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SCOTTIE

Name: SCOTTIE
Author: Eleanor Lanahan
ISBN: 0-06-017179-0

THE DAUGHTER OF... THE LIFE OF FRANCES SCOTT FITZGERALD LANAHAN SMITH

by Eleanor Lanahan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1995

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An inept, superficial, and histrionic biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald's daughter by her own daughter. Frances ``Scottie'' Fitzgerald (19211986) began a brief and reticent memoir just before she died, and her elder daughter expands it here, using an unsuccessful agglomeration of Scottie's writings, including diary entries, letters, introductions to posthumous collections of her father's work, journalism, and short fiction. Kept slightly to the side of her glamorous Jazz Age parents by nannies in childhood, Scottie found it necessary later to keep at a further distance from her alcoholic, cracked-up father and her schizophrenic, religiously fixated mother and finally to refrain from even mentioning them to their grandchildrennone of which helps Lanahan's book. Despite her father's sententious letters to her about her writing, Scottie persisted, contributing articles and short stories to the New Yorker and other magazines after graduating from Vassar. Moving to Washington, D.C., after her marriage, she combined her role as society wife and mother with political activism over nearly three decades of Democratic election campaigns and light journalism for the New York Times and Washington Post. As her father's reputation recovered from its low ebb at the time of his death, Scottie proved a zealous preserver of his literary estate and guardian of her parents' reputations. She herself endured two failed marriages and one son's suicide, and she was never able to complete her own projected novel, remaining too much ``the daughter of....'' Unfortunately, Lanahan has neither the literary, the personal, nor the historical acuity to approach her grandfather's legacy and her mother's life; she fails, for instance, to elucidate how larger events of the era may have influenced the generational conflicts between Scott, Scottie, and herself. This family soap opera only illustrates what Scottie herself once noted dryly: ``Relatives mess things up.'' (16 pages b&w photos and illustrations, not seen)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-06-017179-0

Page Count: 656

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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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.