bookshelf

TALES OF TWO CITIES

Name: TALES OF TWO CITIES
Author: Jonathan Conlin
ISBN: 978-1-61902-225-6

PARIS, LONDON AND THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN CITY

by Jonathan Conlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12, 2013

Anyone who loves London and/or Paris will enjoy this book. In addition, there are plenty of new French phrases and...

bookshelf

Conlin (Civilisation, 2009, etc.) compares the two great cities and how they fed off each other’s mores while they struggled toward modernization in the 18th and 19th centuries.

“[T]he relationship between Paris and London was that of rivals,” writes the author, “rather than that of ruler and subject, a relationship characterized by mutual fascination, not by one-sided obedience.” Conlin examines a few aspects of city life to show how the different cultures of Paris and London adapted to the political and social changes of the period. First, the author looks at housing: While the Englishman required his own “castle” with a nice garden and some privacy, the Frenchman was perfectly happy in a high-rise flat with (horrors!) shared stairs. In addition, the English were slow to accept restaurants, preferring a home-cooked meal, while the French enjoyed not only a meal in a restaurant, but also the need to see and be seen. That need was served by only a few promenades where gentle people could walk; eventually, they followed the English and added pavement, street lights and gutters to enable citizens to walk safely. Thus the French flaneur, who wandered the streets absorbing impressions of his environment, copied his friend across the channel, albeit 100 years later. Conlin’s chapter on dance at first seems out of place, but his delightful progression of the can-can from a masculine display to the skirt-dancing we associate with Paris perfectly shows the interaction of the two cultures. Cemeteries and suburbs make up the final chapter, as governments finally began to study urban sprawl.

Anyone who loves London and/or Paris will enjoy this book. In addition, there are plenty of new French phrases and interesting English terms to add to your lexicon.

Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-61902-225-6

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Counterpoint

Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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.