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THE PRIVATE WORLD OF DAPHNE DU MAURIER

Name: THE PRIVATE WORLD OF DAPHNE DU MAURIER
Author: Martyn Shallcross
ISBN: 0-312-07072-1

by Martyn Shallcross ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1992

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A bare-bones biography of the popular British author of Rebecca, etc. Born in 1907, du Maurier, Shallcross tells us, was educated at home. Her uncle, a magazine editor, published one of her stories when she was a teenager and got her a literary agent. Her second novel, Jamaica Inn, was bought for the movies, and young Alfred Hitchcock was asked to direct. Du Maurier's next novel, Rebecca, was her most resounding hit, with producer David Selznick hiring Hitchcock to make the movie and Laurence Olivier to star as Maxim de Winter. Casting de Winter's mousy second wife proved more difficult: Joan Fontaine finally beat out Margaret Sullavan and Anne Baxter. According to Shallcross, Fontaine and Olivier didn't get along (he'd wanted Vivien Leigh in the role), and a crucial element of the plot had to be changed to meet censorship codes. But the film won an Oscar, and even du Maurier was pleased with the adaptation. Married to a military man, she resided for years in the Cornish countryside she loved (and wrote about in Enchanted Cornwall, 1989), producing further novels and short stories (The Birds and Don't Look Now both being made into films) until her death in 1988. Here, Shallcross, who was a casual acquaintance toward the end of du Maurier's life, seems most interested in the movies, and the sections devoted to the making of the films (with which du Maurier had minimal involvement) are his most substantial and engrossing. But despite the title, little of the author's ``private world'' is revealed. There are suggestions that du Maurier's marriage was shaken by her husband's infidelities, but little of her style or personality emerges. Frustratingly slim pickings, even for devoted fans. (Illustrations—not seen.)

Pub Date: March 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-312-07072-1

Page Count: 192

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1992

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.