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CORMAC MCCARTHY'S HOUSE

Name: CORMAC MCCARTHY'S HOUSE
Author: Peter Josyph
ISBN: 978-0-292-74429-5

READING MCCARTHY WITHOUT WALLS

by Peter Josyph ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2013

Combines the intensity and intentions of a true scholar with the hormonal passions of a Justin Bieber fan.

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A painter, filmmaker, author and Cormac McCarthy authority/scholar/fan/groupie (Adventures in Reading Cormac McCarthy, 2010) offers a gumbo of McCarthy interviews, reflections, paeans and analyses.

The title alludes to the original 1998 exhibition of Josyph paintings—scores of images, all of McCarthy’s former house in El Paso, Texas. After a rambling introduction that insists we ought to pay more attention to McCarthy’s full title of Blood Meridian Or The Evening Redness in the West, Josyph commences a series of conversations with other McCarthyites. The author walks the streets of Knoxville, Tenn., with Merle Morrow, who knows all the McCarthy connections there. Then it’s a long conversation with stage director Tom Cornford about directing McCarthy—with special attention to his The Sunset Limited. Next: a lengthy exchange (email? fax? letter?) between the author and Marty Priola, a friend who set up the McCarthy Society website. They discuss The Crossing, sort of, though the conversations drift here and there—with occasional discussions about a dream woman named Heather, about Al Pacino’s capacity to play McCarthy and about theology (they exchange some sharp words in these passages). In the second part of his work, Josyph focuses on his McCarthy paintings, some sightings of his hero and a phone conversation with him. The author records his extensive travels to other writers’ homes (Poe’s in Fordham among them), reveals his liberal politics and vast reading, and displays an impressive self-regard, even for a memoirist. The lone constant here: an unbridled admiration for McCarthy, whom he praises continually and labels “a rarefied genius.”

Combines the intensity and intentions of a true scholar with the hormonal passions of a Justin Bieber fan.

Pub Date: March 1, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-292-74429-5

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Univ. of Texas

Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013

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.