What might have been an unstable mix of essays and reviews on a variety of art forms—dance, film, fashion, and painting—instead coalesces into a thematically sound and richly varied collection. Critic Hollander (Sex and Suits: The Evolution of Modern Dress, 1994) knows how to link subjects—even those that seem to bear little or no relation to one another—by isolating underlying themes and teasing them to the legible surface. Which is not to say that she manipulates her material; she simply remains true to her priorities as a critic. And her work benefits. In this latest collection, Hollander takes pains to assert that artists are increasingly working in mediums that reflect movement. Well, maybe, but her assertion functions largely as an excuse to indulge her own abiding fascination with clothing, costuming, and the intersection between artist and physical environment. Those obsessions seem reason enough to group these pieces together, especially since they’re all imbued with Hollander’s intellectualism. Expert and deeply informed, she examines fellow authors’ work with considerable thoroughness—reading her can feel like eavesdropping on a passionate, if somewhat biased, debate. In her review of Mark Anderson’s book Kafka’s Clothes, she lauds his ability to combine serious literary criticism with a discussion of 19th-century attire. “Clothes have always made useful literary metaphor (language is the dress of thought and so on),” she writes, “they have also offered a useful descriptive device for most novelists, however surreal their vision.” Thus Gregor Samsa, “the fearsome beetle, clad in his functional carapace,” becomes “the new-made Modern Artist.” This contact point at which the artist’s very body meets the outer world—and is mediated by clothing or costuming—always sparks Hollander’s interest. And she brings a vital freshness and droll sense of humor to subjects that seem possibly trite, like the wearing of black, androgynous fashions, even tight-lacing corsets. While Hollander’s intellectualism may verge on the academic, her passion for exploring the symbolism of art and clothing is anything but.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-374-28201-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
A welcome review of the great caricaturist's work, ranging from the 1970s to the present, with sections on ``History'' (with a droll strip on God, a hilarious portrait of a variety of American presidents caught in illicit liaisons, and a young Truman Capote having tea with a wonderfully dour Colette); ``Entertainment and the Arts'' (featuring a blithe George Gershwin showing Fred Astaire the choreography for ``Fascinating Rhythm,'' and a startling portrait of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow); and ``Politics,'' which includes some of Sorel's most identifiable—and savage—work, such as his frequent, inspired pilloryings of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. There's an impressive continuity here: From his earliest work Sorel has demonstrated a powerful gift for rendering the personalities of the famous in a manner that is slyly exaggerated, psychologically penetrating, and utterly convincing. He also, as this generous gathering of work (principally from magazines) reminds us, has an extraordinary range of knowledge about popular culture. And he is a subtle and very effective colorist. A deeply amusing, even necessary, volume.
Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1997
ISBN: 0-679-45466-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Barbera's animated characters—Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo, Yogi Bear, the Flintstones, and the Jetsons—may have kept American kids entertained for the past 30 years, but don't expect a side- splitting memoir here. Rather than laughter, his autobiography inspires bored yawns and knowing nods; it's jammed with dull details and horror stories that confirm Hollywood's dog-eat-dog reputation. Barbera begins his story with the 1960 Flintstones odyssey: Holed up in a New York hotel for eight weeks, he peddled the denizens of Bedrock to ad agencies and TV networks with no luck until his very last prospect (ABC) bought the show, which went on to be wildly successful. Barbera wasn't an unknown doodler when he went door-to-door with the Flintstones in 1960—he and Bill Hanna had won seven Academy Awards and created a major Hollywood studio—but in the media business, he tells us, each venture is a fresh battle. Of more interest than Barbera's depiction of his Lower East Side childhood, struggling apprenticeship, and California lifestyle (earthquakes, brush fires, pool parties) is his view of Hollywood creativity and deal making. He reveals that many of his best inventions were improvised; Fred Flintstone's famous ``Yabba-Dabba-Do,'' for instance, was a last-minute suggestion by the voice actor. ``My whole life...has been determined by perfectly casual, almost thoughtless decisions and actions,'' writes Barbera. Unfortunately, ``casual'' and ``thoughtless'' are adjectives that can also be applied to this book's structure. Random recollections and asides disrupt the narrative, which seems to name every animator and ad man the author met during a 50-year career. MGM producers always picked up the Oscars won by Hanna-Barbera cartoons. If Barbera had been able to step up to the podium, maybe his memoir would read less like a long acceptance speech. (Author tour)
Pub Date: June 1, 1994
ISBN: 1-57036-042-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1994
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