Much here is a reiteration of ideas and points Paz has made before more freshly—about the disastrous modernist penchant for utopian revolution, about the term ``post-modern'' (``merely a naive way of saying that we are extremely modern'') and about the fraternal, ahistorical force of poetry. The summarizing tone may stem from a few of these essays having been given as speeches and lectures. Paz is shrewd but Olympian in these pieces, proved correct by the collapse of Eastern European Marxism yet not quite happy with it—or sure about what literary culture will find itself grappling with, once these false gods all are totally cleared away. Thus, interestingly, a large part of the focus here is not on poetry itself but on its epiphenomena: the academy (``Literary criticism becomes an exercise in investigating secrets, in the vein not so much of Sherlock Holmes as of Torquemada and State Prosecutor Vishinsky''), the publishing industry, the audience. About all these he is intelligent but also occasionally vague and generalizing, professing a willed optimism of art while everywhere referring to the seemingly inexorable decay of literature. Not as strong or thought-provoking as other Paz collections- -and more provisional.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-15-170449-X
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1991
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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