Whatever they are, these pieces exude a rare spirit that delights to find the marvelous in the actual.
A thick sheaf of nonfictions—“essays” is a slight misnomer—all but two from earlier collections by novelist Connell (Deus Lo Volt!, 2000, etc.).
Just as he rang brilliant changes on military history in Son of the Morning Star (1984), Connell here takes the essay form and jams into it stories from history, snippets of legend, and odd bits of chronicle. If there is a feeling that runs through the pieces, it is one of boyish adventure. Several concern the Spanish conquistadors’ colonization of Mexico and South America, but there are stories about Scott’s expedition to the South Pole, the 13th-century Children’s Crusade (which left even contemporary observers baffled), and the origins of the Atlantis legend. In no case is Connell’s interest pedagogic; he never seeks a moral to his stories and seems motivated by simple wonder more than scholarly puzzlement. Though the writer occasionally hints at a contemporary relevance to his tales of derring-do, there is a stronger antiquarian streak, a love of detail for its own sake. Fortunately, Connell has an acute eye, and it is undoubtedly marvelous to learn that a typical breakfast on Scott’s voyage consisted of “tea and pemmican flavored with seal blubber, penguin feathers, and hair from the sleeping bags.” Another piece, about a Swedish dreadnought that sunk a mile offshore during its maiden voyage, describes the sundial, carved mermaids, and apothecary’s kit that rescuers found 300 years later as “unexpected and beautiful and wondrous.” In the same way, part of Connell’s purpose here is simply to drag into the light treasures that had been unjustly left rotting in the dark: he rescues brilliant fragments from the tides and trends of history.
Whatever they are, these pieces exude a rare spirit that delights to find the marvelous in the actual.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2001
ISBN: 1-58243-162-0
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Counterpoint
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2001
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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