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WRITING PAST DARK

Name: WRITING PAST DARK
Author: Bonnie Friedman
ISBN: 0-06-016607-X

ENVY, FEAR, DISTRACTION, AND OTHER DILEMMAS IN THE WRITER'S LIFE

by Bonnie Friedman ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 30, 1993

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Inspirational essays on writing—by a novelist aborning whose piece ``Envy, the Writer's Disease'' made the cover of The New York Times Book Review and led to this book. Friedman sets out to uplift the writing reader and fellow novelist-to-be by opening her veins about the hardships of writing. More often, however, she opens her mind and gives the reader interesting snippets of Freud, Krishnamurti, Jung, and other wizards of the id. Most of her references are to women writers, with Mary Shelley getting the longest play in one of the best and most original passages here, in which the main problem of Dr. Frankenstein, the monster's ``author,'' is that he must ignore his family to get his work done. Friedman finds this problem common to authors who think they must write about their families but who must ignore the family's sensibilities in order to do so. She had that problem herself, she tells us, with her neurotically overweight sister. Friedman also talks about beginner's envy of famous writers, pointing out even Shakespeare's envy (``Desiring this man's scope, and that man's art'') and cries, ``Shakespeare desired another's art? Dear Lord, whose?'' Even so, this piece, the book's opening, is its most tedious stretch. The author is far livelier on schools for writers, writer's block, her first nonfiction sale (at age 34), and the landing of the contract for this book—at which moments the agony and the ecstasy are personal indeed and less abstract than Friedman's perfectly worked out similes and deep thoughts about the writer's mind. Not exciting as literary flower-picking, and only middling on the psychology of authors. Friedman's first novel should bring a brighter bloom.

Pub Date: June 30, 1993

ISBN: 0-06-016607-X

Page Count: 160

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1993

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.