A smart and unsentimental journey to a few forgotten or overlooked American literary landmarks; winner of the Associated Writing Programs Award for Creative Nonfiction. Setterberg's odyssey begins when his road-struck young cousin visits him in San Francisco (where the author, a freelance business writer, lives with Kerouac's sofa) and reawakens in him the sense of adventure that had inspired him to travel 20 years before. Visiting Texas with a friend, Lonnie, while collaborating on a magazine article on small towns, Setterberg discovers—instead of the heroism associated with the landscape of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove—an urban and polluted world. In Nebraska with another friend, Ann, the author encounters the dual works of innocence and evil, of Willa Cather and serial-killer Charles Starkweather. Setterberg considers the corruption of journalism and of travel writing when he meets yet another old pal in Virginia City, the Nevada boomtown where Mark Twain, the artist of fraudulent journalism, got his start. In New Orleans, Setterberg meditates on Zora Neale Thurston, as well as on racism, music, and dance. Moving north, he explores with Ann the upper peninsula of Michigan—the world of Hemingway's ``Big Two-Hearted River''—and searches for a moose in the backwoods of Maine, walking in Thoreau's footsteps, each step offering a different ``gift'' to his imagination. The final chapter, poignant and surprising, describes a ferry ride between Oakland and San Francisco, taken with Setterberg's father. The two discuss Jack London, an author who brings them together with his celebration of ``strong hands and rough wits.'' There is much art here, and much sense, but mostly genial, articulate, and discerning guidance to some obscure places in America and in the mind.
Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-8203-1517-6
Page Count: 166
Publisher: Univ. of Georgia
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
