All the laconic scholarship and lightning sharp interpretations and insights which have made Graves' studies of the Greek myths one of the most seductive source books of the decade are here brought to bear with equal effectiveness on the Book of Genesis. True, the mating of religious matters with myths can offend the orthodox, for after all Hellenic polytheism is a far cry from Jewish monotheism. But Graves, along with his co-author Raphael Patai, makes short shrift of objections in a succinct, satin-tongued introduction. The offering frequents both the canonical and apocryphal tracts, and thus sheds light on much Biblical obfuscation. Among the touchier items: how Adam and Eve were initiated into the act of love; why Noah took to drink and how Ham "unmanned" him; what was what with Sodom, Potiphar, Behemoth and Leviathan; and the possibility that an earlier matriarchal culture was done in by the later patriarchy (elsewhere a consistent concern of Graves). Pietistic glossings, rabbinic expansions and multi-references are treated all over from the creation and cosmology through the Fall, the Flood, the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Important for any literate home or library.
Pub Date: March 20, 1963
ISBN: 185754661X
Page Count: 600
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1963
BOOK REVIEW
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
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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