In search of the depths of Homer, the Bible, Shakespeare, and Kafka, and the problematic interplay of Judaism, Classicism, and Christianity, Steiner (Proofs and Three Parables, 1993, etc.) displays his commanding, polymathic erudition. With Yale about to reissue his early Death of Tragedy and other works, this collection of miscellaneous introductions, essays, reviews, and lectures reflects many of Steiner's previous tropes—the ``real presence'' of meaning in literature, the value of tragedy, the traditional and philosophical questions of translation, etc. But No Passion Spent arranges its contents into a cohesive thematic organization that gradually builds on his command of philosophy, literature, and theology. Opening with the Western literary tradition's devaluation of the act of reading (``The Uncommon Reader''), Steiner magisterially reclaims the authority of that tradition, expounding on its biblical, Homeric, and Shakespearean riches. His ``Preface to the Hebrew Bible'' and ``Homer in English'' go through the densely textured record of translations and allusions with striking facility. Steiner considers ``the enigma of revelation in language'' and the West's troubled moral history, focusing particularly on the Holocaust. Sometimes his intellect overreaches itself, as in an equivocal logical-positivist reading of Shakespeare and elitist presumptions about America; but it is always in pursuit of demanding questions, such as the significance of cultural inheritance or the mutual rejections of Christianity and Judaism. The volume concludes at an illuminating zenith with a pair of essays, ``Two Cocks'' and ``Two Suppers,'' in which Steiner turns his incisive mind to the parallels of the deaths of Socrates and Jesus, the Last Supper and the Symposium. With such stimulating scope and compelling concerns, it's fitting that Steiner's title reworks a quote from that Puritan Classicist Milton's Samson Agonistes, drawing strength and passion from all the traditions it invokes.
Pub Date: May 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-300-06630-9
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1996
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
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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