Garner begins his brief introduction by naming his subject, The Fool in folklore-but this is no collection of numbskull tales, though a few such anecdotes are included. To Garner, the Guizer (the name refers to an actor in a mumming play) is not only fool—and trickster as well, but, in his various incarnations—arranged here in evolutionary sequence—no less than animal instinct, demiurge, culture hero, and "the dawning godhead in man." Gardner's broad interpretation of the "fool" concept is reflected too in the variety of the tales collected here from world folklore—it is hard to imagine what folk tale would not fit his view of the subject—and, considering the bare minimum of commentary (the two-page introduction and brief appended notes on sources, changes, and problems of translation), sometimes hard to see how those that are here specifically fit the scheme. As an aid, Garner divides the selections into three sections—on the Guizer as Fool, Man, and God—though in some of the episodes the Ashanti Anansi, featured in the first, and the Winnebago Hare, who ends the last, seem much alike. What is clear is Garner's exclusive interest in a universal psychology ("everywhere the myth is the same") as distinguished from cultural anthropology. Only in the notes (which toss off words like "apotropaic" and "theriomorphic") is the cultural origin of each tale identified, and even there readers will find no hint as to who Finn and the Fianna are, though they are subjects of two of the tales in part one. But, in Garner's words, "the book is an entertainment rather than a thesis," and—though it might better have been expanded into a thesis—his versions are both entertaining and closer to their beginnings than you are likely to find in collections for young people. And if readers can't always be expected to follow Gamer's train of thought, he well might prod them to speculation of their own.
Pub Date: Aug. 16, 1976
ISBN: 068886001X
Page Count: 213
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1976
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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