CLEOPATRA’S NOSE

Name: CLEOPATRA’S NOSE
Author: Judith Thurman
ISBN: 978-0-374-12651-3

by Judith Thurman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2007

The author’s supreme confidence can sometimes segue into dismissiveness and arrogance, but this does not diminish the...

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A motley collection of previously published essays on topics ranging from Anne Frank to Bill Blass, by a New Yorker staffer and biographer (Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette, 1999, etc.).

Thurman—multilingual, articulate, globe-trotting, charmingly snide—can be a daunting companion for a stroll down the lanes of contemporary cultural history. There seem few books she has not read, few relevant celebrities she has not encountered (including Jackie O), few museums whose fashion collections she has not memorized, few significant sites in New York, Paris and Milan she has not adorned. Many of these pieces deal with appearances—with women’s fashions (she has one essay about men’s clothing), and with the men and women who design them (there are substantial portraits of Chanel, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, Armani, Kawakubo, Versace and Scaasi). The earlier portions of the collection focus on literary matters. She reviews recent biographies of Edna St. Vincent Millay; has some harsh things to say about the “pedantry” of the definitive critical edition of Anne Frank’s diary; comments thoughtfully on Beloved, Charlotte Brontë, the photography of Julia Margaret Cameron and Irving Penn; expresses some reservations about Byatt’s Possession. Here, too, are pieces about bulimia, pearls (the world’s best pearls, she says, lie in the Persian Gulf), New York row houses and hair-straightening. She juxtaposes portraits of Madame de Pompadour (“one of those girls and women who are a pleasure to spoil”), Marie Antoinette, Teresa Heinz Kerry and Cleopatra. Her customary wit sparkles everywhere. The pouf, she says, was “a cross between a topiary and a Christmas tree.”

The author’s supreme confidence can sometimes segue into dismissiveness and arrogance, but this does not diminish the cumulative dazzle of her essays.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2007

ISBN: 978-0-374-12651-3

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2007

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
A LEFT-HANDED WOMAN
by Judith Thurman

- BOOK REVIEW
CLEOPATRA’S NOSE
by Judith Thurman

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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.