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FROM YOUR CAPRICORN FRIEND

Name: FROM YOUR CAPRICORN FRIEND
Author: Henry Miller
ISBN: 0811208915

HENRY MILLER AND THE STOKER, 1978-1980

by Henry Miller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1983

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
HENRY MILLER AND JAMES LAUGHLIN
by Henry Miller & James Laughlin

- BOOK REVIEW
MOLOCH, or THIS GENTILE WORLD
by Henry Miller

- BOOK REVIEW
CRAZY COCK
by Henry Miller

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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.