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IMPROVISED EUROPEANS

AMERICAN LITERARY EXPATRIATES AND THE SIEGE OF LONDON

The ambivalence of pen-toting expatriates is Zwerdling’s absorbing subject. And those expats are well known indeed: the Americans Henry Adams, Henry James, Erza Pound, and T.S. Eliot, all of whom found themselves while living in London. Zwerdling (Literature/Univ. of Calif., Berkeley; Virginia Woolf and the Real World, 1986) examines a transitional moment in writing lives spent abroad for their revelations of character. The strength of the author’s narrative lies in his recognition of bad luck, frustration, and failure as important themes, especially when apparent disappointments help win the writer-protagonist what he most seems to want. Namely, for James —the claim to a European, supranational identity,— which, Zwerdling points out, —offends every natural constituency.— James achieved the coveted identity, but was then lamentably misunderstood both by Americans and by his adoptive English audience. The consequences? His —bitter withdrawal to the coterie.— In fact, despite their triumphs, all four expatriate writers have left troubled legacies, and this is another strong suit of Zwerdling’s: his ability to observe without melodrama the conflicts that were innate in each author’s ideal of victory abroad. The portrait of Eliot is particularly shrewd. Regardless of his enormous success in England as a writer, editor, critic, and arbiter, —despite Eliot’s estrangement from America and eagerness to leave, he finds no adequate substitute in the improvised life he constructs abroad.— That is, he remains unhappily American—and half erased by his own hand. Although Zwerdling’s introductory chapters discussing broader cultural Anglo-American competition and attempted reconciliation are too discursive and extended to launch the book with the brio that it needs, his clarity and concision elsewhere give readers the guidance they require in following sometimes wayward footsteps. —Being a citizen of the world might only be a glamourous name for homelessness.— Agreed. (8 pages photos, not seen)

Pub Date: June 2, 1998

ISBN: 0-465-03275-3

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Basic Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1998

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

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

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NUTCRACKER

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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