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EVERGREEN REVIEW READER, 1957-1966

Name: EVERGREEN REVIEW READER, 1957-1966
Author: Barney Rosset
ISBN: 1-56201-045-X

edited by Barney Rosset ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 30, 1993

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A rich selection of articles, stories, book extracts, poems, plays, cartoons, and covers from the first decade of America's premier avant-garde magazine of the 50's and 60's (Evergreen Review lasted until 1973, but its importance as an iconoclastic voice waned with the arising of the 60's countercultural movement). The array of writers and work published by founding editor Rosset was staggering: Reprinted here from Evergreen Review's first year alone are—to name just a few entries—original short stories by Samuel Beckett and Jack Kerouac (with his ``October in the Railroad Earth'' predating the publication of On the Road); Allen Ginsberg's Howl (previously published only as a pamphlet that'd been seized by customs officials); a selection from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's A Coney Island of the Mind; and a long passage from Alexander Trocchi's Cain's Book. Though much of the material has by now shown up in other books, numerous items (including the marvelous covers- -e.g., the classic one from 1966 of a heavily bearded Ginsberg cavorting in a sport coat and Uncle Sam top hat—and several reprinted comic strips—notably, Michael O'Donoghue's The Adventure of Phoebe Zeit-geist)—are here saved from oblivion. To see them all together is not only to take a stimulating walk down Memory Lane but to remember how much influence and prophetic insight a daring literary magazine with high standards can have.

Pub Date: Nov. 30, 1993

ISBN: 1-56201-045-X

Page Count: 356

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1993

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
ROSSET
by Barney Rosset

- BOOK REVIEW
DEAR MR. BECKETT—LETTERS FROM THE PUBLISHER
by Barney Rosset edited by Lois Oppenheim

- BOOK REVIEW
THE OUTLAW BIBLE OF AMERICAN LITERATURE
edited by Alan Kaufman & Neil Ortenberg & Barney Rosset

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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.