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THE HINGE OF THE WORLD

A DRAMA

A plodding stage play that explores, or more precisely fails sufficiently to explore, Galileo’s conflict with the Church. Goodwin was a speech writer for JFK and LBJ, and then a supporter of the ill-starred Robert Kennedy. During the 1970s and ’80s he published successful books about politics and American life, among them Remembering America: A Voice from the Sixties (1988) and The American Condition (1974). Now he has tried his hand at what might be called nonfiction drama or even, sad to say, nondramatic drama. For in spite of its supercharged historical material (deftly managed by Bertolt Brecht in his Galileo Galilei) Goodwin’s piece lacks the spark of dramatic electricity that makes a play work. From a writer of Goodwin’s background we might reasonably expect a revealing exploration of the way science, belief, and politics intermingle and shape our lives. Alas, this overly long and muddy farrago will not satisfy most readers. Its characters are too poorly drawn, undermined not least of all by the language with which they must express themselves. Here is Galileo with his newly discovered instrument, the telescope, presented to us as a sort of Peeping Tom: “The moon. Full-bottomed Eve: grafted by God as comfort to the fugitive earth. So ripe tonight. So swollen with sweet invitation. Do you mock the men you madden with unconsummated desire? I wonder. Let me see if I can peek beneath the hem of your borrowed radiance.” Goodwin is not successful in making science sexy, though it seems to be an underlying intention of the book. What one is finally left with is a play that responsibly illustrates certain famous historical events, but it does so without revealing anything new about them or giving them any sense of renewed intensity. Not really a play, not really a novel, and not really too interesting at all.

Pub Date: June 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-374-17002-9

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1998

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NUTCRACKER

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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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

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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