This is as distinguished and richly rewarding a book of criticism as has appeared in America in many years. Trilling here takes his place among the all too few critics who have anything real to say: that is, they know their material, they know what the values of literature really are, and what a warm discussion of these values can be. In this book, Trilling has chosen nine different writers, among them Wordsworth, Keats, Howells, Flaubert, Henry James and Jane Austen- widely disparate figures. But he has given his book unity by not discussing them individually, but in relation to one problem, the development of the self. And to this concept, so pertinent at this time, he brings illumination and insight. The essay on Keats is perhaps the finest, and Keats himself states the theme for Trilling in a letter written not long before his death to his brother: "Call the world if you please 'The Vale of Soul Making'... I say Soul Making; Soul as distinguished from an Intelligence. There may be intelligences or sparks of divinity in millions- but they are not Souls till they acquire identities, till each one is personally itself." And in this drama of "Soul Making", Keats sees circumstances as the flint against which the heart must prove itself... It is this theme which Trilling weaves with skill and great sensibility into each of these nine essays and gives this its value in the realm of belles lettres.
Pub Date: Feb. 14, 1955
ISBN: 0156700654
Page Count: 204
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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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