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AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LOVE

Name: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LOVE
Author: M. Scheil
ISBN: 0-312-19871-X

edited by M. Scheil ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1999

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Pseudonymous Scheil reveals somewhat less than all of love’s many facets for those literate voyeurs genuinely interested in the intimate details of other people’s relationships. Her narrative is a voluminous rendering of a love affair between an American woman (middle-aged, Jewish, a playwright and long-time resident of England) and an Englishman (middle-aged, an artist) that ended abruptly after two years with the death of the latter; the former is the author. To further distance herself, Scheil adopts third-person narrative, referring to the lovers as “the duo” or as “he” and “she.” The 22 subjects included in the encyclopedia are arranged alphabetically, including A for abilities, art, and attitudes; C for character and cookery; L for love; and S for self-image and sex. The author vows that overlapping subjects will be cross-referenced, and she delivers fully on that promise. Thus, for example, under Religion we find cross-references for “Beliefs: God; Biography/Hers: various; Biography/Joint; Seders; Cookery/Specialties (His)”; and more. The result is a break-up of the continuity of traditional narrative, allowing all phases of the relationship to be studied simultaneously for the patient seeker of facts. Readers are encouraged to approach Scheil’s jigsaw puzzle from all manner of angles, reading bits and pieces in whatever order most appeals. In this way, the man’s death no longer plays the central role it might have in a more conventionally structured plot. Does the story come together on its own terms, however? Oddly, much of the book’s potential seems obscured by writing that is more reportorial than ardent. In fact, Scheil’s prose is dry, factual, and fussy. What was most likely an intentional stylistic choice has backfired. Though explicit on everything from the couple’s sex life to their eating habits, Scheil’s —encyclopedic— prose could have used more of the passion that characterized her relationship.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-312-19871-X

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Picador

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1998

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.