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THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL

Name: THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL
Author: Peter Dally
ISBN: 0-312-20559-7

MANIC DEPRESSION AND THE LIFE OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

by Peter Dally ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 15, 1999

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Retired British psychiatrist Dally (The Fantasy Game, 1975) puts Woolf on the couch in this insubstantial psychobiography. Woolf’s mental state has always attracted posthumous diagnoses from her literary biographers, and Dally, who has also essayed a psychological portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, concentrates entirely on this ambiguous task. Woolf is customarily labeled manic depressive—a term (no longer clinically employed) referring to a fairly loose category of mood disorders with a wide range of diagnoses. Dally specifies Woolf’s malady as cyclothymic disorder, which presents as comparatively mild depression from January to March and again in September, and an elated mood in the summer. This condition, he argues, would lead to full-blown manic depression, manifested in Woolf’s manic breakdowns and severe depressions, culminating in her 1941 suicide. Woolf’s milder hypomanic phases featured brilliant conversation and ambitious literary projects. In her outright manic phases, however, she refused food; talked incessantly; grew paranoid; insulted everyone from her nurses to her husband, Leonard, and her sister, Vanessa; had suicidal impulses; and, in some instances, experienced visual and aural hallucinations—most famously seeing her dead mother and hearing birds in London singing in Greek (a detail which found its way into Mrs. Dalloway). Unfortunately, Dally neglects the close examination of Woolf’s mind in favor of rote summary of the events of her life, which reduces Leonard to the sort of helpmeet necessary for Woolf’s condition. In an appendix, “Manic, Madness and Creativity,” Dally cursorily discusses the effects of her illness on her writing, but Woolf, who in her voluminous diary vividly described both her literary impulses and her fluctuating emotions, remains the authority on herself. Less a case study than a Cliff’s Notes to better biographical work, such as Hermione Lee’s rich treatment (Virginia Woolf: A Biography, 1997). (8 pages b&w photos, not seen)

Pub Date: Nov. 15, 1999

ISBN: 0-312-20559-7

Page Count: 256

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1999

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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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.