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FRIENDS IN THE WORLD

Name: FRIENDS IN THE WORLD
Author: Aram Saroyan
ISBN: 0-918273-97-8

THE EDUCATION OF A WRITER

by Aram Saroyan ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1992

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``We were young, we were arrogant, we were irreverent, we were foolish. But we were right.'' So remarked Abbie Hoffman in 1988, reflecting on his yippie years—and, here, Saroyan emphatically concurs. ``A young man lucky enough to come of age in America during the sixties,'' the novelist (The Romantic, 1988) and biographer (Trio, 1985) now looks back with a curious mix of insight, anecdote, and trivia on his own rites of passage and the friends who shared them. Once a fastidious pothead, Saroyan read for the title role in The Graduate, hung out with other literary hopefuls, and ran into Bob Dylan at the local pharmacy. Starting up a magazine with a small inheritance, he was subsequently denounced by a congressman for his one-word poem ``Lighght,'' and drifted casually from place to place before settling with wife Gailyn (and children Strawberry and Cream) in Bolinas, California, a hip artists' colony. As time passed, Saroyan wrestled with the concept of the literary life (``a flagrant myth, and not necessarily a harmless one'') and became reconciled with father William only as he lay dying. Though full of famous people and unique occasions (e.g., the time that Ed Sanders collected pubic hairs from an assembly of poets for his mail-order catalogue), Saroyan's slim volume is sometimes unsatisfying. He alludes to a process of growth and self-discovery but rarely examines anything up close; and, while he apparently found friendships to be transformative and suggests that the pressure of supporting a family provided another large influence on the course of his life, he skims over the details and offers only thin conclusions in a very quiet prose. Even so, a book with guest appearances by Charlie Mingus, Ted Berrigan, Allen Ginsberg, and an aging Jack Kerouac has its own inherent appeal.

Pub Date: May 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-918273-97-8

Page Count: 148

Publisher: Coffee House

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1992

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.