing to reject even an essay submitted by Thoreau (“I never once feel myself in a stream of thought,” she commented, “but seem to hear the grating of tools on the mosaic”). In Europe at the end of her life, she wrote knowledgeably about politics and wittily about the difficulties of travel. There are passionate letters, as well—to her friend Caroline Sturgis, to James Nathan (whom she loved, only to be rejected), and to the Italian man who fathered her child and may have married her.
A powerful reminder that Fuller’s death by shipwreck was a tragic loss not just to her loved ones but to American literature. (8 b&w illustrations)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8014-3747-4
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Cornell Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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