More convincing evidence that Wood is a unique literary critic: deeply informed, passionately committed, and unrelenting.
The veteran New Yorker book critic returns with a collection of erudite pieces dating to 1997.
Wood (Literary Criticism/Harvard Univ.; Upstate, 2018, etc.) offers another selection of his incisive work; only a half-dozen pieces here have not appeared in previous collections. Those familiar with the author’s style will not find much surprising in that regard. Throughout this latest gathering, we see indications of his vast reading, summaries (sometimes lengthy) of key works, connections to other works by other writers in other times and places, and a willingness to identify the good, the bad, the ugly, the best, and the greatest. In this volume, there is only one essay that is principally negative: a review of the writing of Paul Auster. “There are things to admire in Auster’s fiction,” writes Wood, “but the prose is never one of them, though he is routinely praised for the elegance of his sentences.” But other writers receive Wood’s deep appreciation: Saul Bellow (“probably the greatest writer of American prose of the twentieth century”), Dickens, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Orwell, Austen—these and others have earned Wood’s almost undiminished admiration. Other writers also come off well, with a mild reservation now and then (Virginia Woolf, Melville). As Wood’s readers well know, he delights in introducing them to new voices from places they probably didn’t expect—among them, Bohumil Hrabal (Czechoslovakia), László Krasznahorkai (Hungary), and Elena Ferrante (Italy). Wood, however, does not directly address the issue of reading in translation. Less literarily inclined readers will admire his personal essays, many of which are profoundly moving and/or eye-opening. These include an account of his move from England to the United States, a tribute to his late father-in-law’s library, and his electric appreciation and dissection of the drumming of The Who’s Keith Moon.
More convincing evidence that Wood is a unique literary critic: deeply informed, passionately committed, and unrelenting.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-374-26116-0
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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
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