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B. TRAVEN

Name: B. TRAVEN
Author: Karl S. Guthke
ISBN: 1-55652-132-4

THE LIFE BEHIND THE LEGENDS

by Karl S. Guthke ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 30, 1991

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Revelations about the 20th century's most mysterious novelist. Despite the fascination gleaming from the story of B. Traven, best known as the author of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Guthke's bio is a hard book to warm up to for the first half. This is because Guthke (German Art and Culture/Harvard) has so much preliminary material to discuss and dismiss, mainly about the false leads on Traven's identity that received large circulation. On his deathbed, however, Traven did tell his wife of 12 years who he was (pretty much). By then his works had sold 30 million copies in 36 languages and, since he was dying (at 85 or so), he no longer needed to protect the privacy that allowed him to walk down the streets of his beloved Mexico City without being annoyed by strangers. Guthke is the first writer on Traven to be allowed complete access to Traven's archives. From the 1920's to the 1960's, Traven spoke of himself as an American of Scandinavian extraction—but he was really a former Bavarian anarchist and stage actor (a bit player) named Ret Marut. Even so, his will states that he was Traven Torsvan Croves, born in Chicago in 1890 and naturalized as a Mexican citizen in 1951. Apparently even Ret Marut was a stage name, but as Ret Marut the author seemingly did a deed he wanted forever buried. His time as a below-deck sailor ended when he holed up in a bungalow in the Mexican bush, worked as a laborer, and wrote his first spate of novels under horrendous conditions. He became a big seller in Germany before the Nazis forbade his books, after which he translated himself into English. Meanwhile, obsessive shyness hid a certain grandiosity, and he at times spoke of his alter ego as ``the greatest contemporary philosopher,'' although his last three decades produced no major works. As quirky with odd passageways and dead ends as was Traven himself. (Photographs—not seen.)

Pub Date: Aug. 30, 1991

ISBN: 1-55652-132-4

Page Count: 496

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1991

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.