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EATING WORDS

Name: EATING WORDS
Author: Sandra M. Gilbert
ISBN: 978-0-393-23984-3

A NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF FOOD WRITING

edited by Sandra M. Gilbert ; Roger J. Porter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 26, 2015

Useful as a textbook, the volume is a rewarding read for anyone who eats, cooks, or muses about food.

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A literary feast for foodies.

In this encyclopedic contribution to the burgeoning field of food studies, poet and literary scholar Gilbert (Emerita, English/Univ. of California, Davis; The Culinary Imagination: From Myth to Modernity, 2014, etc.) and restaurant critic Porter (English/Reed Coll.; Bureau of Missing Persons: Writing the Secret Lives of Fathers, 2011, etc.) bring together pieces by nearly 100 writers: poets, novelists, essayists, cooks, diners, and food critics. The population is diverse and the entries often witty, lively, and entertaining. Anton Chekhov, Seamus Heaney, and M.F.K. Fisher reflect on oysters; Louisa May Alcott, on the doomed project of Fruitlands, a utopian community whose founders—including her father—knew nothing about planting or harvesting and nearly starved themselves and their families. Proust recalls the madeleine; William Carlos Williams exults on plums; Calvin Trillin recounts his effort to lure his daughter from California to New York by promising her pumpernickel bagels. Restaurant critic Ruth Reichl (who also contributes the preface) calls her mother “The Queen of Mold” because she thought nothing about serving spoiled food to her family and guests. Erica Jong offers a sensuous meditation on the onion, and food writer Jeffrey Steingarten reveals his efforts to overcome his many food phobias, including kimchi, clams, and anything blue. One section focuses on the connection of food to identity, family, and ethnicity, with contributions from Ntozake Shange, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Maxine Hong Kingston, and Jhumpa Lahiri, among others. “Food Politics” includes entries by environmentalists Gary Snyder, Wendell Berry, and Barbara Kingsolver. Vegetarians defend their choices, as do carnivores and omnivores, and there are several exposés of bad practices (Upton Sinclair, Eric Schlosser). As in all Norton anthologies, entries are short, many edited from longer works; all have informative headnotes, and each section contains an introduction.

Useful as a textbook, the volume is a rewarding read for anyone who eats, cooks, or muses about food.

Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-393-23984-3

Page Count: 544

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: June 2, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015

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GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
STILL MAD
by Sandra M. Gilbert & Susan Gubar

- BOOK REVIEW
ESSENTIAL ESSAYS
by Adrienne Rich ; edited by Sandra M. Gilbert

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CULINARY IMAGINATION
by Sandra M. Gilbert

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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.