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THE SENSE OF AN ENDING

Name: THE SENSE OF AN ENDING
Author: Frank Kermode
ISBN: 0195136128

STUDIES IN THE THEORY OF FICTION

by Frank Kermode ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 29, 1967

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This is the most important book on aesthetics and culture to appear since Rosenberg's The Tradition of the New and Sypher's Loss of the Self. Working from a fresh and sophisticated premise—the relationship of fictions in life and art juxtaposed against the spirit of apocalypse, past and present—Professor Kermode has woven a brilliant, intricately designed investigation into the structure of the artistic and eschatological imagination, the shaping and alterations of various "mythic" approaches to the problems of space, time, and form, and the filtering of religious, philosophic, and scientific concepts through the twin movements of history and literature, especially the modernist phase. Using multiple disciplines, Kermode's argument reveals itself in a highly concentrated, synoptic fashion, one filled with pregnant (perhaps too pregnant) summaries, as here: "Modern art, like modern science, can establish complementary relations with discredited fictional systems: as Newtonian mechanics is to quantum mechanics, so King Lear is to Endgame." Both the quietly quasi-pontifical style and the insistence on the value of the past even in our rampantly transitional era have much in common with the concerns of Eliot—indeed. Kermode is indisputably Eliot's best successor.

Pub Date: March 29, 1967

ISBN: 0195136128

Page Count: 222

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 17, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1967

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
PIECES OF MY MIND
by Frank Kermode

- BOOK REVIEW
SHAKESPEARE'S LANGUAGE
by Frank Kermode

- BOOK REVIEW
NOT ENTITLED
by Frank Kermode

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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.