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ECHOES DOWN THE CORRIDOR

Name: ECHOES DOWN THE CORRIDOR
Author: Arthur Miller
ISBN: 0-670-89314-5

COLLECTED ESSAYS, 1944-1999

by Arthur Miller & edited by Steven R. Centola ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 9, 2000

Miller comes across as an engaging and honest interlocutor, and many readers will surely enjoy his wit and intellect. Even...

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A volume of essays, 1994–99, by one of America’s most prominent American playwrights—an engaged intellectual and public figure who has remained abreast of the major political, social, and cultural events for over half of the last century.

Miller’s style varies from lyrical prose (when he recollects his childhood spent in Brooklyn or confesses his admiration for the engineering wonder of the Brooklyn Bridge) to analytical commentary (on McCarthyism or the Frankfurt Nazi trial). The accounts of his Italian misadventures (when he was “kidnapped” by a well-meaning fan and courted by a powerful Sicilian Mafia baron) are full of humorous observations and genuine irony. But when he turns to the murky years of Turkish military rule and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Miller becomes a serious and ardent political advocate. The story of his philosophical debate with a diehard American Communist in China is at once an insightful study of human nature and an exposition of the author’s strongest convictions. Understandably, however, theater remains Miller’s primary theme throughout the years, as he comments on various productions of his own plays around the globe and reviews the works of his peers. And his political and theatrical inclinations are both illustrated in his call (first raised in the 1950s) to do away with the American playwright’s “homelessness” through the establishment of government subsidies for the theater—a call that remains unanswered.

Miller comes across as an engaging and honest interlocutor, and many readers will surely enjoy his wit and intellect. Even if some of his opinions rub the wrong way, the logic behind his arguments and the sheer breadth of his knowledge will nevertheless be appreciated.

Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2000

ISBN: 0-670-89314-5

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Penguin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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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.