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GENIUS AND LUST

Name: GENIUS AND LUST
Author: Norman Mailer
ISBN: 0553101102

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE MAJOR WRITINGS OF HENRY MILLER

by Norman Mailer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 1976

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In 1959, Mailer notes, Lawrence Durrell put together an anthology of his friend Henry Miller's "least obscene writings." Mailer's choices know no such bounds. Under topical headings—"Genius," "Crazy Cock," "Surrealism," "Domestic Misery"he presents much of the first half of Tropic of Cancer, extended selections from Tropic of Capricorn, Sexus and other novels, and parts of the non-fictions, with The Colossus of Maroussi and The Air-Conditioned Nightmare predominating. "Literary criticism has left a space around Henry Miller," Mailer observes, and whether or not his extravagant praise and specific reservations qualify as criticism, he is interesting on Miller vs. Hemingway, for instance, and his interspersed remarks give the excerpts a biographical setting that facilitates judgment. Appropriately, a Miller chronology is appended.

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 1976

ISBN: 0553101102

Page Count: 492

Publisher: Grove

Review Posted Online: April 4, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1976

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
SELECTED LETTERS OF NORMAN MAILER
by Norman Mailer edited by J. Michael Lennon

- BOOK REVIEW
MIND OF AN OUTLAW
by Norman Mailer ; edited by Phillip Sipiora

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CASTLE IN THE FOREST
by Norman Mailer

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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.