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“MY HEART IS A LARGE KINGDOM”

Name: “MY HEART IS A LARGE KINGDOM”
Author: Robert N. Hudspeth
ISBN: 0-8014-3747-4

SELECTED LETTERS OF MARGARET FULLER

edited by Robert N. Hudspeth ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2001

A powerful reminder that Fuller’s death by shipwreck was a tragic loss not just to her loved ones but to American...

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A splendid selection of letters from the pen of our first prominent feminist intellectual (1810–50).

From his comprehensive six-volume Letters of Margaret Fuller (1983–94, not reviewed), Hudspeth (English/Univ. of Redlands) has culled items that illuminate the extraordinary dimensions of Fuller’s restless mind and capacious heart. Friend of Emerson, Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Poe, Fuller established a peerless reputation for literary criticism in a male-dominated world. Her literary gifts emerged early. At eight she wrote to her father, “If you have spies they will certainly inform you that we are not very dissipated.” There are formal letters (to Alcott, applying for a teaching job), playful ones (to friends), newsy missives (to her parents), encouraging and admonitory letters (to her siblings—“I hope that you will not forget your resolves about study . . .”), and lyrical passages describing sunsets, waterfalls, and works of art (although she was unimpressed by Niagara: “I got quite tired at last of seeing so much water in all ways and forms”). When Emerson hired her (at no salary) to edit the Dial, she revealed her ability as a working professional, fully confident and willing to reject even an essay submitted by Thoreau (“I never once feel myself in a stream of thought,” she commented, “but seem to hear the grating of tools on the mosaic”). In Europe at the end of her life, she wrote knowledgeably about politics and wittily about the difficulties of travel. There are passionate letters, as well—to her friend Caroline Sturgis, to James Nathan (whom she loved, only to be rejected), and to the Italian man who fathered her child and may have married her.

A powerful reminder that Fuller’s death by shipwreck was a tragic loss not just to her loved ones but to American literature. (8 b&w illustrations)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-8014-3747-4

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Cornell Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

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.