The overall effect is somewhat slight and rather disjointed, but not without attraction.
Seven essays by novelist Byatt (The Biographer’s Tale, 2000, etc.), all ostensibly linked by the motifs of writing and reading fiction set in the past.
Byatt is at her best in the three opening essays (“Fathers,” “Forefathers,” and “Ancestors”), originally given as concurrent lectures. Taking Salmon Rushdie to task for his oft-quoted assertion that the British novel after WWII was moribund and in desperate need of infusions of vigor from its former colonies, Byatt adamantly refutes the image of the postwar UK novel as terminally cozy, unambitious, and genteel—making the case for a lively, postwar British canon with such authors as Muriel Spark, Anthony Burgess, Penelope Fitzgerald, and Jeanette Winterson at its center. Subsequent chapters broaden the discussion to include the works of European writers, a few Americans, and the now properly chastised ex-colonial Rushdie. An essay on literary scholarship and Byatt’s own Angels and Insects (1993) has some further relevance here; another, on images of ice and glass in poetry and prose, does not. Wrapping it all up is a perfunctory quickie on storytelling in general and A Thousand and One Nights in particular. The tone throughout these pieces remains consistent: eager, polite, informed, rushed. Not the least of the pleasures provided is that of having a respected writer reel off the names of some books she quite fancies (followed by a cursory description and a brief sentence or two of lavish praise)—a service that ultimately offers more to a reader looking for something new to pick up than to one wishing for either critical insight or the coherent investigation of the literary trends and strategies (as the title would seem to promise).
The overall effect is somewhat slight and rather disjointed, but not without attraction.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-674-00451-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Harvard Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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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