Tough at times, but well worth it, with manifold rewards for any serious reader.
The Washington Post’s Pulitzer-winning reviewer, critic, and essayist (An Open Book, 2003, etc.) dares to deliver on his subtitle’s outrageous claim.
Perhaps it’s the persistent feeling of shared joy in the discovery of moving and majestic literary moments that allows readers to be less picky with Dirda than he often is with the authors he dissects. For instance, introducing himself as a writer who eschews simile wherever possible, he goes on to say that reading Rabelais is “a lot like going to a Slovak or Ukrainian wedding in an Ohio steel town, where you pay a dollar to dance with the bride, eat way too much kielbasa and stuffed cabbage [and] drink yourself silly . . . fun, but a little goes a long way.” Then, in stressing that it’s not what you read but what you read first, the author (on Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose) pins readers to the wall with medieval monasticisms, demanding that they grasp “patristic exegesis” and both the “anagogical and eschatological levels” of meaning in biblical symbolism in a single paragraph. No surprise later when Dirda celebrates the “lip-smacking vocabulary” of Anthony Burgess on Christopher Marlowe. Verbosity aside, it’s his ability to dive in and extract themes, patterns, and even sweeping contexts that grip—along with bushels of literary quotes and epigrams, all keepers, such as Jean Cocteau’s “Victor Hugo was a madman who thought he was Victor Hugo.” In Western fiction, Dirda notes, “love is a destructive passion,” and our romantic mythology celebrates adultery, perfectly justifying a reading adventure in great, reasonably seamy literature. In addition to the classics, Dirda nominates lots of little-known or underappreciated gems, e.g., the American novelist Djuna Barnes, a handful of post-Revolutionary Russians, and Terry Pratchett, a bestselling author in pre-Rowling Britain but not here. The main text is followed by concise, useful recommendations in Renaissance works, science fiction, and other genres.
Tough at times, but well worth it, with manifold rewards for any serious reader.Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2004
ISBN: 0-393-05757-7
Page Count: 608
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2004
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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