A magisterial, if occasionally overfurnished, rendering of the Grimms’ lives.
The real Brothers Grimm are rescued from Disneyfication and myth.
The timeless fairy tales Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected, nurtured, and published have survived to become part of the world’s popular and literary canon. Not so a sense of who the Grimms were and the breadth of what they achieved. Many of the works they published beyond the tales are largely forgotten. Few know of their extensive, often groundbreaking work on mythology and medieval literature, on legends, on a comprehensive German dictionary, Jacob’s scholarship on grammar, or the cultural significance they attached to their various projects. In her thorough, densely detailed biography, Schmiesing restores them to prominence. She places the Brothers Grimm in the context of a tumultuous era preceding 19th-century German unification, exploring the exceptionally close brothers’ personal lives, accomplishments, and striking inconsistencies. For much of the book’s length, the tales take center stage. The surprise is that the Grimms assembled these stories not from peasants telling folktales in the field, but from educated young women, whose recalled narratives the brothers sometimes reworked, not always remembering their own dictum that editing should be “a gentle nurturing that preserves the organic nature of the text.” The Grimms recovered many now-famous stories, wishing to preserve them before they were lost to the forces of urbanization, industrialization, and war. As Schmiesing demonstrates, the aim was not simply to preserve the stories and traditions, but to reveal how they had descended (in their view) from a vast store of ancient epic literature—the collective voice of a people. As such, the tales came to be seen by some as “dangerous,” reflecting a nationalistic fervor and image of Germanness that was “too easily appropriated by Nazi ideology.” Yet, as the author underscores, the Grimms were scholars of high aspirations, not ideologues.
A magisterial, if occasionally overfurnished, rendering of the Grimms’ lives.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9780300221756
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
IN THE NEWS
PERSPECTIVES
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
