Maddox (Nora, 1988) focuses on Lawrence's tumultuous union with a German aristocrat as the major factor goading him to his artistic quantum leaps. The working-class literary novice from the Midlands could not have found a more exotic wife than Frieda von Richthofen Weekley. A sexually adventurous woman with links to the radical culture in Germany (Nietzsche, expressionism, anarchism, and psychoanalysis), Frieda gave up her English husband and three children to join Lawrence in his intercontinental travels. Many of Lawrence's friends found Frieda crude and sententious in contrast to her charming, charismatic husband (who later turned out near-libelous caricatures of them in his books), but throughout the Lawrences' turbulent married life their guests and hosts would be treated, alternately, to scenes of the couple's contented domesticity and Lawrence's appalling abuse, both verbal and physical. The marriage was a childless one, and Frieda sacrificed a role in the lives of her children from her first marriage to Lawrence's emotional needs. Frieda's devoted adoration of Lawrence as a literary genius was balanced by her own conceited ambition to serve as his companion and inspiration, a job for which few others had the stamina. Despite her infidelities, sexual demands, and jealousy, Lawrence found in her enough feminine stimulation to fuel his creativity over a lifetime. While Maddox underplays his Midlands background, she perceptively handles Lawrence's pathological denial of his tuberculosis and his homosexual ambivalence, as well as his flawed literary output and incoherent philosophy. Her new material includes such surprises as an affair the previously presumed monogamous Lawrence had in Italy and his ambiguous relationship with the homosexual Maurice Magnus, for whose posthumous memoir he provided a notorious introduction. The story Maddox tells is one of continuous emotional skirmishes between two highly contradictory personalities, each lacking self-knowledge, each obsessed with the other. She tells it judiciously and well.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-671-68712-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
