paper 0-520-21979-1 A bestseller in Japan, where it has gone through more than 40 printings since its was first published in the late ’60s, this autobiography of a noted Japanese man of letters will strike many Western readers as serious, well-meaning, and mind-numbingly dull. Shuichi (History of Japanese Literature, not reviewed) came of age just as his homeland began its descent into the vociferous imperialist militarism that culminated in WWII. But politics and the international situation hardly affected his schooling, every minute didactic and pedagogical significance of which Shuichi seems compelled to detail. Though he was against the war, he kept his opposition largely to himself, waiting out the conflict as a medical student, then a doctor. After the war, he leapt at a rare chance to travel in Europe on a scholarship. Doing a little medical work, as well as translating and whatever other jobs he could pick up, Shuichi traveled extensively, living for substantial periods in France and England. Eventually, he decided to turn his full attention to writing and the world of academia, punching the clock at universities around the world. The original book ends in the early 1960s; an update for the English edition adds little beyond rÇsumÇ and curricula. Shuichi’s extensive comparisons between Japanese and Western culture seem stilted and shopworn, though they may have been interesting to his original Japanese readers. Translator Chang does an excellent job of providing helpful annotations throughout and gently guiding readers through the thicket of unfamiliar names and terms. The book has a thin degree of sociological interest, but its overwhelming effect is soporific. (13 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: May 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-520-20138-8
Page Count: 508
Publisher: Univ. of California
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1999
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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