During the last three years of his life, an often-bitter but raunchily vigorous Henry Miller (in California) wrote some affectionate, hyperbolic letters to old New York friend Irving Stettner, editor of the tiny avant-garde magazine Stroker—along with a few prose pieces for the shoestring, Dada-ish publication. In the letters gathered here Miller reports on his eye and heart trouble ("I think it's psychosomatic because I am in the throes of deep love"); he calls up memories of Stettner's Second Ave. neighborhood; he rails against the literary establishment, ponders I. B. Singer's Nobel acceptance speech (as for HM's own Nobel chances, "I'll probably be fucked again"), and salutes the favorite books of his childhood (including Pierre Loti); mostly, however, he encourages Stettner about the magazine—with lavish praise for his poems and water-colors. As for the essays and stories, they're a spotty, mixed handful. A piece called "Memory and Forgettery" has a flicker of Saroyanesque, free-associative charm. ("You can forget Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but not the guy who got you out of a scrape or saved your life with a little chicken feed.") A few childhood reminiscences—especially about theatergoing in Brooklyn circa 1905—are diverting. But the others are Miller at his most self-indulgent: a tribute to friend Tommy Trantino's Lock the Lock ("a huge, a gargantuan piece of shit coming straight from a genius, from his mouth and from his ass-hole"); a wretched short story of male-female relations (men want "cunt," women want love); and a 1968 diatribe against the violence in Bonnie and Clyde—calling instead for "a rash of erotic, pornographic, or obscene films." Minor Miller, to put it generously—but intriguing evidence, nonetheless, of his late-octogenarian zest and warmth.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1983
ISBN: 0811208915
Page Count: 132
Publisher: New Directions
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1983
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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