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LOST LANDSCAPES

Name: LOST LANDSCAPES
Author: Agata Tuszynska
ISBN: 0-688-12214-0

IN SEARCH OF ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER AND THE JEWS OF POLAND

by Agata Tuszynska ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1998

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Despite some fascinating vignettes and quotes, this is a somewhat disjointed attempt to write two books in one: a biographical collage of the Polish-Jewish-American Nobel laureate and a look at pre- and post-Holocaust Polish Jews and gentiles. A Polish historian and poet, Tuszynska has interviewed dozens of Singer's friends, critics, and other readers, mainly in the US and Israel, and captures the disagreeable as well as the admirably imaginative parts of his personality. For example, concerning his miserliness, she quotes Singer as having once told a waiter, ``I'd like to give you a larger tip, but my heart won't let me.'' Tuszynska offers some pungent insights into Singer's fiction, such as observing that he ``blasphemed, provoked, desecrated everything holy. Not from a wish to shock, but in the name of truth about the sorrows of human desires.'' Yet ultimately her mosaic of quotes and vignettes adds little to Janet Hadda's recent biography of Singer, and the memoirs of his son, Israel, and of his long-time assistant, Devorah Menashe Telushkin. Tuszynska's look at contemporary Poland and its Jews makes for interesting if depressing reading, revealing vitriolic anti-Semitism, strong misconceptions and remarkable ignorance about Jews among the Christian population (according to one poll, 25 percent of Poles believe their country is inhabited by 350,000 to 3.5 million Jews; the actual number is less than 20,000). Unfortunately, there is nothing here about the attempts by some Polish historians, Catholic priests, intellectuals, and others to gain a far more sophisticated understanding of the Polish-Jewish relationship—a project of which her own book is a part. Tuszynska also omits explanatory notes and sources for many of her quotes. Thus, she records without comment the entirely erroneous claim in one memoir that ``if a Jew's wife died, he had to sit at home in mourning for 14 days, eating once a day and not moving.'' While Tuszynska has gathered a great deal of colorful and revealing material, her two subjects aren't well integrated and are portrayed somewhat sketchily.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-688-12214-0

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1997

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
FAMILY HISTORY OF FEAR
by Agata Tuszynska translated by Charles Ruas

- BOOK REVIEW
VERA GRAN
by Agata Tuszynska translated by Charles Ruas

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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.