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BEYOND THE FIRST DRAFT

Name: BEYOND THE FIRST DRAFT
Author: John Casey
ISBN: 978-0-393-24108-2

THE ART OF FICTION

by John Casey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 18, 2014

Not a handbook for students but a guidebook for thinking about fiction.

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National Book Award–winning novelist Casey (English/Univ. of Virginia; Compass Rose, 2010, etc.) waxes thoughtful about his craft in a collection of essays, some nearly 20 years old.

The title, which sounds a little how-to-do-it, is somewhat misleading. Yes, the art of fiction is the author’s subject, but these are more ruminative, speculative pieces than they are lessons in how to write stories and novels. Readers looking for bullet-point lists of specific recommendations should look elsewhere. Also: Since the essays were written over a period of decades, some of the examples and anecdotes appear more than once. Casey frequently writes about his time at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (with kind words for such teachers as Kurt Vonnegut Jr.), and he alludes in several ways to Nabokov’s Speak, Memory. He repeats a story about a painting chimpanzee, and several times, he discusses the significance for beginning writers of the work of acting theorist Stanislavski. On the whole, however, Casey’s topics are compelling and useful. He examines quintessentially American writers—Twain, Whitman, Hemingway and Salinger—and he explores the concept of human justice in fiction (are you treating your characters equally?). Casey also reflects on humor—and consults some pretty good authorities (Oscar Wilde)—leaps back in history for consideration of Aristotle’s Poetics, and traces the history of sex and violence in fiction (D.H. Lawrence makes an expected appearance here). The author notes the various uses of the first person—from “My Last Duchess” to Edgar Allan Poe to “the swelling I” of Whitman—and he asserts that the “point” of it all is “to crack the skull of a character…so that the individual psyche of the character is released”—an apt and unforgettable image. The author also includes essays on vocabulary, translation and childhood reading—with a shout out to Catcher in the Rye—and ends with an affectionate tribute to his mentor, Peter Taylor.

Not a handbook for students but a guidebook for thinking about fiction.

Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-393-24108-2

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: June 4, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE HOUSE THAT WENT ON STRIKE
by Rania Ajami & John Casey ; illustrated by Walter Krudop ; developed by Jumping Pages

- BOOK REVIEW
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
by John Casey

- BOOK REVIEW
COMPASS ROSE
by John Casey

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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.