Narrow and uneven, but soaring in spurts.
Sixteen essays on the place of poetry in the cultural and physical landscape of Southern California.
Despite the title, being married to “the icepick killer” (actor David Dukes, who died in 2000) is not actually the focus of these musings by poet Muske-Dukes (Literature and Creative Writing/Univ. of Southern California). Rather, she is bent on “considering the influence of the manufacture of powerful images on the idea of the subversive,” with the subversive here being poetry. The city of Los Angeles, specifically its isolation, works well for Muske-Dukes, since “alienation is the real home of poets.” Yet the scattered, media-obsessed population of this sprawling burg embraces poetry—and creative writing in general—to the extent that billboards plastered with quotations from Dickinson, Eliot, and Bukowski appear along the freeway. The author presents the literary history of Southern California as evidence that this love hasn't occurred in a vacuum, but quickly moves on to offer recent specifics about some piquant situations created by the collision of poetry and film. Hired as a consultant on the WWII film U-571 starring Matthew McConaughey, she and fellow poet Stephen Yenser are asked to provide “poetic” words to be uttered over the final scene of the shipwrecked crew. (What a surprise: it didn’t work out.) Poetry and politics also make a curious mix: the author reports on a 1998 gathering of 50 poets at Clinton's White House, where the president's face lit up at the mention of Seamus Heaney. Interspersed are a graceful brace of essays about how Muske-Dukes met her husband, how their careers resonated, his thoughts about acting, and the epitaph from Shakespeare (“Let me play the lion too”) she and their daughter chose for his gravestone.
Narrow and uneven, but soaring in spurts.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2002
ISBN: 0-375-50711-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2002
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
© 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.
