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THE PRACTICE OF WRITING

Name: THE PRACTICE OF WRITING
Author: David Lodge
ISBN: 0-713-99173-9

by David Lodge ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1997

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Having retired from theory-dominated academia in 1987, British novelist and critic Lodge (Therapy, 1995, etc.) reflects on the practice and practicalities of writing for a living in this engaging essay collection. Lodge has written ten novels, five works of criticism (The Novelist at the Crossroads, not reviewed, etc.), a play (The Writing Game), and a considerable body of essays and reviews. The book's first section includes pieces on some broad issues in writing (``Fact and Fiction in the Novel'') and deft, precise readings of modern writers, including essays on D.H. Lawrence, Henry Green, and Vladimir Nabokov, among others. Lodge delivers an excellent introduction to Kingsley Amis's novel Lucky Jim, vigorously demonstrating why the book deserves to be remembered and reread. And as a Catholic, he sympathetically and informatively reviews discordant biographies of Graham Greene. There's a pleasant frankness and freshness about these pieces, as if Lodge, freed from the constraints of the university, can speak freely in a less formal voice. The pieces in the book's second section focus on Lodge's adventures in other media, including his work on a screenplay adaptation of Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit, and another based on his own novel Nice Work (1989). When laboring over Dickens, Lodge actually finds himself trading traditional places with his director, as he argues for a dramatic reworking of the story over any lengthy fidelity to the text. He also includes excerpts from his diary having to do with the production of The Writing Game; they display Lodge's easygoing adaptability and persistent fascination with the theater, despite difficulties with casting, rehearsals, and reviews. Lodge sums up this theatrical departure from his campus novels as ``the most intensely interesting experience of my literary career to date.'' Neither wholly journalism nor academic theorizing, The Practice of Writing offers the best of both worlds.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-713-99173-9

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
A MAN OF PARTS
by David Lodge

- BOOK REVIEW
DEAF SENTENCE
by David Lodge

- BOOK REVIEW
AUTHOR, AUTHOR
by David Lodge

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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.