by Nicholas Murray ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2000
An intelligent but somewhat stolid life that captures (but is also imprisoned by) its hero’s enigmatic nature.
It has been over 30 years since the last biography of Metaphysical poet Marvell, and Welsh poet Murray takes full advantage
of the intervening research in his new life of this intensely private yet highly public man. Marvell was a mercurial figure, a tempestuous man in a turbulent age, a poet and pamphleteer, a controversialist and a member of Parliament. Yet even given new information uncovered in the past three decades, little is known about long stretches of his life and career. Indeed, as Murray ruefully admits at one point, we cannot even be entirely sure of the pronunciation of Marvell's surname. Some things are certain, though. Marvell was a Puritan minister's son, born on March 31, 1621, educated at Eton, orphaned at 19 when his father drowned. Because, like so many men of letters of his era, he could not hope to support himself by writing, he found employment, after a period of about four years abroad, as a tutor to the children of the well-to-do. Both before and after his election to Parliament, he wrote verse and, eventually, prose; ironically, his topical prose writings were the mainstay of his reputation throughout his lifetime and for most of the century after his death in 1678. His poetry began to receive something like its current recognition only in the early 19th century. Murray's portrait of Marvell reveals a clever, gifted man who was willing to do whatever was necessary to survive the swift-running currents of the Cromwell era and the Restoration, yet a man of bedrock integrity. The author's analyses of the verse are workmanlike, if uninspired, and his grasp of the complexities of the period is impressive. The result is a solid popular biography of a secretive figure, bedeviled by the clouds of mystery still surrounding its subject.
An intelligent but somewhat stolid life that captures (but is also imprisoned by) its hero’s enigmatic nature.Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-312-24277-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2000
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis
by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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