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AMERICAN NOTES

Name: AMERICAN NOTES
Author: Daniel Aaron
ISBN: 1-55553-195-4

SELECTED ESSAYS

by Daniel Aaron ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 30, 1994

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Jargon-free critical essays on the intersection of American culture and history. Aaron (The Unwritten War, 1973) has chosen to reprint articles and reviews spanning the last 50 years. These writings document the bygone era of ``The Man of Letters in American Culture''—title of one of the essays and an unwitting commentary on the entire book- -and give the collection a rather outdated feel. If the man of letters is an intellectual generalist who, Aaron says quoting Lionel Trilling, sees culture as ``the meeting of literature with social actions and attitudes and manners,'' then Aaron is himself a last vestige of that breed of critics who, he remarks, vanished with the death of Edmund Wilson. It will be difficult to find a readership for these pieces, since they want to occupy a cultural space the author himself says has disappeared: the educated readership for the so-called ``man of letters.'' All the requisite topics are here, including an essay on ``The American Left'' in the 1930s, originally published nearly 30 years ago in response to the ``reported upsurge of the New Left.'' The strongest section, ``Outsiders,'' contains essays on issues of class, race, and ethnicity—the holy triad of American Studies and cultural studies today. These were written more recently written and retain a contemporary interest. There's a review of Arnold Rampersad's biography of Langston Hughes; an intriguing theory of ``The Hyphenate Writer and American Letters,'' and ``The `Inky Curse': Miscegenation in the White American Literary Imagination.'' One wishes Aaron had expanded this section into an entire book, instead of burying it in a mass of material that seems governed by personal nostalgia. A somewhat anachronistic collection by an American Studies pioneer.

Pub Date: June 30, 1994

ISBN: 1-55553-195-4

Page Count: 324

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1994

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
U.S.A.
by John Dos Passos edited by Townsend Ludington & Daniel Aaron

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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.