Rebirth of the story of Isis and Osiris in modern times: the 12th book by Cott (Wandering Ghost, 1991, etc.), a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and Parabola. Drawing on various sources, from Plutarch to Joseph Campbell to Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings (``the most volatile and audacious version...in modern times''), Cott retells the story of Isis and Osiris, twin sister and brother, wife and husband, goddess and god—a simple story with many twists. Osiris seems to be the god of resurrection and Isis goddess of the mother principle—or, Cott says, so it seems in modern eyes. He interviews Dr. James P. Allen, a noted author of Egyptian creation myths and an associate curator of the Department of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum, who goes quite finely into family ties among the gods but thinks that the anal insemination of Set by Osiris and of Osiris by Set did not mean that sodomy was acceptable to ancient Egyptians. At Clonegal Castle, Ireland, Cott joins with Olivia Robertson and her brother Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, archpriestess and hierophant, who have their own Temple of Isis and spearhead a revival for worship of the Egyptian gods with the Fellowship of Isis, an organization of some 11,000 people living in 60 countries, including Ireland, Japan, Nigeria, the US, India, and New Zealand. Despite bad vibes in the tabloids, the 70-plus Olivia insists that ``We don't have orgies, we have ecstasies.'' Cott also visits the Ammonite Foundation in Egypt; and the Isis and Osiris Workshop in Edmonton, Canada, run by psychologists of archetypes, Evangeline Kane and her husband Franklin, who give the myth absorbing Jungian interpretations. More journalistic than inspired or in any way convincing.
Pub Date: Feb. 15, 1994
ISBN: 0-385-41797-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1993
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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