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TANGLED LOYALTIES

Name: TANGLED LOYALTIES
Author: Joshua Rubenstein
ISBN: 0-465-08386-2

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ILYA EHRENBURG

by Joshua Rubenstein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 1996

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From Rubenstein (Soviet Dissidents, 1980), an admirably objective account of one of the Soviet Union's most unusual icons- -Ilya Ehrenburg, a writer who not only survived the twists and turns of Kremlin politics, but also enjoyed the regard of dissidents like Nadezhda Mandelstam and Anna Akhmatova. In 1907, as a 15-year-old Moscow schoolboy responding to the prejudice he experienced as a Jew and the injustices he perceived in Russian society at large, Ehrenburg joined the Bolsheviks, along with classmate Nikolai Bukharin. Rubenstein suggests that it was the radical appeal of Bolshevism that attracted Ehrenburg, who was alienated by his father's moderate views. In and out of prison, he fled in 1908 to Paris, where he met Lenin, fathered his only child, and began to write. He returned to Russia in 1917, experienced the turmoil of the Revolution and then lived in Europe, where he wrote his first novel, Julia Jurenita, and was a correspondent for Izvestia. As Ehrenburg, who returned again to the USSR in 1940, steered a torturous passage between maintaining his integrity and surviving, he was mistrusted by both the authorities and those who considered him a Party apologist. He had no illusions about the regime, though he accepted its highest honors; a Jew, and therefore an outsider, he was also a great Russian patriot. For Rubenstein, Ehrenburg's behavior in the 1930s and late 1940s—when the writer, like so many others, was ``involved in a great conspiracy of silence''—is redeemed by his fight against Nazism and anti- Semitism, and by his efforts on behalf of dissidents. He was not ``confined by his contradictions . . . he was larger than all of them.'' The story of a particular man and time, but also a finely drawn portrait of a writer and his conscience under siege in a place where the ill-chosen word could lead to exile or death. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen)

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 1996

ISBN: 0-465-08386-2

Page Count: 496

Publisher: Basic Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 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.