by F. González-Crussi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1995
More graceful, erudite, and mind-expanding essays from Gonzalez-Crussi (Pathology/ Children's Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Univ.; The Day of the Dead, 1993, etc.), this time accompanied by haunting, beautiful color photographs of skeletons, skulls, medical specimens, and anatomical models. In writing that smoothly integrates medical science, history, philosophy, literature, and the arts, Gonzalez-Crussi ponders the human condition. Through visits to a morphological science museum in Madrid, with its vast collection of human skulls, models of anatomical and pathological specimens, and artistic representations of flayed bodies, to the University of Bologna's amphitheater, where public dissections were performed in the 16th century, the author shows us extraordinary sights and reveals how much medical thinking has changed. He compares superb old wax anatomical models, in which art and science cooperated to produce near-perfect images of the human body, with today's abstract imaging produced by thermography and MRI and PET scans. And in the essay ``How We Came To Be,'' Gonzalez-Crussi traces changing ideas about conception and birth from the Greeks, who viewed semen as the quintessential liquid, even the stuff of which stars were made, to the present time, when it is but a commodity to be manipulated by reproductive technologies. In another essay the author recollects a nun in a hospital pathology lab baptizing bottles containing the products of conception, a memory that leads to reflections on life and death. The final piece, ``Nature's Lapses,'' on congenital malformations, ranges from theological arguments over the existence of evil in a world shaped by a divine providence to folklore about maternal influences on fetuses to questions over the proper role of genetic counselors. The opening of a Gonzalez-Crussi essay gives few hints as to where it may wander, but the journey is always rewarding.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-15-600231-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Harvest/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis
by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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