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SAVING FACE

Name: SAVING FACE
Author: Stuart Schneiderman
ISBN: 0-679-40969-6

THE POLITICS OF SHAME AND GUILT

by Stuart Schneiderman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1996

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Two cheers for hypocrisy in this thoughtful but overdone and overlong celebration of shame. While not breaking substantially new ground, psychoanalyst Schneiderman (Jacques Lacan, not reviewed, etc.) argues cogently for the social value of what he calls ``shame culture . . . a uniform code of conduct to promote civility, propriety, dignity, integrity, and honor.'' Shame culture demands strict adherence to a societal norm, and the individual is socialized to protect the group's honor through appropriate behavior. This is as opposed to guilt culture, in which the individual's behavior is self- determined, although it is controlled through a system of laws and punishment. Using Japan as his model of shame culture par excellence, he shows how shame promotes societal good, whether it be in marriage, as a psychoanalytical tool, or in business. And he takes America to task for what he terms ``The Great American Cultural Revolution''—jilting shame in favor of the subtle, corrupting blandishments of guilt. Obviously, he has the foundation of a valid point, but using the narrow polarity of shame and guilt as an explain-all ultimately cramps his analysis as he twists and turns to force the data into his paradigm. While he recognizes some of shame's limits—its anti-individualism, its scanting of art and creativity—he is all too dismissive of guilt's virtues. Nor does he properly consider the dialectical possibilities of a culture drawing on the strengths of both guilt and shame. More seriously, he neglects perhaps the most significant single indictment of shame: that two of the world's ``greatest'' shame cultures, Germany and Japan, were also responsible for some of this century's greatest atrocities. Without the emergency brake of the individual guilty conscience, corrupt and perverse social norms can all too easily take hold and sprout their flowers of evil. Some intriguing insights, but Schneiderman is guilty of mantling a core of good sense with both the unnecessary and the unexamined. (Author tour)

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-679-40969-6

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1995

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.