Robert Graves recently followed Auden into the Poetry Chair at Oxford, and now we on our side of the Atlantic can be grateful too- for his University lectures, collected here, are delightful reading with a classic felicity. Mr. Graves' prose, though far more involuted than his verse, in elegant and engaging. Nothing that the supreme gift is humor, the ability to grasp the identity of opposites, he then comments on gold medals, American cultural pomposities and Spanish manners. Before that- in a devastating (if you don't like him) malicious (if you do) essay he dethrones Virgil, calling him an Apollonian antipoet, one who never invented where he could borrow, a pederast and a politicker. He throws garlands to John Skelton, exemplar of the dedicated poet, inveighs against "the foul tide basin of mlernism", having never liked Eliot or Pound (his real superiors, incidentally), denounces the emotional tranees of pseudo-poets, reflects upon Wyatt, Donne and English love, salutes the Arabic word Baraka meaning blessedness, and praises the intuitive certitude of the Mse who, not the God of Reason, has inspired the world's great art.. While Mr. Graves is personal in his views and sometimes arguable in his opinions, the eclectic reader will be interested and stimulated.
Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 0855949724
Page Count: 129
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1962
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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