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THE SPELL OF THE VIENNA WOODS

Name: THE SPELL OF THE VIENNA WOODS
Author: Paul Hofmann
ISBN: 0-8050-2595-2

INSPIRATION AND INFLUENCE FROM BEETHOVEN TO KAFKA

by Paul Hofmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 12, 1994

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``A culture is not better than its woods,'' Auden once said. And since the British poet spent his last days in the Wienerwald, the partially landscaped woodlands of Vienna that are the subject of this book, Hofmann begins with these words. This is really a memoir, since travel writer Hofmann is returning to the sylvan sites of his own Viennese youth—woodlands steeped in cultural history, a place of intimate and sometimes secretive pleasure as well as scandal. Beethoven had a fondness for these woods, as did Freud and Mahler. In fact, they were a favorite haunt of practically every major figure in Viennese history. Emperor Franz Josef tried to lure back his wayward and wandering wife, Elizabeth, with a magnificent hunting lodge there. At Mayerling, a Wienerwald village, the Crown Prince Rudolph apparently committed suicide with Baroness Marie Vetsera in 1889. Hofmann takes us on a series of walks, or tours, through the woods' different areas. The historical material that pops up as we follow the author is perhaps more interesting than the sometimes lame observations of meals, comments, encounters. The accounts of Kafka's four happy days with Milena here (perhaps the only happy days of his life spent with a woman), of the development of the Biedermeier era's romanticism, and of the Strauss waltz closely associated with the countryside are charmingly informative and relaxed. Particularly curious is the telling of Egon Schiele's brief imprisonment in the prison of Neulengbach (he had an unfortunate proclivity for painting undressed and underaged girls). The book also has the virtue of being a de facto hands-on guide to walking in the Wienerwald, but one that will be primarily read as an anecdotal view of a largely vanished culture.

Pub Date: May 12, 1994

ISBN: 0-8050-2595-2

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1994

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE VATICAN’S WOMEN
by Paul Hofmann

- BOOK REVIEW
UMBRIA
by Paul Hofmann

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SEASONS OF ROME
by Paul Hofmann

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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.