The first English-language edition of Charbonneau-Lassay's near-legendary meditations on the symbolic import of animals, real and imagined. Elegantly translated by Dooling (coauthor, I Become Part of It, 1989), from the one of the handful of copies that remained after the original French edition was nearly destroyed by a bomb after its 1940 publication, the book contains the fruits of Charbonneau-Lassay's lifelong researches into the hidden meanings of some three-score beasts, such as the lion, the dog, the wolf, the unicorn, and the sphinx. While his findings, based on sources ranging from ancient Egyptian to Gnostic, are invariably intriguing (``The analogy between the dead person and the caterpillar in its chrysalis state arose spontaneously in ancient Egyptian thought. Their mummified dead...were like the chrysalis in its silken sheath''), what is perhaps most provocative here are the remarkable lessons the author distills from his animals: ``Between two infinities of the past and the future, human life is only a moment and the soul is an eagle which ought not to waste its energy in futile things.'' Accompanied by over 400 of the author's original woodcuts, this is a treasury of the wisdom of symbols, a hidden classic of spiritual literature revealed.
Pub Date: April 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-930407-18-0
Page Count: 496
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1991
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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