South African novelist Coetzee (Waiting for the Barbarians, 1982; Life & Times of Michael K, 1984) is a professor as well at the University of Cape Town—and this collection of seven essays about writings by whites in South Africa has a fashionable structuralist feel to it. To wit: though Coetzee is unable to honestly recommend (or even tempt the reader's interest) with the writers he deals with—C.M. van den Heever, Pauline Smith, Olive Schreiner, Alan Paton, Sarah Gertrude Millin—the forms and subjects and procedures they use are assumed to be (and are in fact) far more telling than any particular work. Coetzee will home in on the interpretations South African writers (mostly precontemporary) have given certain concepts—the sublime, the picturesque, idleness, the farm, blood—and find each time another wrinkle in the fabric of racist empowerment this culture has developed. Coetzee is such a good structuralist, in fact, that the quotations from the writers he's writing about seem almost beside the point, mere buttresses. What is inescapable, however, is a reader's conclusion that South African writing's golden age is not then but now—as it worries the bone of previous barbarisms of attitude, the cultural determinism, in the in-every-way pale tradition Coetzee details.
Pub Date: April 13, 1988
ISBN: 0300048629
Page Count: 208
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1988
A compelling argument that ``far from being irrational, the emotions have a logic of their own,'' and some advice on how to identify and change counterproductive emotional patterns. According to retired psychology professor Richard Lazarus (Emotion and Adaptation, not reviewed) and his wife, a freelance writer, we feel an emotion when ``we are motivated to gain something or prevent something unwanted from happening.'' Emotions, they argue, are intimately linked to our ability to appraise and interpret actions and events, so it is no accident that humans are both the most intelligent and the most emotional of animals. Each of our emotions, furthermore, has ``a distinctive dramatic plot'': Anger stems from perceiving something as an unfair slight, sadness from experiencing an irrevocable loss, happiness from making progress toward attaining a goal, and so on. Biology hardwires emotions in us; culture acts as our software, programming certain acts to trigger each emotion and teaching us how—or whether—that emotion should be expressed. Differences in personality and experience complete the program, giving each individual a distinct emotional configuration. The authors supply practical advice on when it is best to express emotion and when it is best to suppress it, along with examples of how to do both. For example, in an instance of being angered by one's spouse, they suggest reinterpreting the event to lessen the distress it evokes; one might excuse the spouse's insensitive behavior as being the result of exhaustion or stress. The authors discuss various psychotherapy options for those who need extra help in regulating their emotions. And in sketchier, less convincing chapters, they explore stress and the possible influence of emotional states on physical health. For the most part a helpful, clearly written user's guide to the human emotions.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-19-508757-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994
This 14th entry in the Knopf Cooks American series is top- notch (even Knopf's trademark borzoi has gotten into the spirit, sporting a jaunty toque). Cookbook writer Dooley (Peppers, Hot and Sweet, not reviewed) and Watson, owner of an eponymous restaurant in Minneapolis, update regional favorites with sensible revisionism. Our guides present foods from Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, upper Michigan, and eastern North Dakota that reflect varied northern and eastern European immigration, cold weather, long distances between homes, and—as in the case of a pliant white bread using leftover mashed potatoes—the sturdy, thrifty values for which the Midwest is known. Along with the clear, extremely functional recipes are bits of information about such local delicacies as lutefisk (preserved codfish brought over from Norway) and the ice cream sundae, which was invented in Two Rivers, Wis. One entire chapter is devoted to ``hot dishes''—one-dish meals popular for church suppers and other informal gatherings; and alongside the traditional chicken pot pie, Dooley and Watson offer innovations like roasted vegetable strudel. Even a standard leftover meat casserole is perked up with caramelized onions and cognac. Likewise, dairy and egg options include blintzes that would not have been out of place in a turn-of-the-century kitchen though pepped up with fresh corn in the batter and fresh basil in the ricotta and Parmesan cheese filling. Hearty, homey eating, imbued with today's wisdom. Even coastal snobs will be dashing to the kitchen. (75 b&w illustrations, not seen)
Pub Date: Oct. 19, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-41175-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994
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