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THE AMERICAN GENTLEMAN

Name: THE AMERICAN GENTLEMAN
Author: David Castronovo
ISBN: 0-8264-0532-0

SOCIAL PRESTIGE AND THE MODERN LITERARY MIND

by David Castronovo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 1991

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Despite alluding to George Bush and a few movie stars in his opening, Castronovo (English/Pace) is primarily interested in the literary representation of gentlemen, figures who either have prestige or lose it or are criticized for the way they acquire or exhibit it. After establishing the irony of class consciousness in a democratic society, Castronovo describes the European models for American gentility, the regional differences, the characteristic pleasures (fox-hunting, cricket) and values (honor, social service, fortitude, etc.), the schools where they are acquired, and the special places—the clubs and country homes—where they are practiced. He then traces the appearance of the gentleman in literature, mostly novels, methodically analyzing, comparing and contrasting, and usually accounting for its decline. The chapter on New York, for example, surveys Edith Wharton, Louis Auchincloss, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mary McCarthy, and John Cheever, and concludes decisively with Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities, which, according to Castronovo, shows the fate of the gentleman in modern life. The survey of the refined and more spiritual New England gentleman runs from Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry James to T.S. Eliot, J.P. Marquand, and Cheever again, concluding with Robert Lowell's Life Studies. Literary selections representing the southern gentleman, the provincial, and the western (the cowboy), enhanced by John Wayne and Joan Didion's essay on him, are equally eclectic, disregarding the sexual, class, regional, religious, or economic affiliations of the authors, the audiences for which they wrote, and even the growing decline of regionalism in literature that has taken place since the 50's, with the nationalization of media and therefore culture. Although Castronovo is very methodical, he fails to give his study a sociological framework or historical context, offering what is at best a pleasant exercise by a gentleman scholar, one of the few varieties of gentlemen he neglects here. (Illustrations.)

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 1991

ISBN: 0-8264-0532-0

Page Count: 216

Publisher: Continuum

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1991

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
CRITIC IN LOVE
by David Castronovo and Janet Groth

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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.