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THE THURBER LETTERS

Name: THE THURBER LETTERS
Author: Harrison Kinney
ISBN: 0-7432-2343-8

THE WIT, WISDOM AND SURPRISING LIFE OF JAMES THURBER

edited by Harrison Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2003

Like sampler chocolates: it’s possible to consume in one sitting, which says much about its quality, considering its length....

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A jackpot of Thurber correspondence—from light entertainments to pure vitriol, with the fascination of an evolutionary timeline.

Thurber “never allowed language to stand still,” writes the tireless Thurber-phile Kinney (James Thurber, 1995), and readers of these letters, written in language that jumps, are invited into Thurber’s head to witness the changes in the man that came with the years—from fusspot to peeve to curmudgeon—and the steadiness of his convictions to romanticism (“the blow that cools James is the Hope that Spouts eternal about the One Girl”), brevity (“getting the atmosphere of the style to fit . . . takes . . . longer than to make a Manhattan, about as long as to make a Martini”), and his writing, which he defended. As he wrote to an editor at the New York Times Book Review: “I rarely use the ugly word ‘grew’ and I have changed it back to ‘was’. This is not only good English, it is the way I write, and this is my piece.” Thurber’s words frequently snap like dangerous teeth: “Why shouldn’t I be sarcastic if I wish? Do you think it is a simple matter to give one’s whole heart away,” he writes to an unrequited love. And editors at the New Yorker got bitten time and again: “I must object to a recent manifestation of the hyper-precisionists on your magazine.” Then there are the many letters that serve to lift the spirits in their cheer and humor—to his daughter, fellow writers, friends, family—and those that chart his health or the life of a relationship, particularly that with the E.B. Whites or, more particular still, with Katherine White, to whom he goes from writing, “don’t worry about having to edit my stuff. . . . I’m not worrying” to “the results . . . were little short of complete disaster.”

Like sampler chocolates: it’s possible to consume in one sitting, which says much about its quality, considering its length. (Illustrations)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-7432-2343-8

Page Count: 800

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2003

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.