A revealing if tedious account of life with one of the 20th century’s most famous poets.
The story of the friendship between T.S. Eliot and a woman who pined for more.
Trevelyan (1897-1983) was the warden of London’s Student Movement House, which provided housing for British and foreign students. She also traveled widely throughout Africa, India, and Asia as part of “her mission to make foreign students feel part of English cultural life.” In 1936, she invited Eliot to read for her students at the Student Christian Movement Conference in Derbyshire. Thus began a two-decade friendship that Trevelyan chronicled in an unpublished diary, The Pope of Russell Square. Wagner, a contributing writer for the New Statesman, excerpts parts of Trevelyan’s diaries and correspondence with Eliot in this book, interspersed with her own commentary. Entries range from 1938 until 1957, when Trevelyan, who had hoped their friendship could evolve into a romance, was shocked to learn that Eliot was to marry his secretary, Valerie Fletcher, nearly 40 years his junior, a revelation that “hurt her profoundly.” Unfortunately, her story focuses less on her accomplishments and more on quotidian details of her time with Eliot. In 1955, after attending an All Saints’ Day service, Eliot told Trevelyan, “People are so afraid of repetition—they don’t seem to realise that it is the essence of poetry.” That may be true for poetry, but in a diary, repetitiveness gets wearying in the absence of tension or sufficient variation. Much of Trevelyan’s diary describes meals eaten together, church services attended, vacations taken, and so on, which makes for dull reading. Wagner’s commentary helps but doesn’t fully alleviate the monotony. Eliot devotees will appreciate this peek into his personal life even though, admirably, Wagner doesn’t sugarcoat his bigotry, including his antisemitism and his reference to the “little brown men” of Burma, which Wagner calls “a glimpse of the prejudice which still taints his reputation”—a fact, she is careful to note, Trevelyan was willing to overlook.
A revealing if tedious account of life with one of the 20th century’s most famous poets.Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 9780374203184
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
IN THE NEWS
PERSPECTIVES
© 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.
