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THE MAGICIAN'S DOUBTS

Name: THE MAGICIAN'S DOUBTS
Author: Michael Wood
ISBN: 0-691-00632-6

NABOKOV AND THE RISKS OF FICTION

by Michael Wood ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1995

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Striking insights into the complicated literary art of Vladimir Nabokov. Wood (English/Princeton; America in the Movies, 1975, etc.) frames his investigation with meditations on Nabokov's relationship to pain and loss. A Russian refugee to the West, the novelist chose to write primarily in English. The richness of his prose in English, Wood suggests, compensates for the deprivation he imposed on himself by silencing his native tongue. Nabokov appropriated a range of styles, without establishing an exclusive relationship to any one of them. Nevertheless, Wood shows, his signature, the distinctive mark of his presence, can indeed be read in his works. Nabokov's first novel in English, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, presents itself as its narrator's memoir of his late brother, a novelist; discussing it, Wood focuses the relationship between his critical themes of authorship and loss. Moving toward his examination of Nabokov's greatest worksSpeak, Memory; Lolita; Pale Fire; AdaWood brings out the unity in this writer's varied voices, posing ``the question of how the sly idiot, the haughty mandarin, and the great, doubting magician get along together. Particularly when they meet up with, or actually become . . . the theorist of pain.'' Reading Speak, Memory, Wood shows how ``masks are Nabokov's business, even as an autobiographer.'' Wood's chapter on Lolita disappoints slightly, failing to cohere as an argument. He returns to the rails, however, in a meditation on Nabokov's translation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. Mobilizing all of the resources he has developed, Wood turns to consider Pnin, Pale Fire, and Ada in a concluding trio of essays. His consideration of languages as translation helps him here, as he strives to develop his themesthe multiplicity of Nabokov's identities, and his experience of paininto a picture of the novelist as magician of morals. These appreciations of Nabokov will resonate deeply for those initiated into his mysteries.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-691-00632-6

Page Count: 252

Publisher: Princeton Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE STORY OF CHINA
by Michael Wood

- BOOK REVIEW
ALFRED HITCHCOCK
by Michael Wood

- BOOK REVIEW
SHAKESPEARE
by Michael Wood

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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.