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FABLES AND DISTANCES

Name: FABLES AND DISTANCES
Author: John Haines
ISBN: 1-55597-227-6

NEW AND SELECTED ESSAYS

by John Haines ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1996

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A far-reaching and frequently contentious collection of the author's writings (previously published mostly in literary journals), ranging from scathing literary and social criticism to beautifully crafted nature essays, personal remembrances, and poems. Haines (The Stars, the Snow, the Fire, 1989, etc.) pulls no punches in assessing contemporary American poetry as lacking an instructive, moral critique of society, characterizing it instead as an art form ``of increasing isolation and narcissism'' resulting in ``the absence of a meaningful dialogue between the poets and their nation.'' In lambasting a roster of present-day poets and literary critics as either self-promotional, beholden to university bureaucracies, or simply poor writers, Haines indicates as modernist exemplars Yeats, Pound, and Robinson Jeffers. Nor is Haines sanguine about the society that spawns these conditions—a society removed from nature (from which, Haines avers, all ideas originate), and one subservient to a ``corporate mentality that would overturn every human value.'' For the reader who perseveres through these instructive but caustic essays, the rewards are some lovely prose writings set in rural Alaska, where Haines homesteaded in the late 1940s. Here one is treated to scenes of a basically untrammeled and dramatic landscape (although into these scenes of physical beauty, too, Haines laments the intrusion of a spiritless, corporate society) and well-drawn narratives of berry-picking and hunting. This compilation also contains a short selection of the author's poetry, with concise explanations of how their concepts, language, and forms were achieved. Scattered elsewhere, a reader can find some delicious nuggets about the relationship between nature, art, language, and religion, and a final, painful childhood memory of the writer's doomed first love. The writings gathered here are impressive in breadth, sometimes seething, and frequently lyrical. When taken together, they form a coherent philosophy of an uncompromising artist.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1996

ISBN: 1-55597-227-6

Page Count: 286

Publisher: Graywolf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1995

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.