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THE FROST FAMILY'S ADVENTURE IN POETRY

Name: THE FROST FAMILY'S ADVENTURE IN POETRY
Author: Lesley Lee Francis
ISBN: 0-8262-0945-9

SHEER MORNING GLADNESS AT THE BRIM

by Lesley Lee Francis ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1994

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The poet's granddaughter refutes the ``crude psychoanalytical'' interpretation of Frost proffered by Lawrance Thompson in his contentious biography and offers instead a picture of a generous, responsible, and playful father-poet. Drawing on family papers and the childhood notebooks and artwork of Robert Frost's four children between 1905 and 1915, Francis (the daughter of Frost's eldest, Lesley) captures the dynamics of a literary family, the ``symbiotic relationship'' among parents and children, the energy, nurturing, and fantasy that characterized the way Frost awakened the artist in each child. The book covers the early years in Derry, NH, and then in England, where Frost was first discovered: This was the ``halcyon'' period when, educated at home, the children were encouraged to write, draw, express themselves. They produced gift albums, pictures, poems, stories recounting adventures, games, scenery, and friendships in a ``haphazard'' and disorderly household where Frost did most of the cooking, teaching, and playing. From 1912 to 1915, the children, their friends, and parents contributed to a magazine they called the Bouquet that included pieces by Edward Thomas, the English journalist-critic and Frost's closest friend (the Frosts brought his son to America at the outbreak of WW I, in which Thomas was killed). This idyllic decade takes on particular poignancy in the context of the personal losses that followed, emphasized in the concluding chapter: Frost, a widower of 83, having lost a daughter to tuberculosis and a son to suicide, returns to England to accept honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge and to visit the cottages where he had lived as a young father and undiscovered poet. A credible and unsentimental story that illuminates Frost's personality, the quality of his life, the sources of his creativity, and the value of artistic education. (Illustrations and photos)

Pub Date: May 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-8262-0945-9

Page Count: 248

Publisher: Univ. of Missouri

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 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.