Grim biography of Rome's greatest monster, Caligula (A.D. 12- 41). Ferrill (History/Univ. of Washington) dismisses the Caligula of Lloyd C. Douglas's The Robe, Robert Graves's I, Claudius, Bob Guccione's X-rated film, and J.P.V.D. Balsdon's The Emperor Gaius (1934) as largely bad jobs, and argues that Anthony Barrett's Caligula: The Corruption of Power (1989) rationalizes that Caligula ``was not insane and that he was intelligent.'' Not so, Ferrill insists: Caligula was as mad as mad can be. He sees the young prince coddled and treated almost as a god since birth. As a child, Caligula knew much terror, with his father apparently being poisoned and his mother forever raving against the emperor. Caligula was not in direct line for the crown, but political machinations (by others, not himself) landed him in the purple. Before that, he seduced his two younger sisters, then went to live with Uncle Tiberius, the emperor, on Capri, where Tiberius reveled as a wildly inventive sex maniac. At Tiberius's death, a Praetorian slipped Caligula in as emperor, and for his first six months the young emperor was well liked for his insane generosity. He fell sick briefly, and upon his recovery joy turned to civil terror. Murder was the least of his sins and the smart died first. He had one senator's body chopped up before him. At parties he had sex with anyone's wife, with the husband attending. He deified his dead sister, and tried to have his own statue put into Jewish temples, which would have caused civil war had he not been assassinated. And that's only a skim of his crimes. Feels padded even at 184 pages, and Ferrill's dismissiveness of others grates and does not make for happy reading. (Twenty-two illustrations and copious footnotes—not seen.)
Pub Date: June 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-500-25112-6
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1991
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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