Irreverent and lighthearted on the one hand, serious and upsetting on the other, Hanut’s essays will hold equal appeal for...
An unusual travel book of affecting yet wryly entertaining essays about the many, many pilgrims to Mexico’s revered shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Hanut takes us back to 1531 with the tale of Juan Diego, a poor Mexican to whom the “Lady from Heaven” appeared at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of Mexico City. She identified herself as the Mother of the True God, instructed Diego to have the bishop build a temple on the site, and left behind an image of herself imprinted on a piece of cloth. Then we’re brought up to 1988 and a second journey, this one made by our author himself, to the same site, now known as Mary’s Basilica, or the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the most visited Catholic church in the world after the Vatican—with the mysterious cloth still there, showing no visible signs of wear or decay. Hanut, the Danish-born, Paris-raised photographer and author of I Wish You Love: Conversations with Marlene Dietrich (1995), effortlessly alternates chapters in telling Diego’s ancient story alongside his own in a kind of double odyssey. Made by many millions—believers and nonbelievers, rich and robust, the poor and the plagued—the famous pilgrimage offers Hanut a vehicle for his own comments and observations, often wry, about the widely diverse Mexican culture—its religious history, corrupt political scene, deep poverty, compassionate people, and delightful uniqueness.
Irreverent and lighthearted on the one hand, serious and upsetting on the other, Hanut’s essays will hold equal appeal for the devout and the skeptical—and certainly for those interested in things Mexican.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-58542-120-0
Page Count: 208
Publisher: TarcherPerigee
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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