From Atlas (Delmore Schwartz, 1977; The Great Pretender, 1986)—a slim, plain, and mainly sensible little guide to the crisis in the university. From Allan Bloom, W.D. Hirsch, Roger Kimball, and Hilton Kramer on the ``conservative'' side, to the ``canon bashers,'' multiculturalists, deconstructionists, and radical academic leftists on the other, Atlas shows that he's done his homework and that he can ``[weigh] the evidence on both sides and [arrive] at my own conclusions.'' If you want a readable and personal-toned synopsis of the arguments of Bloom and Hirsch, followed by balanced instead of absolutist rhetoric (``Okay, so there are flaws in Hirsch's argument: his definition of a `literate national culture' is vague; his list of `What Every American Needs to Know' is biased. But his basic indictment—that we're in the midst of a crisis with long-range social consequences—seems to me beyond dispute''), Atlas can provide it. Drawing on his own memories as an undergraduate at Harvard (he was a freshman in 1967), Atlas compares the standard literature courses of then with the transparently politicized ones of now, considers the merits of each, and makes it clear where he thinks the greater virtue lies- -and why. Hardly likely to win any debating points in the eyes of his radical opponents inside the university, he goes ahead and makes his claim nevertheless, not for a fossilized canon, but for what he does still dare to call ``Great Books,'' concluding that ``only a nation schooled in its own past can grasp the negotiation between personal freedom and collective self-interest that is the essence of our American democracy.'' An amiable handbook to the great debate: intelligent, personable, and informed, if not managing to become unusually cutting or deep.
Pub Date: Oct. 19, 1992
ISBN: 0-393-03413-5
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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