A portrait out of time true to the author’s vision about the force of belief.
British travel-writer France (Bad Times in Buenos Aires, 1999) seeks to understand how the Spanish view themselves and their country.
There is more than just a little of Quixote in the Castilian mindset, she suggests; as a political theorist writing during Cervantes’ time noted, Spain is “a nation of enchanted people who live outside the natural order.” Of course, what France finds during two extended sojourns in the country, as a student in 1988–89 and again during a passage through Castilian towns in 1998, is more complex than that. Yet there is a fascinating interplay between the value and interpretation of truth throughout Spanish history that bears an uncanny resemblance to Quixote's sortie against windmills. Among her examples: the Spanish state’s trumping-up of a threat from the Moors, the nation’s chimerical wealth during the reign of Philip II, the Church’s solace and oppression, the mirage of fundamental change during the Republic, when independent institutions of democracy and compromise never took hold, even France’s own self-deluded relationship with a radical young Peruvian during her schooldays. This is not only an extended psychic evaluation of the Spanish anima; there are also stunning and intimate descriptions of Salamanca, Avila, Toledo, Burgos, and Segovia, often enough accompanied by descriptions of strange personal encounters. Yet whether talking of Quixote or the transvestites who live across the street, the author is most interested in coping with life's complexity and uncertainties, considering whether it might be best to follow the example of Quixote and “create a philosophy, a pattern, and force yourself to follow it. If others reject it, so much the better—you can consider yourself misunderstood, but in the right.” France herself has no urge to be judgmental; she loves Spaniards too much, with all their idiosyncrasies and peccadilloes.
A portrait out of time true to the author’s vision about the force of belief.Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2002
ISBN: 1-58567-292-0
Page Count: 243
Publisher: Overlook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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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