Next book

CLAUDE McKAY

A BLACK POET'S STRUGGLE FOR IDENTITY

As much a study of self-defeat as of a struggle for survival, this is a well-documented and cautious biography of a tough, angry, and mercurial Jamaican writer during the interwar years in America. It reveals as much about the complexity and alienation of New York intellectuals and creative artists in general as it does about McKay and the black writers he ultimately chose not to be identified with. Born in 1890, McKay (d. 1948) left Jamaica at age 25 to improve himself, bearing the British culture and more liberal racial attitudes of the West Indies into the economic turmoil and bigotry of early 20th-century America. A self-described ``truant by nature,'' he attended college briefly, then wandered into Harlem during the Renaissance, a period of creativity idealizing black ethnic, especially African, heritage. McKay married and abandoned his pregnant wife (never seeing his daughter), and became associated, successively, with black radical, socialist, and communist groups that led him in 1922 to visit Russia. Ultimately, he came to reject all these groups, finding refuge in the Catholic Church, where he became an advisor on racial issues to a Chicago bishop. The first black to write a bestseller (Home at Harlem, 1928), McKay found his other novels, short stories, poetry, and autobiography failing to achieve any acclaim. As a black, a political radical, and a writer, earning a living was a major problem: For a time he edited literary magazines, but mostly he depended on friends, foundations, and various groups he became affiliated with, in one poignant period during the Depression working in a Connecticut labor camp. Not a sympathetic biography, but, given his ``list of hates'' (including ``light-skinned blacks''), McKay was not a very likable man—often blaming others, Tillery (History/Wayne State Univ.) explains, for the poor choices he made in life. Elusive, always escaping from definitions and roles, McKay even escaped his own funeral: The train carrying his body was delayed, arriving four hours after the ceremony.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-87023-762-4

Page Count: 224

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1991

Categories:
Next book

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

Categories:
Next book

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

Categories:
Close Quickview