This is the first of the annual Thomas Jefferson lectures, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, in which distinguished thinkers of various stripes and specializations attempt to "bridge the gap between learning and public affairs." Trilling, biographer of Arnold and old guard survivor of the 1968 student insurrection at Columbia, enters the breach where one used to find the traditional Western concept of "mind" — that crowning human faculty in which all our hopes were vested — and considers the causes of its present submersion. Most of his contentions are unarguable: that the current intellectual frontiers are well beyond the reach of respectable general intelligence; that the intellectuals themselves are undergoing a crisis of confidence; that political concerns tend to erode the classical integrity of the university; even that the mind's own elitism and technological excesses have helped to discredit it. All well and good, or rather, terrible but true; but behind the reasonable posture and rhetorical cogency there is a stubborn refusal to distinguish "mind" from "the organized intellectual life of our day," that is to say the university. This doesn't exactly clarify the issues, but at least we know which side Trilling is on, if we didn't already. His conclusions are hedged but hopeful, his implied advice — change your head, but not fundamentally. Obviously, he will have readers and probably quoters.
Pub Date: Nov. 29, 1972
ISBN: 0670003778
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1972
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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