THE COURAGE OF TURTLES

by Edward Hoagland ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 14, 1970

Somehow Mr. Hoagland's pieces read better in the Village Voice (the source of a good number) where the irreducible flotsam brought in by the cruising ego becomes a kind of transient but valuable journalistic illumination. However, the total effect of this collection of essays from the Voice, Commentary, Harpers, etc. is that of a raspingly exhibitionist self riot probing as much as displaying. There are essays on circuses, bear hunts and carny sexploitations. Hoagland also has had considerable truck with animals -- domestic, working, trained and wild, and his essay on turtles focuses with some dilatory compassion on the creatures ""rolling like sailorly souls -- a bobbing, infirm gait, a brave sea-legged momentum. . . . "" Considerable attention is given to ""photographing states of mind"" and body. Like his Notes from a Century Before (1969) some entertainingly swaggering prose but more about the author than one can possibly wish to know or know what to do with.

Pub Date: Jan. 14, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION