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DOSTOEVSKY

Name: DOSTOEVSKY
Author: Joseph Frank
ISBN: 0-691-04364-7

THE MIRACULOUS YEARS, 1865-1871

by Joseph Frank ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1995

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The fourth volume in the authoritative series launched with Dostoevsky: The Seeds of Revolt (1976), encompassing the six incredible years during which Dostoevsky wrote Crime and Punishment, The Gambler, The Idiot, and The Devils. This volume opens after the death of his brother, Mikhail, with Dostoevsky futilely attempting to singlehandedly edit and publish the journal they had founded, while also assuming Mikhail's debts and responsibility for his family. In a state of fiscal panic that would underlie his compositions for the rest of his career, Dostoevsky hurriedly wrote Crime and Punishment as a polemic against the radical younger generation's materialistic Nihilism (ably glossed by Frank), and The Gambler as a critique of his own mania for roulette. To keep up this pace he hired a stenographer, Anna Snitkin, who quickly became his second wife; the couple fled Russia to evade the financial demands of Dostoevsky's creditors and his brother's family. In exile in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, the homesick writer continued his compulsive gambling and his debate with Westerners and Nihilists. He had a famous row with the anti-Slavophile Turgenev, and he got his political point of view across in The Idiot's idealized portrait of a Russian Christian and in The Devils's depiction of fiendish Nihilist conspiracies. Frank approaches Dostoevsky's tormented character with admirable restraint and perceptiveness, although he sidesteps the writer's cultish Russian nationalism. As in the previous volumes, Frank's outstanding strengths lie in his masterly grasp of Russian intellectual history and his literary detective work on Dostoevsky's sources, inspirations, and creative process, the two superbly combined in his chapters on the background and writing of The Devils. Covering the crest of Dostoevsky's creative output and one of his life's many troughs, Frank maintains his unbroken streak of biographic and literary excellence. (15 b&w illustrations, not seen)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-691-04364-7

Page Count: 528

Publisher: Princeton Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1994

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.