Though the rubric of “essay” seems to be synonymous with “intimate memoir,” these frequently personal encounters remain...
Still under the general editorship of Robert Atwan and this year edited by Strayed (Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, 2012, etc.), the annual reprise of the venerable series takes a decidedly introspective turn.
More than two dozen talented authors, selected by Strayed, write about themselves, more or less. Whether it’s this year’s editor or the times, it seems more, not less, and first-person singular is the prevailing mode. Don’t look here for classical essays about the state of civilization or self-effacing reportage or unencumbered humor—no shades of E.B. White, Dorothy Parker, Stephen Jay Gould, Joseph Epstein or John McPhee. Rather, among many notable pieces, Zadie Smith muses at length about her coming to appreciate the artistry of Joni Mitchell, Steven Harvey provides a powerful recollection of his mother and her suicide, Jon Kerstetter writes of the pain of combat triage, and Vanessa Veselka presents a harrowing story of runaway girls who ride with truckers. Yielding pleasures beyond the frisson of tales of other people’s woes, the selections are seriously considered and often artfully constructed. With many rhetorical flourishes, they concern fraught travels, serious illnesses, mothers, fathers, youthful friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, birth, life, a lot of death and, perforce, self. Many of these personal essays seek to take on larger meanings, and if some heartfelt pieces, to make a universal point, confuse the essay form with a confessional, the practice works. Other notable contributors include John Jeremiah Sullivan, Alice Munro, Walter Kirn, Charles Baxter, Dagoberto Gilb, and the sources are diverse, from the New Yorker, GQ and the New York Times Magazine to River Teeth, Prairie Schooner and ZYZZYVA.
Though the rubric of “essay” seems to be synonymous with “intimate memoir,” these frequently personal encounters remain oddly seductive.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-544-10388-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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