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THE PUSHCART PRIZE, XVI

Name: THE PUSHCART PRIZE, XVI
Author: Bill Henderson
ISBN: 0-916366-71-5

BEST OF THE SMALL PRESSES

edited by Bill Henderson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1991

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Once again, Henderson's annual sampling of the nation's small presses astonishes with its variety and energy. In this generous 16th edition, comprised of 55 stories, essays, and poems, writers well known (Joyce Carol Oates, Paul West, Howard Nemerov, Christopher Buckley) but more often not point up the vitality of the grass-roots American literary landscape. Edward Hoagland's introduction, ``Holy Fools,'' a rather mean-spirited lament for the days when writers wrote for art, not money, doesn't strike a promising note, but it's soon overwhelmed by the work that follows, from David Jauss's opening ``Glossolalia,'' an intensely moving story about a boy's reckoning with his father's sins, to Jess Mowry's ``One Way'' (also reprinted in his Rats in the Trees collection, 1990), a hard-edged yet compassionate slice-of-life about a young ghetto boy. As always, then: must reading for anyone interested in the present and future of American arts and letters.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991

ISBN: 0-916366-71-5

Page Count: 580

Publisher: Pushcart

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1991

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PUSHCART PRIZE XLVIII
edited by Bill Henderson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PUSHCART PRIZE XLVII
edited by Bill Henderson

- BOOK REVIEW
PUSHCART PRIZE XLVI
edited by Bill Henderson

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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.