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FIRST PARAGRAPHS

Name: FIRST PARAGRAPHS
Author: Donald Newlove
ISBN: 0-312-06900-6

INSPIRED OPENINGS FOR WRITERS AND READERS

by Donald Newlove ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 12, 1992

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Disorganized and capricious though it is, novelist Newlove's (Curranne Trueheart, 1985, etc.) little book is an ardent breeze blowing open the many different pages bound into the great book of prose-stylistics, focusing on arresting first paragraphs (to Newlove, these are the ones with immediate and in-drawing voice and clean, un-Latinate presence). With the garrulity of table-talk and the simpatico alertness of a jazz-club patron (``Wow.'' Or: ``Sylvia, go on! I'm all ears,'' responding to The Bell Jar), Newlove hops from the classic to the unknown. Bleak House gets about equal treatment as Mailer's or Brodkey's brand-newest; there are startling rewrites (by ``Dr. Don'') of Updike and Fitzgerald; lightning flashes replace critical sedulousness, hitting as often as they miss (good comments on Henry Miller, Virginia Woolf, Burroughs, Bellow, Stead, Giono, Hemingway). Lit-crit, then, this really isn't—too much brio and haste (and a little too puppyish now and then; after untangling a Brodkey paragraph and finding it ultimately soggy, Newlove repairs unconvincingly: ``Genius does what it must and waits for you to grow up to its interests''). What it is, is a part of that small and valuable tradition of eccentric authorial responsa (the best of which probably still is Ford Madox Ford's The March of Literature) that ride the waves of inconsistency and vagrant taste to deliver a look into the personally needy way a writer reads. Poll working novelists and you'll likely find agreement—from the technicians of the form itself—with many of Newlove's tastes and reasons—and appreciation of the pure keen savor that words falling onto the page just right can bring on in one of their smiths.

Pub Date: Feb. 12, 1992

ISBN: 0-312-06900-6

Page Count: 160

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1991

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
INVENTED VOICES
by Donald Newlove

- BOOK REVIEW
PAINTED PARAGRAPHS
by Donald Newlove

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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.